Lady Tyrant

While I was in NYC, I got a copy of the fourth issue of New York Tyrant, which if you haven't heard consists entirely of female writers, a kind of shout out in my mind to the recent slew of calls from other journals saying there aren't enough women submitting. Among them included are Sheila Heti, Kim Chinquee, Rachel B. Glaser, Rachel Sherman, Deb Olin Unferth, Dawn Raffel, Eva Talmadge, Leigh Newman, and many others, with a stark black cover with large white writing that continues onto the back, a quote from one of the included writers Cezarija Abartis: "I can smile like a woman, smile at their jokes, make my eyes mild and bring dimples to my cheeks, but inside I am bears and panthers."

I read the whole magazine pretty much cover to cover on the Amtrak from NYC to Philly.

Like the other Tyrants before it, Tyrant 4 destroys. There's no filler here, it's all sentence-driven, at least slight innovative stories that keep you reading just to see what they will do next. I was constantly excited from line to line as I read through, I felt an energy, I was ready.

In particular Rachel B. Glaser's story 'PEE ON WATER' ripped me open. Easily in the top ten new stories I've read in the past several years, both for its scope (it's kind of a history of the world but in elbows, if you will, weird catalogued tidbits and rams of destruction, all in a weird cutup language that still manages to read pristine), for its innovative imagery (it is overflowing, the title alone makes you know this person is not speaking in expectation), and its birth of want in me to create also. There's nothing quite as great as a story that inspires you to work more, and this definitely did that. Even if all the rest of the pages in Tyrant 4 were blank, this magazine would be worth buying for Glaser alone.

Fortunately they are not blank, and there is a ton of brilliance to go around (Kim's story juts and looms, as she is wont to, and Elizabeth Koch's 'ANGER GENE' really got me, as did most of this. Tyrant is the future.

Unfortunately they are already sold out this issue once again for mail orders, but you can find it still in stores, which are listed here. It is worth tracking down.

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I am beginning to put together the next Lamination Colony, and I still need pictures of people's heads close up looking into the camera, you should be wearing no clothing though this won't be evident in the photo except for your shoulders, the background does not matter, you will be used in the issue, please make the photo large enough res so I can make it stretch over a background or thereabouts, the standard size of digital photography will suffice. Please email me some photos, it will be *FUN*