The second book in the trilogy of volumes dedicated to Grim Humour fanzine, which ran between 1983 and 1993 and lasted eighteen editions is now available to pre-order.
Following on from the first one, published in 2020, this book continues the same approach and blends together reprinted original pages with rewritten features, some insightful reflections on them and additional material by both editor/publisher Richard Johnson and contributors including Andy Pearson, Tom Vague, Edward Ka-Spel, Gordon Sharp/Cinder, Wojtek Kozielski and Gary Levermore of Third Mind Records.
With over 400 A4 pages, this softcover book is bigger than the first volume simply because the original fanzines themselves had higher page counts. Features include Butthole Surfers, Steve Albini, Swans, Wire, David Lynch’s films, Clive Barker, Iain Burgess (Naked Raygun, The Effigies, Big Black, etc.), Soulside, Ramsey Campbell, Lydia Lunch, Fugazi, Godflesh, Cindytalk, Gore, Nomeansno, ‘video nasties’, Skinny Puppy and many more. Coupled to these are countless reviews (Psychic TV, Loop, The Walking Seeds, And Also The Trees, Napalm Death, books, etc.) and extras that, as with the first book, add up to an overtly hefty document of how things were for those concerned as the 1980s jostled along from their post-punk foundations to embrace US hardcore/post-hardcore, noise-rock and different areas of electronic music.
Grim Humour also expanded on its interest in horror to include more in the way of writers and film directors, inadvertently bridging the gap between similarly-inclined music ‘zines and other titles around the same time that only focussed on horror/art/independent films and literature.
As with the first book, absolutely everybody who pre-orders it will be given a credit as pre-orders help to get the book out in the first place. This book should be ready to ship in late March 2022. Also, once the book is actually here the price will be increased to 22.75 GBP + the shipping.
The same as the other book titles now published by Fourth Dimension, Puppy38 is responsible for the incredible design. Please also note that the books are sent from Poland by air mail (the same as everything else on Fourth Dimension and the related labels) and that nothing can be done to make the postage cheaper. It is out of our hands and, once again, this is is a hefty affair. Also, postage would be far higher if FD was based in the UK! The book, again, is bigger than the first, hence the fact it costs a little more.
RRP will be around 26 GBP minimum once in shops and mail order outlets, so ordering direct is still the most affordable way of securing a copy. Work on the third and final volume will start later in 2022.Copies of the first volume are still available (see shop for details).Fourth Dimension has now published a few books. They are all distributed by Cargo (UK) and Forced Exposure (USA), although great outlets such as Soundohm (Italy) and Scream and Writhe (Canada) have also stocked most. Write if you want to pre-order wholesale copies (3 or more units of any one title).
PRE-ORDER HERE
