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zines zines zines

not one but two articles up on new matilda about them. one is by me and t'other by the lovely vanessa berry.

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Written by Jennifer Mills on 29-12-2009, 2 user comments

video of US military trainers at work in Iraq

The mentality of modern day colonialism, captured in a five minute Youtube clip.

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Written by Jeff Sparrow on 26-12-2009, No comments

musical interlude

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Written by Jeff Sparrow on 25-12-2009, No comments

Final Subscriberthon Prize Bulletin

Wow! What a year. What an amazing event the Subscriberthon turned out to be. And now, the final announcements ...

The winner of the Clem Bastow Prize of a professional press release for your manuscript, exhibition, band or event, is Timothy Rawlings.

The winner of the Ante Veritas Prize of a personalised short feature on the subject of your choice, is Tim Roberts. [Way to go, Tims!]

The RRR Prize, full of cool merch from the heart of community radio in Melbourne, goes to Peter Orchard.

The Scribe Prize, with a at least a year of reading comprising new release titles, was won by Vanessa Murray.

The winners of Gleeclub memberships, courtesy of Gleebooks in Sydney, are: ... read more

Written by Karen Pickering on 24-12-2009, No comments

Merry Christmas

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas
sings Santa, from his sleigh.
‘Look, Mummy – there’s Santa,’
the little girl cries
at darkened skies.

Merry Christmas, the Mum thinks,
while she wraps up the gifts,
and prepares the lamb feast,
as her Mum would do.
As she must do.

Merry Christmas – it’s that time
of year is it not? It’s
time for lost I love yous
punched ten years too late.

I did my bit.

‘Merry Christmas,’ says the priest
at the lectern of guilt.
I bless Orthodox style,
watch you choke on
holy smoke while
taking those coins
to feed my
hunger and
fuck the ones
not here
they’re just
drug
fucked. ... read more

Written by Koraly Dimitriadis on 24-12-2009, No comments

Reincarnated Revolutionary Rastaman

by A. S. Patric

She has the voice of Nina Simone reincarnated into a Melbourne real-estate shark. She bends down, close to my neck, so that I can feel her words falling over me like a house of cards.

“You look,” she says, in the reggae rhythm of Rasta Man Chant, “like a fellow… in need… of a revolution.”

But she must have read that in someone else’s heart, because these days, all I’m hoping is for a little improvement in the weather, and that the days of singing for a reborn world will come again when I’m reincarnated as a bird or a bomb.

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Written by Alec Patric on 23-12-2009, 4 user comments

the big sleep

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Lou Swinn and Zoe Dattner were put on this earth to publish the best writing they came across, for our collective reading pleasure. Sleepers Publishing is their labour of love and in the last year has published not only the Age Book of the Year but also our very own Kalinda Ashton's debut novel, The Danger Game. Of course, they also publish the exquisite Sleepers Almanac, a collection of which has been offered up as another prize in our Subscriberthon draw. So who won? ... read more

Written by Karen Pickering on 22-12-2009, No comments

Activism Ahoy!

The New International Book Shop is Melbourne’s radical bookseller, supplying progressive and explicitly left-wing literature to activists, readers and thinkers worldwide. Housed in the rather splendid Trades Hall, NIBS can help you get informed, motivated, and active in progressive politics. They're also a great friend of the magazine and a sponsor of our Subscriberthon, donating the Do Something Prize - an activist pack, including books, badges, stickers and a T-shirt, so you can make a bloody buggery difference to this world thanks to the nerve centre of activism in Melbourne. And the winner is...

Lyndon Megarrity! ... read more

Written by Karen Pickering on 22-12-2009, No comments

Another day, another cool prize…

From now on, you'll all be hearing a lot more about Meanland. It's the slightly inevitable name for an upcoming collaboration between the venerable journals, the first event of which is to be held at the new Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas at the State Library. You are all warmly invited to attend.

But now, the lucky subscriber who won the Meanland Prize, a selection of new release titles, including Bird and Killing, is...

Kevin Gillam.

Congratulations, Kevin, and thanks for coming on board with our first ever Subscriberthon. That's practically instant karma!

