First issue of a zine with heavy nods to goth culture, body image, and surviving sexual abuse. A pretty mixed bag with tons of interviews and loads of contributors, visually and otherwise. On one hand, there’s a fascinating interview with a young pro-Palestinian female activist that was really captivating, as well as one with Jessica Mills of MRR and Less Than Jake about her new parenting book put out by AK Press. On the other hand, there was some god-awful vampire poetry. Contributor-issues always seem to run the risk of some pretty marked jumps in quality, and I think that some of that happens here with Absent-Cause. Still, if you’re into goth stuff, run with it; it seems like a pretty nice networking tool, and the dude’s enthusiasm certainly shines through. –Keith Rosson (G. Butterfield,