Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac: Not for Sale/Another.not.for.sale (Australia).iso/hold me in your arms/FactSheet Five/Bypass_Reviews_M-to-Z

Text File | 1994-09-04 | 109KB | 1,863 lines

MACHO PARANOIA
One exceedingly well put together and uncatagorizable zine, a veritable
barrage of weirdy clip art and male obsession. Interviews with Lori
Barbero of Babes in Toyland , crime writer Derek Raymond and 'no Wave'
low life film maker Richard Kern run along side articles, slightly
anomalous but in keeping with the theme of machismo, on aphrodisiacs,
Eunuchism and castration. Also some interesting facts on the split in
the Vatican over the sin of masturbation. Theme for the next issue, and
a title change to boot, is 'peek-a-boo-boo', on voyeurism. [C]
34 A4 pages, photocopy. #? from Alex Smith, c/o Red Brick Road, 86
Cranfield Gardens, London NW6 3EE.

MAPPA MUNDI
Exposing the Global Eco-Terrorists #2 Car-Buncle: The Preposterous
World-view of the Motorist. Choice tid-bits reprinted from various
publications on the ludicrous world of car culture. Includes: the
motorist who thought he had three eyes, ram raids, hotting and
joyriding, drive-in churches, green car stickers, celebrity quotes
including Jonathon Porritt, adverts, car boot sales, auto-eroticism,
what some drivers do when they're supposed to be paying attention (blow-
drying their hair, getting changed, using washing machines!!), green
motoring, political corruption, discrimination against the car-less, and
people fighting back. If you ever travel by anything other than bike,
sail, or foot, Car-Buncle and Terra Firm's Ban Cars (see review) could
well make you defensive, but get past that and there's stuff here you
might never have considered before. If your eco-credentials are already
perfect, there's a lot of new material to harangue people with.
Altogether, an enormously wide-ranging view of what cars and their
'ooman occupants are doing to the planet. [TK]
24 A4 pages. #1 from The Mundi Club, 146 Dene Rd, Oxford OX3 7JA.

MAURETANIA COMICS
#16 Paul Harvey first showed me a copy of Mauretania Comics almost ten
years ago. Then I didn't get it at all. I had to wait years until I
properly latched on. It's not that the comic eludes verbal description;
or verbal anything. It's that description probably isn't the best way of
getting to grips with either this comic or its related schemes and
products. Like most comics, it contains strips of varying lengths. In
each, story is less important than the moods and atmospheres they evoke.
You don't have to know the plot of a film to feel the pull of narrative;
so it is with Mauretania. Ambient comics_ well no, but the nearest
thing. Current # includes strips set in dreams, memories and missed
encounters. All are told by the comic's founders, Chris Reynolds and
Paul Harvey, in the Mauretania house style of wavy captions, thick black
lines and dark shadows. [SE]
ISSN 0954 5387, 36 A4 pages,  gorgeous covers and interiors. #1.60 from
Mauretania Comics, Flat 5, 20 Simonside Terrace, Heaton, Newcastle NE 6
5JX (cheques to Paul Harvey).

MEDIUM SLICED
#1 Diana Money. Medium Sliced is an "art based fanzine/pamphlet in a
collectable/multiple format", kinda mail art/artworks by post. This
package (not a zine) is a rather originally put together cardboard
velcro-fastened wallet containing "actual Diana Money". Seeing is
believing; swap your real money for blue-blooded spondulees. [B]
#1+sae. Available from Medium Sliced, P.O. Box 103, Middx EN3 6UL. Sae
for more info and enquiries.

THE MELODY HAUNTS MY REVERY
#3 Well impressed: a "music fanzine" with no crap band interviews and
tell-you-nothing record reviews. Kicks off with an evocative look at
what's best in 'fanzine' culture_ the "extensions of personal experience
into communicable forms"_ and when you start reading this zine you begin
to understand what he means. Alistair takes us from the immediate past
back to the here and now via private adolescence, teenage bike-rides,
college drop-out, small-town depression/recession, and Key West,
courtesy of the sounds that were (and are) telling and significant. On
the way, he tries to move us beyond the accessible Jack Kerouac clich|s
of On The Road, and charts his response to the excitement and
constraints of 'Riot Grrrl'. I'm not going to tell you which bands and
records he takes us through because in one sense at least, who he talks
about just isn't as important as the way he talks about them.
Considered, intelligent, engaged, and with a sense of place and the
marvellous. The best "music fanzine" I've seen. Fullstop. [J]
28 pages A5, proper print job. 40p+sae from Flat 2, Rosebank, Alphington
St, Exeter, EX2 8AT.

MEMES
#8. Poetry. The merest mention of the poetry thang is enough to make
many people go cross-eyed and refuse to listen, but poetry zines have
always found their own constituency_ other poets. I mean, is there
anybody who buys poetry zines and doesn't write themselves? Poetry has
become less of a spectator sport than any other artistic medium, which
at least ensures its survival, though it doesn't, of course, make any
guarantees about quality.
Memes is edited by Norman Jope (see Dancing Through The Dustbins and
Floating Leaves reviews) who also contributes an impassioned editorial
finely balanced on the cusp between the personal and the political, a
place I like to be in myself. The main body of the zine consists of
scads of poems by a couple of dozen different writers. It would be
invidious to single out my personal favourites_ suffice to say that the
writing is both very various in style and generally high in quality.
Some prose pieces too. Text nicely interspersed with pages of graphic
art. [SC]
68 A5 pages inc card cover. #3+sae from 38 Molesworth Rd, Plympton,
Plymouth, Devon PL7 4NT.

MENTALLY PENETRATED BY AN ACID ENEMA
#6 Cult/horror/B movie fanzine. Article on the career of Bruce Lee with
dodgily repro-ed photos, blackploitation movie reviews, Re-Animator
spin-offs, the Burke and Hare story (with movie versions, of course), a
tribute to Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster to you and me), a Jorg
(Necromantik) Buttgereit filmography, Were the Omen Movies Cursed?, and
lots of genre film, book, zine reviews. [J]
32 Pages A4, colour cover. #5 available. #1.50+sae from 4 James St,
Abertilly, Gwent, S. Wales, NP3 1AA.

MICROZINE MONTHLY
 #1 The Riot on the Spiritual Plane. Scratch the surface of the US
anarcho-underground and beneath the grunge you find a solid core of
Gibsonoids, terminally hardwired into a virtual, cyberpunk future. Do
the same with Brits and you're up to your omphalos in Chaos magick and
archaisms piped in from the country's pre-modern past. Riot on the
Spiritual Plane is set in occult, rebel London where the government has
announced the abolition of income support. As a demo sets off from Hyde
Park the story zaps onto the spiritual_ always easy to do in England_
and set off to Canary Wharf, astral version, and save the very soul of
London; this is truly excellent. [SE]
28 pages, mini. 70p from Slab-o-Concrete (see Distros section).

MINDCRASH
#6&7. "We could babble on about Babylon but instead let's Babble on
about the Tower of Babel." Think of this as a mirror... Mindcrash is
gnomic, gnostic and pritstick: Solomanic prescient/nescient sentences
and mantric observations that loosely group themselves around the nodes;
chaos, Zen, ecologic, 'naked apes', Time, MEAT and, inevitably, the end
of the world.
Mindcrash: semantic antics, fables, parables, pun-ishment, anecdotage,
badinage and conundrums. Mindcrashed? Possibly... And why not? [AJ]
Dtp-ed "on recycled Buddha", one double-sided sheet each issue. FREE for
sae to 126 Little Lullaway, Basildon, Essex SS15 5JB. "It ain't no sin
to take off your skin and dance around in your bones" _W.S. Burroughs.

MOIST PENGUIN
Highly fun and good comic by various artists. By far the best was
'Daydreams' by Jeff Herbert, about two young lads dreaming of
rockstardom, miming with cricket bats and tennis rackets (read it!).
Also there's an article about 'The Oxford Workshops' by Jeremy Dennis,
where a group of people got together and drew spontaneous stuff under
various headings. Some of the results are printed_ the stuff people come
up with!
The whole comic is chocabloc with variety; art standard ranges from OK
to very good; it was the overwhelming freshness of it all that I like
best. Tip top. [RG]
24 A4 pages, xeroxed. #1.20 from Alleged Literature, c/o 26 Princes St,
Oxford OX4 1PD.

MONOLITH NEWS
#15. Free the Stones! Stone the crows! This is a weird one, covering
stone circles, travellers and related topics. There's a long review of
Andrew Collins' latest book, "The Second Coming"_ anyone who's read "The
Green Stone" or "The Black Alchemist" will know what to expect_
synchronisities, psychic quests and enough occult warfare to fill a
Dennis Wheatley novel, but all of it supposedly true. Also a crazed
article on BNP/neo-Nazi occult involvement_ "the vibes were evil". UFOs,
psychic attack, demonic possession, spontaneous combustion, ley lines
and karma are all relevant concepts in this zine's worldview. My fave
bit is an uncritical compilation of quotes from King of the Diddymen,
David Icke: "new vibrations are beginning to encircle the planet...
Earth will slip off its axis... we can form energy lines if we walk the
same way often enough..." [SC]
20 A5 pages, dodgy repro, costing whatever you're into paying (at least
50p), from: Monolith Publications, P.O. Box 4, Syston, Leics LE7 4RD.
Cheques to J Harrison.

MY LITTLE FANZINE
#1. Zine with attitude from Natasha_ she threatened us with violence
anyway. Angry, assertive, and pretty smart. Sylvia Plath and Shakespeare
in the culture corner, quotes from your favourite sexist homophobes,
reprints of mass-media banality, a recipe for politician cake_ "cabinet
ministers are best but backbenchers will do", a spot the wanker contest,
a good poem, a five little riot girls cartoon, interview with Linus
reviews... #2 and 3 are out but we ain't seen them. [J]
24 pages A5, cut/paste, copied, rough. 50p+sae from Natasha, 26 Valley
Close, Loughton, IG10 3AB.

MYTHS IN MAYHEM
A strange (and somewhat confused) world lurks beneath the plain black
card cover of this pamphlet. It purports to be a photocopy edition of an
on-the-way-to-a laser copy book of a short story and lots of "magickal
surreal line drawings". You get 24 'plates' of what might be oil,
acrylic and watercolour pictures, many of which don't reproduce too well
at all. The order is somewhat muddled and it's difficult to link
pictures to their titles in the index, but some display a definite
artistic ability, and others are possessed of, at best, a charming
quirkiness. Themes and content revolve around weird gods and goddesses
and mythical elements old and new, all done in a naive style, much of it
sexualised, and some not a little scrappy. Likewise the story, 'Against
The Wrist', a deranged tale told in a childlike fashion, which flits
from the poetic, to creaking narrative constructions.  Perhaps great
magickal art, or possibly a scary example of the malign effects that the
Principia Discordia can have on an impressionable mind. [J]
16 pages A5, copied. #2 from Zah L. Gibor, 4/2 Royston Gardens, Granton,
Edinburgh, EH5 1NP.

NERVOUS TALES
#2. Mark my words, it won't be long before this guy makes it big. Great
art, paranoia, weird stories and a nice line in humour are Caspar
Williams' trademark. 'I, Marty Weintraub', 'Hack', 'Guys Who Wait' and
the second instalment of 'Love International'_ a kind of Avengers
pastiche_ together with 'One Page Comic Strip' reprinted from Sofa
Comics make up this issue. One of the brightest lights on the small
press comix scene has produced one of the best comics, pro or small
press, around. I can't recommend it highly enough. Get it. [AL]
28 A4 pages, two colour glossy cover, high grade stock paper. #1.95 from
15 Montpelier Rd, Brighton BN1.

NETWORK NEWS
The Quickening Issue. A zine full of those news cuttings that you'd
wished you'd seen the first time round, some funny, some bizarre and
some really make you stop and think! From spermy news to Hells Angels. A
few letters endorsing Nocturnal Emissions, one to tell you all about
demons. But the best of it has to be 'Vegetation Flesh...  Our  Story
Continues', (so you will have to subscribe), "Me Grandad was a big slow
bloke, me Grandad on me Mum's side". [MP]
20 pages A5. (subs #5/yr/4#), from Earthly Delights, P.O. Box 2,
Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0YY. How much? Subscribe! Who are you guys,
IPC Magazines?! Send #1 and demand sample.

