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M. Halstead
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Zines

Each zine includes a PDF which you can download for free and print at home. Most are mini-zines that get printed on one sheet of paper and then folded to create a booklet—you can see how to fold one here.

I'm a strong believer in making sure all of my zines are always available for free, but if you'd like, you can leave me a tip on my Ko-Fi (that's also where you can buy the physical zines).

Click on a cover to jump to the zine.

Man I Love Frogs Zine Badgers in the Office Zine 100+ Horror Books Written by Women Zine100 Queer Horror Books zineEarrings zine

Man, I Love Frogs

This is an itty bitty zine I made—it's only 1.25 by 2 inches! It's an 8 page zine and I drew it to size. There's also a color drawing on the back of the paper if you unfold the zine! You can download a printable PDF of this zine (it will print 4 copies to one 8.5x11" page, and you'll have to cut them apart) or buy a physical copy here ($5 for 2).

Black and white drawing of a frog with the heading MILF and the subheading Man, I love frogs.

Black and white drawing of a pickerel frog

Black and white drawing of a northern leopard frog

Black and white drawing of a northern pacific tree frog

Back cover of the zine which says Thanks for checking out this itty bitty zine, and includes my website link mhalstead.com and copyright info

And this is the color illustration on the back:

Oil pastel drawing of four frogs sitting on top of each other, each a different color in the order of the rainbow.

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Badgers in the Office

This illustration zine was inspired by a question sent in to Ask A Manager (#5 at the link). This is a regular-sized mini-zine. You can download a printable PDF or buy a physical copy here ($5).

Zine cover with an illustration of five badgers and the title If There's a Family of Badgers An image of badgers in a closet and the text Living in a supply closet in our office. A badger bothering an accountant with a grumpy looking executive behind her desk and the text And the company refuses to do anything about it. A badger working at a laptop and the text Since they insist it's the exterminator's job An exterminator being threatened by a badger with the text And the exterminator says they don't handle badgers Employees in the closet from the second page and the text What should we as employees do? The badgers doing general office activities with the text We are scared of the badgers. Back cover of the zine with the link to the Ask A Manager post and my website

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100+ Horror Books Written by Women

I wrote this zine because I saw one too many Redditor acting surprised that women know what books are. I don't really frequent book subreddits anymore, much to my mental health's delight. You can download a printable PDF of this zine, or buy a physical copy here ($5).

Collage cover of the zine with the title 100+ Horror Books Written by Women

Subgenre is Hauntings, books are: Linghun by Jiang, Tell Me I'm Worthless by Rumfitt, The Deep by Katsu, The House Next Door by Sidon, Beulah by Nogle, Wylding Hall by Hand, White Horse by Wurth, The Icarus Girl by Oyeyemi, The Hacienda by Canas, The Grip of It by Jemc, The Winter People by McMahon, When the Reckoning Comes by McQueen, Come Closer by Gran, The Little Stranger by Waters, Mexican Gothic by Moreno-Garcia, What Moves the Dead by Kingfisher, The Good House by Due, Beloved by Morrison, Goddess of Filth by Castro, I Remember You by Sigurdardottir, The Woman in Black by Hill, and Wakenhyrst by Paver

Subgenre is Creatures, books are: Confirmed Sightings by Brave, McMillan, and Ketterer, Empire of Wild by Dimaline, Near the Bone by Henry, Jackal by Adams, Manhunt by Felker-Martin, The Worm and His Kings by Piper, Voice of the Blood by Jefferson, The Gilda Stories by Gomez, Such a Pretty Smile by DeMeester, Below by Hightower, Into the Drowning Deep by Grant, Bunny by Awad, A Dowry of Blood by Gibson, and To Be Devoured by Tantlinger. Subgenre is Sci-Fi, books are: The Luminous Dead by Starling, Our Wives Under the Sea by Armfield, Severance by Ma, Lakewood by Giddings, and Catherine House by Thomas.

