A new print magazine touted as the "first exclusively Canadian tattoo, body modification and alternative lifestyle magazine" is set to launch this spring.

Xalt magazine will be sold on newsstands across Canada and is already building a subscriber base, said publisher April Cross.


Subscriptions are $13.95 per year or $25 for two years (plus a free T-shirt as per a current promotion). Four issues per year will be published.

The magazine also has a website at www.xaltmagazine.ca.

Cross, who has worked with other magazines in the past (including Canadian Biker) and has a graphic design background, is initially doing the design of the magazine while enlisting freelance contributors and an associate editor.

This is her first time at the helm of a magazine. "It's my goal, my passion to do a magazine," she said.

Xalt will give readers "an inside look at established and up-and-coming artists, as well as give them a taste of alt lifestyles such as roller derby [and] punk," she noted. "Also included will be fashion and lifestyle products."

The first issue features partner-swapping [Swinging 101] while the summer edition will focus on roller derby, she said.