NEVER TRUST A HIPPY
#4. Despite the title and the subject matter, this is not a punk zine,
but rather a specialized collector's zine, devoted to the Sex Pistols.
Now, the Pistols didn't exist for long and they didn't record much, so
you might have thought that they offered little of the kind of obsessive
trivia that's so dear to the heart of every real collector, be they
train-spotters or bootleg buyers. Not a bit of it, tho'. The pages of
NTAH are filled with chatty gossip about what all the (S)ex-Pistols are
up to (not much about Sid) and reviews of records and CD reissues by
Pistols-related bands. Lots of cheesy old news about those magical three
years in the late 70s when the Pistols can actually be said to have
existed. The obviously objectionable aspect of all this is that punk was
never about being a fan or a collector. It was about doing it yourself_
"Here's a chord. Here's another. Now form a band"_ the ethos behind
ByPass and much of the stuff reviewed in it. NTAH seems to me indicative
of the Spectacle's endless capacity for assimilating and co-opting its
critics, turning them all into another part of the show, turning us all
back into good little consumers. Still, it seems that there's enough
Pistols memorabilia freaks out there not only to buy this zine, but also
to justify the publication of a book (a friggin book, f'chrissakes!),
"Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?", which is apparently "the
definitive guide to collecting Sex Pistols records"... [SC]
#1.50+sae or #5.25 for 3# sub. It's a Swindle! 32 A5 pages. Send your
cash-from-chaos to: Jim Henderson, 25a Grange Road, Bidford-on-Avon,
Alcester, Warks B50 4BY.

NEWS FROM NOWHERE
#5-7. News From Nowhere is a newsletter (and a utopia). Its language,
its title and its concerns conjure up the Second International. It is
published by a regional division of the International Workers
Association (another echo?) It is propaganda by deed. The deed?
Independent communication. The immediate aim? Anarcho-syndicalist
networking. The long term goal? "The revolutionary challenge of running
society tomorrow". #7 has NHS Trust corruption; statement of aims; final
statement of Hatfield NUM; Brief History of Anti-Fascist Action; Policy
Statement on Northern Ireland; information on Anti-Militarist Solidarity
Co-ordination Network; reflections on the fate of the Coal Industry.
[AJ]
4 A4 pages. Donation/sae to Direct Action Movement Regional Secretary,
P.O. Box 122, Doncaster.

THE NEW SOCIALIST
Vol 1 #6. Nothing to do with the English mag of the same name, this is
an American open forum newsletter for discussion of opinions "outside
the mainstream", consisting of readers' letters (all contributions
published and  contributors receive a free copy) with the editor's
responses. Front cover has Yeltsin as a drunken Hitler taken from the
polish mag WPROST, and the contents examine the 'new' Russia with
parallels drawn between Gorbachev and Kerensky, Yeltsin and Jaruzelski,
and Zhirinovsky as a tool of Yeltsin. Contributors seem to be from the
romantic Bolshevik school of (not much) thought, while the editorial
responses are more informed and considered. Future issues will look at
the "prospects for socialism" in Canada and Australia. [J]
6 pages A4 (U.S), dtp-ed. $1+airmail post from 8132 Farnum, Warren MI
48093-2884, USA.

NIL BY MOUTH
#3 Latest in a series of image zines. A Nil  By  Mouth editorial: "why
write an editorial when the whole idea is about lack of words. An angry
silence that can erupt into violence or be creative". More single page
one shot graphics from Reza (some reprinted from out-of-print #1).
Somewhat less overtly political than  previously, but still bold and
strong. Good stuff, and recommended. [J]
16 "an image is worth a thousand words" pages, A5. Only 50p from 85
Devonshire Hill Lane, Tottenham, London, N17 7NE. #2 available (reviewed
in ByPass #1).

NO
#10 Better To Die On Your Feet Than To Live On Your Knees. Could be the
last ever issue of NO, so check it out. Rick reflects on the inspiration
supplied by the Zapatista uprising in Mexico, and gives us "librarians
with attitude"_ librarianship as the last specialism (I thought that was
the S.I.'s role, but there you are, time moves on). Simon Jones rights a
very dumb article on why zero work will never work (well quite).
Thoughts on Stockport County and being a football fan, and on buying a
house as a way of seizing a bit of control  when everyday life "is
something someone else creates for me". Also (as ever) lots of plugs for
other people's efforts, reprint of the Bureau of Public Secrets' 'Strong
Lessons For Engaged Buddhists',  cartoons by Paul Petard, and some very
sound advice from Marilyn Monroe. Worth your attention. [J]
16 pages A4, typed, copied. 50p+sae from PO Box 175, Liverpool L69 8DX .

NOBODY KNOWS I'M FAMOUS
There seem to be lots of different Jeremy Dennis' in this comic. There's
the Jeremy that writes rather meandering twee stories like "Postcards
from Joy"; the Jeremy that writes fairly ordinary, serious stories like
the untitled first tale in this collection; there's the Jeremy that
writes a wonderfully more-ish story like "My Little Blue and Black
Dress"; and finally we have the angry young woman_ yes, Jeremy is a
woman_ who writes funny, but very Roberta Gregory influenced stories of
man-hating vengeance like "Hey Luv" and "The Babe With No Name".
Although I still feel Jeremy has to find her own voice instead of
travelling down the well-trodden paths of others, there's more than
enough good stuff in this collection to make up for the odd weak story.
[AL]
24 A4 pages, sort of full colour cover. #2 from Alleged Literature, c/o
J. Dennis, 26 Princes St, Oxford OX4.

NO SANCTUARY
No Sanctuary is a globe-spanning punk zine crammed with contacts and
reviews and info. Have you ever wondered what was happening punk-wise in
Singapore or Malaysia or Turkey or Finland? Well, wonder no more, cos
all the true facts are available in, by and large, amazingly good
English on 16 closely-typed and xeroxed pages. So intensely
international it induces visions of leatherclad spikeytops infesting the
planet as nits do a scalp. Boredom, alienation and rebellion clearly
recognize no statist frontiers. Reflect on the fact that as you sit,
boozed up and pissed off, in your dingy tenement, you do so as part of a
global tribe. #23 being the christmas issue, there's a crucified Santa
centrespread. Impressively, the editors claim to be pumping this thing
out every month_ industrious folk, these Swissers! Forget all that pass|
NYHC/Boston/Seattle crap_ get into some groovy Croatian grindcore
instead. #24 is a double-sized issue this time around (32 pages, $3
post-paid). There's a Croatian scene report, an interview with Time To
Think, and readers' misty-eyed reminiscences of their first punk records
(myself, I remember being mightily impressed by the Sex Pistols on Top
of the Pops when I were a lad). There's also, of course, tons and tons
of news'n'reviews from everywhere and nowhere. Enjoy! [SC]
$2 will earn you a post-paid sample (cheaper rates for subs) from No
Sanctuary, c/o Resistance Prod, P.O. Box 3142, 2500 Biel 3, Switzerland.
What's the Schwiz-rd++tsch for 'Oi', then?

OCULAR
#7. Illustrated Paganism and the Occult. A wild deep black on
fluorescent pink cover and some smart graphics throughout. Frater
Asmodaeus rambles on about the occult milieu, using Crowley's "everybody
is a star" as his starting point, he covers the metaphorical
applications of stars, planets, comets, dirigibles, and astral light,
ending up in a cauldron with Madame Blavatsky. Bob Trubshaw contributes
a much more interesting piece on the dualism inherent in Sacred/non-
sacred sites, landscape art, "environmental" music, and embodied
acoustic memories. He ranges widely and throws out more hints and
suggestions in two sides than i can possibly refer to here. Other
articles: 'Who Was Lilleth?', Native American Teachings of Sexuality,
info on the Creatrix pagan artists network and profile of member David
Grimbleby, and part 2 of a conversation with Barbara Mor by Lone Wolf
Circles which touches, among other things, on womens' likely primary
role in humanity's original alienation, the neolithic agricultural
revolution_ a refreshing antidote to the prevalent "female/feminine is
good" per se school of thought. Also fiction, poetry, letters, reviews,
crossword... [J]
40 pages A4, well printed. Takes ads. #2.25 (subs #8/yr, #12 overseas)
from Rosewood Cottage, Langtoft, Driffield, E. Yorks, YO25 0TQ. (cheques
to Lesley Wilkinson).

ONE DAY
#1 A whole zine down in one day (the producer's birthday) and it's not
one of those 'we put this together in 20 minutes' and it bloody-well-
looks-like-it-too style things. Quite an arty feel with mostly a clean
and attractive layout. In a letter (to the reader?) David explains how
he trawled "the trendier journals in the university library" and pasted
interesting bits of them in a "new and semi-logical manner", a "more
rational" cut-up. In spite of your reasonable misgivings, it all works
pretty well. Plus some pieces of his poetry and some colour images cut
from magazines. A little sparse in parts, engaging and likeable overall.
[J]
12 pages A4. Trades or #1/$2 from, David, 104 Freer Rd, Aston,
Birmingham, B6 6NB.

ON THE FIDDLE
#5 The Official Levellers Fanzine. Smartly put together on hemp based
paper. Lots of photos of, and interview with 'the band' (swoon), and
other fandom trivia_ "five most favourite things" sort of crap, photo-
love story, etc. Articles on the criminalisation of squatting (official
homeless: 150,000; empty properties: 818,000_ think about it); legal
hemp growing in Oxfordshire; shamanism in Lapland; right to silence
campaign (and a bust card_ don't carry it with you kids); DIY conspiracy
theories; and action against M11 link road which is costing the builders
#30,000 a day_ when money talks, people listen. So listen. [J+B]
34 pages A4, loads of colour. Price? (you may have to join the fanclub)
from P.O. Box 4044, London, W9.

OPEN EYE
Challenging Media Censorship #1&2. OE is "a forum for communication
between people who are radically questioning our present society".
Accordingly, the editors welcome inquiries from potential contributors:
of articles, interviews, cartoons and photographs. The aim is to work
against censorship in all its forms_ "to take a deep honest look at...
peoples' motivations and beliefs" and to bring to light "censored news
and views". OE follows a magazine format, with expos|s, investigations,
interviews and reviews. It melds aspects of Marxism Today with Spare Rib
and New Internationalist. The articles in #2, for example, range from
ecofeminism to microwave weaponry, from the politics of natural birth to
the antics of U.S foreign policy, and from the JFK mythos to military-
industrial-complexities (and bizarre noises) in Kent. The urge to
uncover, to examine and to give voice gives all this its unity. OE
includes a U.K/U.S alternative press listing and many articles end with
contact addresses: combine these with the letters column, and the idea
of a "forum" really begins to take shape. Also OE has no direct
political affiliation_ the Eye is 'Open' in a number of senses.
Refreshing and necessary project; stands as an eye of surveillance
against the blinding eye of power. Subscribe, relish, contribute. [AJ]
A4, two colour cover. #1 38 pages for #1.50; #2 51 pages for #1.60. Open
Eye, P.O. Box 3069, London SW9 8LU. Slow to answer mail (can be got from
Counter-Productions Distro swiftly and painlessly).

ORGANISE!
#33. Quarterly Theoretical Magazine of the Anarchist Communist
Federation. A rather dry offering that tends towards 'we must build an
anarchist communist etc., etc.' style endings in its articles, but still
contains some refreshing perspectives on a number of issues_ the
"outbreak of peace" (S. Africa, N. Ireland, Palestine), abortion, the
Criminal Justice Bill. Resistance to the M11 link road, an informed and
critical look at the history of Earth First!, book reviews, letters, and
interview some members of the Bad Attitude collective (see review). [J]
20 pages A4, printed. 50p (#3/4#) from ACF c/o 84b Whitechapel High St,
London, E1 7QX.

PAGAN EXPRESS
#2. Now here's a funny thing. Standard xerox zine-type item, but with a
pagan angle. Scott, the proprietor, has trawled the world's media
networks, scissors and pritt stick at the ready, compiling this
conglomeration of (loosely) pagan-related news snippets (also loads of
editorial bits and articles): dippy tribute to Kate Bush, interview with
occult cabaret act(!) Ladies From Hades, Stonehenge, Aborigines and
Rabbie Burns. [SC]
40p+sae gets you 12 A5 pages of this stuff from: Scott, 53b Burgoyne
Road, Haringey, London N4.

PAG MAG GUIDE
#2. Reviewing a magazine filled with reviews of magazines for another
magazine filled with reviews of magazines seems postmodern to the point
of absurdity. Nevertheless, I am doing it. PMG is a listing mag much
like the very one you're engaged in reading, but devoted to Paganism,
occultism and related topics. It gives you contact addresses and prices
for 97 (count 'em) publications, some very well known, some less so. If
you are a gay Pagan or a disabled Pagan, there a periodicals being
produced with you in mind, although sadly there appears to be nothing as
yet catering for gay disabled pagans. If your thing is crop circles,
UFOs, mazes, or Druidism, then get networking and make contact with
like-minded souls. Doesn't offer much in the way of critical comment,
but contains plenty of useful information in its 32 A5 dtp-ed easy-to-
read pages. [SC]
#1.50 from: The Oakleaf Circle, P.O. Box 513, Bamber Bridge, Lancs PR5
6UZ. Oakleaf also promise a forthcoming Pagan Resources Directory,
details from above address. Blessed Be!

PEACE OF MIND
#6 This is not just a zine of anarchist thought. This is a zine to spark
your own revolution, or should i say imagination. You may think you're
not an anarchist, but many of these articles will be close to your
heart. This issue contains: single issue politics, class and boredom,
safer sex, violence and pacifism, gay and anarchist politics, good
cartoons, and extracts from Brett the new man, aged 25 and a 1/2,
(secret diary of). Plus pages of reviews of things to buy. Lovingly put
together on recycled paper, easy to pick up, easy to read, hard to put
down. Complete bargain at 30p; what more could you want? [MP]
26 pages A5, photocopied. 30p+sae from P.O.M., Box 73, Norwich, NR1 2EB.

