Zines
See also Literature; Digital
Media: News and Current Events
These listings are for publications devoted to something other than
just hard news, the Net, or single topics that we could fit easily into
one of the other categories. That includes zines (homemade publications),
general-interest online magazines, and other fun e-zines that are distributed
or archived online.
There seems to be a growing interest in online publishing, fueled
by the ease of creating and distributing documents with graphics and color
on the World Wide Web. The exploding cost of paper has surely had an effect,
too. With major desktop publishing applications now adding the ability
to convert any document to HTML format, this niche is booming.
Almogŕver
Dedicated to exploring Mediterranean and Spanish culture in all its aspects,
Almogŕver has both content and style. Social issues and the arts are the
main topics of this sophisticated magazine. In Spanish.
Bajito Ondo
It doesn't hold a candle to Teen Angel, the California gang/lowrider magazine,
but then Bajito Ondo is trying for a more positive attitude. It's a youth-directed
effort to bring an antigang, antiviolence message to young Hispanics in
the lowrider culture. Cool cars, good art, and some features are online
here.
The Beat
This Australian online magazine is your typical urban lifestyle publication,
thriving on local events, film and music reviews, arts, comedy, clubbing,
and dancing around Melbourne, Sydney, and other cities in Oz. A text-only
version is available for the RAM- impaired.
Cafénet
This tasty Webzine features interesting interviews, intriguing quotes and
stories, literary excerpts, new translations of great lit, and carefully
chosen art. In a Web of jumbled, neon pages, the understated and classy
design of this publication makes it stand out from the crowd-although the
content would stand out even if it were in pure ASCII.
Caretas
This photo-filled Peruvian magazine concentrates on current events, news,
opinion, and politics, with some sports and entertainment thrown in to
leaven the mix. The print version has been around for over 45 years. In
Spanish.
Chinese Magazines Online
This site contains links to dozens of online publications, all of which
are in Chinese.
Crank
As close as one can get to an online version of the notorious zine Answer
Me!, this very extreme, but still pretty funny, zine is an open forum for
the sarcastic black humor of its creator, Jeff Koyen. Featuring classic
articles like Corpse Watch 2000: Who's Gonna Make It? Who's Already Gone?
and The Lost Art of Drunk Driving, Crank shouldn't be missed. Remember
though, this isn't nice, safe stuff. Jeff is out to offend.
CTHEORY
International monthly electronic reviews of books on theory, technology,
and culture. Big-name contributors include Kathy Acker, Jean Baudrillard,
Bruce Sterling, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, Deena and Michael Weinstein.
Articles tend to be long- winded, with heavy-duty verbiage and post-postmodern
analysis. It's archived at the Web site below.
CWIA Women's E-zine Page
The Canadian Women's Internet Association has a home page with some impressive
resources, including this page. Linked zines include stuff ranging from
the ever-popular geekgirl and riot grrrrl stuff to a very serious online
lesbian lit mag and mainstream feminist stuff.
Discretion
This once-a-week rant on Western Culture by Mason West is simply not to
be missed! Previous topics of West's shamelessly subjective polemic on
the state of culture have ranged from a hilarious rant on film violence
to a diatribe on prepackaged, sterile consumer culture. High topics are
approached with intelligence and an incredible sense of humor.
The Electronic Newsstand
This is just what the name implies: a place where you can browse magazines
online. All sorts of popular, glossy, and mostly American titles are available
here in digest style; it's intended to induce you to subscribe. Everything-from
Time to fashion mags and medical titles-is listed.
ETEXT Zine Archive
Hundreds of titles, many of them zines that folded long ago, are archived
at this massive site.
eye WEEKLY
Like New York City's Village Voice, the eye is a big-circulation, big-city
arts-and-news weekly. This electronic version has everything that's in
the print version, including full-color cover graphics. Alternatively,
you can read it as straight text. Published online every Thursday.
Factsheet Five Electronic
This is the first place you should look for information on zines-those
kitchen-table creations that let average folks publish and circulate their
thoughts on just about any topic. Originally buoyed by cheap Xerox technology
and then by desktop publishing, many zine-makers are now turning to electronic
delivery for their creations. Factsheet Five is a quarterly printed magazine
of nothing but zine reviews; F5 Electronic is its online counterpart. The
reviews themselves are well worth reading just for entertainment value-always
lots of funny, acerbic, and occasionally vicious commentary here. F5 also
reviews independent music releases and small-press comics, plus mail art
projects and the occasional event or T-shirt.
The Fashion Page
An online rag mag from New York City, The Fashion Page covers the latest
styles and, more importantly, the fashion scene- designers, shows, and
collections. See the newest collections from an irreverent perspective.
Lots of fun.
FiX
FiX is a London-based style and culture monthly that features interviews,
news, reviews, and features on sex, drugs, politics, music, art, and football...all
written in a cheeky, slangy London street style.
Focal Point f/8
This experimental online magazine is based around wonderful photography
by some of the best in the business. At press time the current issue's
lead feature was Saigon on Wheels: A Brief Journey Through Vietnam's Motorbike
Culture by National Geographic regular, Ed Kashi. Past features, such as
the groundbreaking The Russian Chronicles, are archived at the site. Great
stuff if you love photoessays.
Frogmag
The e-zine of the French community abroad, this reader-written magazine
carries general-interest stories (always in French), on art, science, literature,
history, and more.
geekgirl
This is the cool fanzine for cyberchicks. Editor RosieX interviews interesting
people, Australian and otherwise, and chats about everything-from tapioca
to cryptography. Published quarterly; recent editions have included video
sequences and animations.
