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Pif Magazine
ISSN: 1094-2726
Published by:
Pif, LLC
PMB 248
4820 Yelm Hwy SE
Suite B
Lacey, WA 98503-4903
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Duct Tape Press
Reviewed by Ingrid Woodrow
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Duct Tape Press calls itself "The Stickiest 'Zine on the Web." I'm not sure what this means exactly, but the editors & co-founders, Josh Wardrip and Christina Berry, say they "aspire to someday face criminal charges" for what they publish here. Not likely, unless banality or bad poetry are criminal offences. |
Duct Tape Press |
For banality, I give you exhibit A, from "Extirpated from an Ignorant Bliss" by David R. Parvo: "She was in the midst of putting the finishing touches to the dinner we invariably ate each and every Saturday night. The green beans constituted a particularly grueling torture that I was ritually forced to endure." Okay, to be fair, it's not THAT bad – I read this piece right through, and by the end I actually had some sympathy for the protagonist, whom I hated at the start.
As for bad poetry, view exhibit B: from Scott Holstad's "A Simple Request":
Will
You please come
Kill me
Now?
There is, however, some good work on this site, such as "Envoys" by Corrina Wycoff, with its strange and beautiful imagery, the narrator striding through the city in a "great, hooded, royal blue cape." I also liked "Run-Off" by Bryan W. Jones, about a guy with an eight-and-a-bit months pregnant wife who is obsessed with the effect his neighbor's new gutters are having on his pyracantha bed when it rains.
The highlight of this 'zine was "Dog-Fightin' Fool" by Rich Logsdon, about twelve-year-old Ike Boudine and his uncle, Sweet Lou, "a 380 pound man with a flaming red beard, red hair, and a sure eye for ferocious canines." They're sitting in the parking lot at Gretta's Burgers & Shakes discussing Ike's first ever "dawg faht" (dog fight).
The layout of Duct Tape Press (black, white, maroon) is simple and unaffected, but not a single deviation from design or color scheme over 23 issues can become a little monotonous. The editors are looking for submissions that are "formally and/or thematically challenging and unconventional." While most of the writing falls short of this, it is an admirable philosophy. I would not necessarily bookmark it, but for a 'zine that was established because the founders had "nothing better to do," Duct Tape Press shows remarkable consistency and dedication, which makes it worth a visit.
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Ingrid Woodrow is a writer based in Brisbane, Australia. Her first novel, Goddess and the Galaxy Boy, will be published in early 2001. She is completing a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Queensland and working on a new novel.She is also the founding editor of the online writing journal Mangrove, which is listed as a "Site of National Significance" in the National Library of Australia's PANDORA archive.
Further information and samples of her work can be obtained by visiting www.uq.edu.au/~eniwoodr