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ANNALEMMA SIX: IT’S GOOD
bearing the cross -- for you
I just got finished with Annalemma Six (with the Sacrifice theme), which just came out. It’s fucking awesome, and not just because it features Giant familiars like Roxane Gay, Ryan Call, Jimmy “the gangbang took place in Unit #209” Chen, J.A. Tyler, Brandi Wells, and others.
I also loved stories by folks I’d never read before, like Jonathan Messinger’s “Ashore, An Island” which is short, simple, and very good, and especially pleasing to me because it’s about one of my favorite topics, Bad Things Happening to Dogs. (See also: the short story “Bill Bailey” by Tony O’Neill, from Black Bile Press.)
Ryan Call’s story (which lives in the bigger territory called Bad Things Happening to Animals of All Kinds) contains a sentence beginning, “But when Gary looked down at his two sons, the word tubers appeared in his head…”
Roxane’s excellent story “How” is about a woman named Hanna who “lives in the North Country where the stars make sense” and “finds it difficult to be aroused by a perpetually unemployed man,” and her twin sister Anna, and how they get away, sort of.
The Henry Ronan-Daniell story, “The National Pastime,” is one I almost skipped because it seemed to be about baseball, but I read it and it was actually one of my favorite stories in the issue.
Jim Ruland’s story “Fight Songs” contains the phrase, “which is hard to do when your heart feels like a potato in a microwave,” which reminded me of Cortazar’s “your heart feels like a broken window” in Blow-up, I think.
The other thing about this thing is: It’s really good-looking. Like, a handsome book, well-designed, with strong paper and good printing and excellent art and photography, including a photo essay by Cara Faye Earl. Chris Heavener & co. did a great job with this. You can buy it here.
Tags: annalemma, brandi wells, JA Tyler, Jim Ruland, Jimmy Chen, roxane gay, ryan call
One of the best things I read last year was the Thing That Happened to the Dog in the beginning of Midnight Picnic.
AND you’re dead on about Annalemma. It really, really blows me away.
Holy crap, thanks Nick! And thank you, Adam. I feel like this issue is some of the best writing we’ve ever published so I’m psyched to see people getting a reaction from it. Cheers!
Totally agree. This issue was one of the best issues of any magazine I’ve read in the last few years. Not kidding. Every piece was stellar, the theme was subtle and wide and wonderfully executed, and I still find myself thinking about some of them when I’m on the train or at other random moments. Nice job, Chris, and all writers in the issue.
I feel like saying that something is “good,” in general, is hyperbolic. It feels like an attack or something. It makes my brain wince.
Is it hyperbolic or an attack?
Just… go hang out on tao’s website then or something. If I like something, I’m not going to refrain from calling it “good.”
Wow, thanks Adam!
One of the best things I read last year was the Thing That Happened to the Dog in the beginning of Midnight Picnic.
AND you’re dead on about Annalemma. It really, really blows me away.
Holy crap, thanks Nick! And thank you, Adam. I feel like this issue is some of the best writing we’ve ever published so I’m psyched to see people getting a reaction from it. Cheers!
hahahahaha
Totally agree. This issue was one of the best issues of any magazine I’ve read in the last few years. Not kidding. Every piece was stellar, the theme was subtle and wide and wonderfully executed, and I still find myself thinking about some of them when I’m on the train or at other random moments. Nice job, Chris, and all writers in the issue.
I feel like saying that something is “good,” in general, is hyperbolic. It feels like an attack or something. It makes my brain wince.
Is it hyperbolic or an attack?
We got some of these for Powell’s and they all sold in a week. Unheard of for a lit journal. Chris–send me more!!
Just… go hang out on tao’s website then or something. If I like something, I’m not going to refrain from calling it “good.”
Wow, thanks Adam!
hahahahaha
We got some of these for Powell’s and they all sold in a week. Unheard of for a lit journal. Chris–send me more!!