Solitary Consignment
Features Editor Maria Amir writes of the silent battles being waged between art and soul
Literary or Not – The Reality of Escapist Fiction
Denied respect for much of literary history, what is the true value of escapist fiction? Features Editor Sana Hussain expounds.
Overseer: Detention
“…all the boys gathered in a room,/ unsettlingly quiet, half-asleep, making jets with homework-/ paper…”
By Vladimir Lucien.
Feathers
“She sits in an old people’s home/ thinking of feathers: how one/ should hold them lightly; how they fly…”
By Esther Phillips.
from ‘Far District’
“Evenings, on the way from primary school,/ I saw her, dressed in cowgirl boots and cutoffs,/ blouse opened on a barstool outside The Cool Spot…” By Ishion Hutchinson.
Purgatory
“I learned I would die/ someday, and the fast car will get you there/ long before death…”
By Kwame Dawes.
Phyllis Shand Allfrey: The Poet
Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert on the poetry of Phyllis Shand Allfrey in a special essay from our 12th issue.
A Prayer for the Unflummoxed Beaver
“a prayer for the cedar balls/ that break when you touch them and stain/ your fingers yellow, that release from their tiny bellies/ the smell of old churches…” By Kei Miller.
Herons
“A gleaming wanting to withhold itself and almost doing that, almost/ slipping back into the green, unnoticed but for the shift of light…”
By Kendel Hippolyte.
Leaving Coal Mine
“I wore charred wings in my hair/ for weeks after she left,/ I prayed to her in tongues/ of wild grasses and deep water.” By Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné.
Skulking Around the Dark Side of Fandom
Articles Editor Ghausia Rashid Salam explores the more problematic facets of the ever expanding online fanfiction world
Alfred Hitchcock and the Strange Aesthetic of Fetish
Contributing Editor Jess McHugh examines the nature of sex, suspense and narrative in film
Deconstructing the Dream Factory
Film Critic Chuck Williamson writes of the star narratives of silent-era fan magazines
Shattered Screens
Senior Film Critic Tom Nixon ponders on the evolving world of cinema and where a film ends and “reality” begins.
The Great Escape
In the constant shuffle of commodities and experiences available for the savvy shopper / believer, “buying in” has never been easier in the ever evolving search for the new you. Senior Articles Editor Aaron Grierson examines the trend in this essay from the 12th issue.
Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man
Jane King on Derek Walcott’s magisterial ‘White Egrets’