FANTÔMES #1 | FALL 2021

TITLE - FANTÔMES #1 | FALL 2021

CREATED BY - HEX EVANS, LIZBETH POIRIER & VARIOUS CONTRIBUTORS

GENRE - GHOST STORIES/ART & PHOTOGRAPHY/OCCULT 

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN - CANADA 

A5/60 PAGES/PRINTED ON FOUR COLOUR COPY PAPER AND VELLUM/PAMPHLET 

PRICE - $13 CND + SHIPPING FOR ZINE ONLY OR $20 CND + SHIPPING FOR THE ZINE WITH A PACKAGE OF FOUND PHOTOGRAPHS & WRITINGS, AVAILABLE FROM THE WEBSITE

"Fantômes #1" is a yearly "collaborative ghost story zine" from Canada, with some original features including hidden pages and varied paper types. There are stories, poetry, art, a mixtape and occult flavours. 

Standout stories include "5630 Ohio 122" by Mike Wolf, in which a young man finds the writings of another boy in a derelict house, is indicative of the zine's haunting content, and can be enhanced by an option on the website to buy reproductions of the writings and photographs found in the story. "The Solitary Tree" by James Chip evokes an M.R. James-like atmosphere with a a tale about the terrible consequences of disturbing the past.

Prepare your ritual blade to cut these smaller pages open...

..."forbidden knowledge" awaits within.

Some pages are printed on material like tracing-paper featuring occult images, but the quirkiest feature is the "zine within a zine" - smaller pages which have to be cut open along the bottom to reveal hidden secrets: instructions are included as to how to do this via your own personal "ritual blade", but the kitchen scissors will do. There is also a diverse and haunting mixtape printed in the zine, the link to which is available on the website to listen to whilst reading.

All the better for being a yearly publication, "Fantomes" #1 is a strikingly original anthology with an unsettling and sinister vibe running through it: creeping terror rather than overt horror. The production values are first-class with and fans of dungeon-synth will love the moody photos of ruined castles on the front and back inside covers. The stories are excellent and the poetry is visceral and esoteric. I'm a little late to the party with the first issue being nearly a year old and Issue 2 already in production, but I'm glad I took a belated journey into the cobwebbed world of "Fantomes", and so will you.