Gravity
Formerly known as Meanderings, this socioliterary journal provides a unique
African-American perspective on the arts scene and allied issues. The Web
site includes the Gravity Discussion Zone, where readers can hold forth
on topics of interest.
hip webzine
The name may be lowercase, but this zine's hardly low-key. Based in British
Colombia, hip is an online zine with lots of articles on art happenings,
music, and more. It's fun to read...with a colorful, kicky interface and
an alternative orientation.
HK Bridge
This is a flashy zine on pop culture from the land that brought the world
John Woo and Jackie Chan. In English.
HotWired
This is the online analog of Wired magazine, that cyberbible of all that's
technological and cool. Stuff on computers, games, music, books, and social
movements (particularly those involving computers), with many features
and columns that don't appear in Wired itself. HotWired also plays host
to interactive discussions with fascinating people-see the Web site for
upcoming online events.
John Labovitz's E-zine List
Over 1,000 links to electronic zines can be gathered at this indexed Web
site.
Journaux Francophones
Here you can find an indexed, searchable list of magazines and newsletters
available in French on the Net. In French, mais oui.
The Letter J
Covering a wide selection of topics (Art, Beer, Censorship, and a whole
lot more), submissions to this e-mail publication are mostly from readers.
It's digested and distributed each Wednesday evening, sending interesting
bits of culture provided in a forum that blurs the line between reader
and publisher.
Lian Yi Tong-Xun (LYTX)
A comprehensive Chinese journal published by the Ottawa Chinese Students
and Scholars Association, this monthly is available both online and on
paper. Entirely in Chinese, LYTX includes articles on literature, poetry,
science and technology, topics of general interest, and CSSP (Chinese Students,
Scholars, and Professionals) activities. You'll need a Web browser that
supports Chinese GB codes; if yours doesn't, there's a link from the main
page to a site where it's available in other formats.
Metaverse
If it's gossipy, nasty pop culture news you're after, look into this online
magazine for Adam Curry's column Cyber-Sleaze and other features.
Le Monde Diplomatique/Diplomatic World
This is a very attractively produced electronic magazine on politics, economics,
and social movements in France and around the world. It's affiliated with
the popular Le Monde printed magazine. In French or English.
The Multinational Monitor Online
In this age of rampant consumerism, The Multinational Monitor provides
an indispensable service by helping us learn how the things we eat, wear,
and play with impact others and the planet. The Monitor helps bust through
the veil of glitzy commercialism and corporate propaganda.
NWHQ
NWHQ is a hypermedia magazine of art and literature that's becoming a network
of novel-length writing. It has a really lovely techno-historic look.
Online Magazines and Newspapers from the Netherlands
Literally hundreds of online publications from the Netherlands are here,
organized alphabetically by title. This page contains links to publications
that range from newsletters and art mags, to daily newspapers and monthly
magazines. Most of the publications are in Dutch.
PDXS
Wonder whatever happened to investigative journalism in the freewheeling
spirit of the old underground press? Look here: PDXS is one of the best
alternative city papers in the U.S.-with features on topics the mainstream
press doesn't pick up for months or years. From mind control to cyberwar
to local political chicanery and media malfeasance, it's in there...along
with excellent film and music reviews. You can also find out what we write
about when we're not cataloguing the Internet.
Pndula
The neo-baroque interface is just the first delight you'll encounter with
Péndula, a Mexican magazine that covers literature, the arts, and other
cultural issues. In Spanish.
SOS Magazine
News and views are the focus of SOS, with South African Net-heads and South
African expatriates the intended audience. There's also some humor and
computer-oriented columns.
Spojrzenia
Polish culture, history, politics, and more are topics of interest in this
weekly electronic magazine, which is available at the Web site-along with
a history of Spojrzenia and an archive of back issues.
Take a Bite
One of the better of the many online goth zines, Take a Bite only comes
out once a year. Nevertheless, TaB's editor, Sex Bat, seems to make it
worth the wait. The faux Dr. Seuss story called The Bat in a Hat will be
your favorite.
Todd Kuiper's E-Mail Zines List
So you don't necessarily like to hunt for your reading? Todd Kuiper provides
a well-organized list of publications that are available via e-mail. You
can search for your favorite zine by title, or if you're looking for information
on a particular subject, by keyword.
Verbosity
Brand new from a few liberal arts students, Verbosity covers computer art,
politics, music, and computer/Internet stuff. Worth looking into!
Young Magazine World
This online zine seems to be aimed at the younger side of the teen set,
although because it's mostly in Japanese, it's hard for us to really tell.
The feature called Real-time Farting Game and the rotating pig icon seem
to be a tip-off that it's humor in a rude vein, though. Other features
include manga and what looks like an advice column. Japanese-equipped Web
browser required; extremely heavy graphics include Macromedia Director
clips and Java animations. In Japanese and just enough English to puzzle
and amuse.
Zine and Noted
Here's Steve Wilson's weekly column from Folio magazine, covering news
of the zine world and zine reviews.
Zine Chat
Three newsgroups to discuss the latest in zine culture. All three are also
good places to issue calls for submissions, advertise your own zine, or
tell others about your favorite online publications.
Zines Zines Everywhere
Constructed as a supplement to an article in the mother of zine culture,
Factsheet Five, Zines Zines Everywhere serves as a practical guide to going
electronic. Tips include information on putting together and distributing
ASCII and Web zines, HTML authoring, and even stand-alone software productions.
