TweetCast your mind back, dear reader, to the days of the dim and distant past. To a time of civil unrest, political skulduggery, and international warmongering. To a time of uncertainty, despair, and anger. To a time when you couldn’t be sure that one day would follow another, and so lived every moment as if it were your last. Yes, dear reader. I speak of August 2011, when the last issue of Tiny Dancing made itself known unto this world of tumult. So much has happened since then. So much has come to pass...
But one thing happened of such import that the foundations of the very internet were ever so slightly wobbled. I shall remind you of this one thing – the comics left Tiny Dancing. You remember this, because I told you.
And now here we are. Older. Wiser. Bigger. And we are comic-less. What does this mean? What could this possibly mean?
It means that like Crazy Mel at the start of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, a familiar yet strange figure is emerging from the smokes of the apocalyptic wasteland (well, Dartford – it’s a sad tale) to set the story straight. It means that Tiny Dancing 7 is here.
And we have so much to tell you.
Let us start with the basics, in bullet point format:
- 44 pages of captivation! More than ever before!
- Risograph printed on 100% Recycled Cyclus Offset paper stock! We’ve gone sustainable!
- Full colour cover! Beautiful and pretty!
The basics, then, fully covered. But what is contained within the plentiful, socially responsible, beautiful and pretty pages?
Well, we have a trio of illustrative debuts – firstly from Soju Tanaka, contributing two new, wonderful pieces. Soju has an exhibition in Japan over the next couple of weeks, and whilst I won’t be able to get there (living in London and that), if you find yourself over that way you must surely go and see it.
Edward Ward is a man who knows about the finer things in life – specifically Tom Selleck, David Bowie and birds of prey. It was only natural then, that he should bring them altogether in something that will make me happy forever. Check Edward’s blog on a regular basis, because it will make your world a better place.
And the final member of our trio is Lawrence Williams, who has given us some beautiful new work – I’m particularly chuffed that Lawrence agreed to contribute, as it was his zine that inspired me to start out on this crazy journey we call self-publishing, so it feels like some kind of full circle, self fulfilling… thing. You know? You know.
We’re overjoyed to welcome Tom Quinn back to our pages with a short story that only he could write (right), and equally overjoyed to be able to feature a new story from Germany’s favourite son Ulrich Haarburste. Ulrich of course needs no introduction, but it’s always worth being reminded of his seminal debut book.
But it’s not all about the new, we’re apoplectic with happiness at the returns of Megan Ancliffe detailing her ‘Open City’, the view from Steve Horry’s window, the latest ‘Tiny In Our Time’ from Michael Gosden and Ricky Miller (this time – Astronomy and Empire, and Lord Bragg on a bench with Captain Cook, of course), oh, and one more new – Spaceship Earth’s Free House Project, destroying the property bubble in one fell swoop.
So after all that, you want one, yes? Well friend, you need just mosey over to the all-new, all-shiny Avery Hill Publishing Shop, where you can pick up a copy without having to negotiate the traditional chaos of the shonky PayPal stuff I used to get so wrong. That’s the smell of progress. This is where the shop is:
The Avery Hill Publishing Online Shopping Experience
And so, it is time for us to part ways once again. To flog the Mad Max metaphor to death, we’ve taken on the crazy future punks, we’ve driven a massive lorry full of petrol around a desert, and we’ve come through the other side. Next time – Tina Turner in a brilliant wig. Can’t wait.
