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I feel kind of bad saying this, but the thing I liked most about this anthology is the sewn binding (you can see it on the edge of the cover, it seems to have been done by a sewing machine). It’s kind of a weird thing to like, but I appreciate it when people have gone to the extra effort to do things like that.
The actual contents, however, don’t really appeal to me. There’s your average mix of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and some other stuff, and like any anthology or magazine you’re not going to like all of it, but in this case I didn’t like any of it.
This isn’t to say that the content here is necessarily bad, just that it wasn’t really my thing. I mean, I do read a fair bit (I generally finish at least two books a month, but I tend to prefer genre fiction (I’m reading Mogworld right now and really enjoying it!). At the same time, I do have a degree in Russian Literature, and read a pretty varied range of stuff, but I tend not to read stories about drug addicts, junkies, and people who like endin’ a lot of their sentences with apostrophes. (That is the weirdest complaint ever, but it’s true.) Why have I gone on about this so much? Because the two longest pieces in the book are about minor criminals and drug use. Not really my thing (I didn’t even like The Wire though, so what do I know).
I’m also not really interested in people telling me about how they became a single parent with four children. I just cannot understand their mindset in any way, and the piece doesn’t really delve into why the person actually had their children.
In fact, the most interesting thing in this zine, to me, was one of the characters talking about a prescription medication I’ve been on. And that was more of a “oh, I recognize that pharmaceutical name and very few of the others mentioned” than anything else.
Actually, that's not true. There was an interview with a musician that interested me enough (ie. it talks about how awesome robots and comics are) to look him up online, but, alas, I can find no mention of Music to Defend Reality from Marauding Hordes of Inter-dimensional Hostiles Volume 1. (Edit: Oh wait, apparently it was sent to me, I just found it in my "box of zines to review". It's actually pretty good. )
Again, I will say that none of the work here is necessarily bad (well, some of it is), just that the content matter really doesn’t appeal to me as it (mostly) lacks spaceships, monsters, humour (at least a type I enjoy), and characters I can relate to. But maybe you’ll like it.
(Originally written for 365 Zines a Year.)
I am not one to comment upon reviews of works I contribute to in some way. Really, pissing contests are wastes of time and good drink; but this time I feel we must whip out our tools and aim for the damned horizon.
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck kind of nonsense is this? If the genre is not your thing, why bother with the review? I'm not one to go about visiting churches and telling each congregate what fools they are so, really, I cannot fathom what drives you.
You don;t care for crime, okay. But what about the stories? Which were well-written? Which were shit? Why, exactly, don't you dig the dialogue which end in apostrophes?
This issue is over a year old, as well, and we are working on our sixth issue. We had weeded out much of the poor writing, and as we grow we continue to gather a larger, more diverse crew of talented writers, poets, musicians and artists.
I get why one would not care for stories of junkies and bastards. Hell, I think this issue contained possible one of the poorest stories I've written since starting to write. But, I don't get why people begin to read a zine called "The Filth," with an apparent expectation of love, joy, good times or anything other than sludge and muck. I don't get why reviewers even write reviews in which they have nothing to contribute or suggest other than "appeal to me."