Punk Lust #12
Punk Lust was a free zine created by W.H. Pugmire, chronicling the Seattle Punk scene in the 1980s and 1990s, billed as a “Militant Queer Gothique Punk Transvestite” publication. After an eight-year hiatus, Pugmire published this twelve-page 12th edition of Punk Lust in October 1993.
Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire, born William Harry and published as W.H. Pugmire (1951 – 2019) was a weird fiction and horror writer in Seattle, Washington. He took the name Hopfrog from the Edgar Allen Poe story of the same name, and his fiction and prose poetry often also paid homage to H.P. Lovecraft Pugmire was openly gay since the early 1970s and referred to himself as a “punk rock queen and street transvestite.” He published numerous short fiction and poetry collections, and his work also appeared in anthologies such as The Year’s Best Horror Stories, Year’s Best Weird Fiction, and Weird Tales. He died in 2019 after eight years of complications due to congestive heart failure.
In this issue, Pugmire discusses the work of designer Art Chantry, the Fartz’ 1990 LP, You, We See You Crawling, from Empty Records (Musical Tragedies), and the death of local poet Steven Jesse Bernstein. The issue also features prose poetry, a review of Karl Meyers’ chapbook Permafrost, a “where are they now” segment on local artists, and a review of Franz Kafka’s writing. This issue was the beginning of the second incarnation of Punk Lust, which Pugmire had stepped away from when Seattle’s hardcore punk scene became insular, intolerant, and violent, during which time he returned to the horror, fantasy, and sci-fi community. This edition and those following were more personal and introspective than his earlier issues.