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Written by Karen Pickering on 21-12-2009, No comments

parable of the old man and the young

I've got a piece up at Drum comparing the Copenhagen fiasco with the way Europe blundered into the Great War in 1914. It was partly spurred by that Pew report which found that people over 65 were far more likely to deny that the earth was warming, that humanity was responsible and that this was, like, a problem. Compare Wilfred Owen's great poem:

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps
and builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him, thy son.
Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns,
A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one. ... read more

Written by Jeff Sparrow on 21-12-2009, 2 user comments

We of the Synchronized Yawns

by A. S. Patric

what we do for money
things done in good faith
for the love of our fellow man
for a fuck or love, for both
the things we do for them
motherfatherwifesondaughters
the things we do for me
ambition and ego, superego +
id, evolution and development
for the blank page soul
for a blank cheque God
the things I’ll do for you
for the vague interest of your wandering eye
for the vast disinterest of your wondering I
things done in the middle of the night
things done in the cold light of day
all of this for you and for me, and others
the superabundance after survival
the superfluous after-hunt grunts
a swirl of ink in my brain
a splash of black in the heart
a freewheeling delight in cheating fate
printed on the inside of my eyelids
for a chance to meet destiny
the train that leaves 3:13am
in the station of your mind
arriving here tomorrow
in the nowhere of words
everyone else passes us by
like those clowns at carnivals
that take a coin to swivel and turn
for the ball through the mouth
for a lottery laugh of victory
all done on spec or simple glee
for a moment of distraction
for the chance of connection
the easy done, done easy
for the ball down the throat
stifling a coordinated yawn ... read more

Written by Alec Patric on 20-12-2009, 7 user comments

More prizes…

Vignette Press has been on the indie publishing scene since 1995 producing interesting and unusual books from emerging and non-mainstream voices. They believe in ethical and environmentally sustainable publishing. They've also shown their support for a strong and vibrant literary culture by sponsoring the Subscriberthon.

Three very lucky Overland subscribers have won a gorgeous set of Mooks entitled respectively Sex and Death. Saucy.

And the winners are...

Niobe Syme
Stephanie Roe &
Deborah Hunn

Congratulations, ladies! They'll be in your hot little hands soon.

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Written by Karen Pickering on 18-12-2009, 2 user comments

The Promise of Minty Fresh Breath Not Included

by Marc Tetlow

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Click here for more great savings. ... read more

Written by Alec Patric on 18-12-2009, 3 user comments

Mugabe the Climate Change Oracle

It is a shame that the most eloquent preacher on the effect of climate change on developing and impoverished nations happens to be a serial human rights offender at the helm of one of the most brutal African regimes in recent history. "When these capitalist gods of carbon burp and belch their dangerous emissions, it's we, the lesser mortals of the developing sphere who gasp and sink and eventually die," announced President Robert Mugabe’s Copenhagen address, “Where are (the) sanctions for eco-offenders? When a country spits on the Kyoto Protocol by seeking to shrink from its diktats, or by simply refusing to accede to it, is it not violating the global rule of law”?

That Mugabe more than ably articulates the sentiment held by many developing nations does not lessen the inappropriateness of the human rights offender being permitted a seat at the climate change table. Despite appearing to be a rare example of rational and considered policy, the Mugabe dictatorship’s positioning on climate change has always supported the political agenda of their draconian regime, underpinning the government’s staunch denial of appalling human rights violations against the Zimbabwean people. ... read more

Written by Maxine Clarke on 18-12-2009, 2 user comments

BBC debates executing gays

BBC-Africa-Have-Your-Say-001The Guardian reports that the BBC news website has been running a debate on the charming topic 'Should homosexuals face execution?' on a talkboard discussion for a World Service programme for African listeners.

This is in the context of the new Ugandan legislation that makes homosexuality a capital crime. There's an interesting story about the links between high-profile American fundamentalists and the murderous laws in Uganda but the point I want to make here relates to the connection between the BBC's provision of airtime for the fascist British National Party and its willingness to ponder the extermination of gays. That is, in the stoush over BNP fuhrer Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time, the BBC management asserted, almost as a matter of principle, the necessity of giving time to abhorrent views of the far right (even when, as in the case of the BNP's racism, these views contradict the BBC's charter).  And once you've debated fascism, why not debate mass murder? ... read more

Written by Jeff Sparrow on 18-12-2009, 2 user comments