Xrisville Humor Magazine Returns Reborn In The Wake Of Tragedy

Online, April 15, 2013 (Newswire.com) - After considering closing its doors permanently in the wake of family loss, the Canadian independent humor magazine Xrisville returns to complete a friend's creative journey and sow the seeds of a reinvented ABM Publishing.

"I was already exhausted before it all began," recalls Bland, referencing the early summer of 2012. He'd put out five issues of his magazine over two years. Beginning in the fall of 2010 (under the name Blue Stapler Press) when he'd debuted Xrisville issue #1 at Cafe Novo in Toronto's Bloor West, Xrisville had grown its distribution and readership all across the GTA. Copies had even reached as far as Vancouver, New Brunswick, Paris, Amsterdam and Australia, and everywhere, the magazine had been a critical success, from readers as young as eight years old to colleagues working in mainstream publishing. Yet there'd been a financial, mental and physical toll.

"I loved putting out the magazine," says Bland, not only Xrisville's publisher but chief writer, photographer, art director and publicist. "I wouldn't have created five issues if I hadn't enjoyed it, but there really wasn't a day over those two years when I wasn't working." In addition to creating daily posts for Xrisville's Facebook page, he'd been pitching potential advertisers, creating presentations to other publishing companies and more-all while working a full-time job. "Everything up to issue #5 had been out of pocket. Advertisers weren't really interested in spending money on an unknown," recalls Bland, "and a lot of people thought it odd that someone would be trying to grow a paper magazine in a digital age, even though many readers-especially young readers-found a physical product sort of kitschy." Bland had known going into Xrisville that it could be years before he might realize even a break-even point, but at the two-year mark, he informed readers that he was placing Xrisville on indeterminate hiatus. "I needed some recovery time. I was feeling burned out, but apart from that, I was wondering what to do next."

Bland didn't know just how long he'd be in a state of wondering. In July, 2012, his mother, Vi Bland, unexpectedly passed away following complications from bypass surgery. (Vi Bland was the founder and publisher of Mosaic magazine, now owned and operated by the Ginger Press.) Two weeks later, his stepsister passed away. Two weeks after that, a close family friend suffered a stroke. "In a heartbeak, the world just fell out from beneath my feet and everything changed," says Bland, who'd also been planning his wedding for October, 2012. "We knew we had to cancel it even before we discussed it. There was just too much of a hole right through the middle of the family."

In immediately landing on deck in July, 2012, as executor of his late mother's estate, Bland says, "I couldn't really grieve. There was just so much to do every day. That went on for four months. When it finally all hit, I couldn't even write. I attribute much of my comeback from that place to Dan Simmons."

Chiefly remembered as an artist, cartoonist and T-shirt designer of the 1970s and '80s, Simmons (known within Xrisville under the pseudonym JD Rabbit) began tossing around story ideas almost daily with Bland. "I was amazed by his innate talent. We soon had so much, I started thinking about a sixth issue of Xrisville in which to feature his work, and he was excited about the idea. And so was I." When Simmons unexpectedly passed away on Jan. 14, 2013, Bland once more felt the world drop from beneath his feet, but in reviewing all that had happened, he felt he had the direction that he'd been seeking.

"I knew I wanted to complete the work Dan and I had begun. I felt I owed him that. So in creating Xrisville issue #6 as a tribute to Dan, I felt I was helping complete a journey. That felt important and personally meaningful." At the same time, Bland remembered what his stepbrother David had said to him the previous July. "He said that my mother had left me a message. She'd left me ABM Publishing, which was really just the business license and a laptop, but it was the message that she supported my vision and wanted me to carry on. So Xrisville issue #6 isn't just the release of another edition. As a flag raised to announce the reinvention of ABM Publishing, it's my tribute to the gifts and support of family, the unexpected wonder of friends and the lamplights that come our way when we most need them."

About the New ABM Publishing
ABM Publishing's main offering at the time of this release remains Xrisville, a free humor magazine available through select distributors or by direct mail by contacting xrisville@yahoo.ca. The publisher is currently designing a website through which Xrisville will be made available digitally, along with other works.

About Past Xrisville Issues

• For Xrisville issue #4, filmmaker Walter Williams agreed to a feature interview in character as Mr. Bill, the iconic Play-Doh character that Williams immortalized through the late 1970s on Saturday Night Live.
• Xrisville issue #5 featured musician Roman Pilates, who took copies of the magazine as far as Estonia and Sweden on his 2012 European tour.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Xristopher Bland
xrisville@yahoo.ca
Phone (Business Hours): (416) 218-3688