Opening with a telling quote from punk band Black Flag ("Drink black coffee/drink black coffee/drink black coffee/and stare at the wall"), Things Are Meaning Less is a tough, funny, heartbreaking look at young, disillusioned American life. You might know Al from his zines Burn Collector and Natural Disasters or from the band Milemarker or his so-true-it-kicks-your-face-off column in Punk Planet. This, however, is Al's collection of comics published in the late '90s by designer and fellow zinester Ian Lyman. From Portland to Providence, Al patrols his world with a dark, stoic humor. He's a Saul Bellow-ian everyman, up against the wall, suffering the blows, looking for love and loving the metal. Like Al's latest issue of Burn Collector, the comic-heavy #14, the drawing here is simple but it's the kind of simple that doesn't come with beginner's luck. The stuff here is the result of years of fighting and trouble-making, of mistakes made and a life scratched out among the sticks and stones. As says Al, "These are things drawn on napkins in airports, xeroxed illicitly during work." So goes the work and world of Al Burian.

Things Are Meaning Less (Burn Collector)

Biographies & Memoirs

Burian, Al

Arts & Literature

Microcosm Publishing

A big ol' whopping collection (issues 11-16 and selections from 1-10!) presented here as a one-stop-shop of a book. Keith Rosson's stories and art show him neck-deep in a hard-living knockaround life. This is existentialism done punk rock style with a good sense of humor to lighten up all the bloodletting. Keith has done artwork for Submission Hold, Against Me!, and HearttaCk (among many others) and the illustrations here do not disappoint. If you're into Burn Collector and Cometbus, this is essential per-zine action!

Best of Intentions: The Avow Anthology (Punx)

Comics & Graphic Novels

Rosson, Keith

Graphic Novels

20something Dave in Portland spent 4 years substitute teaching. Fortunately for the rest of us, he kept a journal of his travails...and here it is. 'Personal' writing at its finest and most poignant. "I brought this zine to work and couldn't stop laughing as I read it during lunch. I gave an issue to a co-worker, and soon he was cracking up, too, much to the probable consternation of the others at our table. Each issue is a journal of one semester's worth of days working at a variety of schools ranging from preschools to colleges. As you can imagine, there's alot to tell, and David manages to make it both hilarious and sad, without being disrespectful." - Newpages "If you've ever wondered what goes on in this environment, read this. Taking teenagers to the bathroom, dealing with a screaming autistic boy, and doing art projects for students who are asleep in their wheelchairs are all in a day's work. On Subbing gives a vivid picture of an educational setting most of us know little about, and it's quite sobering." - Xerography Debt

On Subbing: The First Four Years (Real World)

Roche, Dave

Professionals & Academics

For years, Nicole J Georges has recorded her thoughts and adventures in beautifully illustrated journal entries and published them in her zine Invincible Summer. Now, the first 8 issues of this beloved publication (including many, new, rare and out of print pages) are collected in one book. Overflowing with personality, wit, drama and art, this anthology presents 5 years of Nicole's low paying jobs, heartbreaking romances, inspiring friendships, vegan recipes, dog motherhood, and endless trips to the corner coffeeshop.

Invincible Summer: An Anthology (Comix)

Georges, Nicole J.

Meet Moe Bowstern: writer, fisherwoman, tough cookie. Moe is a woman working in the male-dominated commercial fishing industry of Alaska's Kodiak Island and this, the Xtra Tufzine, is her story. Winner of the 2007 Lilla Jewel Award, and sporting special letter press covers featuring more than 30 different color schemes, #5 tells a tale of dissent and frustration. Like The Grapes of Wrath or Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Xtra Tuf #5 is the story of a people's struggle. It's a social history but it's also a love-letter to the ancient rites and rituals of sustenance fishing. In Moe's writing you smell the salt air and land breezes. You see sunsets from the deck of the boat and feel the pitching waters. And, above all, you meet--and then know--all the earnest, hilarious, conflicted, hardworking folks who populate her narrative.

Xtra Tuf #5: The Strike Issue (Real World)

Bowstern, Moe

Community & Culture

The first ten years of Doris fanzine. Cindy writes her zine, DORIS, like she is figuring out the human condition. She makes writing about the simplest and most common things - playing music, childhood, cooking, or sex - resonate with universal understanding. She helps us make sense of more complex things like the satisfaction from doing useful work, natural curiosity, the ability to use logic, gender dynamics, introspection, the need for challenge and change, combating depression and creating art &amp; literature. She shares and explores the emotions involved with having an abortion, rape, dealing with the death of family, or sexual harassment in a context that is enlightening and personal, feeling like a close friend opening up to you. What's most impressive though is that she relates these things into every article in her zine seamlessly. For fans of Cometbus, Burn Collector etc.

