Got invited to record an off the record episode of Textual Healing. I read a short story of mine called “State Line Limbo” and chose the Tom Waits song “Burma Shave” to accompany the selection. Next weekend a full interview with Mallory Smart will be available. You can listen to my public restroom reading (keeping it classy) of “State Line Limbo” here.
Last week, it was my pleasure to have a long conversation with one of my oldest friends, Billy McCall, on the very first episode of Behind The Zines Podcast. We chatted about my “career” of zines and DIY publishing over the last 25+ years.
The nice kids at Maudlin House were kind enough to let me tag along at this year’s Printer’s Row Lit Fest. Dmitry made me a sign, I sold some stuff, and met several lovely folks just trying to hustle their writing too. A kind fella named Burton Raabe liked my Weirdo Du Jour zine so much he emailed me this poem he had written about a 24-hour diner in Peoria:
Clark’s Cafe
I found an old matchbook from the 70s.
Clark’s Cafe
“We Never Close”
It was true, there were three shifts per day
all year long, all over town.
If you weren’t workin’
There was sumpin’ wrong.
Some worked 16 hours in two shops.
Workers were paid overtime plus holiday pay.
Unions made sure.
Clark’s was open on Thanksgiving, Christmas,
Easter, all holidays.
They had chili, chicken fried steak,
Burgers, fries, breakfast anytime.
And coffee.
Workers going and coming.
Third shift welders from Kentucky
with soft Appalachian speech.
Blacks from Arkansas
laughing, ordering eggs,
sausage and grits.
And coffee.
Cops at midnight,
off their shift.
Kandy, Brandy, Porsha
(not their real names)
getting eggs and sausage.
Ladies of the night.
We were all ladies and men
of the nights.
No longer selling my items in brick and mortar shops. Finally! I have a secure online store where you can snag copies of my zines, friendly user interface for the online shopaholics. There’s also Behind The Zines Distro, as well.
Rare live appearance August 31st in Lawrence, Kansas. I’ll be tabling at Paper Plains zine festival.
Temporarily closing my Etsy storefront in favor of selling my zines on this website this September.
“We Should Close”
88-page long, quarter sized zine about working in a record store. Complete with silly good times and tales of weirdo collectors of vinyl. Comes with its own playlist on YouTube or Spotify. Only $3!
It’ll be available soon, and I’m STILL sorting out an online store-front. So if you want a copy right away, shoot me an email. weirdodujour@ proton.me
“Make All Our Dreams Come True: 3 Years in Milwaukee”
A 2-buck chucklefuck. Written and assembled in under 5 days, this quarter size zine is 40 pages long. A bitter stream-of-consciousness-like rant about the foibles of moving to Milwaukee from Chicago. Highlighting memories of jobs, apartments, and neighborhoods with a slowly imploding marriage in the background. I wrote this in a flashflood of memories that wouldn’t recede in hopes of being able to finally let some stuff go so I could move on.
I’m sorting out an online store-front at the moment so if you’re wanting a copy right away, shoot me an email. weirdodujour@ proton.me
I wrote a zine, and it’s not about horror movies, but it does have a lot of monsters.
Ornery Cuss is a dark humored perzine with 11 short stories about mental illness, addiction, and grief.
Locally, it is available at Quimby’s Book Store & Chicago Comics. Soon, it’ll be available at Atomic Books in Baltimore, MD, and other distros across the U.S.
If you’re not in Chicago and can’t wait, Venmo $4 (+$1 s&h) to ‘weirdodujour’ and put your mailing address in the notes. I’ll even throw some little stickers in.
TW: drug and alcohol use, domestic violence, sexual assault, and death
Tim Murr walks the path of most resistance when it comes to DIY publishing. Having debuted his first collection Destroying Lives for Fun and Profit over 25 years ago before founding St Rooster Books. Managed with his wife Stephanie, St Rooster Books regularly releases anthologies and horror novellas. Uplifting writers with a unique flair for horror with e-readers or a print-on-demand service. Remaining loyal to the palpable connection with art, Murr also released the physical magazine, Stranger With Friction. A quarterly publication offering outsider literature for those inspired by horror, comics, and punk rock.
The first few issues offer a variety of regular columns and personal essays. Diving into horror franchises like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and various albums of Black Flag and Alice Cooper. Chris Cavoretto of Werewolves in Siberia, contributes a dissection of punksploitation soundtracks like Repo Man and Return of The Living Dead. SWF also examines socio-political issues within the horror genre in an interview with up and coming indie director, Izzy Lee.
Other steady purveyors of twisted fiction like “Neighborhood Watch” and “Secret Satan” is author Carter Johnson. Keeping the nightmares alive from the infected trenches of an apocalyptic suburbia to the cubicle walls of a literal office Hell. Jeremy Lowe also haunts the pages of SWF with “Macho Insecurity” and “Bury Them Deep”. A queer punk videodrome of self discovery and a carny possessed hearse taking on a hillbilly sex church. Others are newcomers, like Lamont Turner and his tale of mad science haunting a house with time warping mutants in “Cramps”. Reed Alexander writes “The Nightlife”, a thriller about a late night rave that turns into a cannibal buffet. There’s political prose from Erik Stewart and morbidly romantic poetry by Marcelline Block.
Lastly, a Publisher Spotlight is featured on Sam Richard of the kindred indie press, Weird Punk Books. Richard talks about origins and upcoming releases of the erotic occult variety. (Checkout their tribute anthologies to GG Allin and David Cronenburg.)
For those that dabble primarily in weird cult genres, Stranger With Friction is worth picking up from St Rooster Books. If not inspired to submit to the magazine itself,it is a must read to further introduce yourself to the many voices of indie horror culture.
You can pick up Stranger With Friction #1 & #2 HERE and peruse other releases by St Rooster Books. Check out the latest The God Provides by Thomas R Clark!
