Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Swill Review!

Man, I wish I had an unflattened version of this image. I'd turn it into a print. It's all inkblots -- I want to do a show of this kind of imagery. I'm gonna call it Rorschach Dreams.

Amy F. Groggin published a pdf-format review of Swill on a site associated with Columbia University in Chicago. It's a collection of reviews of print-based literary magazines (the fact that I had to specify that gave me a little 'I'm living in the future' shiver -- scroll down a bit and you'll find her piece.

http://www.colum.edu/Academics/Fiction_Writing/Publishing_Lab/Market_Pages/Magazine_Reports.php

In my opinion she nailed it, aside from failing to notice that Delphine LeCompte is terrifyingly female. She really gets what we're trying to do. And she has an interview with Rob -- now I get to work for a celebrity!

Look at us! We're academically approved! If you read our magazine I bet you get credits.

Of course my art and writing get no mention whatsoever. I'm getting used to that, though, he said, and slunk off to drink a tall scotch-and-bitter-tears.

3 comments:

marcos said...

is it me or do bitter tears taste good with everything... dont worry about not getting credit some of the best things about artist is the secret work they do. trust me... ive painted entire murals and got no credit for them.

Sean Craven said...

I ain't sweating it. The part of the magazine Ms. Grogan was concerned with is Rob's baby. And Harlan motherfucking Ellison said my art and design were the best part of the magazine. That'll be enough to keep my ego painfully inflated for some time to come.

robp said...

Sean, it's more a synopsis than a review, but there's a piece up on the same page about Monday Night and the reviewer writes about "Smoking With Mom."

Now, if it had been me pimping the first two issues, your writing definitely would have come up - there's no way 'Paved' shouldn't be included among the best things we've published. But again, I'm disagreeing with someone who raved about my magazine, and her mission wasn't strictly to pimp.

Oh, and that Ellison guy - well, he's also the one who called Ellen Datlow to recommend one of our stories - who knew he had a taste for visuals? I do remember he was pissed off about what Star Trek did with his 'Edith Keeler Must Die' script, so I wonder what he had in mind there. Anyway, what Harlan Ellison said about the writing was good enough for me - when the gods say yr pretty good it doesn't matter that much what anyone else thinks.