Hobnail Review #14
Jan 12 2008 21:50
Hobnail Review: A Guide to Small Press & Alternative Publishing fron an Anti-Authoritarian & Libertarian-Left Perspective. Issue 14. out now. (This is a paper publication and not available on line).
Monthly review and listings newsletter. Articles include: History of the anarchist publication Black Flag and some thoughts on reviewing pamphlets, as well as the usual bits and pieces.
Avalable from:
Box 208, 235 Earls Court Rd, London SW5 9FE, UK
Still available from Hobnail Press is Publishing with Radical Intent: The Hobnail Directory. October 2006 to September 2007. Price £1 (payable 'Hobnail Arts & Media')
"The Hobnail Directory is a resource tool created by the networking links forged by Hobnail Review... It includes up-to-date information and contact details pertaining to the publishing and distribution of radical and alternative literature ....."
"none of the publications listed are more than a year old and the assumption therefore, is that the publishers are still active. Such a format allows readers to keep their finger on the pulse of radical publishing, as well as serving as a living archive of this particular publishing genre."
Feb 6 2008 10:20
#2
Thank you for your comments Tacks. Just a few thoughts.
Everything does not get a positive review as such. It really just gets a listing and lets people know whats on the market so to speak. No other publication could really accomodate (or would be prepared to) so many publications. In the last 12 months HR has listed around 250 periodicals and pamphlets from around 80 different publishers and organisations. If HR did not exist a lot of publications would really be in isolation in their own localities. HR opens up to a wider audience the scale of alternative publishing. I have had readers contact me who only knew of a max of a dozen anarchist publications - they have now accessed over 50. Can that be a bad thing? HR also publishes articles and features on the history of publishing in this genre. Can this be a bad thing? It lists publishing events and bookfairs each month (often more than Freedom does). I imagine that Freedom relies on readers submitting info - HR as well as readers submitting info, has a handful of people trawling the internet gleaning relevant info.
You suggest that HR isnt useful, I tend to disagree, and I think that many of our readers would. For the record HR has an international circulation of around 1000 and goes out monthly - so everything is up to date. How is usefulness measured? Over 100 HR' are circulated around the American prison system via comrades in the ABC.(Thus allowing prisoners access to dozens of alternative, anti-authoritarian and libertarian-left publications. I think that is pretty useful.
Also for your information, HR has been doing this for 5 years.
Also for your information I have been involved in the anarchist movement for almost 30 years. I am also involved with Black Flag.
Your thoughts on the Abolish Restaurants listing - possibly misleading and possibly not written well - was supposed to be tongue in cheek.
Cheers mate
Feb 6 2008 11:28
#3
i actually thought HNR had been going for decades... It had that feel. But that's a fair enough response, sounds like it is worth doing fro you fair play. Maybe we had our blinkers on from being in anarchist groups and didn't see how useful it could be to others.
Feb 6 2008 12:10
#4
dp
Feb 6 2008 12:10
#5
On that note though, how regular is Hobnail? It’s approx two pages for the listings right? It might be a nice thing to reproduce in the Freedom reviews section depending on how often it comes out…
Is Hobnail still doing pamphlets btw?
Feb 6 2008 17:22
#6
hobnail is well worth it ,and does still do pamphlets. i purchased a few recently myself mostly guy aldred stuff., which were spot on.
Feb 6 2008 21:42
#7
HR comes out monthly. Each issue is stocked in Freedom Bookshop. 5 pamphlets were published in 2007, and also in Freedom (as well as other bookshops). If anyone wants a sample copy (and a booklist) PM us a mailing address. Thanks for feedback guys.
Feb 6 2008 21:50
#8
Just a thought Saii - At least the last 10 issues of HR have been mailed to "The Editor" Freedom...... all we hoped for was a mention. Freedom has also been listed in every issue of HR and we've never received a review copy....... not crucial though - thankfully someone involved with HR also subscribes to Freedom!
Feb 6 2008 21:58
#9
Yeah we don't have a dedicated reviewer of stuff sent in at the moment unfortunately, I was checking the basket the other day and it had stuff from 2003 in there. I've been meaning to mail bits out to Mal but as always, too much on...
If you do doc files with the bits in we could probably publish parts of it with a reference?
ah no
i like ur posts and i hadn't made the connection before in ur name - but i have to say, we picked a up a pile of Hobnails someone had left on our stall and were just mystified. I don't get the point in it at all. Why review all those things when you probably have a smaller distribution than the things you review - and why give everything a positive review?
There was a review of 'Abolish Restaurants' where the reviewer was like 'food for thought! Makes you realise why you shouldn't eat in restaurants!' - not the point of Abolish Restaurants at all.
Couldn't you contribute to sommat more useful, like freedom, black flag or indeed, libcom? Apols if you do as well, but it would still save time to just do that.
This is a bit uneccessary i spose, soz.