Zine Review: animalus

I recently discovered a copy of another zine by Carrie MacKinnon, which was lucky because her website www.blackbirdtree.co.uk appears to be down, and Active Distribution appear to have sold out of copies (I can only hope there will be more soon as this is a brilliant little zine).

Unlike the heart-rending tales of migrants in Aminullah, another zine by MacKinnon that I reviewed here last year, the focus of animalus is animal rights, and the end result is a zine packed with stories that use the logic of science fiction to make us think about things in a completely fresh way.

The zine is also packed with useful information for veggies, vegans, raw foodists or anyone concerned about the sources of our food or the ingrained assumptions that often go with it. It is angry, impassioned and thoughtful.

From a creative perspective, by far the strongest story in animalus is the title story "when we were cows."

It is my hope that by creating a record online through this review I will in some small way help to foster demand and a new print-run will be out soon. For the time being, if you want to find a copy yourself you could get in touch with Freedom Bookshop in London (where I found my copy), Active Distribution or Footprint Worker's Co-operative who printed it.

Update: Her website's new URL is www.blackbirdtree.org.uk