Category: Zines
Sticky Institute
Sticky Institute is a Melbourne institution- a zine shop in the basement of Flinders Street train station that’s been there since 2001
Fanzine Ynfytyn 27- Solitude Standing digital version
In 2016 I left London to house sit in the small town where my grandparents had lived. After a sequence of unfortunate events involving electricians and train strikes I ended up spending the whole summer pretty much alone in a town full of old people, where I knew no-one and there was very little to do, and I had very little in-person contact with other people. A situation a lot of other people can relate to at the moment I think.
Japan Zine- digital edition
A couple of years ago I won some plane tickets to Japan, and went inter-railing around Western Japan with my friend Vicky. The whole trip was short notice and on a very low budget, but we had fun. When I came back I made a zine about the trip. The paper edition is still available here, but for the foreseeable future I can only send physical copies to the UK. So I’ve made a digital edition for people to read.
Ichi-go ichi-e
This was my April 2014 piece for Storyboard , a writing site with monthly prompts run by a friend. I couldn’t think of a story idea, so I wrote a kind of essay instead.The theme that month was “Ichi-go ichi-e”: a never again moment. I couldn’t think of a story, so I decided to talk a little about ways other writers have handled the theme. I suppose you could call this a casual essay. I’m afraid it won’t be closely argued or meticulously footnoted, and it is quite loosely put together, but maybe it will give people some good recommendations of things to read
Diana Wynne Jones zine- digital edition
A few years back I made a zine with articles about writer Diana Wynne Jones (probably best known for writing Howl’s Moving Castle), and an interview I conducted with her before she sadly died. The paper edition is still available here, but for the foreseeable future I can only send physical copies to the UK. So I’ve made a digital edition for people to read.
There Are No More Art Museums to Guard
Two 24 page 1/4 sized perzines on purple paper about working in Museums. Available for £3.50 here in the shop. UK postage free, international calculated by weight.
Caecilius est in Horto
If you study Latin in the UK, there’s a very good chance you will use the Cambridge Latin books from the 1970s. Although they’re forty years old, they’re still in print (and also on the Apple Store), and have a special place in people’s hearts.
Special Zine Deal
A pack of seven zines and a postcard (cacti not included) available here for £5 in the UK, and around €10 or $12 USD/$18 AUD. All prices include postage.
Fanzine Ynfytyn 27
I’ve done a new zine about that time in 2006 I accidentally spent a whole summer alone in Bognor Regis. For £2.50 you get both the zine and the mini zine I made at the time for the 24 hour zine challenge. Find them here.
Cake Exploding
I had a dream that Cake Exploding was a popular hobby, with world championships and dedicated YouTube channels. Here’s the comic version. Available from the shop for £1.75
I don’t know what to do with your clothes or your letters
Halloween Sale- 25% discount
I’ve got a Halloween sale running until the 1st of November. 25% off anything with code PUMPKIN. That’s zines, stickers, patches, pins, anything.
Check out what I have available here.
Two new zines
I’ve got two new zines out.
Margate Zine Club
I moved house last week back to back with coming back from Germany, and am exhausted, but here I am organising events. A little zine meet up in a lovely local cafe/record shop/yoga studio- plenty of vegan and gluten-free options. Free entry, and step-free, but sadly no disabled toilet (the toilets are upstairs).
Three new zines
I’ve got three new zines out- one about France, one about Italy, and one about film photography
August Zines-25% off
I’m back in the UK until Weds, and able to send out zines again. However I can only do the small selection I have already printed up- new print runs will have to wait until my permanent return in September. With a bonus 25% off. Here’s what I’ve got:
Zine orders close for summer 21st May
I’m going to be away a lot over the summer, so I’ll be closing my online shop down (until probably September) next Wednesday the 21st of May at 3pm GMT. This means that if you want some zines you need to order this week or wait several months. It also means I can only really do trades within the UK. As well as zines I’ve also got various badges, patches, prints, lengths of vintage ribbon etc. You can find the shop here. There are also wholesale prices available for distros.
