| Featured Book |
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| Just West of Famous |
| Charles Baxter doesn't pull any punches when he answers Lisa Coutant's questions in this month's author interview.
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| In this issue: |
An encore poem from Gol McAdam
Claire Litton's amazing Authenticity Leads
A collection of poetry from Craig Kirchner
New fiction from Maria Pollack and Josh Stewart
Plus great poetry from Corie Feiner, Gary Wilkins, and Sherry Pasquerello |
| Coming Next Month |
Anne Frasier has some fresh ideas about how to boost her book sales,
Ron Hogan is the ultimate literary insider - and next month he's going to take the Picolata Review into his world for an exclusive look around.
Plus:More great poetry, short fiction, and features. Enough great writing to satisfy any literary palate.
Want to submit to The Picolata Review? Send your submissions and queries to submissions@picolatareview.org
Complete guidelines can be found here. |
| The Picolata Review |
Managing Editor Mark Pettus is a full time journalist in St. Augustine, Florida, and author of the novel, Transit Gloria
Features Editor Lisa Coutant is a consultant, former writer for the Philadelphia Theatre Review, and a fiction writer. She is also Vice President of the professional writing group, Pennwriters.
Poetry Editor Andy H-H., is a poet who lives in the beautiful countryside of West Yorkshire
with his partner and a menagerie of pets (a sheep occasionally stares in through the kitchen window), in a home surrounded by literary history. Ted Hughes was born there, Sylvia Plath is buried nearby, and first Emily Bronte, then Kate
Bush, made a certain stretch of desolate land five minutes' walk away very famous indeed.
Fiction Editor Serenity Banks's day job is as an industry magazine editor. She also writes an online sex-advice column, and is trying to find an agent for her latest horror novel.
The Picolata Review is a monthly online publication, and a place to find emerging writers and poets. We welcome you, and hope we'll see you again. If you forget our address, look for us just a little west of famous. |
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| Volume 1, Number 2 August, 2006 |
| August 2006 |
A note from the editor:
March 1, 2007
Thank you, and good night.
No future issues of the Picolata Review are planned. I apologize to everyone who submitted stories, and to those of you who looked forward to reading those stories.
Unfortunately, the realities of my life have forced me to admit I no longer have the time, or the motivation, to produce a top quality magazine. I refuse to produce anything less.
Thanks for reading. I hope our paths cross again.
Mark Pettus,
Managing Editor
I belong to an online reading group (actually, I belong to a lot of groups related to reading and writing - too many groups). Last month, the group was discussing Margaret Atwood, specifically her aproach to sex and sexuality in her writing. The comments were mostly intelligent, thoughful, and thought provoking. One young lady, however, jumped into the conversation late, asking if we thought she would enjoy Atwood's Oryx and Crake. She said she wasn't a fan of Atwood, and had only read A Handmaid's Tale.
"I didnt like it because, I guess you could say I have high moral standards, and it was too sexual. Also because I read for entertainment, not enlightenment," she said.
I responded, "I admire your honesty, but your first sentence makes the second unnecessary."
(You can read the rest of my comment, and the discussion, here.)
The group was appalled by my response. Several slapped my hands publicly, and more did so privately. The readers thought my candid assessment was a rude and inappropriate response, especially since the woman was so young (she's 21).
The writers I've told about the discussion all thought I was too nice. Each of them agreed with me that the young lady was claiming moral superiority over not just the other readers, but over Atwood as well, and that I was required by the literacratic oath to challenge her sense of moral superiority with my own.
Aren't writers morally obligated to challenge bigotry and prejudice, to fight ignorance - lest the ignorant run unchecked through our streets and our culture? Don't we have to tell the truth, even when it gets us tarred and feathered, and thrown out of toney restaurants?
Maybe I'm too arrogant. Maybe the young woman didn't understand the insult inherent in her comments. I have to tell you her response was far less emotional than the readers'. She dismissed me. "I'm done with this," she said, and moved on. I think she may not be a reader at all, but rather a writer - not necessarily a good writer, but I'll bet she could handle the brutal bloodletting of a good critique group.
If you enjoy writers who aren't afraid to tell the truth, you'll love this month's Picolata Review. Whether they are telling the truth about themselves, about politics, or about writing, this month's collection of fiction, poetry, and features is all about the truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me, Margaret Atwood.
"No one can read without becoming enlightened. First open your mind, then open a book."
Enjoy,
Mark Pettus,
Managing Editor
Inside The Picolata Review:
Authenticity Leads
by Claire Litton
Truth: conformity to fact, sincerity, integrity. Often considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.
At least one of these things is true... continued
My Mother's Room
Poetry by Gol McAdam
Though robbed of her spit and polish
the room remains much as she left it.... continued
Lisa Coutant interviews
Award-winning author Charles Baxter
Lisa: Do you feel environment impacts a writer...?
Baxter: ...it's the air we breathe, the water we drink, the poisoned well of our political life. Right now, I can't see how anyone can think straight, with the foolish and wicked man we have in the White House trying to control our destinies. Talk about an environment... more
Between Bets
by Corie Feiner
Behind the turf track, horse stables and betting shacks,
behind the graveled paths and monitors mounted on metal stakes, behind the row of willows ... continued
Flight Plan
by Maria Pollack
Even before the delay, he'd had plenty of time to call home after he'd filed his flight plan, but he didn't. Instead, he got himself a cup of coffee and read the paper... more
John Ray
A poem by Gary Wilkins
John Ray, magazine salesman and black man
from the plundered temples whites had fled,
is bent resolutely on improving himself... continued
Dating Blindly
by Josh Stewart
It was 7:28 when I started to feel nervous. I was anxious for several reasons - not the least of which was that I was standing in front of a restaurant, with the smell of grilling meat wafting out on the soft summer breeze, and I had not eaten since lunch. The other main reason I was feeling anxious was because I was slowly convincing myself that something had gone wrong with the woman I was meeting that evening... continued
A Collection of Poetry
by Craig Kirchner
Aperitif
Rehearsal
&
Clementime & Cleopatra
Watching pleasure,
mouthing pleasure,
knowing the play was us,
the season was short... more
&write
poetry by Sherry Pasquerello
write & write and
read... continued
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