Friday, January 29, 2010

Our Favorite Retailers

Domy Books of Houston/Austin













and Quimby's Bookstore of Chicago















have both pre-ordered cases of Crap Hound via Kickstarter to support our project! Between the two of them they've contributed nearly $700! For their support they'll receive a case (30) of Crap Hound #4 at 40% off cover, and 30 stickers and buttons as a bonus. If you're a distributor or retailer please consider ordering a case today!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Spreading the Kickstarter Love!


Aw, we just got a little plug from Berlin Reed/The Ethical Butcher on the Kickstarter blog! Also, check out the Ethical Butcher blog! And don't forget to visit him at the Portland Farmer's Market this spring!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Announcing Crap Hound #8: Superstition Winter 2010


A message from Sean, "After all the arguments, the laughter and the tears, the fists and the flowers, after all the passion and fire and heartbreak and joy, Issue No. 8 will feature Superstition. It’s going to be an interesting issue. Once the usual black cats, four leaf clovers, broken mirrors, crossed fingers and horseshoes have been covered, I’ll have to turn to more innocuous items like coins, umbrellas, salt shakers, wishing wells, wishbones, matches and cigarettes, candles, clocks, chains, charms, and bells. Focus will inevitably spiral outward to brooms, bread, moons, shooting stars, calendars, robins, crickets, crows, peas, pancakes, pins and needles, knives, nails, acorns, sneezes, cakes, moths, butterflies, bees, and ladybugs. Everything from culturally acceptable childhood OCD habits to the professional baseball player who has to have sex with a grey cat before each home game. The net will be cast wide enough to include the lucky and unlucky alike, the auspicious, the ominous, the common and obscure, modern and forgotten.. all the crazy cuckoobird batshit crazyface nutbird customs that make life so interesting."

We are currently seeking contributions. While everything in Crap Hound ends up as high contrast line art it doesn't necessarily start out that way, so your submissions don't have to be. Please include your name, email, address and let us know the source of the images you're sending.

Send your contributions to:
Crap Hound
C/O Reading Frenzy
921 SW Oak St.
Portland, OR 97205

Contributors whose images are used will be listed in the acknowledgments and may receive a free issue depending on the quantity of images provided and utilized.

With Friends Like Mark Pawson, Who Needs Friends?


The dapper and talented, Mr. Mark Pawson of London, England is an artist, publisher and distributor and is solely responsible for our UK/Europe wholesale accounts. Psst! UK/Europe customers, you can also mail order issues from him and stop paying more for shipping than you do for the magazine!

Anyhow, Mark is a longtime supporter of Crap Hound, Reading Frenzy and Show & Tell Press and he has just made a generous pre-payment in support of the press. While this is not being routed through Kickstarter -- you must have a US bank account to pledge there -- it's going to allow us to accelerate publication of Crap Hound #4 & #5, if and only if, our Kickstarter project is successfully funded.

Check out his online shop: Mark Pawson & Disinfotainment. I'm especially partial to his badges and the lasercut perspex signs (like the beauty pictured above)!

Button Frenzy!


Starting with this issue, we're going to be putting out companion button sets! Here are the buttons for Crap Hound #4 plus the TEARS OF A CLOWN pledge reward. Technically I guess this should be called TEARS BECAUSE OF A CLOWN but that's not as catchy.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Thanks, Cory!


Thank goodness we got a second plug on Boing Boing because the first one quoted the rather lackluster suggestion I sent in and not much else (lesson learned!), although I was pleased to learn that Mark is also a fan. What we lack in offshore accounts and corporate jets, we make up for with friends and fans like Cory Doctorow whose Boing Boing post from late last night has already resulted in a slew of new backers!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Thank You to Our High Rolling Pledgers!



Special thanks to the following people who have pledged $200 or more to our Kickstarter project! Between the eight of them they've pledged over $2000 to help us roll out the next issue of Crap Hound!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Crap Hound #4 Video!

Crap Hound on Kickstarter!


One of our pals gave us a coveted invite to launch a project on Kickstarter! We've chosen to raise $$ to publish the revised and expanded 2nd edition of Crap Hound #4: Clowns, Devils & Bait! In six short days our project is over 30% funded! Within just a few days we received a Kickstarter staff Recommended pick and became one of the most popular projects of the week!

All of this bodes well for the success of the project, but we still have a chunk of change to raise. Please visit our project and consider making a pledge. Don't forget to share this with your friends! .

A few things to remember:
  • Your pledge will not be collected until or unless the project is fully funded. Hopefully that will take place on or around February 12th, 2010.
  • We're not seeking donations (although they are welcome and appreciated), we are pre-selling single issues and subscriptions, as well as a number of other goodies. If you're a fan of Crap Hound and wish it came out more often this is how you can help make that happen.
  • We're offering a number of rewards that will only be available through our Kickstarter project. For instance, high-res digital bonus issues, 3 issue subscriptions, a limited edition print, and the last remaining, mint condition, 1st edition copies of Crap Hound #5: Hands, Hearts & Eyes.
  • Don't hesitate to pledge even if the project is fully funded. Any money we raise above the $12,500 we're seeking will go toward publishing the next issue!

Welcome to Show & Tell!


Dear Readers,

I've had this pretty low-key publishing project called Show & Tell Press for a few years now. I've been putting out my friend Sean's zine, Crap Hound and publishing the occasional one-off like Alien Boy. I also released this beautiful, limited edition print by Carson Ellis last year. I've been running it through my bookshop, Reading Frenzy. It's not that it's never occurred to me to start a website or blog, it's that there just hasn't been the time, or more accurately, I haven't found the time. Well, we've got more titles brewing this year than ever before and it's starting to feel like a separate venture that warrants its own identity and space. So here we are.

Show & Tell was one of my favorite things about my early elementary years. I caused occasional controversy by sneaking gold coins to school or showing all the 2nd graders the boobies on my Brazilian doll, but luckily I was allowed to continue to participate. Later I went on to excavate 100-year-old dumps and gather animal bones on the land surrounding my childhood home. My friends were not nearly as impressed with the pressed glass bottles and sheep's teeth as they were with my antique dolls and coins, but it didn't phase me -- these expeditions remain among my fondest childhood memories. Search and discovery had become an essential part of the process.

I've been able to fulfill this impulse for the past 15 years through Reading Frenzy -- a small, specialty shop devoted to independent, small press and self-published titles. I track down hundreds of new zine, comic and book titles down every year -- as well as dozens of artists whose work we exhibit -- and get to play show & tell with our patrons. Through the press I get to actually make things I love exist, which is a whole other level of excitement and fulfillment. You, dear reader, are an essential part as well. There's little point in having or showing if there's no one to share it with. You in turn can show & tell your friends and family the things you discover here. And I bet you have some neat things to share with me as well. I'm looking forward to it.

Your Faithful Proprietress,
Chloe