PEACE ROOTS
'Journal of Active Resistance'. News and reports from the direct action
group ARROW. Includes the trial of activist Chris Cole (for #90,000
worth of damage to BAE military hardware), an article on women and the
peace movement based on contact with separatists at the Aldermarston
peace camp, the group's discussions on the Six Counties, members
reflections on doing time, why you shouldn't (and you don't have to)
give your date of birth to the police_d.o.b is the starting data for
their index, police powers to stop and search, and some hilarious
transcripts from police interviews entitled Cops On Acid. [J]
16 pages A4, printed. #? from ARROW c/o NVRN, 162 Holloway Rd, London,
N7 8DQ.

PIERCING WORLD
#20. Pretty much what it sounds like, really_ a quarterly for body
piercing freaks, produced in swinging Nuneaton by the den mother of the
British piercing scene, Pauline Clarke. There is an endearing amateurism
(not amateurishness) and chumminess about it that contrasts strongly
with the more commercial Yankee tattoo mags, most of which are heavily
biker-oriented. Whilst not up to Re/Search's notorious Modern Primitives
book or PFIQ magazine in the stomach-turning stakes, some of the
pictures will definitely make you want to cross your legs. And there's
lots of useful advice and addresses if you fancy acquiring some
erogenous hardware of your very own. #20 is of special interest to me,
as it contains photos of a mate of mine sporting several large steel
rings through the end of his tackle! Also a contact section, through
which you can meet the strangest people_ believe me, I know. [SC,
unsolicited]
36 A4 printed pages, cover and some pages in full colour. Subs cost
#16/4#/year and confer automatic membership of the Piercing Association
of the UK. Entitles you to attend PAUK events and eat Pauline's sausage
rolls. PAUK, 153 Tomkinson Road, Nuneaton, Warks CV10 8DP. Cheques/P.Os
to PAUK.

PINK PANTHER
#3.  Sweetness to the lips_ a bit of a written Homo-cult here. Snazzeee
pervie cover with a typed cut and paste interior. A right bumper-pack, I
just read it right through, cover to cover and thought it was all
excellent. It's the zine that keeps your juices flowing for more and
there's no poetry hippie shit neither. Some cool cartoons that make you
giggle; an interview with an honest Welsh lad, Andy G; Queer politics
and a snippet of Section 28, but what I think they are really building
up to is the interview with the band SPITHEAD and yes, I sent for my
tape. There's some cottage and fisting advice and a good list of Queer
zines, mainly from the States, on the back cover.  And by the end you're
falling in love with Kylie. [M]
22 A4 pages. 50p from: c/o P.O. Box 2531, Smethwick, Warley B66 2NH
(sent in by Haven Distro).

PLASTAZINE
#2. A strange poem and things to do when you're bored. Good interview
with Embittered (who I'm in), Back To The Planet, the very excellent
Doom, and Brawl. Some easy and useful recycling tips that everyone
should follow up on. A small piece about the con of the Gulf War. Some
amusing comic strips. A brief history of the band 2000 DS. Record and
zine reviews. Aidan tells his story about meat and the third world
contradiction. Liked it. [N]
24 A5 pages, typed, cut and paste, unstapled. 30p+sae from Aidan, 94
Maplewood Avenue, Springfield Estate, Tallaght, Dublin 24, Eire.

PLAY TIME FOR EVER PRESS
Sent us a whole bunch of things:
The London Spy. Starting with the Great Fire of 1666, this examines the
way 'urban renewal' is used as a means of social control, comparing the
C17th clearing of Grub Street in London to the City Challenge program in
Brixton today. Then moves on to how the ruling class is using chaos
theory to design new strategies of social control and counterposes the
noise of resistance to the Trance music of restraint. This in turn
introduces a report (by the Association of Autonomous Astronauts) on a
meeting on Chaos and Forecasting at the Royal Society (ancient
Establishment think-tank) held in March. The report gives an historical
background to the Royal Society_ it's combining of scientific
rationality (public face) and occult arts (private face)_ and describes
strategies of control and modes of resistance_ berating, along the way,
the folly of established gurus in embracing chaos theory. [4 A5 pages]
The Daily Fatuousness. (Don't Compete, Play!). This issue exposes the
truth behind the new laws to criminalise raves (with contacts for those
opposing them), and contains an alternative prohibition order against
"pathetic moralising and attacks on people choosing their own way of
life". [2 A4 sides]
a Penny Dreadful broadsheet. This one being a sustainedly hilarious
anti-religious and blasphemous tract. A must have. [2 A4 sides]
The Fatuousness of Cynicism. A dinky pamphlet, with a marblesqued paper
cover, adapted from the Pleasure Tendency's 'Thesis Against Cynicism'. A
searing (if slightly repetitive) critique of the roots and function of
cynicism: "what cynicism claims to know is only what any fool can say".
You'll never say 'that's hardly surprising is it?' again. [16 dinky
pages]
We Propose by Counter Intelligence. Format as above. A reprint of
another excellent Penny Dreadful, this time on Fear. [4 dinky pages].
[J]
All of this is the business, so get your hands on some of it. Send 'em a
quid or so and ask about their list of fatuous print creations. From
Play Time For Ever Press, BM Jed, London, WC1N 3XX.

THE PREMIER LEAGUE
#12. This football game zine is esoteric in the extreme. How, or what,
the game is I have no idea, even after reading this issue. However, it
is obviously a popular game, as the waiting list of aspiring players
attests to. It also has intriguing controversy over the arcane rules of
'cautious' and 'incautious' play. The covering letter said this was an
atypical issue, so maybe a typical one would be more penetrable for the
uninitiated. [W].
16 A4 pages. Martin Burroughs, 15 New Earth St, Oldham, Lancs OL4.

PROPERTICO
Straightforward indie/grunge/punk/pop zine. Interviews with Sidi Bou
Said and Mambo Taxi. May be of interest to TV glotzers as
favourite/least favourite ads and kids progs are considered, as well as
a moan about how crap TV music shows are (well that's a surprise). [B]
28 A5 pages. 50p+sae from Andy, 56 Wolviston Road, Billingham,
Cleveland, TS22 5ET.

PUBLIC-INTEREST ACTION
As part of the FIN network, we've been receiving P-IA's flyers/newsheets
for some years now and they never fail to raise an eyebrow. Uncovers
abuses of power by the government. A network exists to agitate for its
prevention. [B]
Info (for sae) from P-IA, P.O. Box 187, Chesterfield S40 2DU.

REALITY STRIPS
It's a fact of comics that they take longer to draw than to write. Strip
medium experts have not yet addressed themselves to an explanation of
why this should be. Julia Hogan's answer is to get help. Peter Rigg
draws some of the strips included here, all of which have been written
by her. All strips are in the quasi-autobiographical, confessional mode,
unloading frustrations, fears and reservations in short, one-page bursts
of panels. Her subjects are close to home: mothering, wardrobe and body
taboos, and mainly mothering. She's very funny on all of these. The
surrogate Julia Hogan of the cartoons is a hapless, put-upon figure
whose only escape from total lack of self-respect is through the medium
of the strip itself, where she voices the unsayable and thinks the
unthinkable. Peter Rigg proves an able accomplice. I don't think I've
seen such good drawing from him as in some of the images of terrorised
mother and terrorising daughter; he puts figures together in ways which
few other cartoonists could contemplate. [SE]
A5. #1 from Julia Hogan, 150 Beaufort Street, Nelson, Lancashire BB9
0SA.

RECIPES FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
All the ingredients in this packed and political little recipe booklet
can be grown in this country (and by yourself), the intention being a
pleasant and satisfying diet that is free of animal AND human
exploitation. Kicks off with a good background section of why we should
have a vegan diet; then follows some equally good nutrition and health
info; lastly (and my stomach was screaming for a practical demonstration
by this time) is the recipes: mushroom flan, veggie pasties, quinoa
bake, stew and dumplings... Since first reading Recipes I've made a
variation on their 'English Curry'_ very different and very yummy.  Get
yourself a slice. [B]
24 A5 pages. 75p from Movement For Compassionate Living, 47 Highlands
Rd, Leatherhead KT22 8NQ..

THE REVENGE OF THE PINK SURF LIZARD
#4 Valentine's Day Issue, complete with free Conflict poster. A grrrly
punky thang with handwritten and coloured (wax crayon) cover. Sophie
gives a kind of before and after editorial with lots of inconsequentials
("I'm off down the pub in a few minutes") and writes of her experiences
of getting pierced and a tattoo and feeling "cool" (ever heard of niche
marketing?). Valentine Day thoughts and relationship angst, Sophie and
Pat both hope they get cards_ and they do. Reprints of flyers, gig
dates, music/gig reviews, and some zines (one by a twelve year old which
has got to be worth forking out for). [J]
16 pages A4, part typed. #1 from 42 Lochinver, Bracknell, Berks RG12.

REVERBERATIONS
#5. Great drawing style in this comic by Colin Brown who invites us to
join 'The Wiggy Gang' out on the town painting it blue on another
Saturday night downer. We've all been there: apathy at fever pitch as
you try desperately to make a night out worth the walk to the door.
Brown's story line is maybe a little slack but then that's what the mood
is meant to be in 28 A4 pager brought to you by "No Fun Comix". Now
there's a threat for you. [B]
#1.50+sae. Back issues all #2 inc post from: Colin Brown, c/o Robins
Roost, Romsey Road, West Wellow, Romsey, Hampshire SO51 6ED.

REVOLTING
#4 "An open forum for revolution"_ so they'll print your letters and
contributions. Lots of variety here: radioactive madness at Thorp, 10
things everyone should know about marijuana, the "Bolitical
Prattlefield" (juxtaposed news-cuttings demonstrating the absurdity of
national politics), RDF and Consolidated lyrics, the politics of
chocolate, poetry, recipes, and the final part of a cartoon strip
featuring sentient dole cheques. Plus book reviews, including Freedom To
Roam by Harold Sculthorpe which looks at land access struggles in
Britain, and lots of international news items_ Coca Cola in Nicaragua;
the size of the affluent consumer market in the new China: only 5% of
the population but still 65 million strong_ goddammit maybe there is
still hope for international capitalism.
#3 follows the same format. Highlights include the World Bank/IMF role
in 'third world' poverty ("mass starvation is not a natural phenomena")
linking aid to austerity policies and cash crops which benefit only
western business. The McLibel campaign, the domestic repercussions of
the Baghdad and Mogadishu bombings, and an interesting analysis of the
links between "defence" spending, national debt and income tax which
demonstrates the negative equity of military spending, and this when 50%
of government funded research and development (and 50% of working
scientists) are in the military sector. Plus, more uses for hemp, the
true spirit of Glastonbury (making money), and a load more. [J]
32 pages A5, dtp-ed, neat. 70p (#1 for two) from PO Box 393, Kingston
upon Thames, Surrey, KT2 5YR.

REVOLTING TIMES
#1 A patchwork political zine from Bath. Articles on the Stop The City
marches of the eighties, and "language and thinking" which looks at
Korzybiski's E-prime_ a 'language' that forces its users to
operationalise their statements (nicely balanced by a  "glossary of
political correctness"). Others chart the rise of Earth First! and
reproduce that organisation's media-obsession, a look at Valerie
Solonas' SCUM Manifesto, and the signs of "guilt" the police are trained
to look out for, revealed. There are reprints of flyposters from the
Anti-copyright network, the Wonders of Hemp (in the 1760s, in some
American colonies, you could be jailed for not growing it), a short
fiction piece on the domestic prison, and the amazing trans-sexual
trout_ how hormones from the contraceptive pill go via sewage straight
into your drinking water. [J]
30 A4 pages, dtp-ed, copied. 50p+sae from c/o Bob, Garden Flat West,
Lathom House, Weston Park, Bath.

THE RIGHT TO PARTY
and festival and travel and sab and assemble and protest and
#1. For people realizing that there's more to it than everyone being
nice to each other and dropping another E... This issue: a reaction to
the Criminal Justice Bill 1994, mostly sections 45-57, the ones covering
trespass, squatting, sabbing, raves etc; a basic guide to your rights
(in England and Wales)_ what's still legal; what the polis can legally
do and what they can probably get away with; a FIN-type contacts list
and suggestions for action (more towards the 'altogether with us' than
the DIY). [TK] #2 is based around the Criminal Justice Bill and
concentrates on explaining and advising on the issues as well as
exhorting folks to "fight". Articles on trespass, police powers as they
stand now and a piece on 'Rights on Arrest'. The latter whilst
containing mush useful information was woefully inadequate as regards
keeping your mouth shut in custody. Refusing to answer police question
is vital self defence now and STILL will be even if the coming Bill
allows inference to be drawn and used against you in court. Irish people
have had to put up with this for two decades now and have done so
admirably. #3, out as we go to press, continues the style of the above.
[RP]
#1&2 12 A4 pages each, dtp and xeroxed. No price given (certainly sae)
and possibly available from: Advance Party, P.O. Box 3290, London NW2
3UJ. Tel or Fax: [phone].