Diana Wynne Jones zine
I have a zine of articles about children’s writer Diana Wynne Jones (of Howl’s Moving Castle et al) I wrote this zine in 2011, also managing to interview her before she sadly died (you can also read the interview online here). The original edition was 1/6 of an A3 sheet, made on a Risograph machine. This was great when I still had access to an A3 Riso machine, but after I didn’t it was very expensive and difficult to reprint, so it went out of print. Recently I did a new edition, with all-new illustrations, in a much more convenient standard A6 size
Zine catalogue
I have updated and created an online catalogue of my zine projects- both the current ones, and the out of print ones. It can be found at http://www.ynfytyn.co.uk. If you have ever wondered why my zine is called that, you can also find out here.
Polly’s reading list
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, based on the folk tale Tam Lin and Eliot’s Four Quartets, is one of my all-time favourite books. The gifts of classic books that the protagonist Polly receives from Tom, the other main character, are an important part of the plot, but not listed anywhere in the novel. I made this reading list of the books for the zine of essays about Diana Wynne Jones that I made.
The Best of Fanzine Ynfytyn 1-13
I’ve been doing my zine for around 10 years now. I’ve got a lot of back issues that are no longer in print for various reasons. I didn’t want to reprint the whole issues, but it seemed a shame to have them completely languishing in a folder, so I’ve made a compilation issue with articles from the first 13 issues. 40 pages, 30 articles, 12000 words for £3.50
Hello again
So I haven’t updated here for over a month, and updates have been thin on the ground all year. That’s mainly because I spent most of January and February working in Austria, most of March in Japan without a computer, and have been busy since I returned just over a week ago.
Zines! Zines! Zines!
I return to the UK from Austria for just under a week this weekend, so I’ve re-opened my online shop for zine orders until Tuesday the 7th of March. All orders will be sent out by Weds the 8th of March. The shop then closes again while I’m in Japan, until further notice, so this is your chance. All prices include UK postage. International postage is extra, and automatically calculated by weight.
Fanzine Ynfytyn 24
I’ve got a new zine out. This one’s probably only of interest to those with a uterus. About getting a Mirena coil when you already have endocrine/autoimmune problems and have to take Prednisone.
Colouring Book
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been drawing artwork for a colouring book zine, and here it is. It’s an A5 colouring book with 15 different images to colour and comes with a free packet of crayons. Postage is free within the UK, and calculated by weight for the rest of the world.
Colour me in
Lately I’ve been drawing much more, and writing a lot less. I’ve been preparing artwork for a colouring book, which I need to get finished by the 12th of November, to have ready in print for the Rose Tinted Zine Spectacular in Brighton on the 19th of November. So there’s been a lot of 8 hour drawing sessions and high levels of caffeine consumption.
Fanzine Ynfytyn 26
This one is about the experience of growing up holidaying in a caravan at French campsites. A typical holiday for British people, but probably weird and exotic for those from further away. Available for £2 from my shop (includes UK postage- international extra)
Fanzine Ynfytyn 23.5
I have two new zines available this month. This is a mini zine I made for the 24 hour zine project, which runs every July. You have to write and layout 24 pages within 24 hours. No pre-preparation is allowed. It’s a fun challenge. Available from my shop for £1 (including UK postage).
Godless heathenry
The next issue of Being Editors will be about C.S.Lewis and Phillip Pullman. As a sneak preview, and to give contributors an idea of what my own religious (or more to the point, non-religious) background is, here is the article I wrote which leads in to another about why That Hideous Strength is a guilty pleasure- if you’d like to contribute, find out more here
That Hideous Strength has always been a weird guilty pleasure. I’m not a Christian, never have been, and didn’t grow up in a religious environment. People enjoy the Narnia books because they’re good children’s books and written with charm and wit, and they don’t Jesus you too hard (except for the last one). That Hideous Strength is nothing like that, the plot is weirdly cobbled together, and it’s full of railing against every single one of C.S.Lewis’ personal bugbears as a sexist old Christian university don of the 1950s, and he doesn’t bother to hide it. The relentless sexism, homophobia and evangelising makes me want to throw the book against the wall as the godless hell-bound pinko lefty I am, but it’s just so gleefully bizarre that I actually quite enjoy it and have re-read it countless times.