One of my poems has already been printed and passed around in real life, which is a nicer fate for my writing than getting buried under a pile of Instagram replies from people who didn’t read it. I’ve been wanting to make more of my work available this way. I write a lot, probably more than is reasonable, and I don’t particularly like the idea of everything I’ve written being at the mercy of websites that can make years of work disappear because somebody in California decided I’ve been a naughty girl.
So I’ve started putting together a little zine distro.
Everything here is a dollar. You can download it, print it, and hand it to another girl.
I want my writing to end up in people’s bedrooms, backpacks, reading groups, and wherever else women are getting together to complain about the world.
EVERY ZINE IS $1. YOU DON’T NEED A SUBSCRIPTION.
NOBODY IS GONNA COME SAVE YOU
Not Everyone Can Come
Early transition is a particularly terrible time to discover that the people offering to help you might also be the people you need protecting from.
We tell younger girls to find their people, which is lovely advice til their entire social life depends on somebody they met three weeks ago who has started expecting things from them.
I made this handbook because I wanted something practical that a girl could use before she learns all of this the hard way.
It covers dependence, sexual coercion, consent, community safety, and the complicated business of looking after one another when none of us has particularly much to work with.
The subtitle is a nod to my trans auntie Erica, and I think it’s an important lesson for any woman trying to build a life around other women.
YOUR POLYCULE IS NOT A REVOLUTION
Your relationship structure isn’t a political accomplishment.
This is my critique of queer domesticity and the strange habit people have of treating their increasingly complicated romantic arrangements as though they’ve discovered communism.
Somebody still has to clean the kitchen. Somebody has to manage the arguments, remember everyone’s needs, and keep the household from falling apart. I’m interested in who ends up doing that work, and why the people benefiting from it are so often convinced they’re practicing revolutionary politics.
You can call your relationship whatever you like. I reserve the right to think you’re being ridiculous.
Cover art by Caroline Denham.
BLACK DOLLS WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD
I’ve always found it interesting how many queer spaces manage to be overwhelmingly white while insisting that they’re the most welcoming places on earth.
This zine examines race and belonging in queer communities, particularly the position of Black transsexual women in spaces where whiteness continues to determine whose comfort matters.
There’s also the matter of gentrification and what happens when people begin claiming neighborhoods and communities as their own without much consideration for the women who were there before them.
I think we ought to be considerably less impressed by the word inclusive and considerably more interested in who actually gets to feel at home.
Cover Art by Caroline Dunham
TRANS WOMAN OF THE MONTH
I wrote a poem about an anonymous trans woman who finds herself becoming the trans woman of the month, and the experience of being turned into something for everybody else to have an opinion about.
There’s a tragically common story about a about people getting together to argue about you, project whatever they like onto you.
You still have to live through the whole thing.
This poem has already made its way into real-life communities, and I wanted to make it easier for people to continue circulating it.
HOW TO GET YOUR ZINES
All four are currently available as digital PDFs for $1 each, with payments handled through Stripe. You don’t need to subscribe to Bundle of Styx to buy anything.
For now, I’m sending the PDFs manually to the email address you use at checkout, so please make sure it’s one you can access. Nothing is being physically mailed at the moment.
You’re welcome to print your copies and pass them around in your community. I’d be delighted if you did.
SUPPORT THE DISTRO
I want to keep making these because I think independent political writing ought to be something people can actually get their hands on. I’m also a writer who has to pay rent, and unfortunately the landlord has yet to accept feminist theory as legal tender.
If you enjoy the zines and want to support the work that goes into making them, you can donate directly.
SUPPORT BUNDLE OF STYX ON KO-FI
I’ll be adding more zines as I finish them, including adaptations of older essays that deserve a second life outside Substack.