Folks, this post is to let you know that Issue 02 is finally shipping out this December 31st. We apologize for the waiting time. Per the tracking number we received from FedEx, the boxes were supposed to be with us last Friday, the day that our “Issue 02 is finally here!” post went live. However, FedEx only delivered the boxes at the end of the day today. There is no good explanation on the FedEx end other than “it was the holidays and things got delayed.” Next time, we’ll know better than to put up a magazine for sale the day after Christmas! But we finally have the boxes, and we’re shipping everyone’s order ASAP. We’ll be mailing them in the order in which they were received, and we’ll try to get through them all tomorrow. Sorry again, and thank you for patience. We promise, Issue 02 will be worth the wait.

Also, we just got a box of mint-condition Issue 01’s. Not the NSWF limited edition version version – that one is gone, gone, gone. This is the “mom and pop” version, the one that was previously only sold in stores. We are offering this version of Issue 01 for a discount to those who order it together with the new Issue 02.

If you ordered Issue 02 already, you may still be able to add Issue 01 to your order for just $9.99 if you email our Shipping Mistress, Gretta, within the next 12 hours. She will let you know whether or not your package has been shipped yet, or if it’s still possible to add the extra magazine. For those of you who haven’t ordered yet:

• Issue 01: $15. Click here to buy.
• Issue 02: $15. Click here to buy.
• Issue 01 & 02: $24.99. Click here to buy.

2009 is almost here. It’s resolution time. We here at Coilhouse Magazine & Blog resolve to keep working our pert little patooties off to keep this train chugging rapidly along. We’d like to ask you to consider making a CH-related New Year’s resolution of your own: pick up a beautiful, fresh-off-the-plane copy of Issue 02 today, tomorrow, or in early Aught-Nine.

The first difference you’ll notice between Issue 01 and Issue 02 is the design. To replace Cecilia, who returned to Italy upon completing design of Issue 01, we invited the talented Courtney Riot to join our crew. Courtney’s adventurous design sensibilities leave their mark on every page, giving each article a voice completely of its own. To further enhance the tactile goodness, starting with this issue, all issues of Coilhouse will have rounded corners. Yum!

The 96-page Issue 02 kicks off with an illustrated history of cyborg hands by David Forbes in our first section, INFORM. Then there’s an extended remix of the Mark Mothersbaugh interview we posted earlier this year, followed by “Oases Between the Freeways,” a love letter to the magical and secret places of Angel City, complete with a colorful Zo-illustrated fold-out map. Joshua Ellis makes a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the atomic bomb. A Coilhouse-exclusive photoshoot takes Margaret Cho and Selene Luna to a desert, a vintage hotel and magical theme park, where Margaret steals a horse from a carousel. In the section INSPIRE, we interview and showcase artists Madeline von Foerster, Stephane Halleux and Stephen Kasner. In the photography/fashion department, slick irodu perfection by Gustavo Lopez Manas and Kate O’Brien’s vintage portraits of women, followed by an escapade through the trials and tribulations of vintage clothing with some familiar faces. In our last section, INFECT, we catch up with Mondo 2000 creator R. U. Sirius and comics creator Andy Ristaino. In Issue 02’s edition of Print to Fit, our regular paper doll column featuring a rotating set of guest artists, Molly Crabapple brings sexy back with a set of Rococo-inspired paper dolls – in full color.

Thank you again for everything, guys.

[Issue 02 is now sold out!]

Behold! Your first peek at the cover of Coilhouse, Issue 02. Click here for a larger version, shot by staff photographer Allan Amato. Mark your calendars for this Friday, December 26th; that’s when the magazine goes on sale on this site.

As guessed by reader Thews in a recent comment, our Issue 02 cover features the strong, seductive, smoldering Selene Luna, a 3″10 comedienne/performer who first took the world by storm as part of Velvet Hammer, the troupe that helped bring about the neo-burlesque revival. Selene writes and performs her own material onstage; one of her most notorious and confrontational burlesque acts has Selene rolling onstage in a vintage baby pram and emerging in stockings and garters, a lit cigar between her teeth. In regards to the performance, Selene Luna recently told Ministry Burlesque:

I was inspired by silent movies. I was doing a lot of research for my one-woman show focusing on the history of little people in show biz. During the silent movie era little people were employed in films a lot more than they are now because you could be more politically incorrect. In some films they’d have a little person dressed as a baby portraying a burglar or jewel thief in a wacky Keystone Cop type of thing. The ongoing theme in these movies, which were cranked out like crazy, was that a little person would team up with an average size lady, they’d pretend he was her baby and he’d be smoking a cigar. Those bits cracked me up. So that burlesque number was my play on that. I come out of the carriage with the cigar. I really wanted to tap into that aesthetic. It’s my tribute to little people’s contribution to films.