Subgenre is Short Stories, books are: The Ghost Sequences by Wise, In Somnio edited by Woodroe, The Bloody Chamber by Carter, Her Body and Other Parties by Machado, Let's Play White by Burke, In That Endlessness Our End by Files, Never Have I Ever by Yap, Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by Tiptree Jr, Get in Trouble by Link, Age of Blight by Muslim, Black Cranes edited by Murray and Flynn, A Nest of Nightmares by Tuttle, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Enriquez, She Said Destroy by Bulkin, Skin Folk by Hopkinson, Bloodchild by Butler, We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Ashe, Chromophobia edited by Tantlinger, and She Walks in Shadows edited by Moreno-Garcia and Stiles.

Subgenre is Translated, books are: Tender is the Flesh by Bazterrica, The Houseguest by Davila, Mistress of Geese by Meznaric, Body by Nonami, Cursed Bunny by Chung, The Vegetarian by Kang, The Hole by Pyun, Confessions by Minato, The Graveyard Apartment by Koike, Jawbone by Ojeda, Fever Dream by Schweblin, Earthlings by Murata, and Revenge by Ogawa. Subgenre is Oldies, books are: Rebecca by du Maurier, Picnic at Hanging Rock by Lindsay, The Auctioneer by Samson, Frankenstein by Shelley, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Jackson.

Subgenre is Crime, books are: Brother by Ahlborn, The Last House on Needless Street by Ward, Children of Chicago by Pelayo, Dear Laura by Amor, Zombie by Oates, Broken Monsters by Beukes, Night Film by Pessl, The Devil of Nanking by Hayder, and My Sister the Serial Killer by Braithwaite. Category is Kids, books are: Five Midnights by Cardinal, Root Magic by Royce, The Girl and the Ghost by Alkaf, Dread Nation by Ireland, Rules for Vanishing by Marshall, Small Spaces by Arden, Ghost Bird by Fuller, The Weight of Blood by Jackson, and She Is a Haunting by Tran.

Subgenre is Miscellaneous, books are: The Tribe by Wood, When Darkness Loves Us by Engstrom, Flowers in the Attic by Andrews, Future Home of the Living God by Erdrich, Sister Maiden Monster by Snyder, The Rust Maidens by Kiste, Ormeshadow by Sharma, Comfort Me With Apples by Valente, Boy Parts by Clark, Cherish Farrah by Morrow, The Year of the Witching by Henderson, Bad Cree by Johns, A Dance for the Dead by Onoh, Rootwork by Cross, The Cipher by Koja, Mr. Suicide by Cushing, and Follow Me to Ground by Rainsford.

Back cover of the zine. M. Halstead's logo at the top. Screenshot labeled r/horrorlit, Reddit, 2022 which says 'I'm astounded there are so many female horror authors, let alone LGBT-penning ones.' A note by the zine author follows: Shock at the prevalence of women horror writers, nonchalance about reading more than 90% men writers, and disregard for gender diversity amongst online horror fans is what led me to create this zine. For this collection of titles, I chose to focus on authors who identify as women, although that is certainly not the full extent of gender diversity in horror or otherwise. Keep an eye out for a future mini-zine of gender diversity in your reading. Thanks for reading!

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100 Queer Horror Books

After a long break since writing the previous zine, I finally got around to making this one! You can download the printable PDF or purchase a physical copy here ($5).

