Crustacean Zine Library has moved to Maine! I ACTUALLY moved October, 2019 – and I was hoping to open a little infoshop-type situation in the garage here at Unruly Farm, but then 2020 happened and those plans were shelved while time, finances, and the ability to actually socialize became more and more scarce.
So, I spent the year reading, cataloging, reviewing, and dreaming up ideas for zines. In that time, I finished one zine and put it in a drawer, found another zine that had been in a similar drawer three or so years ago, and produced the content of a completely new zine.
I’m a firm believer in “slow and steady wins the race.” So, I’ve taken a year to settle in here, and I still have a lot more settling in to do. But I can multitask. I’m ready to start reaching out.
To this end, I have opened up Oyster Publications and am slowly rebuilding my Etsy shop. I re-issued an old zine in advance of the years-delayed second issue, and I published the zine I shelved at the start of the pandemic. I’m planning for a quarterly publishing schedule of my own publications, with the premier issues of First, The Dishes due out in March, and the second issue of Oyster Lexicon (C is for Chicago) due out in June. Y’all, I am determined to get these two zines out, and I have plans for a review zine called “The Annual Pearl” in September. Reviewing and cataloging zines as I read them has been part of my rhythm for awhile now…and with a mix of current and way-way-way-vintage zines, I think it will be interesting for folks to read.
The thing I am MOST excited about right now, though, is finding folks who may have written Covid chronicles or have been wanting to put out a zine, but would rather not deal with printing and distribution. My goal is to use the proceeds from zines that sell better to fund the zine library and help other folks get their zines out, as well. I’m still figuring out how to make this all work, but if you need some help getting something you have written out there circulating – let me know! I’d love to see if we could sort it out together. Right now I have a couple of prospective artists who have material that I think folks will find absolutely fucking delightful, and I’m just frigging stoked about the idea that I can help bring others’ ideas into print.
Here’s to a differently interesting year this year.
❤ Lainie
Crustacean Zine Library 