Doris: An Anthology (Zines)

Crabb, Cindy

Kyle Bravo has assembled his HOW TO zines into a comprehensive book along with dozens of other instructional articles that tell you how to do...just about everything yourself. Topics include getting active, direct action, gardening, making a woodstove, solar box cooker, egg replacer, cooking ramen noodles in a coffee maker, how to make wine, homebrewing, building shacks, liberated lifestyles, squats, homeschooling, fixing a toliet, audio phone patch, how to make envelopes, shoe repair, silk screening, making rubber stamps, how to juggle, vegan photo developing, magic tricks, making puppets, how to patch your clothes, putting utensils on your keychain, how to sing, bird feeders, how to play guitar, putting out records, billboard improvement, how to fix your bike, basic car maintenance, building a bike cart, how to take pride in your body, how to sexually stimulate your partner, diy birth control, how to handle an overdose, self defense, knowing your rights, how to live a more fulfilling life, unschooling, starting a fire with friction, making glue from pine sap, making rope, wild food, natural remedies, firelogs from newspapers, rubbing alcohol campstove, composting, diy toothpaste, getting rid of fruit flies, greywater systems, composting toliets, making a hammock, making hanging and floating tents, saving money at the post office, making posters and stencils, packing for tours, places to dumpster dive, making a tape wallet, building a cart-bike, cleaning stamps, blockprinting, fixing a harmonica, diy flowerpots, avoiding dangerous household chemicals, preventing ear infections, how women can pee standing up, menstrual massages, and a few pieces for inspiration. I'm sure you can see by now why this is essential.

Making Stuff & Doing Things: A Collection of DIY Guides to Just About Everything

Bravo, Kyle

Reference

Two great vegan cookbooks combined: an anthology of Vanessa's "The Dirty South", issues 1-3 and Ryan Splint's Australian masterpiece "Hot Damn and Hell Yeah". HD&amp;HY is a finely illustrated and designed collection of recipes that aren't afraid of spices but are suited for those into easy to find ingredients that don't taste like sawdust. The Dirty South is a unique take on southern cooking, vegan style with some tasty delectibles, especially for those not afraid of garlic or baking. We are really excited to unleash this new vegan cooking onslaught onto the world. A 128 page book sizzling with great cooking ideas and recipes. Nutrition isn't always the first priority for either of these editors but the recipes are incredible in both cases

Hot Damn and Hell Yeah/The Dirty South Cookbook (Vegan Cooking)

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Splint, Ryan

Mazuz, Vanessa

Outdoor Cooking

Please Don’t Feed The Bears provides a range of tasty and simple animal-free dishes. The collection finally makes available three issues of a long-obscure fanzine originally published in the mid 1990s. Here you’ll find incredible recipes for stews, soups, sauces, noodle and bean dishes, baked entrees, deserts and more! There is also a fair smattering of new material bringing this to a whopping 160 pages of deliciousness! These recipes are written to be simple, straightforward, and perfect for the newest convert to the vegan revolution! But far from bring just a vegan cookbook, Please Don’t Feed The Bears reads as a look into vegan lifestyle and underground culture. The book is thoroughly illustrated with eye-catching drawings and graphics and includes assorted rantings about music and the politics of leading a vegan lifestyle. Easy-to-make and delectable recipes go great with the DIY punk rock sensibility of zine culture.

Please Don't Feed the Bears!: A Vegan Cookbook (Vegan Cooking)

Intosus, Absjorn

Vegetarian & Vegan

Billed as a "low/no budget guide to visiting and living in Portland, Oregon," the Zinester's Guide to Portland breaks down the PDX grid by neighborhood with descriptions of good restaurants, thrift stores, bars, bridges, places to loiter, etc. (lots of etc.). The newly overhauled and illustrated fifth edition gets shoulder-deep into the history and local lore, providing a well-rounded argument as to why (fill in the blank) deserves your time. It also demystifies the TriMet public transportation system, bike events and culture, outdoorsy stuff, the public libraries—basically anything you need to know as the new kid in town. To the wrong eyes the book's title might imply a guide to Portland zine culture, but as editor Shawn Granton says in the introduction, the Zinester's Guide is not just for zinesters, that "It's always been about sharing the interesting and unique things that make Stumptown great, and also helping people get by that aren't swimming in scads of money." For those of us that can't so much as dogpaddle most days, this is "community" at its mightiest.

Zinester's Guide to Portland: A Low/No Budget Guide to Living In and Visiting Portland, OR (People's Guide)

Granton, Shawn

Beaty, Nate

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