RIOT
#7. My kind of zine. 32 pages of punk/hardcore. Lengthy interviews with
Chris Dodge of Slap A Ham Records, Hiatus, Crossed Out, Econochrist,
Dead Wrong, Dropdead, Hellnation and Health Hazard. Joe has just started
up a columns section so get writing in. Also reviews music (no CD's) and
zines. So jam-packed it took me three days to read. [N]
A4 dtp-ed, well laid out and excellent repro. #1 post paid, $3 overseas
(#6 85p post paid/$3). #6 for 10. Joe Riot, 21 Ebnal Road, Shrewsbury,
Shropshire SY2 6PW.

ROCKS OFF!
#3. A typed A4 affair, 30 pages. Housed inside a thin orange card cover
and bound by staples, it is sturdy enough to survive being rolled up in
the inner pocket of your leather jacket, taken to the pub and passed
around in a strategic manner. However, it's not glossy so don't puke on
it after your binge. It's aimed at all you lazy rocker fuckers with your
long hair and short fringes and nothing better to do than smoke blow,
raise two fingers now and again to utter "Peace", listen to loud
music/annoy the neighbours, piss from your upstairs window and then fall
unconscious to the floor_ in other words, a thoroughly enjoyable zine
filled with plenty of info crammed into any available space. Deals with
mainly hard rock/commercially acceptable outfits, too many to
mention_generally anything lighter than Metallica. Majority of the
penwork is undertaken by Darren Stockford who gives a fair opinion of
everything; certainly ain't a preacher or great learned man but he does
manage to subtly present his own philosophies through the zine. Pieced
together by a team of five people and published on an irregular basis,
seemingly only when Darren can remain sober long enough to be capable of
putting it together. [BR]
#1.40 from Darren, 4 Cheyne Way, Farnborough, Hants GU14 8RX.

SCATHE
#3 An open access "cut and paste culture" zine, so send something in_
there's no censoring and no editing, so they say. Stuff on the age of
consent and "family values", age and perceptions of age, pc fascists,
short fiction and poetry, an interview with Joolz, and some great one-
pagers_ 'girls just want to have guns', 'what have you done this year',
and 'what you really want to read'. Some good advice too: "do something
you thought you couldn't". #4 should be out already, and they're putting
together a music compilation tape. [J]
24 pages A5, cut/paste on collage backgrounds, rough. 60p+sae (trades
welcome), from c/o P. J. Ansell, 231 Hiltingbury Rd, Chandlers Ford,
Eastleigh, Hants, SO5 1NJ (cheques to P. J. Ansell).

SCIENCE FICTION POETRY
An Introductory Factsheet. Practitioners of genre poetry (Science
Fiction/Speculative Fantasy) have organizations at their disposal:
arenas in which to exchange ideas, and into which newcomers, writers and
explorers, can be welcomed. This single-sided A4 factsheet gives you
many contacts in England and the States for doing just that. [B]
FREE for sae from Steve Sneyd, 4 Nowell Place, Almondbury, Huddersfield,
West Yorks HD5 8PB.

SEQUENCES
#7. Sequences is an audio mag which specializes in electronic music.
Each issue is a compilation of pre-releases, older pieces and not-to-be-
released stuff, all presented in a radio style program (and the voice-
overs and links are well mellow and sound as). Mostly
ambient/progressive sound but it spans the ages, from early 70s prog
rock styles to today's (lighter) rave-influenced toons. This issue has
music from T-K, Robert Schroeder, Michael Stearns, Patrick Cosmos,
Luddite CD 144, Ian Boddy, Bernd Scholl, Chris Glassfield, Vietgrove,
Morgan Bryan, Bas Broekhuis, Daniel Biry, Andy Pickford, Wavestar, Steve
Charlton, Sean Spence, Johan Timman and more. Good value for money. Do
not expect raging techno, cos that it ain't. Chill out material.
Excellent sound quality. [B]
All back issues available, ask for list. All chrome/dolby/C90, from DAT
master. #4 each UK/#4.50 Europe/#5 elsewhere. All cheques to Sequences.
Mick Garlick, 3 Copseland, Claverton Down, Bath, Avon BA2 6EA.

SEXUAL FANTASIES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
This one, at the very least, deserves a prize for best zine title.
Otherwise known as KAW #12, it's a chatty and scratty sort of punk zine
with a real gift for spotting the bizarre and silly in just about
anything and everything: Sega Megadrive, Johnny Cash ("He shot a man in
Reno just to watch him die"), building snowmen in the middle of July,
Agony Uncle column featuring Ice-T, horoscopes and why they're crap...
Fun and silliness continues in "interviews" with Pansy Division,
Cornershop, Screeching Weasel. Comes with a more serious free minizine.
[B]
16 A5 typed/cut/paste pages. 50p+sae or trade. Mark, 2 Carmuir, Forth,
Lanarkshire, ML11 8AR.

SID WATCHES TELLY
The premise for this comic is simple. Sid comes into a fags and beer-can
laden front room at four in the afternoon, switches on his telly, sits
down with his remote and spends the next four hours immobile. The only
differences registering in the pictures that fill almost every nine-
panel page are the changing hands of the clock face and the occasional
sound effect of his hand on the remote. All you see is his figure
slumped impassively in an armchair, couch potato style. What happens in
the strip is the TV, breaking into each panel in the form of a speech
balloon. Five hours' of prime time viewing are satirised: surreal,
inane, verbal drivel which starts with children's afternoon psychobabble
and culminates in the manifestation of Shub Niggurath, Black Goat of the
Woods, on the Paul Daniels Show. [SE]
16 A5 pages. 50p from Runciter Corp, BM Indefinite, London WC1N 3XX
(cheques to L Burton).

SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING NETWORK
Winter 93/94. Newsletter of the SKSN, a network for the free exchange of
skills/knowledge/ideas. They compile a register of members (available
for #1) with skills/ facilities on offer or to learn, and also organise
skill share camps. Newsletter contains their  accounts, details of the
new register, a report from last summer's camps, regional contacts and
lots of useful addresses. Also info on Well Health (the free sharing
folk in Wales) and the Radical Routes network of co-ops (with their
mailing list). SKSN still seems to be in a fairly embryonic form, but
contains real potential as a means to organise a workable alternative to
commodity exchange that we can start using in the here and now. [J]
14 pages A5, rough. Free "but donation would be nice". SKSN, PO BOX 20,
Craven Arms, Shropshire, SY7.

SKINHEAD TIMES
#12. Newspaper dedicated to all things skin. ST is fiercely protective
of "our cult"_ there is much talk of "heritage", "skinhead tradition"
and so on_which means that certain people get short shrift. Gays who
dress like skins, members of the "anti-soap brigade" (grungy lefty
longhairs like me) who have the temerity to wear Doc Martens (I've
always found they chafe the ankles) and journalists who write unkind
things about skins are not popular. Of course, the ghost at this banquet
of skinheadery is neo-Nazism. "Neither Red Or Racist" proclaims the
masthead. Well, fair enough, but then neither's the Guardian, which this
doesn't resemble. Certainly ST is NOT racist, and its large, lively and
very international classified/contact section specifically excludes
political ads. But none of this creates the value-free skinhead
camaraderie that ST is keen to foster_ it seems more like a conspiracy
of silence. Mostly though the paper is not political in any direction
and its focus instead is on music and clothes. A lot of the paper has an
air of "Do you remember...?" about it, although for some these things
never went away. Do you remember Slade being a skinhead band? Well,
there's an article about them here. Do you remember those cheesy youth
cult exploitation novels published by the New English Library? (I always
loved the ones about Hell's Angels). Here is an obituary for "Richard
Allen" (James Moffatt) who wrote the ones about (aw, you guessed)
skinheads. Remember Two Tone? Ska? Oi!? The music pages coverage is
eclectic, spanning two decades of sounds that skins have got off on. The
"sports" reports on the back page are all about terrace fighting (with a
disavowal at the head of the "Hooligan Watch" column). [SC, edited]
Quarterly tabloid (natch) newsprint, 12 pages. 25p/$1/DM2/FF5 plus
postage, subs #2/yr UK / #3 Europe / #5 elsewhere. ST Publishing, P.O.
Box 12, Dunoon, Argyll, Scotland PA23 7BQ.

SLAM
#5. If you like politics with your music then this Stateside newspaper
should fit. Slam has a broad liberation focus;  as is put on the cover
(a quote from Martin Luther King of all people): "The question is not
whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be".
Articles cover conditions in blockaded Cuba; Liz Highleyman's 'The Right
To Love... The Right To Kill' which protests the gay movement's demands
for the 'right' to be a soldier (fighting discrimination or endorsing
militarism?); a very informative article on Mumia Abu-Jamal; David
Hansen looks at Clinton's plans to indenture and force into YTS style
jobs anyone who can't pay for higher education; and the very fine piece
"The American Nonconformist In the Age of the commercialisation of
Dissent"_ rebellion becomes the new source of Big Money now that the
'Protest Generation' has come of age as the Generation of Super-
Consumers.
The music coverage_ interview with W.O.R.M, Baltimore Scene Report,
vinyl reviews and snippet music news on who's been shot or murdered
recently_ is interesting enough I guess, but not a patch on the above
stuff. File under the best thing this reviewer has seen in a while. [B,
sent by Slab Distro]
32 A4 page newsprint. [This issue is from Oct/Sept 93; could be #6 or 7
by now]. $2 from Slam, P.O. Box 4809, Alexandria, VA 22303.
Contributions of any kind welcomed.

SLOUCH
#1+2. A melting pot of UFOs, conspiracies, spoof adverts, loads of
freebies and tons of wacky weirdness make up two of the most refreshing
and different comix I've seen for quite a while. Whatever your views on
UFOs and such things, this'll put a smile on your face and a "what the
hell's it all about?" on the tip of your tongue. The regulars include
Spooky Boy and his Kid Sister; His Lateness; Sharp Knife; and the
ongoing serial Puerto Rico, which injects a bit of seriousness into the
proceedings. Drawn in a quite original style, it's an eclectic mix,
suffused with humour that varies from Glen Baxter-ish single panels
through anti-work propaganda, to the joys of melting plastic animals.
Look to the skies if you want, but I think the aliens might already be
here and living in Cornwall. [AL]
#1 A4 newsprint, 32 pages #1 postpaid; #2 US-comic size 28 pages, glossy
cover #1.50 postpaid. Pete Slouch, c/o 49c High St, Falmouth TR11 2AF.

SLUG AND LETTUCE
#33. Free and packed U.S. newspaper (though available from addresses in
lots of different countries) for the punk scene promoting contact and
responsibility amongst punks. Not at all preachy; instead it's about
self-expression, independence of thought and a self-active movement wary
of thoughtless consumption, fashion trash and marketed rebellion. To
that end there's a huge reviews section and equally massive free
classified ads ("racist, white power, homophobic" unwelcome and
unaccepted) particularly encourages DIY distros, punk radio and venues.
[B]
8 page A3 tiny type newspaper (yes, even littler type than ByPass). FREE
but donations appreciated. Takes ads. Available for sae in the following
countries: BM Active, London WC1N 3XX / c/o Christine, P.O. Box 2067,
Peter Stuy  Stn, NY 10009, USA / Y@hoo, PLK046949 C, 1000 Berlin 44,
Germany / Southern Black Cross Distro, c/o P.O. Box 154, Tweed Heads,
NSW 2485, Australia / Yann, La Bonnemais, 35590 La Chapelle, Thourault,
France / Internal Conflict, c/o Elli & Renato, P.O. Box 51465, Raedene,
2124, Jo'burg, S. Africa.

STOMPING SCENE
#1, 5 & 6. Stomping Scene comix metamorphosed into Moist Penguin
sometime in 1992 (#7) so these three go back a fair way. Three 32 page
zines is a lot to review in one go, so don't expect to find out to much
about each. #1 is much more a newsletter of the Oxford comics society
and certainly the most dated. Mostly reviews, a profile on Enki Bilal
and comics in Brazil. A few cartoons tho'_ notably Sloths (which i
loved) by Jason Stevens, and Fred and Daniel by Damian Cugley. 5 & 6
definitely wear better as general release stuff. The Sloths turn up
again (very simple drawing style, great stuff), as do Fred and Daniel,
albeit slightly transformed. Loads more strips in these issues, which
are a bit of a curate's egg. I liked 'It happened one day by a wall'
(Cugley again), Giant Sized Man Thing, Modern Romance, and Cushion Love
best. Lots of reviews again and articles on being a comic book widow,
and a french comic festival. That's all i'm going to say. At #2.50 for
96 pages buy it yourself if you want to find out more. [A]
Special offer: #2.50 for three 32 page A4 issues. Alleged, 26 Princes
Street, Oxford, OX4.