For Issue 02, Selene granted us an in-person interview that was powerful, vulnerable and humbling. She discussed her immigration experience, family, friendships, collaborations and future plans.

Beyond our cover ladies, Margaret and Selene, lies a glorious treasure trove of juicy content yet to be divulged! Issue 02 contains art, fashion, technology, music, history, geography and more. Make sure you’re here on Friday for the full reveal!

Issue 02 is real! And it’s out in just a few days! Yes – it’s finally happening, and this is your first sneak peek. You’re looking at the inside cover, featuring badass beauty warrior queen Margaret Cho. We won’t reveal the s0oper se3krit, ultra-faboo cover cover for a few more days, but we can tell you three things about it. Number one, it was shot exclusively for Coilhouse, so you’ve never seen it before. Number two, there are many more pigeons in it. Many, many more. And number three, while Margaret’s not on the outside cover, the person on the cover is one of her most notorious partners in crime. Who can it be, now? You’ll find out very soon!

Expect a full post announcing the contents Issue 02 soon. Get your dollars ready. This will be a great New Year’s gift, and a great gift for slackers who like to give their Christmas gift after the holiday has passed. (Uh… that’s our clever way of saying we won’t have it stocked in time for it to arrive on the 25th.)

Everyone who worked on this feels that Coilhouse Issue 02 has gone above and beyond what was accomplished with Issue 01. While 01 will always remain special (and “special,” considering the typos) to us, with this issue we really progressed to the next level in every area, from the depth of content, to overall cohesiveness, to the graphic design. The difference between Issue 01 and Issue 02 is a bit like the difference between the pilot episode and the first real episode of a series. You’ll see what we mean. Just you wait!

WOOOOOO!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! *hic* SHOW US YOUR KNICKERS!!!

Now, I know it’s quite early in the morning and some of us are still a bit hungover and as greasily stuffed as vat-fried Turduckens, but it’s time we all gathered ’round and sang happy birthday to our darling Nadya, the magical grrrlchild who brought this entire Coilhouse venture into being by sheer force of will, prescience, and love.

Yes, you already know that she’s an engaging writer who emits a quiet sagacity one would not necessarily expect from so young and doe-eyed a dear. You’re well aware that she’s a phenomenal photographer. But just in case we’ve not made it clear to you already? Nadya Lev is the reason Coilhouse exists. Were it not for our scrumptious mastermind, none of this would be here, and Nadya is the one who continues to hold it all together like a tiny, sexy tube of superglue. So take a moment to send her some whelping-day well-wishing, won’t you? I’m sure it’ll mean more to her than my questionable decision to pelt her with obscure indie spaz rock.

MMMMMMMWAH:

You know how, as a child, you have that one vivid dream that you remember for the rest of your life? Mine was about this snail house. This exact one. I must have been about five or six. I dreamt that I was lost alone in the woods, in a very eerie Hedgehog in the Fog kind of way. Wandering through the hazy forest, shivering as the twigs creaked underneath my feet, I came upon a little house that was shaped like a giant snail, with windows illuminated by old-fashioned kerosene lamps. There, a kindly lady with white hair and a hunched back waited for me. She was the innkeeper, and the snail house was her inn… or maybe it wasn’t an inn, maybe it was some sort of safe house for lost wanderers. I don’t remember. At any rate, she sat me down and served me buttered pierogi, tea and warm milk. She asked me to help her run the house, I gladly agreed. The longer I stayed, the more a part of me the house became; physically, and mentally. For example, I could make the house move from place to place with my mind. When I woke up in real life, I kept shutting my eyes and wishing I could go back. It was the most comfortable place I’d ever been.

I never thought I’d see that place so clearly again, so imagine my shock when I stumbled across this lovely dollhouse by Russian-born, Helsink-based artist Ilona. Ilona, who has no site, only a modest LJ, sculpted every detail of the tiny house, from the shell exterior to the tiny paper magazines on a shelf inside. She was apparently inspired by this image, which she found on a Russian LiveJournal community “for people who love snails.” (Oh, and here’s a totally inappropriate picture from this community to totally ruin the mood of this nostalgic post. Enjoy!). But I digress. This dollhouse is completely magical to me. I love the images of the snail-house by day, but I love it even more by night, because that’s when it most resembles the snail-house in my dream. But what really stopped me was the title. It’s called The Boarding House “At Snail’s.” It sounds better in Russian because the word “snail” is a very soothing, gentle word – ulitka.

• The Snail House by Iliona – By Day
• The Snail House by Iliona – By Night

Just a quick courtesy announcement to let you guys know that there are only 45 copies (out of 1,000) left of the limited edition Issue 01. So for any stragglers who wanted to order Issue 01 but put it off, now is your chance. We will be selling them until midnight on Friday, after which point the magazine will not be available on the site until Issue 02. We may eventually get some of the non-limited Issue 01’s back issues in stock, but it probably won’t happen for awhile.

