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The Baking Brain

A flatlay showing the front cover, first page interior, and back cover of The Baking Brain.

Learning about myself while experimenting with baking.

Want a copy? You can get one (a readable PDF, a printable PDF, and a text file) for $2+. Payable via bank transfer or cash (contact me), credit/debit card, donation, PayPal, or a trade.

You can also get one in print from Zine Gang Distro, or one in-person at Sticky Institute in Melbourne and G:Zines in Geelong, Australia.


I spent a lifetime telling myself I did but like cooking and how hard it was, so, of course, learning to bake was pointless.

It would be even more difficult, and everything I made would be a failure.

So, thoughts became real, and I avoided the oven at all costs. It was a vengeful creature, after all, and if I so much as looked at it, why, I'd burn down the kitchen, perhaps even the house!

Except... what if that wasn't true? What then?

I woke up one day with the conviction that the oven would scare me no longer. I would show it I could bake!

Of course... I've had a few failures. Biscuits that almost didn't cook because the dough was too short, a banana cake I took out of the pan too soon to cool on a wire rack which collapsed in on itself and became banana crumble... And each time it happened, I was ready to quit.

But I was a big boy now, and I would never surrender! Since then I've made biscuits, carrot cakes with frosting, roasted veggies, and more. And I continue to learn.

Who knew baking could teach me so much about life itself?


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Statistics → Word Count: 287 | Reading Time: 1:26


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Zachary Kai's digital drawing: 5 stacked books (blue/teal/green/purple, black spine designs), green plant behind top book, purple heart on either side.

Zachary Kaihe/him |

Zachary Kai is a space fantasy writer, offbeat queer, traveler, zinester, and avowed generalist. The internet is his livelihood and lifeline.

Acknowledgement Of Country

I acknowledge the folks whose lands I owe my existence to: the Koori people. The traditional owners, storytellers, and first peoples. This land's been tended and lived alongside for millennia with knowledge passed down through generations. What a legacy. May it prevail.

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