SUBSPACE
International Zine Show. This is the documentation from a show held in
Iowa as part of the 1992 Decentralized World-Wide Networker Congress. In
the introduction organiser Steve Perkins sites the development of zines
from their beginnings in the SciFi community in the 30s to their place
in what has come to be known as 'Networking Culture'. With some 300
contributors from 22 countries, many responding to the request for "a
short personal statement on your thoughts/views and experiences of zines
and networking", this a seminal document of this vital form of
publishing activity. [C]
52 18x22" pages. $7 from Subspace, 1816 E. College St, Iowa City, IA
52245, USA. Also available for #3+sae from Mark Pawson, P.O. Box 664,
London E3 4QR.

SURREALIST RESEARCH
The irrepressibly surreal beckon us to play a game... a game of desire
beyond the passivity of consumption and which establishes an interactive
network of folk, who themselves shall define its nature. SR is thus
"designed to act as a bridge between those of us drawn in to concrete
surrealist activity for the first time". Contained within is an esoteric
questionnaire (now past its deadline) but the next issue should document
the 'results' and have lots of contacts. Rolled up it makes a cunning
tool for whiplashing fog too. [RP]
3 A4 pages. Next # for 3 stamps from Surrealist Research, 281 City Road,
Suite One, London EC1V 1LA.

TAKING LIBERTIES
#11 "They're in there for us, we're out here for them". The bulletin of
the Anarchist Black Cross who give practical support to class struggle
prisoners, victims of frame-ups, and people organising and resisting on
the inside. Essential material on prisoner support, an unfashionable but
vital area of political activity. This issue sees the merger of the old
Taking Liberties and ABC bulletin. Crammed full of news and information
that you just don't find elsewhere. In turns enraging, depressing and
inspiring. Includes an overview of the "Criminal Justice" Bill,
examining the parallel moral panics and "solutions" that were old news
in the 1860's, the dual character of modern 'liberal' democracies, and
the real agenda behind the "prison works" rhetoric. Lots of info on
individual cases: the Tower Hamlets 9, David Bowden, Patrick Steele,
Graham Galloway, and events from the inside: resistance to brutality,
provocation and abuse. Updates on Campsfield, the 'Innocent' campaign in
Manchester, the suicide of a poll-tax prisoner, and the development of a
U.S style control unit (see 'From Alcatraz to Florence' review in ByPass
#1) at Whitemoor. A long feature looks at the aftermath of the Jamie
Bulger murder case, examining the feelings aroused, motives, and
implications, and focusing on the hierarchies of violence that we all
support in many areas of our lives. International news looks at Jamaica,
France (day of action inside and outside against isolation blocks),
Venezuela, Canada (Prisoners Justice Day, remembering those who have
died inside), U.S (Lucasville Uprising by John Perotti). Also, a review
of Perotti's 'Down To The Wire' (reviewed again this ish of ByPass), and
a list of other ABC publications and regional groups.
Also produce an introductory leaflet explaining their ideas and
motivations, and others on writing to prisoners (tips to overcome all
those doubts and misgivings, especially useful for people considering it
for the first time), practical support_ what you can and can't send and
how, visiting, etc. Can always use news, input and donations. "Until all
are free, we are all imprisoned". [J]
22 pages A4, photocopied. 25p (subs #3 unwaged, #5 waged, #10
organisations per year), from Taking Liberties, c/o 121 Railton Rd,
London, SE24. Back issues #2 - 7, and 9 10p/copy+postage.

TALES FROM SLEAZE CASTLE
#2 and #6 (More Tales from Sleaze Castle). An Englishman's home is his
castle, and these fine products are so English they positively exude
that oh-so-endearing domestic eccentricity. Just spot those references
to Frank Sidebottom, Doctor Who, Cannon and Ball and the rest. They're
so English, in fact, that the nearest they come to sleaze is a story
about a student party. But 'eccentric' isn't really a good enough
description: the linked stories have more to them than that, and are the
kind that get labelled 'surreal'_ though that's not it either. Two
twenty-something female friends flit from one dimension to another,
order pizzas, get into fights, and meet weird'n'crazy characters. Ah!
Now I've got the word to sum it all up: SILLY. Silly, but fun. True, the
narrative is often seemingly designed to create maximum confusion_ but
that's not the point. It's the characters that are the centre here, and
they work well: lots of eloquent facial expressions and nicely observed
mannerisms. The art is excellent (sort of Shary Flenniken meets David
Shenton) and the humour defiantly non-derivative. Admittedly, too much
of this stuff and you'll get a get a headache; but in small doses, these
tales generate a unique stream-of-consciousness Zen. More Sleaze pleaze.
[RS]
24 (U.S) pages, glossy. #1.30 each from Gratuitous Bunny, 33 Windsor
Drive, Cleadon, Sunderland SR6 7SY.

TALKING RAVEN
Vol 3 #4. Wa-hey! Hot stuff city! This treat for the warped of mind
comes from Seattle, like Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana (RIP) and loads of other
good things. Those lucky Seattlers can get this paper FREE. Wish we had
papers like this here; the ones I get are full of reports of rummage
sales and used car ads. Talking Raven, instead, is filled with tasty
lewd photos, comix, erotic art and poetry, tattoos and all my other
favourite peccadilloes. Looking down the back issues themes cluster
around an art / sex / magic / communications nexus_ it's all a bit
TOPYish (except that Talking Raven can spell right!). This issue's theme
is Sappho, Eros & Psyche, and all the world is here: gays, lesbians, SM
freaks, good ol' Annie Sprinkle and all. I particularly enjoyed 'Cinema
Daze' in which Julia writes about makin a buck shakin her booty in San
Francisco: "I love the eyes of the awed. I will twirl my rings for you;
I will glance deep into your eyes; I will smile for you that fuck-
smile..."  [SC]
20 page newspaper, two colour cover. Quarterly. $3 ($6 inc airmail).
Subs $11/4# (#23 airmail). Cheques ($ only) to: ParaTheatrical ReSearch.
P.O. Box 161, Port Washington, WA 98368, USA.

TEPID
# something. "Small but perfectly formed magazine" with a marvellous
account of the making of a cult movie (did it really happen? Who
cares_the art is in the retelling). That takes up most of the 12 A6
pages of Tepid, apart from an equally brilliant guide to Elvis movies
and some exclusive news on what Sid James is doing now that he's dead.
Oh Yes Yes Yes! [B]
FREE for sae (back issues likewise) and to come out monthly (send me ALL
of them please) from: Ben, Flat 2, 3 Hove Park Villas, Hove, E. Sussex
BN3 6HP.

THE TERRA FIRM
Two issues here: Ban Cars and What is the Biggest Environmental
Disaster? Both are well detailed, full of information and with sections
on further reading and references. Ban Cars brings together criticisms
of cars split into sections and each with detailed info from wide-
ranging areas. Lists the effects of the car on people, animals, the land
and the sea_generally anything living; the specific effects of carbon,
ore mining, oil production and spillage, salt poisoning (of land
alongside roads gritted in the winter), electricity production, and
anything else you can think of (and a lot more besides) involved in our
car centred culture. This is the shortened version, the full version,
The Case for Banning the Car, is available from the same address_you can
trade in your copy of Ban Cars for a discount on the newer and more
spacious model. What is the Biggest Environmental Disaster? is again
well-informed and referenced, divided into readable sections. Covers
acid rain, ozone depletion, exhaustion of non-renewable resources, the
collapse of environmental systems, the greenhouse effect and global
warming, the effect of water shortages, deforestation, the destruction
of coral reefs, decimation of photoplankton, eradication of mangroves,
desertification of Savannah grasslands and destruction of self-
sustaining resources (bacteria and topsoil). Gives detailed info about
all these and other subjects, many not considered important_ or maybe
just not popular_enough to be covered by the mainstream green
organizations. [TK]
Cars 24 A4 pages, Disaster 16. #1 each from: The Mundi Club, 146 Dene
Rd, Oxford OX3 7JA.

TERRITORIES
#4. The SF and Slipstream Journal. I'll take this one page by page,
along with a recommendation that you get yourself a copy. There's a 3
page interview with SF writer Paul McAuley; 'Shark Tactics' is Mike
Cobley's (apparently already infamous) column_ this ish 'The
Unacceptable Face of SF'; a 3 page exploration of the thoughts and works
of Philip K. Dick; writer Ian McDonald takes out three pages to rap on
'Remix Culture': counter culture meets sub (commodity) culture; then
another three pager: a blow-by-blow Koyaanisquatsi film appreciation; a
wicked retrospective on the life of Roky 'I walked with a zombie'
Erickson (of 13th Floor Elevators fame); lastly (apart from a good
reviews section) a fine piece of fiction (8 pages), the collaborative
effort of Phil Raines and Harvey Welles. I'm neither an informed nor_ or
so I thought_ even an interested reader of SF (I still don't know what
'slipstream' is meant to mean) but: if this far-ranging and speculative
slab of critical culture scratching is SF, then I'll have more of it.
[B]
32 A4 pages, professional dtp and print job. #2. Subs #6/3# (plus #1
sent for free). Back #1-3 available. $5/# U.S readers. Territories, c/o
McNair, 65 Niddrie Rd (0/2), Strathbungo, Glasgow G42 8PT.

THAT VICIOUS
#3&4. Odd 'comics' that mix strips (cute artwork), new year's
resolutions, reminiscences ("girlfriends I have known" sort of stuff),
straightforward stories, some oddball stories and a very strange section
'Eit' which is in both issues. "Not for kiddies" and "over 18s only" but
don't be misled_ this stuff is for the young at heart. At #1 for both
they're definitely worth a look. Keep at it John. [B]
#3 is 36 A4 pages, #4 is a big 48 A4. That's quite a bundle for #1; if
you like them I'm sure he'd appreciate some extra dosh. John Mark
Hughes, Better Than Blur, Arfryn, Denbigh, Clwyd, Wales LL16 5UF.

13% SKIM LIZARD
#2. In America, the comic system is big enough to contain its equivalent
of the art-movie. This kind of comic is in print to get awards, to soak
up cultural capital and to redeem all the rest of the shit that comes
out. Eightball, Peep Show, Yummy Fur, anything by Will Eisner, we may
not like the situation but it's what those comics do. We may even
despise the asshole mainstream artists and writers who feed off the art-
comics, showering them with praise while they drop their own crap on us
from a great height. It's the sort of thing that gives you vertigo. The
stuff that isn't picked up for such dubious reward has to be the work of
real scum, obviously. We want it. And here... Hang on a moment. It says
on page 25 that Skim Lizard picked up a rave in the system's own house
mag, The Comics Journal. That can't be right. This stuff is good.
Obviously everyone will have their favourites in an anthology comic like
this; mine's the k capelli/667 megadesigner found, which reinvented
comics before my very brain. The rest of the gear in Skim Lizard, from
soft drink death to notes on how to sell your small press comic, and
rants against TV, is all worth having vision to see. [SE, submitted by
Slab Distro]
A5. $1.50 from Puppy Toss Artweird Comicz, P.O. Box 9849, Berkeley, CA
94709. USA.

THREE IN A BED
#3 A Night In The Life. The first in an ongoing series chronicling the
life of 3 students who share a house in Oxford (there is a fourth, "but
she's really dull so we won't talk about her"). In this issue Chloe has
lots of sex but doesn't admit she's on the pill, Kate goes to the
library and worries about fancying Alex, and Alex gets lots of offers
and worries about whether Kate is a lesbian. Lots of Oxford references
and student angst. Art and words by Ms. Jeremy Dennis. #4 'The Invisible
Fourth'. Continues the adventures, and introduces the invisible fourth_
the one who was too dull to mention, and surprise, surprise, a few
drinks, a bit of attention, a haircut and she's witty, attractive and
interesting. Chloe loses her man, Alex goes to help her mother with a
nervous breakdown and Kate meets Louise (the 4th). Seems like Louise
fancies Alex  too, or is Kate just jealous? Guest Artwork  (clearer,
cleaner style)  by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood. [A]
32 pages A4. #2  from Alleged Literature, 26 Princes St, Oxford, OX4.

TOTALLY WICKED
#6. Here's the line-up: this is an anthology comic with contributions
from Eddie Campbell, Ian Gunn, Clint Cure, Tonia Walden, Scott Beattie,
John Passfield, Gerard Ashworth, Steve Carter, Antoinette Rydyr, Steve
Stamatiadis and Jason Conlon. Campbell, of course, is the comics
gigastar here but his five pages worth of teenage Brief Encounter,
although the longest, ain't necessarily the best of what's on show. I'm
going to single out Walden, Gunn, Passfield and Stamatiadis for special
mentions but the quality of everything here is way up. [SE]
24 A5 pages. $1.50 from Totally Wicked, P.O. Box 328, Carina, 4152,
Queensland, Australia.

TOTTENHAM COMMUNITY ACTION
Well-produced newsletter from Tottenham Solidarity Group. 8,000 of #3
have been delivered in the Tottenham area. If you didn't get one_ and
you want to know what can be (and is being) done to resist attacks on
Tottenham residents_ you should be able to get a free copy (enclose sae
if you're outside the area) from Box 12, 72 West Green Rd, London N15.
Current issue covers the threat to close Bruce Grove Post Office,
resisting VAT on fuel, anti-McDonalds, no platform for fascists, the
Criminal Justice Bill and how it could affect tenants as well as
squatters, and football for the footballers (not the bosses). [B]
Double sided A3, folded. Dtp-ed and printed.

