dorothea #1
by Mike Baker, $1.50
—a 40-page quarter-size collection of short stories
Dear Mike, you are awesome. Mike Baker is a zinester and fiction writer who lives in Tallahassee. His fiction collection dorothea is comprised of 13 stories, all of them infused with a grittiness and sadness that strike me as very masculine. Mike wants us to know that he wrote these stories after his mom died; he tells us so in his introduction, but the stories aren't about that—they're fiction. The title story is about something raunchy yet sweet that happens between two strangers on a bus. There are many striking and even strange moments like this throughout the zine.

Imperfect
by Kat Through, $1
—a 24-page quarter-size zine that's a little bit per, a little bit lit
We were sold out of these but now we've got 'em back in stock. Imperfect is a collection of Kat's short essays and fictional pieces that run smoothly into one another. It has a perzine-y feel at times but it's comprised mainly of powerful little stories and vignettes. She opens by talking about the benefits of using a typewriter over a computer, then moves right into a spooky, interesting piece of fiction about a tragedy in the house next door. I found this zine to be a satisfying read.

Miniatures #1: Lily and Hyacinth go to the Renaissance Faire
by Katie, $3
—a 68-page fiction zine with medieval woodcut illustration on cardstock cover
This book is the first story in my fiction series, Miniatures. The stories feature Lily and Hyacinth, two grown sisters who live together and sometimes get along. In this story Hyacinth keeps having nightmares and Lily falls in love very unexpectedly. This story is funny, sexy, and a little bit dark.

Pressed Between the Pages #1
by Alan Lastufka, $1
—a 12-page, half-size zine with cardstock cover
Alan is really something. He’s always doing so much with his distro that I was surprised to learn he’s a writer too. And is he ever. Pressed Between the Pages is a short collection of his excellent poetry, little story snippets, and a longer story called “The Fall of Autumn,” all of which showcase a talented writer with a solid, unique voice. The cover is full color and features an illustration by Cristy Road. The second issue of Pressed Between the Pages is out now and this is the only place you can get the remaining copies of issue #1. Don't miss it.

smelling trees: project one_lovely heads
by Sinoun, $2
—a 34-page fiction collection printed on b&w newsprint
smelling trees is filled with some really interesting stuff, all written by Sinoun, and her photography, layout and design are modern and pretty. I’m tempted to call her fiction experimental, but that might be misleading. It’s really just very imaginative, which is what fiction is supposed to be, right? One of my favorite pieces is a one-page genderfark called “superhuman,” told from the perspective of a little girl taking the train with her mother. "everyone looks sad or mad," the girl thinks to herself. “i can’t tell.” Fantastic. There are 8 stories and 3 titled visual pieces with other artwork throughout.

Turn: a failed attempt at a 24-hour zine
by Kat Through, $1
—a 20-page, half-size zine
Kat Through is the zinester who brought us Imperfect (see above), and she returns with Turn, which she did as part of the 24-hour zine challenge. That means she wrote, laid out, and copied the whole thing in one 24-hour stretch. She calls it a failed attempt because she started out on a typewriter that went kaput and turned to her computer, but this zine is a success! After her introduction she jumps right into "the actual writing part," as she calls it, with a couple of stories I found impressive, especially for such a young writer. My favorite piece is a late-night conversation between three friends, two boys and a girl, who have just graduated from high school and are hanging out on school grounds. It felt very real and put me to mind of Rick Moody's suburbia.