In the mid-90s, when I was in high school in Italy, I discovered fanzines. Photocopies. DIY. Self-production. With some friends, I started Catholic Girls (yes, from the Frank Zappa song). We put comics in it, stupid things, irony, punk energy. Everything handmade.
Then I made my own comic fanzine. Color cover, black and white inside. I met Giulia Vallicelli, who ran a distro called Porca Ma Donna. She distributed fanzines through a photocopied catalog sent by mail. I loved seeing what other people were making.
Then came the 2000s. Blogs replaced fanzines for me. I started Il diario di Nicoz on Splinder, then moved to Blogspot. It felt like having a digital fanzine. You could publish, customize, build it however you wanted.
Then Instagram. Then TikTok. And now? Now the feed doesn't matter. To be visible you have to post the same thing over and over. I cannot do that.
Why I need paper again
A few months ago I took a two-month break from Instagram. I came back because not everyone followed me to Patreon or Substack. Sometimes I have to go back there to say: I have a shop. I sell t-shirts. I have to make a living.
Recently someone told me I need to "learn how to use social media." And I thought: I've been using social media since MySpace. You probably didn't even have a computer back then.
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It's not that I can't do it. It's that for me it's exhausting. Humiliating. Some days I can't even speak properly on camera. With ADHD, filming myself feels unbearable.
So instead of making reels for three days, I laid out some of my Substack emails into a fanzine.
Introducing Frociə in Translation – Issue 01
This A5 zine collects three selected texts from my Substack newsletter Frociə in Translation. Originally written as emails and sent to a small group of readers, these pieces explore trans masculinity, queer theory, precarity, desire, misogyny, and the politics of everyday life—always from inside lived experience.
Inside you'll find:
- Essays that sit between diary and theory
- Reflections on gender perception and artistic legitimacy
- Graphic journal ideas
- Fragments of queer thought translated into images and lived experience
24 pages including cover. Printed in small batch. Illustrated and written by me.
This is not a finished manifesto. It's a way of archiving the process.
Less algorithm. More analog.
For Valentine's Day I made my partner a mixtape. I recorded CDs and vinyl onto a blank cassette. I unsubscribed from Spotify.
I need analog. I'm tired of digital. Everything goes through this fucking phone. The alarm. Music. Podcasts. Photos. Everything.
Yes, it's practical. I can photograph a drawing, upload it to Printful, make a t-shirt, sell it. I'm not demonizing technology. I'm saying that right now it feels heavy. Too much. Too fast.
That's why I wanted to make this fanzine. I want it to circulate. I want it to exist physically. On your bedside table. In your kitchen. Wherever the fuck you want. Not in a cloud. Not on a server.
Maybe nobody will buy it. Maybe ten people will. But it's real. It's paper. It's A5. And it's me trying to hold onto something slower.
Frociə in Translation – Issue 01 is now available for preorder.
Format: A5
Pages: 24 (including covers)
Language: English
Printed in small batch
Price: €15
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Thank you for still being here.