TREE SPIRIT
Tree Spirit aims to protect and conserve trees and woods across Britain
through creation of awareness and affection for the natural environment,
especially the humble, but majestic, tree. This, the Summer 93 issue,
has a finely tuned piece on the magic and geomantic integrity of
Wychbury Hill, a sacred site under threat of yet another proposed
motorway. There's also some poems/odes to trees and the tree spirits;
Think Globally (Plant Trees Locally); updates on their Land Appeal; how
to find your medicine tree (meditation); Children's Pages; festie
reports and some lovely illustrations and celtic knotwork throughout.
[B, sent by member]
28 A4 pages printed on trees. #1; membership/subs, #10/#6.50 unwaged,
gets you the mag and invites to regular moots. Shelley Griffiths, 95
Anstey Road, Perry Barr, Birmingham B44 8AN.

TRINKETS AND BAUBLES
#2 Lots of your usual music fanzine stuff, notable for it's well posh
repro job_ gloss paper throughout, decent photos, a bit of colour.
Interviews and reviews with and/or of, amongst others: Drop Nineteens,
Gas Huffer, Mint 400, Mudhoney, Teenage Fanclub, Wildhearts, Johnny
Thunders, Nirvana, Pearl Jam... [J]
32 pages A5. #1+sae from 18 Gays Rd, Hanham, Bristol, BS15 3JS.

TWIN FREAKS
#10. Interviews with The Monomen, M.D.M., Chicken Bone Choked, Pain
Teens, Babes In Toyland and Rich from Germ zine. A not so brief history
of the band Sad. Gareth reviews records (other peoples and his own).
Look out for the Melvins review. Also demo tapes and zines, couple of
live band reports and others' ads free of charge. [N]
24 A4 pages, typed, photos. 70p. No back #. Gareth, 47 Exton Road,
Sherwood, Notts NG5 1HA.

TWISTED TIMES
#13. This one tickled a rib or two. TT comes at ya out of Concord near
'Frisco. Features a lush-looking hemp plant in bloom on the cover (mine
never looked this good), and inside there's a long feature on the weed
and the US Government's War On Drugs, in particular the appalling
propaganda aimed at schoolchildren. Combines this with a pronounced
anti-tobacco stance, which seems principled rather than logical.
Generally has a sharp eye on the mainstream media_a section of surreal
newspaper gleanings as well as stuff on adverts, MTV etc. What really
tickled my fancy was an artikill by the self-styled 'Asswipe', an Evil
Clown, about the naughty things he and his clownish companions in
villainy get up to. These are the kind of people who earn California its
enviable international reputation for nuttiness. I quote: "...you may
spurn us and you may open your door someday and see a rubber nose and
smell whiskey breath and catch a cream pie in your face". Also liked the
two pages of graphics by Bill Barker aka Schwa_ a clean-lined pen and
ink style hitched up to an ironic, modern-angst viewpoint. The whole
saladbowl gets my seal of approval, anyway, for what it's worth. [SC]
24 A4 US pages, dtp, lots of pics and photos. Quarterly. $2 sample;
$10/6# sub (+IRCs or more $ for post). Cash only. Twisted Times, Box
271222, Concord, CA 94520.

UGLY
#6. I'd buy it just for the postage stamp sized comic strip "Duncan have
you seen my stash?" on the back cover. Anton_ blow it up huge and make
it a killer front cover. Laugh? I nearly started smoking dope again.
Ugly is hippycore/festie/stonehead fodder. Some good full page comic
strips: Cannabis_ The Awful Truth, the excellent 2 pager 'Wasted'
(tripping out at a festie surrounded by riot pigs) and a detourned comic
strip Autonomouth ("We have a world of pleasures to win" etc and so on).
Apart from Dawn Smith (Gussett zine) with her mighty Anne Summers Party
Report, the rest is interviews with all your favourite aural terrorists
(Bender, Poisoned Electrick Head, Revolutionary Dub Warriors, Foreheads
in a Fishtank) and a bucket bong full of sounds reviews. [B]
24 A4 pages, typed. 60p+sae from: Anton, c/o The Bungalow, Croft Lane,
Gatley, Staffs ST19 5PY.

UNDERGROUND
Approach with caution and very open mind. Not for the faint of heart. A
torrent of text, sex, grafix and abuse unpublishable through the
mainstream media. It's handed out free in London or available for "at
least a quid" through the mail. Now in its third issue,  and going for a
fourth pretty soon, Underground is put together by artists with
attitude_ imagine Queer activism, post post-modernism and white cyber
trash ground to cut and paste through a meat grinder and fed into the
back of a virus-ridden flight simulator and crash-landed by no-taste,
workshy, redneck scum from the sewers beneath the gutter press. These
people are speaking in tongues_ and it's tongues down your throat, in
yer face and up every orifice: its creators guarantee to "shirt-lift
your son, get off with your wife, fist your husbands  and laugh at your
life". Contributors across three issues include: Stewart Home, Sadie
Plant, Matthew Fuller, Homocult, Institute of Fatuous Research. Evil and
unwholesome, particularly recommended for the politically correct. You
have been warned. [B, review carried forward from previous issue cos we
like U-ground so much]
All large size newspapers. Only #1 & #3 available, for #1/issue+sae from
P.O. Box 3285, London SW2 3NN.

UNLIMITED DREAM COMPANY
#1. Zine based around dreams and the documentation of such. Contains
articles on cut up, a la Bill Burroughs, an intriguing interview with an
ex-inmate of a psychiatric 'hospital', reports of individuals' dreams,
dream-inspired artwork (could be better repro though), quotes on dreams
and some cut ups. Aims to set up a network of dreamers and to document
their experiences. Needs contributions (especially ones that break out
the "magic, Burroughs" ghetto in my humble opinion) in whatever form you
like. [RP]
32 A5 pages copied. 50p from UDC, 2 Regent Park Avenue, Leeds LS6 2AU.

UP AROUND THE BEND
#27. Varied and interesting game zine. More than a game zine (which is
maybe why it's interesting?) as it delves poetry, self-analysis,
politics. Lively letters page. Only drawback is the patchy copy quality.
[W]
27 A4 pages. Caldcon Press 48, Pretend Family Fanzine, 13 Merrivale Rd,
Stafford ST17 9ES.

VACUUM HEAD
A hotch-potch of poetry, football, opinion and local punk scene chat
from the heads of a seven person Clacton collective. #1 Vacumn Head has
some very odd poetry (contributions welcome), Talk from the Terraces
(well, Clacton's Rush Green Bowl anyway), Freddie Floggit mouths off,
and loads of punk records, demos and zine reviews. #2 Vaqume Head, a
vast improvement on #1, includes interview with Another Fine Mess; The
Beautiful Game (footie clubs and gate prices); Did You Want To Know
(lists celebs who've played or had trials with clubs_ worth the price of
#2 alone); Fanzines (why and how to do it, sort of); Is Pop Dead?; Dust
Mites (yes yes and yes again_ love it); and a spaced out 'trip' in/to
Clacton ("you shouldn't have drunk the water"). If they keep improving
like this we're in for treats in future issues. [B]
#1 16 A5 pages; #2 20 pages. 25p each+sae from Pete, 16 Crossways,
Jaywick, Clacton, Essex.

VERDICT ON FACTSHEET FIVE
Don't know when this was written (early 80s?), or for why exactly. In it
Gerry Reith sounds off about one-time Factsheet 5 editor Mike Gunderloy.
A lot of it seems to be inspired by a purely personal animosity, but
some of what he says is pertinent to ByPass, since F5 was a model for
this magazine. Reith has (had) little truck with the idea of F5 as a
'tool for networking', "here we have the circular itself, pure, standing
alone". Lashes Gunderloy for poor reviewing, which ByPass is doubtless
guilty of, and for being insufficiently opinionated_ ByPass tries not to
run reviews that are too negative, so we may fall into that trap too.
Appended is a letter from Zack Replica testifying to the authenticity of
the piece_ obviously a source of controversy at some point. [J,
submitted by Bob Black]
4 pages A4, copied. Price 25 cents +post from Slobboviated, PO BOX 3142,
Albany, NY 12203-0142, USA.

VOGARTH
How do you fancy fresh imagination, heavily dosed with teen-age,
substance-abusing, science fiction entertainment values? Yes? Then,
check this out. Astro Punk is a wasted skin 'n' skeleton youth dedicated
to survival on drugs. Katika is a mutated feline rockette who looks
great and has zero personality problems. She also takes drugs. Together
they space out, doping and deterring extra-terrestrial villains wherever
and whenever in the galaxy they run across them. #18 Katika invents
sentient, truth-detecting boots which prove their purpose when she and
Astro Punk set off to see Spuggy Fugg play Thundra aerodrome. # 19 Aided
by Psychofoolz, a powerful fictional hallucinogenic, Kat and AP avoid
extinction by performing ritual magic to restore the looks of a
militaristic worm. Like much of the comics small press, Vogarth suffers
less from a poverty of the invention than a poverty of means. You get a
heavily packed page here and ths cn be bldy dfclt at times. It's fresh,
though; you know, with surprises. (SE)
28 A5 pages, A5. #1 from Ben Hunt, 43 West Cliff, Preston, PR1 8HX.

WAFFLEON SURREAL
#6. "Newsletter of Wobble Jaggle Jiggle and relative HEAD cases"! Far
out and trippy little zine put together from "correspondence, comments
and abuse" received. Psychedelic style graphics wrapped round reviews,
plugs and support for anything they've had through the mail that spaces
them out. Good networking tool if they like your stuff. If they don't
like what you send then it gets "sent back with reasons given as to why
it didn't turn us on". [B]
8 A5 pages handwritten and illustrated. Sae for current issue from 5a
Zion Gardens, Brighton BN1.

WAR OF THE WORDS
One-off (?) "sampler of fanzine pomes". Important to bear in mind the
distinction between "pomes" and poems_ what we have here is a collection
of verses by SF fans, published in SF zines, about SF-related topics.
Poetry-lovers need not apply. Most of the pieces date from the 50s,
though there is an extensively-glossed Rubaiyat pastiche from 1938 and
stuff from the 60s, 70s and 80s. In any case, the genre hasn't
noticeably improved during this considerable span of decades, and every
pome is, without exception, the most excruciating doggerel, in a mock-
heroic manner, with in-jokes galore. An example picked at random (rhymes
with fandom!): "Of fandom fans we are the cream / We never miss an ish /
Trufandom is our only theme". I could go on, but I'm a man of mercy.
These verses do provide an intriguing glimpse into a very closed
subculture which, after all, invented the fanzine... May The Verse Be
With You! [SC]
20 A5 pages, dtp-ed, offset. #1.25+sae/$3 to: Hilltop Press, 4 Nowell
Place, Almondbury, Huddersfield, W. Yorks HD5 8PD. Cheques to S. Sneyd.

WEE KEECH COMICS
#1 Saturday Night Rammy. Written in a Glaswegian dialect, but easily
understandable by sassenachs too, Wee Keech (translation: small shite)
is a fabulous little comic, priced so cheaply that everyone reading
ByPass should be sending off for it at once. It tells of the hilariously
violent adventures of Bobby the Buccaneer_ a Scottish Conan the
Barbarian but without the tact_ drawn in a gloriously cutesy style which
can't fail to endear you to him. Bobby drinks a lot, fights a lot and
generally stumbles into trouble at every turn.
"...Soon as ah can be arsed" says the author, we should get another six
comics in this series where we can look forward to meeting up with Big
Malky and Brutally Frank. I, for one, cannot wait. [AL]
28 A5 pages, good copy. 20p+stamp. Piece-A-Pish, c/o 170 Yokermill Rd,
Yoker, Glasgow G13 4HR.

WHOSE COMIC IS IT ANYWAY?
Another offering from Alleged Literature, a whole host of "improved"
strips and spot cartoons, with lots of little comments and notations
added on. Strips from 2000 AD, Misty, Judge Dredd and others.
Improvements by Dennis, Cugley, Don Mitchell and too many more to
mention. A fairly mixed bag_ some of them I really liked, and some...
[A]
32 pages A4, colour cover. #1 from Alleged Literature, 26 Princes St,
Oxford, OX4.

THE WILD RAG
#25 (6th Anniversary Ish). On my initial glance at the A4 front cover I
thought ByPass had given me another 'commercial' rock zine to review,
but on opening the first page I found this thing full of enough deathly
deeds to scare off the undertaker. Caters largely for Death Metallers,
main features going to unsigned bands and full of useful contacts for
fanzines, small record labels and bands. A must for anyone with an
interest in the underground scene of this genre. Closely allied to the
Wild Rags Rock Stores and record label in California. A very
professional ordeal full of inyerface truth and this is what I found
most attractive. Well presented, nicely formatted with plenty of artwork
and photographs. [BR]
40 A4 pages. $2 for more info than you could extract from a dictionary.
"Subscribe or Die". Last will and testaments to: 2207W Whittier Road,
P.O. Box 3302, Montebello, CA 90640.

