Stop me if you've heard this one...
...a man drops by a blog, subscribes to a lit mag, and likes it. (No rimshot, sorry.)
One of my unstated and so far largely unfulfilled goals for the year has been to dive head-first into the lit mag scene; the smalls, the indies, the big ones, the ones I've foolishly and blindly submitted my own work to; everything and anything to get a grip on that elusive form called "the short story". I say largely unfulfilled because, uh, I've done little to achieve that goal. I--wait for it--suck.
Somewhere in my lit-blog travels, I became a fan of Gwenda Bond's Shaken & Stirred. Ms. Bond edits fiction for and writes reviews for Say..., a semi-annual lit mag that has the dubious distinction of being one of the zines I've subscribed to. And while I haven't quite finished all the stories contained in issue five ("...have you heard this one?") I can say that I'm certain I like the zine. The cover art is cool, so I've looked real hip-like carrying it into lunchtime coffee shops, and (more importantly) the stories are good. I think I approach story collections as sorts of literary "mix tapes," so there's of course some stand outs in there--"Within this Present Time," by Karen M. Roberts, and "The Last Bee Tree in Lynchburg County," by Catherine M. Morrison, in this case, so far. I think I've especially enjoyed the zine so far because it's been a reliable source of bite-sized pieces of literary non-Steve Erickson goodness for those moments when my brain just needed a little something else.
So if you're looking for some zine goodness, I'd say you'd do alright with Say...; I think you can order the most recent copy here, and I think there's subscription buttons on the Shaken & Stirred sidebar, and there's going to be a website here, soon. Enjoy!
And now, for the disclaimers.
1. (This endorsement is not to be considered a flattery-type response to the fact that Ms. Bond has been kind enough to drop by this humble blog to offer an occasional comment or two. I might not often come out lambasting books I don't like, but that doesn't mean that my I Like Good Books and Zines policy and my I Really Automatically Like People More Who Drop Comments On My Blog policy overlap, at all. Honest.)
2. (Nor does this endorsement have anything to do with the fact that I won the subscription drive prize, though winning my first random drawing since like third grade is way cool, I will admit. Honest. Though I will admit that when I saw I'd won, I kind of did a "Huh!" double-take at the monitor, and then some latent Catholic guilt kicked in when I realized I'd been lazy and I hadn't gotten around to finishing reading the mag or posting my approval/endorsement yet. I, uh, oh, what's the word...four letters, rhymes with duck...oh, yeah. Suck.)
3. (Though okay I will admit that all of this does provide a nice segue and/or hint at my next post topic, cough cough, end of last paragraph, cough cough...)
One of my unstated and so far largely unfulfilled goals for the year has been to dive head-first into the lit mag scene; the smalls, the indies, the big ones, the ones I've foolishly and blindly submitted my own work to; everything and anything to get a grip on that elusive form called "the short story". I say largely unfulfilled because, uh, I've done little to achieve that goal. I--wait for it--suck.
Somewhere in my lit-blog travels, I became a fan of Gwenda Bond's Shaken & Stirred. Ms. Bond edits fiction for and writes reviews for Say..., a semi-annual lit mag that has the dubious distinction of being one of the zines I've subscribed to. And while I haven't quite finished all the stories contained in issue five ("...have you heard this one?") I can say that I'm certain I like the zine. The cover art is cool, so I've looked real hip-like carrying it into lunchtime coffee shops, and (more importantly) the stories are good. I think I approach story collections as sorts of literary "mix tapes," so there's of course some stand outs in there--"Within this Present Time," by Karen M. Roberts, and "The Last Bee Tree in Lynchburg County," by Catherine M. Morrison, in this case, so far. I think I've especially enjoyed the zine so far because it's been a reliable source of bite-sized pieces of literary non-Steve Erickson goodness for those moments when my brain just needed a little something else.
So if you're looking for some zine goodness, I'd say you'd do alright with Say...; I think you can order the most recent copy here, and I think there's subscription buttons on the Shaken & Stirred sidebar, and there's going to be a website here, soon. Enjoy!
And now, for the disclaimers.
1. (This endorsement is not to be considered a flattery-type response to the fact that Ms. Bond has been kind enough to drop by this humble blog to offer an occasional comment or two. I might not often come out lambasting books I don't like, but that doesn't mean that my I Like Good Books and Zines policy and my I Really Automatically Like People More Who Drop Comments On My Blog policy overlap, at all. Honest.)
2. (Nor does this endorsement have anything to do with the fact that I won the subscription drive prize, though winning my first random drawing since like third grade is way cool, I will admit. Honest. Though I will admit that when I saw I'd won, I kind of did a "Huh!" double-take at the monitor, and then some latent Catholic guilt kicked in when I realized I'd been lazy and I hadn't gotten around to finishing reading the mag or posting my approval/endorsement yet. I, uh, oh, what's the word...four letters, rhymes with duck...oh, yeah. Suck.)
3. (Though okay I will admit that all of this does provide a nice segue and/or hint at my next post topic, cough cough, end of last paragraph, cough cough...)
Posted by Darby M. Dixon III at 7:46 PM.
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