Zine Recs Vol. 5

horror zines, a perzine from an OG, a Little House on the Prairie zine, and a gorgeous art zine

Even though each issue of Commonplace features zine recs, zines are not evergreen and need to be shared ASAP. They’re just so darn ephemeral. So if you love zines and you’ve already bought every single issue of my zine (thank u) here are even more zines that you might want to check out. All of the zines below are in stock as of the moment I hit post. All zines were bought with my own money unless otherwise noted.

by Ally Burke

Ghosts Turn Milk Green Issue 2

by Ally Burke | May 2025 | black on pink cover, black and white inside | half size | 16 pgs. | $6

I’ve been a fan of Ally Burke’s zines for a while, and Ghosts Turn Milk Green is “a collection of various spring themed drawings from over the years.” By spring themed, Burke means flowers (coming out of eyes), faces melting in the heat, and plenty of worms. I picked up Issue 1 as well and thoroughly enjoyed them both. If you enjoy her art style, you will be more than happy with this addition to your zine collection.

Online at deadspiderhands.net

by Charlie Fairfield

Weeping Willow Issue 1

by Charlie Fairfield | February 2025 | window cover and black and white inside | half size | 32 pgs. | $6

A horror fanzine and perzine combo that talks about the author’s love of horror, their ventriloquist puppet collecting late grandfather, and how “I Saw the TV Glow” affirmed their transness. The style is old school collage zine and is an all-around enjoyable read. Recommend.

Online at charliefairfieldzines.bigcartel.com

by Charle Fairfield

Laura Ingalls Betrayed Me and I’ll Never Forgive Her

by Charlie Fairfield | March 2025 | color cover & center page, black and white inside | half size | 20 pgs. | $4

Also by Charlie, a funny perzine with a great title about the author’s parasocial relationship with the character Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie. Includes personal stories as well as character and series analysis. A really fun zine, highly recommend, especially for Little House fans.

Online at charliefairfieldzines.bigcartel.com

by Kira Imai

Ribbon

by Kira Imai | October 2023 | full color, perfect bound | A4 size | 28 pgs. | 1,567 JPY (approx. $11)

It’s no secret that I love Kira Imai¹, so when I saw her web shop had two zines - Drape (now sold out) and Ribbon - I had to have them. The large, perfect bound collection has Imai’s gorgeous illustrations, beautifully printed. Some folks in the zine community say that these types of zines aren’t zines at all due to their high-quality, but it’s still independently published and distributed. I do find it funny that zine snobbery only exists in that it wants to exclude works of high quality. (Note also that this 28 page full color perfect bound zine is the same price or cheaper than most small riso zines.) However, for me, if an author says it’s a zine, that’s what it is, and Imai’s zines are now some of the prettiest in my collection. I did have to use the in-house fulfillment service, Buyee, to get these zines, which added $16 to the total cost. The zines arrived safely - aside from two large boot prints on the mailer - and fairly quickly. I don’t love that I had to make an account to use the service, but I would use it again since Imai’s works are not widely available.

Online at kiraimai.booth.pm

by Vanessa Berry

I am a Camera #22

by Vanessa Berry | 2022 | riso cover with black and white inside | A5 | 24 pgs. | $6.81

I have read Berry’s zines for many years now. One of the old school zinesters from the 90s/00s, Berry never stopped writing. She now publishes one zine a year with personal writing and this issue is from 2022. It is a series of vignettes and this issue covers finding out a loved one (presumably her partner) has cancer. The thing is, with Berry’s writing, it’s both personal and impersonal. There are no details, no follow up, just the floating feeling of the days she chose to document. “Didn’t I tell you that living pinches?” she writes, “I don’t believe you know that yet, she replies.” The result is something that feels detached yet emotionally evocative and keeps me come back for more, year after year.

Online at etsy.com/shop/vanessaberry

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Thank you for reading and if there are any zines you think I should check out (especially Perzines and art zines) leave your recs in the comments and remember to hit the like button an odd number of times.

Okay bye!

1. A writeup of the artist’s latest US show can be found in Commonplace Issue 7.