A WILLIAM BURROUGHS BIRTHDAY BOOK
A collection of some of the pieces (articles, fiction, poetry) prepared
for a "Burroughs Day" celebration held in Brighton this year. Lots of
interesting stuff:  Simon Strong examines 'pseudo-science' influences in
the Burroughs canon_ Korzybiski, Reich, L. Ron Hubbard. Paul Cecil
essays an unravelling of what Hassan i Sabbah really said on his death-
bed, which interacts with an extract from Brion Gysin's The Process, and
permutational poems structured according to the scheme of 12th century
qabalists. Bill himself explains aesthetics in comic-strip form, there's
a short fiction piece from Robert Hill, Marco Polo on the Temple of the
Assassins, and some distorted graphics from 'Three Films'. In a late,
but handsome insert Genesis P-Orridge makes large claims for sampling in
'Splinter Test: Implications Ov Cut-Ups and Samples as Quantum Memes'.
[J]
42 pages A5+4 page insert, dtp-ed. #2.50+50p post from Temple Press, PO
Box 227, Brighton, BN2 3GL.

W.O.F.M.
#1. Full of shit_ it says on the cover. Some photos, some doodles, a
kids colouring page (my littl'un refused), some Sega games for sale,
contact for a new hair cut in the Banbury area (0831 280533) and that
really is your lot. "Write in with any old shit_ I'll print it". So
there you go_ 12 trash-filled A5 pages.
#2. A-ha. Now I've worked out what W.O.F.M stands for, I'm beginning to
warm to this Waste Of (something?) Money. Ho ho. #2 is not such a
W.O.F.M as #1: 20 A5 pages this time, Ang fills up around 5 of them with
cartoons, the rest is news clippings, ads and photos. [B]
Get a copy by sending any info and an sae, trade for yours or, if you
must W.Yr.F.M, #1 from Richard, 10 Gatteridge St, Banbury, Oxon OX16
8DJ.

WOOZY
Get your postie's legs working cos it's a long walk for this one.
Woozy's comin at ya straight outta Parkville, Australia. No. Hold on_ it
sez on this lil' note here it's also available from Slab Distro. That
saves some shoe leather. So, yeh_ comin at ya with a packed out 64 pages
of local (Victoria state) music scene coverage and a whole buncha
cartoon strips and pics (mostly home-grown, good too, and with some
thieved from as far away as Avon's Bugs and Druggers). Plenty going on;
something in there is gonna grab ya. [B]
A5. $2 U.S from P.O. Box 4434, Melbourne Uni, Parkville 3052, Australia.
#? from Slab.

X-RAY
#1 A neatly (and with some style) handwritten zine with a media-access
bent. Pro-situ cartoons/ comic strips, frame articles on why do
zines/DIY?, and censorship. Somewhat ambiguous exhortations_ "Be your
own show"_ and fuzzy thinking come as a package with clearer insights.
Andy details the outrageous powers of our Customs and Excise folk, notes
that "anti-porn laws invariably get used against small-time, subversive,
queer or otherwise 'deviant' literature", but is then able to declare
that excise men should be brought under the jurisdiction of existing
obscenity laws, and advises them to spend their time pursuing "child-
pornographers". Fortunately he still feels able to attack pro-censorship
"progressives", collapsing along the way the bogus distinction between
"pornography" and "erotica", so beloved by many of our would-be
policemen, and restating the common-sense insight that of course the
porn industry is bad_ in the same way as all corporate people-mashing is
bad. Also an Immediast Underground reprint reiterating their "media-
access=democracy" formula . [J]
12 pages A4. 50p+sae from Andy Chick, 25 Hart St, Oxford, OX2 6BN.

XYY
#4. "The magazine that celebrates the so called supercriminal, the man
with the extra Y chromosome". Subliminal messages and off the wall
introduction just for starters. Cartoons, articles and stories of
deviant sex, drugs and psychopathy; interviews with practical joke
manufacturers; some unusual profiles of famous people (some of whom I've
never heard of); a visit to the Billy Graham museum; even a few reviews.
Make of it what you will, I'm not sure that I really got my head round
it to be honest. Strange. [A, submitted by Bob Black]
30 A4 pages, gloss cover. $3.50+airmail post from John F. Kelly, 82
Kimball Ave, Yonkers, NY 10704, USA.

YOU'RE SO HIDEOUS
The recipe for home-brew pizza beer_ yep, you read that right_ is
bubbling with rage and fury as is most of the rest of this hot little
slab of punk rock and roll on a plate. 18 A5 slices deep pan hard crust
topped with: expos| of today's degenerate cider scene, squatting in
Athens report, interviews with Fleas & Lice and Bugeyed, 2 pages to
Belfast Youth and Community Group from Petesey/Warzone (still going for
it after all these years, grants and all), 4 pages of some tasty T-shirt
designs available by mail, reviews, cut-ups.... Lost my appetite on the
page devoted to hurling abuse at everyone and everything to do with
Tower Hamlets, in particular Bethnal Green. My daughter's born and lives
in E3 and she's neither a fascist, a cunt, an arsehole, scum, twat, a
cockroach nor a 'copsucker'. This page sums up the bigotry and
intolerance that put carpet-bagging 'anti-fascists' on the same side as
the sieg-heiling slapheads they like to run around the country after.
Maybe the ghetto-politicos at Hideous could have a go at fat people next
issue, lesbians the next, and come full circle with a piece on the Irish
after that. Such a shame we can't all match up to the anarcho-master
race and live in squats in Brixton. Book your own life; that's what
punk's meant to be about. Remember?
Maybe that page is a joke, in which case it isn't funny. Or I've got no
sense of 'humour'. Ha Fucking ha. Tear that bit out and you got a
readable mag. [B]
30p from Box 0, 121 Railton Rd, Brixton, London SE24.

+++ LATE ARRIVALS (from our slack reviewers)+++
ANOICTH POLH
#30. Well produced Greek underground mag which tastes like something
from the 70s. Maybe it's just this issue, which contains articles on
Sexual Fantasy and Sex Politics, Reich and U.F.Os, Frank Moore's Ero-
Play plus interviews with Gary Snyder and Tristan Tzara. Also an article
on Rap and an extensive zine review section. Greek language throughout.
[V]
44 A4 pages, glossy cover, spot colour and pages inside. 550 drachmas.
Subs 6,000d/6#. P.O. Box 20037, GR-11810, Athens, Hellas (Greece).

DIIPETES
Quarterly Journal in Defence of the Ancient Psyche #5. As far as I can
tell (armed only with an ancient Greek dictionary) this glossy and
densely packed mag (definitely not light reading) is a celebration of
archaic and classical Greek paganism. Reams of words on ancient Greek
gods and goddesses and figures like Alkmaion the Crotonite (a
pythagorean). Sets this against the 'barbarism' of Rome and its later
successors. Not entirely sure of its orientation in other respects,
appears to be anti-nationalist and anti-militarist (preferring Apollo to
Ares/Mars) and is distributes by the Alternative Gallery. But all those
adverts for Odinic zines...? If you're not into magick, shamanism and
Apollo the Light Bringer this could be your cup of tea. It certainly
isn't mine. No Gods, No Masters. [V]
48 A4 pages, glossy cover etc. 800d. Subs 4,500d/6#. P.O. Box 20037, GR-
11810, Athens, Hellas (Greece).

THE BLAST
A new anarchist paper from Minneapolis published by The Agitator Index
Collective. Contains a range of articles with an all-American
(South/North/Central) focus and a Political Statement for the Collective
(seventeen columns of print!) There's much of interest here_ a news item
on Jo Blow (who "doesn't want to pay taxes because there are actual
homosexuals living in HIS city"), a feature on the uprising in the
Chiapas... But the thing that really grabs me is this Political
Statement: this is anarchist political philosophy at its best. Anyone
with an interest in anarchism will want to read it. Many on the
socialist left should be made to read it. The Blast is about all forms
of identity and all forms of oppression. The politics of childhood,
gender, race, nationality, democracy, in and for themselves: no tortured
casuistry of class reductionism. A coherent model of direct and
participatory democracy and a program that puts it to work immediately;
rather than fatuous apologetics for the status quo or the vampiric party
(democracy... tomorrow). The Blast then: real news and exemplary
political philosophy. Buy it. Read it. Feed it to the benighted. [AJ]
28 page tabloid newspaper. Bimonthly. Available from Active, BM Active,
London WC1N 3XX. #5 subs for 6# (#7 Europe). Cheques to Active
Distribution in U.K sterling.

CITY DEATH _ A Novel from the publishers of Green Anarchist magazine
From the first page you're  thrown headlong into the chaotic darkness of
'life' in a futurist environment: the Third World blockades all oil and
petrol supplies to the decadent West. Coupled with a breakdown in water
supplies, this prefaces epidemic, panic  and insurrection in the urban
centres of a Brave New England. Hypocrite televangelists preach calm and
obedience as all around a diseased society burns to the ground.
City Death is fast and furious but does not lose depth through this. We
are invited into the minds of serial killers, industry executives,
artists, broadcasters, kamikaze revolutionists, joy riders and the
confused anti-hero, riot policeman Barrett, wandering through the
carnage he has helped to create.  There is little of the cardboard cut-
out contrivancy of either scene or character of other recent anarchist
novels such as M. Gilliland's 'The Free'. The riot scenes are as vivid
and disturbing as those of 'acknowledged' writers Jack London (in the
Iron Heel) and Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man). Author Stephen Booth
weaves together an apocalyptic patchwork of a future firmly rooted in
the present day killing fields of spectacular society. [B]
207 A5 pages, perfect bound [ISBN: 0 9521226 0 X]. #5 post paid from GA
Mail Order, P.O. Box 407, Camberley, Surrey, GU15 3JY.

CONCENTRATED GROUND _ Poems by Martin A. Hibbert
A collection of poems and prose poems by Martin Hibbert written between
1980 and 1990 and previously spread throughout the small presses.
Hibbert presents us with a series of riddles, bizarre tales or
meditations triggered by objects or memories. The splicing of disparate
elements of his lived reality_ physical sensation, inner thought, the
natural, the mystical, the mind's collection of characters from
imagination, acquaintance and shared consciousness (the latter includes
W. C. Fields, Warhol and Kerouac)_ creates what Norman Jope in his
introduction terms a "hyperworld... in which the inner and outer states
of a person's life are merged". Several pieces are inspired by painters
including five written 'after Dali' and Hibbert is clearly sympathetic
to the Surrealist ethic, creating works which are at once ambiguous and
highly evocative. [SL]
104 A5 pages, perfect bound, beautiful cover. #6.95+50p p+p from Stride
Publications, 11 Sylvan Rd, Exeter, Devon EX4 6EW.

END TIME Notes On The Apocalypse _ A Novel by G.A. Matiasz
I've got to be honest, I didn't much like this book. The idea is that a
gang of crack thieves accidentally escape with a case of bomb grade
'riemanium' in addition to the jewels they set out to steal. They dump
the stuff on a back road where it is found by a college student who just
happens to be a member of the local anti-war groups. This all takes
place in a 2007 AD where the US is doing the 'Nam down Mexico way,
Oakland is in revolt and declaring independence, there are island
prisons that have become high-tech world powers and there are
south/central american countries that no other nations know about. We
follow ALL the main characters (the students, the radicals, the police,
the detectives, the crook, even the crook's girlfriend) through a sadly
unbelievable world. Society appears to have been reborn as the early
seventies only with more computers.
It is not the plot that really turned me off but the style. The writing
shoots from sections that read like one of Peter Cave's classic pulp
biker novels to long, long areas that are no more than political
philosophy of the most jargonistic kind. Coupled with a seeming
obsession with what everybody eats and the music they listen to, one
feels that the novel is about the author's personal taste more than
anything else. I won't spoil it for you by telling you the ending (that
wouldn't spoil it at all). If you want to read 299 pages of equal parts
wish fulfilment and manifesto then buy this book. [Z]
Perfect bound paperback, laminated, nice colour cover belies the
contents. ISBN 1-873176-51-1. #5.95/$8 from AK Press, 22 Lutton Place,
Edinburgh EH8 9PE.

THE FLASHLIGHT SONATA _ Works by Robert Sheppard
"It happens that way / all those memories / Curious black and white /
Distance / An image / But through the screen / Nothing but tatters of
light flaying around in the air"
This collection of Robert Sheppard's prose and poetry is an experimental
and destabilized chain of images_fragments torn out of time and space
leap frog each other through instants, like twisting a radio tuning dial
through the history of this century. Few boundaries of language or
structuration have been observed (some words, he writes, "it is
acceptable to kill") though a section of ending notes and resources
offer some derivatives; they hint at semblance where, to my mind, none
is really necessary_ it is the lack of definitive handles or anchors to
the text that enable such a glorious and energetic flow of cut-up
shifting perspectives. In the poem Internal Exile 3 comes the line "You
cannot see through the whole"; from these narratives, that meld war,
sexual politics and eroticism, is made something greater than the whole:
the promise of future perceptions and utopias grasped. One reviewer
included in the back cover blurb sums up Sheppard's work as "beyond
usual thought and action". No more need be said. Thoroughly different,
thoroughly enjoyable. [B]
51 A5 page book, bound and laminated, two colour cover. ISBN: 1 873012
52 7 (#5.95 paperback); 1 873012 53 5 (#? hardback). From Stride, 11
Sylvan Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 6EW.

