The Ring of Fire Anthology

by E.T. Russian

The Ring of Fire Anthology is a collection of the zine from the late 1990s by ET Russian (aka Hellery Homosex), and features new material never before published. Ring of Fire is honest, engaging, and ahead of its time.

Through black and white ink drawings, comics, linoleum block print portraits, essays, interviews and erotica, this collection explores the intersections of art, bodies, healthcare, ability, gender, race, community, class, healing and the politics of work.

Alternately emotional and erotic, funny and political, Ring of Fire tells the author's personal story, and captures the work and words of various artists and leaders from disability culture and history. A young activist steeped in the cultures of queer and punk, Russian embraced a cultural identity of disability while writing Ring of Fire. Years later, Russian examines what it means to work in healthcare in the United States.

Genres: Memoir, Queer, Nonfiction, Disability, Feminism, Disability Studies, Queer Studies

237 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2014

Reviews

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the punkest object I own. A zine anthology by a double amputee about disability, queerness, and anarchism. These themes connect when Hellary describes their experiences with prosthetics, mutual aid, and bureaucratic systems of insurance and government assistance.

[Danni Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this! It's an anthology of zines about the author's experience with disability, gender, and sexuality. It's chock-full of art, writing, interviews, political statements, queer sex tips, and more. Although my own disability and queerness experiences are different from the author's, I felt like the author really got at a lot of the powerful emotional realms of navigating disability and queerness in an ableist and queerantagonistic world that I'm not always sure how to convey to people without firsthand experience of it. Very powerful stuff. Highly recommend.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Ring of Fire back when it was in zine format. Reading this updated format with additional insights and essays I can just say simply that this anthology should be read by everyone and owned by as many libraries as possible. Brilliance at its best and some of the best representation of queer disabled kink fabulousness I've ever seen in my life. I can't wait for what E.T. does next (aside from all of their amazing visual and multisensory art!!).

[mia :•) · Rating 5 out of 5]

yah i’m a homosexual. ya take me home, and i’m sexual!

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic zine compilation + essays/interviews about queerness, disability, the arts, and all kinds of stuff!