Newspaper Seller at Car Window - Bali, Indonesia - 2010 - Photograph by Dena Rash Guzman - theme: Somewhere Never Traveled, Gladly Beyond
September 2011
back at home on the farm
somewhere near Portland, Oregon
Dearest Reader,
Let’s get to the the art and literature, shall we?
What do we have for you? Funny you should ask. We always feature writing and art based on themes assigned by me, because I am the editor, and I like to assign themes. This issue’s themes include America, fire, rapture, villanelles, “Somewhere Never Traveled, Gladly Beyond,” and red shoes.
In this issue, we have a very special feature: a literary and art based exchange program between China based English language publisher Haliterature and the United States based Unshod Quills. HAL is UQ’s sister site, and something of its mothership, even. For this effort, members of each publisher’s writing group shared writing or art based on the theme of America. Perhaps my favorite contributions to the mix come from Katrina Hamlin in Shanghai, with her story about white teeth and incomplete cakes, and New York City’s Jillian Brall, with her catchy line, “Yo yo yo, turn it up. This is the best part.” There are in total twelve contributions. The results roll from one end of the map to the other and then burn a hole in it. Check it out, and God Bless America. Lord knows she needs it.
In other HALiterature news, they’re set to release their second print anthology. Featuring China based writing from emerging and established writers, the theme this time will be “Sex, Drugs and Money.” I will have two stories in the book; one co-written with HAL co-founder and UQ contributor Bjorn Wahlstrom. Release date is November 25. HAL’s first effort, the anthology Party Like It’s 1984 – Short Stories From the People’s Republic of – is still available, in limited numbers, at Powells in the US, and at various outlets in China. Get it before it’s gone.
Another UQ feature in this issue showcases the results of our call for video poetry. We sent out a special call for submissions seeking video poetry containing original imagery, music and writing. The main rule – no videos of the poet reading into the camera. We wanted art, and we found it. Look here. My favorite piece is Zachary Schomburg’s “Your Limbs Will Be Torn Off In a Farm Accident.” I believe everyone on earth should watch this once per day. I do. Watch it, and you’ll believe, too.
The video feature led us to our featured artist: Joseph Taylor Golding. A self-described autistic visual artist, Joseph’s video poetry art left us breathless. Please share his work far and wide, as it’s really that good.
Speaking of good, Riley Michael Parker, Portland based wonderchild, is this issue’s featured author. Give him a good read and then look for his own Housefire Publishing‘s anthology, Nouns of Assemblage. His novel, A Plague of Wolves and Women, is due this fall by Lazy Fascist Press.
We’ve got more. Please look over the list of contributors and enjoy our little effort. Together we can spread art and literature like softened butter on a hot biscuit or like that one thing you and the rest of the boys in Sigma Nu caught in college that one time after Johnny’s 21st birthday blowout in Las Vegas.
Yours forever in peace, love and understanding,
Dena Rash Guzman
Editor
www.UnshodQuills.com
Self Portrait in a Fake Space Capsule - DRG - Somewhere Never Traveled, Gladly Beyond
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