Cover of the zine which has a collage of book cover elements with the text 100 Queer Horror Books Subgenre is Gothic, books are: Affinity by Waters, Carmilla by le Fanu, The Haunting of Hill House by Jackson, House of Hunger by Henderson, My Darling Dreadful Thing by van Veen, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde, Plain Bad Heroines by Danforth, The Stradivarius by Knowles, White is for Witching by Oyeyemi, and In the Dream House by Machado. Subgenre is Splatterpunk, books are: Brainwyrms by Rumfitt, Cuckoo by Felker-Martin, Exquisite Corpse by Brite, Hogg by Delaney, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by LaRocca, and Transmuted by Harms. Subgenre is Short Stories, books are: Bad Houses by Stintzi, The Book of Queer Saints edited by Murray, Books of Blood by Barker, Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror by Gislason, Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror edited by Ajram, Homesick: Stories by Nino Cipri, The Horror Collection: LGBTQIA+ Edition edited by Kennedy, Never Have I Ever by Yap, Night of the Living Queers edited by Page, The Other Side of the Closet by Kane, Queer Little Nightmares edited by Ly and Zomparelli, Queer Panics by Prentiss, Unspeakable: A Queer Gothic Anthology edited by Frohn, We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Ashe, Your Body is Not Your Body edited by Woodroe, and It Came from the Closet edited by Vallese. Subgenre is Hauntings, books are: The Bayou by Powell, The Drowning Girl by Kiernan, Our Share of Night by Enriquez, A Spectral Hue by Gidney, Subcutanean by Reed, Summer Sons by Mandelo, and What Moves the Dead by Kingfisher. Subgenre is Creatures, books are: Catfish Lullaby by Wise, Deep by Loayza, The Devourers by Das, A Dowry of Blood by Gibson, Fledgling by Butler, Flowers for the Sea by Rocklyn, The Gilda Stories by Gomez, Into the Drowning Deep by Grant, Monstrilio by Cordova, The Nuckalavee by McClelland, and Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Allen. (Continued from previous page, subgenre Creatures) Red X by Demchuk, Ring Shout by Clark, The Route of Ice and Salt by Zarate, To Be Devoured by Tantlinger. Subgenre is Weird, books are: Chlorine by Song, Jawbone by Ojeda, Leech by Ennes, Negative Space by Yeager, No Gods No Monsters by Turnbull, One Hand to Hold One Hand to Carve by Shaw, Paradise Rot by Hval, and Sorrowland by Solomon. Subgenre is Comics, books are: Boys Weekend by Lubchansky, Carmilla: The First Vampire by Chu, Eat the Rich by Gailey, Monstress by Liu, and Squad by Tokuda-Hall. Subgenre is Sci-Fi, books are: The All-Consuming World by Khaw, Catherine House by Thomas, Frankisstein by Winterson, HellSans by Dundas, The Luminous Dead by Starling, The Membranes by Ta-wei, Our Wives Under the Sea by Armfield, Queen of Teeth by Piper, The Scourge Between Stars by Brown, The Seep by Porter, Sister Maiden Monster by Snyder, Star Eater by Hall, This World is Not Yours by Ashing-Giwa, and The Wingspan of Severed Hands by Koch. Subgenre is Teens, books are: Cemetery Boys by Thomas, Delicious Monsters by Sambury, Dread Nation by Ireland. (Continued from previous page, subgenre Teens) Hell Followed With Us by White, Pet by Emezi, Rest in Peaches by Brown, The River Has Teeth by Waters, The Sacrifice by Chupeco, She is a Haunting by Tran, The Taking of Jake Livingston by Douglass, They Thought They Buried Us by Ramos, and You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Bayron. Subgenre is Thrillers, books are: Bad Cree by Johns, Bath Haus by Vernon, The Bright Lands by Fram, Graveyard of Lost Children by Monroe, Real Bad Things by Ford, Silver Nitrate by Moreno-Garcia, and We Came to Welcome You by Tirado. Back cover of the zine with M. Halstead's logo and the words: Also check out my 100+ Horror Books Written by Women zine! 'Queer' is a fairly ambiguous label to apply to books--some of these books are by authors that identify as LGBTQ+, some have characters that identify as such, some tackle queer themes head-on. This isn't an exhaustive list of titles that could fall under this umbrella and I encourage all readers to seek out more that would fit the theme (and email me about them! I love talking queer horror). Happy reading!

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Zine Earrings

I wanted some cool zine earrings to wear to a local zine fair so I made some! They're 1 by 1.25 inches on sterling silver hypoallergenic earring hooks. You can download a printable PDF (there are 8 zines to a single 8.5x11 sheet of paper, though you have to supply the earring hardware yourself), or purchase a pair of physical earring zines here ($12, currently out of stock).

Cover of the zine, it just says Zines in cut out magazine letters. Collage image of a woman with cartoon eyes and a thought bubble that says What to put in a tiny zine that will become an earring? Collage of cutouts of different people featuring their ears predominantly and the text ears? ears? ears? around them. Collage image with a pencil, a woman, a paintbrush and palette, and a statue, with the text no, a tiny collage should suffice. Back cover of the zine with M. Halstead's logo and copyright information.
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