We actually didn’t predict that this would happen. Everyone is saying that the odds of a new magazine (or an existing one, for that matter) surviving in the current economy are very bleak, you guys, above all else, have made it possible. Thank you.

Additionally, we would like to request that any customers who ordered the magazine more than 5-10 days ago and have not yet received it to please email us this week. If you ordered it that long ago and didn’t receive it, there was a problem, and we want to get you sorted out! Please let us know sooner rather than later, so that we can ensure that everyone gets their copy.

Stay tuned for news on Issue 02!

UPDATE: …aaaaand, they’re gone. Thank you all!

Gala Lumière Darling:

I believe in being enthusiastic & passionate, & thinking big. I believe in turning the music up loud. I believe in celebrating every day, & getting dressed up for the occasion. I love life. I’m a candy-haired gangster with big plans.

We love Gala Darling. She’s a go-getting, effervescent font of optimism, practicality, wisdom and whimsy all in one stunning package. Gala’s been a supportive friend of our venture from day one, sending over one of our first (and biggest) bursts of readers when the blog launched back in October of 2007. We three lucky ladies are honored and tickled oh-so-very pink to have been interviewed by the fuchsia-tinted juggernaut about our Big Coilhouse Adventure thus far. Read it here.

Gala, dahling. We could just drown you in kisses and cupcakes. Thank you again.

In the non-limited, non-vaggy version of Coilhouse that’s available in stores, we replaced the offending material with a mini-editorial about piercing. The shoot was a big collaboration: Mildred was the evil genius behind this shoot’s concept (from the preliminary sketches right down to crafting that fan, along with Scar’s phallic flower-skewers in the other photo), I took the photos, Melanie Manson did the makeup, Holly Jones did the hair, and Pia Kaamos was the lovely model in the image above. Alongside the images, there’s an interview with Jenn Rose, the prosthetics artist who made this gory magic happen.

We certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from wanting to own both versions, but those of you who happen to spot Coilhouse at a store but aren’t buying, could you do us a huge favor? Move it where people can see it, so that someone new can discover it. My parents found it on the very top shelf in the somewhat messy Art section of the Deptford Barnes & Noble and moved it, snapping the picture below. Lo and behold, the next time they visited the store two days later, one copy from the stack was gone.

Just don’t put them in those stand-alone special display cases – magazines pay a lot of money to be there. Just find a nice, prominent spot for it, ideally without displacing anything good. It would help us out a lot, and hopefully bring interesting new people to this blog. Thank you!

This past Friday, October 10th, was our 1-year anniversary of going live with Coilhouse. What a year it’s been! 555 posts, 6,470 comments and one print issue later, here we are. We were going to post something on the day of, but we completely forgot, and this is why: October 10th also happened to be the final deadline for all Issue 02 content. That’s right! Issue 02 is absolutely, positively, 100% a go. Thanks, primarily, to you lot. GROUP HUG!!!

We have a lot of other fantastic news to share, as well. First off, we’d like you to know that Coilhouse Magazine Issue 01 is now available in a wide variety of wonderful independent shops across the United States, including Quimby’s, Atomic Books, Trident, and Chicago Comics. Please click here to see the growing list of businesses.* Secondly, we are very, very proud to announce that our feisty wee upstart has landed distribution in the three largest bookstores in the United States: Borders, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. This means a vast majority of our US readers will be able to go into a local store and find Coilhouse (minus these two NSFW pages, which were only in our limited edition) on the shelves. Including Issue 01. Today. For a complete listing of Borders/B&N locations, click here.

This website is changing, too. The Staff Page has been updated with new bios and photos to showcase our growing family of contributors, and we’ve finally written up a proper Coilhouse FAQ. The following questions, among others, are are covered:

• How often is the magazine published?
• Is it possible to subscribe?
• Who should I contact if there’s a problem with my order?
• I want to carry Coilhouse in my store. Is this possible?
• Can I submit to Coilhouse Magazine?

One final announcement we’d like to make: there are very limited quanities of the website-only limited edition Issue 01 left. 800 are gone, 200 remain. If you’ve been thinking about getting a copy but haven’t made up your mind yet, now is the time.

Looking to the future, we can say with confience that Issue 02 is going to be amazing. We learned a lot from Issue 01, so the bar’s been raised a notch or two. Many of you had positive things to say about the print quality; for this issue, we’re going even glossier. The paper will be of a thicker stock, and we’re implementing some surprise touches to further enhance your tactile experience. Best of all, the content in Issue 02 –which should be out before the end of the year– is incredible. Just you wait!

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being here. Your continuing support and participation in this endeavor has meant the world us.

Photo by Lou O’Bedlam.

*Additionally, Wildilocks in Melbourne, Austrialia has some copies for sale! (Rest assured, we’re actively exploring more extensive international sales options for all forthcoming issues.)