Burn Collector: Collected Stories from One Through Nine

(Paperback)

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Description

Compiles the first nine issues of Al Burian's sporadically published and widely acclaimed personal zine which he distributed through the punk and DIY scene. Famed for its unusual content, Burn Collector featured humorous anecdotes, philosophical musings and odd locales, a rarity in the punk scene. Added to this, the author's narrative voice reflected his literary influences of Celine, Henry Miller and even comedian David Sedaris. Burn Collector blueprinted a post-punk persona that was smart, strange and political but certainly not correct.

Reviews

"This book offers a look back on the very best that the DIY punk movement of the '90s had to offer. But it's no history lesson, written more than a decade ago, each one of these stories transcends confines of eras and becomes something better: writing that lasts. Al would probably deny it but reading these stories again it's quite clear that he was the voice of a generation."
--Dan Sinker, founder, Punk Planet

"Burn Collector is best read aloud, alone, line by line as each piece's train wreck unfolds. Al's shrugging, self-deprecating tales camouflage a truly hopeful and humanizing perspective, and are as biting and relevant as they are unassuming. Al Burian writes for the naked hundred-watt bulbs dangling in everyone's busted bedrooms."
--Nate Powell, author of Swallow Me Whole

"Al Burian's Burn Collector is a literary kick in the shins. Wake up and read this. From the turbulence of personal relationships to the hazards of travel to the search for something resembling meaning in this bad-looking twenty-first century, Mr. Burian's work is fierce, insightful, and uncompromisingly wise."
--Joe Meno, author of Hairstyles of the Damned

Author Bio

Al Burian began producing small-run photocopied pamphlets, or zines, while touring with bands in his early 20s. Since then he has published two collections of his efforts, Natural Disaster and Things Are Meaning Less.