INTIMATE RELATIONS_ Poems by Louise Hudson
Louise' poems deal with and explore the strengths and weaknesses of
relationships in a simple and personal, way. Friends, lovers, her
children and other family members are brought to the page in
recollections and observations that interweave with the day to day
setting of the table and household chores. a sample of the fare and the
shortest poem in the collection, 'Over It Now', reads: "I'm over it now"
she whispered with tears in her lies. [C]
59 A5 pages, perfect bound. #5.96 + p&p from Stride, 11 Sylvan Road,
Exeter, Devon EX4 6EW.

THE MADHOUSE OF LOVE
A Novel by Peter G. Mackie
Author Peter Mackie spent his early teenage years in a psychiatric
hospital where he started writing music and poetry. Madhouse was written
at age 17 and relates, in first person narrative, the story of a
teenager sectioned to a psychiatric institution against his will. It
tells of love, the yearning for companionship, daydreams, fears,
repressed energies, a body contained and an imagination simultaneously
free-falling, imploding and striking outward. An excerpt:
"...for ages I couldn't get those guilty feelings out of my head. The
whole village, or even the whole world, knows about me being in a mental
hospital_my parents have written to the papers and now everyone knows
that Tony Whitfield is the most abnormal inhuman psychopathic lunatic
that the world had ever known. Imagine what it is like to feel that you
are sickest person in the world and that everyone in the street will
look at you and recognize you and stare at you with eyes full of hate,
but at the same time being too polite and nice to tell you that they
hate you which makes it a hundred times worse. But you are public enemy
number one and they will talk about you and your evils and your madness
and your stupidity behind your back day and night. Ah well, so it goes,
and we don't care about hurting your feelings and will stare and
penetrate you with unnatural incestuous black magic evil eyes. And at
times when these feelings were at their strongest, I would shout out
loud and scream."
Madhouse is also beautifully illustrated by A. Maccini, Ferenc Aszmann,
John McCook and the author himself. [B]
104 A5 pages, perfect bound. ISBN: 0 9519845 0 0. #2.75 from Tetrahedron
Books, 30 Birch Crescent, Blairgowrie, Perthshire, PH10 6TS.

PHILOSOPHICAL NOTEBOOKS 1 (PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLORATIONS) _ Ulrich Verster
The first thing I noticed about this book was that it was published by
an obvious vanity press_"Academic Publications" of Oxford, indeed! This
lends it, at least to me, considerably less dignity than if it had been
honestly self-published. There are many good and worthy reasons for
self-publishing, and great writers have done it, Blake and Whitman
amongst others, but there are none for vanity publishing, which attempts
to endow a book with spurious and unearned credibility. The second thing
I noticed was that the cover design resembles those of academic
textbooks, an impression that was immediately spoiled when I opened the
book and found it was still in typescript. The third thing was the
conspicuous absence of biographical information about the author, either
on the book or on the accompanying press release. Either Verster is
unconscionably modest or he lacks any academic credentials. So, my
suspicions thoroughly aroused, I plunged headlong into the text.
Some of the book is written in numbered paragraphs, like those of
Wittgenstein. It also contains paeans to philosophy like those of
Nietzsche. But the author is, in fact, neither Wittgenstein nor
Nietzsche. The/author/writes/a/lot/like/this, and (some)times like
(this), apparently because the ideas he's grappling with are too deep
and complex to be expressed in straightforward prose. He also makes up
words_"mediatic/ization" is particularly opaque in meaning. And what's
it all about? Everything and nothing, really. Verster flits around like
a dizzy bat from one huge concept to another (the social role of the
artist, cultural definitions of gender, media representations) without
saying anything interesting, or even coherent, about any of them.
There's more incisive philosophical exploration in a Freak Brothers
comic. And more laughs. Maybe I'm horribly misjudging the greatest
thinker of our age, in which case I'll look stupid in 50 years time. But
I doubt it. This is evidently Verster's 12th book, but I won't be
putting the other 11 on my Christmas list. [SC]
319 pages, perfect-bound, laminated cover. ISBN 1 874440 07 7, #9.50
from: Academic Publications, Box ZZ, 111 Magdalen Rd, Oxford OX4. Caveat
Emptor!

THE ROMANCE OF THE AMERICAN LIVING ROOM _ A novel by Peter Plate
Plate's new novel is, as with all his work, vividly political and
vibrantly poetic. It is a tale told at the interstices of sex, the
possibilities of integrity between friends, lovers and enemies, and of
authority and rebellion. He plunges into intense close focus on the
lives of his characters; grating descriptions of skin textures up
against their fears and desires, and pans out again with descriptions of
the San Francisco cityscape. The city that waits to fall into the sea is
awash with the precious detritus of the twentieth century, staggering
winos, burnt-out cop cars, the confusing warmth of the bed. Distant
memories interlace with moments of blind flight and the flavour of the
breeze at the furthest corner of the city colours the sunlight
describing the flexing contours of the protagonists.
The Romance Of The American Living Room is constructed with the most
viscid interconnections; as the mechanisms of government infiltrate the
bedrooms of the city by ordinance every nuance of physicality reveals
its politics. And these politics aren't the hectoring voices we are used
to but the subtle shiftings of an incredible but familiar engrenage that
involves bus journeys, pigeons, laws, stomachs, abandoned streets, the
smashing of windows, interrogations, AIDS, sea-water... This is a novel
that changes from almost hallucinatory urgency to great stillness with
the turn of the page but that never lets up in intensity. You know what
to do. [M, unsolicited]
ISBN 0 7486 6166 2 / #7.95. Available through AK Press, 22 Lutton Place,
Edinburgh EH8 9PE.

SURPLUS POPULATION _ by William Cobbett
Originally published in 1831, this scarcely qualifies as cutting-edge
radicalism, but nevertheless has a certain resonance today. This reprint
of the revised version of 1834 is produced by Pelagian Press of Leeds,
"publishers of obscure, neglected and refractory writings", and comes
complete with a useful preface, introduction, notes and bibliography.
The text itself is a short comic play written by Cobbett, a willful and
eccentric anti-radical-cum-radical journalist, to decry Malthusianism
and the recently-passed Poor Law. England at this time was a bitterly
divided country, going through immense ructions as the peasantry was
steadily immiserized by enclosure and developments in agricultural
technology that robbed thousands of their livelihoods. In the cities,
the Industrial Revolution was gathering momentum and the nascent
proletariat were swarming from the countryside that could no longer
support them into what were beginning to be known as "the slums". The
Luddites and the Peterloo massacre were recent memories, and the 1830s
saw the Swing riots, the start of Chartism and the Tolpuddle martyrs.
Surplus Population was the chillingly utilitarian term coined by Thomas
Malthus to describe the phenomenon we know today as "unemployment".
Think about the implications of that. Are there not enough jobs for the
people or too many people for the jobs? Do the poor have a right to
exist? Cobbett stood for a "Merrie England" traditionalist view of the
dignity and time-hallowed rights of the honest yeomanry, and against
both the callous self-serving utilitarianism of the ruling classes and
the naive faith in progress espoused by the early socialists. In this he
is reminiscent of other maverick lefties_ John Ruskin and William Morris
both spring to mind.
Right-on though it undoubtedly is, Surplus Population is no great shakes
as a play. It is filled with cardboard stock characters_the lecherous
greedy landowner, the fawning parasitic philosopher, the rosy-cheeked
peasant lass and so on_who act as mouthpieces for stilted dialogue which
reduces class conflict to the level of pantomime. But after all, this
was agitprop designed for an unsophisticated audience. The play was
apparently banned from public performance in a number of places, which
led Cobbett to circulate it in pamphlet form. One minor criticism: the
Dramatis Personae should be at the front of the pamphlet, not the back.
[SC]
64 A5 pages, stapled, including a really pretty textured buff card
cover. ISBN: 0 948688 07 6 / #2.50+sae from Pelagian Press, BCM
Signpost, London WC1N 3XX.

TELEVISIONARIES _ The Red Army Faction Story 1963-1993
The "revised and updated" version of an article that appeared in (that
grand daddy of zines) Vague #20. More than you ever wanted to know about
Western Europe's favourite 'urban guerrilla' outfit. A blow by blow (day
by day, bomb by bomb) chronological account of the development and
activities of the RAF and associated groups_ June 2 Movement,
Revolutionary Cells. Starting with Kommune 1 and anti-war protests in
'67, the book documents escalating state repression and the consequent
decision to "arm ourselves". From the arson attacks of early '68, to
obtaining the first weapons from neo-nazis, to the springing of the
first prisoners, through bank raids to training with the Palestinians,
to assassinations, kidnaps and hijacks. Parallel to all this the state
response of incarceration, show-trial, judicial torture and murder, and
fighting back from within prison walls. An abundance of facts (and
photos and graphics, including a reprint of 'The Concept of the Urban
Guerrilla') and figures are left to speak for themselves, for better or
worse. There's little to no analysis of any kind or interpretation of
pros and cons beyond Andreas Baader looking "cool" as he's carried
bleeding and under arrest from a shoot-out with the police, and the
vague endorsement of the frontis piece's "Well, it's better  than
bottling it up". Still the best "history" available in one book (as it's
really just the info from four or five other books ripped off), and all
the agonising about the virtues of terrorism is left up to you.
Televisionaries also covers the Socialist Patients Collective ("The
system has made us sick. Let us strike the death blow to the sick
system!"), and, as a postscript, the "euro-terrorism" of the Red
Brigades (Italy), Action Directe (France), CCC (Belgium), and others. "I
was fed up listening to rock bands going on about how dangerous they
were, when they weren't in the least bit dangerous. I'm a lot more
interested in people who have actually done something for real". (Tom
Vague, in Flatland #6). [J]
112 pages A5, perfect bound, 2 colour laminated cover. #4.50+45p post
from AK Press, 22 Lutton Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9PE.

TEST CARD F
Television, MythInformation and Social Control
"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge
we have lost in information?"
T.S. Eliot, Choruses from "The Rock"
Before I say anything about this book, I'll pre-empt any accusations of
bias by pointing out that one of the editors of ByPass helped put it
together. But hey, it was none of this reviewer's doing, and I just know
you're still gonna believe in my impeccable impartiality when I say that
this is good stuff. Test Card F is about the pernicious effects of the
media, TV in particular, and especially those twin bugbears of all
mentally-active victims of information overload, news and advertising.
It benefits from being bang up-to-date, well-researched and referenced,
packed with sharp graphics and typography and a shitload of gleefully
ripped-off illustrations. Ideologically speaking, Test Card F comes
straight out of the Situationist camp (detourned comic strips, witty
slogans and all) via Baudrillard and the post-structuralists, which, by
and large, endears me to it. Of course, drinking too deeply at the well
of Baudrillardean theorizing about simulacra and the death of reality
may lead one into folly: "James Bulger Was Murdered By Cameras" (p.47).
Erm, 'fraid not, he was murdered by two vicious little sods tossing
bricks on his head. But compare the above quotation with the following,
taken from Baudrillard's In The Shadow Of The Silent Majorities:
"Terrorism is not violent in itself, only the spectacle it unleashes is
truly violent". Easy to say when it's not your ass getting blown up. I
can't sympathize with this kind of reflexive blaming of the
messenger_despite the media, in spite of the Spectacle, there really is
a real world out there, in which real events occur and real people
suffer. Just because the media report these happenings, whether
misleadingly or not, doesn't mean they don't exist. Even the Sun can't
help printing some of the truth once in a while! To pretend otherwise
isn't radical or deconstructionist, it's just nihilism.
 [for a good deflating of Baudrillard, I recommend Robert Hughes' review
of America, published in his collected essays, Nothing If Not Critical
(Harper Collins, 1990)].
These reservations aside, Test Card F has plenty going for it_it's
lively, impassioned and well-written, and it contains a lot of hard data
about the psychological effects of TV viewing with which to substantiate
its claims. If you like Baudrillard more than me, you'll probably love
this book, if you enjoy Situationist-style cultural critique, you'll
love it too. If you fall into neither of these categories, but you are
at least a media-despising lefty, you'll find it a good read. [SC]
ISBN: 1 873176 91 0. Produced by The Institute of Social Disengineering
(same address as ByPass). Published by AK Press, 1994. A5 paperback,
sewn bound (so it won't bust in half on you), 80 pages plus two colour
laminated cover. #3.95+60p post from: AK Retail, 22 Lutton Place,
Edinburgh EH8 9PE.
BYPASS READERS SPECIAL: YOU CAN GET THIS BOOK DIRECT FROM US FOR #3 POST
PAID (21 Cave St, Oxford OX4 1BA). OFFER MUST END SOON etc. etc.