Commonplace Zine Issue 10

the return of spooky season

Hello all,

This issue marks the official one year anniversary of Commonplace zine which is wild to me. When I started it a year ago, I wanted to figure out my voice as a writer again and have an excuse to talk about the random things that interest me, and now here we are.

Since I have reached a point where I plan on making Commonplace for the foreseeable future, I have finally opened up zine subscriptions! They are five issue subscriptions with a free or tracked shipping option and you choose the issue you start with. (If you add other zines to your subscription order you’ll get them shipped free as well.)

You can also get a monthly zine in the mail if you upgrade to a paid subscription here. Once you sign up, a survey will be sent to you asking for your mailing address. Would a savvy person have monetized their Substack when their posts were going viral? Yes! But, as the kid’s say, that’s not my journey. By the way, nothing is ever going to be paywalled here, but if you want to be a zine content and research sponsor and/or subscribe to my zines, I’m not going to say no.

Enough of this, time for the zine …

Commonplace Issue 10

Issue 10 of Commonplace zine is up in the Etsy shop here and on Ko-Fi here. Use Ko-Fi if you’re in the US and want free shipping¹ and use Etsy if you want tracked shipping, you’re outside the US, or you’re more comfortable shopping there.

It was written during September and October of 2025 and has:

• a peanut butter cup pie recipe and very long story about it

• spooky cute Halloween art and entertainment including:

  • artist Mizna Wana

  • Kid Vampire

  • a new Hello Kitty tarot deck!

• a Halloween costume generator

• my story of growing up in a haunted house

• I settle the vampires vs werewolves debate once and for all

• Songs to Stir Your Cauldron To, a playlist/mixtape

• Cozy Grove video game review²

• the newest installment in my series wherein I rewrite the American literary canon, horror edition

• monthly book reviews (Cackle by Rachel Harrison)

• XL spooky season Zine Recs

• other stuff

Commonplace Issue 10

I have been planning a foiled black cover since day dot! I have been saving this idea for a year and it looks just as good as I had hoped. Issue 1 has a ghost holding a cat on the cover, so I thought having a ghost cat on the cover of Issue 10 would be perfect. You can choose between the pink and green covers and subscribers will get a random color (you can also add a note request a specific color when you subscribe).

Commonplace Issue 10, I actually tried to add page numbers this time

There are a plethora of features in this issue; I think this is my longest table of contents yet. I have been writing down spooky season themed ideas for months, so when it came time to write I had many things to talk about. I don’t like horror or gore at all³, so there’s a ton of spooky cute stuff instead. I’m really excited that a new Hello Kitty tarot was released this year since my favorite article from Issue 1 is the history of the Hello Tarot.

Commonplace Issue 10, a hauntingly good zine

I’ve been working on putting more personal writing in my zine and I finally told a story I never thought I would: my experience growing up in a haunted house. The story is not super cute or fun like so many people’s ghost stories, I didn’t see my gran making coffee in the kitchen on rainy nights, let’s just say. Maybe that’s why I hate horror movies, but I know it’s why I hate whispering [shudder]⁴. Writing about the experience has helped me make some peace with it though, which is good.

Commonplace Issue 10

I also added in a classic this month: a Halloween Costume Generator. This type of “generator” article was a zine staple in the 90s and I really wanted to bring in that vibe. The mixtape is a similar thing; I like to keep a few threads that go all the way back to my zine roots (even if we have QR codes now).

Commonplace Issue 10

The Second Canon article this month is horror themed, too! I set it aside so it would be on theme and I was quite chuffed about it until I realized there was another book I wanted to add in. Eventually, The Second Canon will be a standalone zine, so I can always put more books in when I compile it (and I shall).

Okay, bye!⁵

1. I had free shipping on my Etsy as well, but lately stamped envelopes are taking weeks to arrive and it’s messing up my “customer service” stats (Etsy is very strict and will downrank listings over the smallest thing). Now all my Etsy listings have tracked shipping BUT if you’re in the US and you’re patient you can use my Ko-Fi and still get zines shipped, for free, with a stamp.

2. Don’t expect another video game review of a while, I just got Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar and already know I’ll be playing it for ages.

3. I have a wildly overactive imagination and I’d rather not have nightmares every night.

4. If you are of the mind that ghosts aren’t real and that I’m deluding myself, let me say I would prefer for you to be right.

5. PS: Next post is my first interview with a fellow zinester and I hope you all will enjoy it.