Dave Roche (If Nothing Else, the Sky, On Subbing, About My Disappearance) and Karen (Keepin It 1 Hunna) share At The End of the Day, which is comprised of their journal entries. Except here the entries have all been cut down to their last line—to their last thoughts of the day. Dave’s journal is from 2000, when he was out in Portland. Karen’s is more recent (2012-2015), I think is set mostly in Chicago. Despite their brevity, some entries make clear sense, like these from Dave: “Life is bad,” “Stole two Clif Bars.” Other entries sound surreal, strange, or just funny, like these, which are also from Dave: “The bus driver said ‘The coffin’s all right but the singing has to stop,’” “When the acoustic guitars came in I went out, with a handful of cookies.’” Many zinesters have been reading Dave’s work for about a decade or more. I now await his new work like one of those seasonal deliveries people often look out for—eggnog, Peeps, pumpkin beer, Roche. I hadn’t read Karen’s work before. While her section is on the shorter side, it makes for a good difference in voice: “Went a-runnin’ yesterday and I’m afraid that my foot is broken,” “I, on the other hand, want to flip the boat over and watch her drown.” Who wouldn’t want more of that? The zine cover is a photocopy of one of those gross Mead notebooks—seventy sheets, college ruled. I would guess they put out At The End Of The Day because a) it’s funny, and b) it writes itself. One unintended result is that it makes me think of my days and nights differently—how I spend them, how I’d like to spend them. All told, this will be a read for the new year. –Jim Joyce (Dave, PO Box 221041, Chicago, IL 60622,[email protected])