Part of the logo for Babou 691. Artwork by Eric York

I am thrilled to announce the launch of an online magazine called Babou 691 this September!

What does that mean?

Author Amy M. Vaughn and I have been working together to bring you “Babou 691”—a site dedicated to the surreal and the bizarre in literature, film, and art. Imagine the content of this blog, but on a much, much larger scale and from many points of view. However, the magazine won’t explore solely bizarro fiction, but the surreal, the “bizarro-adjacent,” the fringe, and anything outrageous, unexpected, and reality-bending. It will delve into the past and explore the latest and greatest out there.

Why the name Babou 691?

Without the men and women of the Surrealist Movement of the 1920s and 30s, the content on this blog would not exist. Our name is an ode to them. “Babou” was the name of Salvador Dalí’s pet ocelot and “691” refers to a succession of Surrealist and Dadaist magazines, beginning with Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 and later 391, 491, and 591. While that is a lot to live up to, we hope to continue that tradition one hundred years after it began.

Dalí with Babou

Queries

We are open for queries! Whether you would like to submit a single article or a series or have an idea for a monthly column, let us know. Send your queries—formal or informal—to baboupress@gmail.com. We will compensate you for your work—though as a fledgling publication, this compensation will remain somewhat “token” for now. We are not accepting fiction, poetry, or art at this time, but we hope to launch an accompanying litmag in the future.

Amy Vaughn, Contributing Editor

All this would have been impossible without the tireless help of my fellow editor Amy Vaughn (see our interview here). I must also thank Ira Rat for his graphic design and Eric York for his artwork. These two are currently working on a snazzy logo for the site.

I’ve wanted to create this magazine since before I started this site. In fact, the Zé Burns Blog was more of a stepping-stone. Since I will be devoting my time and effort to the magazine, this blog will no longer have weekly content. I plan to post a writing/life update here every month, along with any news about my writing. But don’t worry, if you enjoy the content of this blog, you’ll find oodles more at Babou 691.

The exact launch date is TBD, but we’re hoping to have it out by mid to late September.

I hope you enjoy Babou 691 as much as I’ve enjoyed working on it.

Tchau,

Zé