Welcome to discontent.

Thanks for checking out the website of discontent, a zine that was self-published, often by guerrilla photocopying, from Spring 1996 to Summer 2002. The mad heyday of discontent is slowly receding as the editor has settled into a fairly contented life in small-town New England. Extra copies of back issues have been recycled to make closet space for things like spare computer bits, an heirloom vaccuum and boxes of languishing VHS tapes. If you're really really interested in getting a particular issue of discontent (or if you have a comment or question) feel free to drop a line at the contact info below.

A brief history of the zine: discontent was fairly well received by the few friends and family who purchased or received issues as they came out on a semi-annual basis. During its 6-year run, it was reviewed by Factsheet 5 and later by A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press (aka Zine World), and issues were carried by a few indie record, book & comic stores in both Brattleboro VT and Cambridge MA. However, discontent never found wide distribution due in part to the editor's starry-eyed lack of effort in that direction. The demise of Factsheet 5 in 1998, which was a good way to raise interest in many a personal zine, also probably contributed to the, er, "exclusivity" of discontent's readership. The last issue of discontent, lucky #13, came out mid-2002. At about the same time, the editor started a blog called The Cabinet of Prof. Kitty, which is still her main creative outlet outside of work.

To paraphrase Whit Stillman's "Metropolitan," just because discontent ceased to exist doesn't mean it failed. The zine was, in its own tiny way, modestly successful. It provided an outlet for a certain kind of smart-ass writing and collage aesthetic, and it published the early works of several creative and cool people who have gone on to greater things. And the editor is heartened by devoted readers who, every now and then, ask when the next issue is going to come out. Honestly, that's probably never going to happen. If anything gets published in the future, I'm hoping it will be an awesome first novel or at least a magazine article about an overlooked nutritional gem, like hempseed oil. I'll keep on writing and you... you stay classy.

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To contact HQ, write:
discontent, po box 24, brattleboro, vt 05302
email: logomachia at hotmail dot com
issue 13 cover discontent #13. Failure and Bitterness: ruminations on the cheatin' heart, make your own bitter beer, powerpoint for the impoverished, homage to Martin Amis.
issue 12 cover discontent #12. early 2002. Common tropes in the unauthorized biography, three warm winter beverages made easy, top five footnotes and parentheses, notes to self on turning 30.

Reviewed by Heath Row's Media Diet

issue 11 cover discontent #11. Summer 2001. Macrobiotic cooking explained, the grisly epidemic that is capri pants, "Viva Lost Wages": discontent visits Las Vegas, hating and loving white wine.
issue 10 cover discontent #10. Fall/Winter 2000. Gay break-up history, Provence travel diary, Salieri's sweet-tooth, mediocre multiple choice, special Entertaining section: dinner!
issue 9 cover discontent #9. Spring 2000. The Childish Issue: Animal stories, Top 5 books adapted to film, Indian Comics deconstructed, short ridiculous poems about Western Europe.
issue 8 cover discontent #8. Fall 1999. Foolish chatroom transcript, bizarre road signs, Annie Hall meets Hamlet, WWII love letters, Top 5 missed rock shows including Nirvana.

Selected articles

issue 7 cover discontent #7. Winter 1999. Writer’s block as vocation, the tao of breaking up, burgers we have loved, Polaroids in words & pictures, the Irritating Pasta of the Prostitutes.
issue 6 cover discontent #6. Summer 1998. Our own top 100 films, exactly how The New Yorker fails, musically subverting the workplace, literary discoveries of a publishing intern.

Selected articles

issue 5 cover
discontent #5. Fall 1997. Dating application, postage stamps we’d like to see, the importance of coffee in comic format, chapter of an unpublished bildungsroman.
issue 4 cover
discontent #4. Spring 1997. Short fiction: "A Gaucho Writes," 12 steps to pretentiousness, advice on etiquette and technology, Anne Frank Memorial Soup recipe.
issue 3 cover
discontent #3. Summer 1996. Hermeneutics of dough in children’s books, Scottish lit reviewed, Prof. Super-conductor’s musical pharmacy, crimes against perukes.
issue 2 cover
discontent #2. Spring 1996. Consumer report on best booze for your money, short fiction about pursuit of cool, mystery mix-tape game, plus a literary recipe.
issue 1 cover

 

discontent#1. Winter 1996. Contains our manifesto, the famous Anthony-Lane-as-ideal-husband fantasy, transcript of "The Bachelor’s Kitchen" cooking show.