Re: Bananafish Review
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Sun, 31 Oct 1999 15:55:08 -0500
On Wed, Oct 27, 1999 at 02:51:54PM -0400, Stephen Peters wrote:
> Hi Jason,
>
> I know that you are planning to make the BR available to contributing
> members from the newsgroup, but will it be available to non-contributing
> members as well? If so, I'd certainly be willing to pony up some dough for a
> copy.
Something there is in me that makes me feel compelled to repost this
message regarding an existing magazine published by one of our own
subscribers, operating (as so many literary magazines do) on a
shoestring. We have about 300 members, and that doesn't count the
thousands who visit the archives early.
As a writer, I'm always appreciative when someone goes out and *buys*
something I've written. (A friend of mine, who is quite successful in
both literary and financial senses, says he can't believe how many
people come out of the walls when he publishes a new book. "If I ran
a restaurant," he says, "would they expect a free meal?")
As a reader, I try to support literary magazines to the extent that I
can afford, which I admit is not very much. But if a fraction of our
readers sent in an annual subscription for this magazine (my overdue
check goes out with the bills for this year's subscription), it would
keep the editors' boat floating.
I hope the editor (Ellen Balber) doesn't mind that I quoting her here.
It's the most recent message I've seen from her, I think:
> hi all,
>
> i'm not much of a participant in our discussions, but i read them with
> interest.
>
> just to let you know that the fall/winter 1998 issue of bananafish:
> short fiction, a nonprofit literary magazine for short stories only,
> is now available at your local bookstore or direct from the publisher
> at:
> bananafish
> p.o. box 381332
> cambridge, ma 02238-1332
> for $7.50 ppd
> one-year subscriptions are $12.50 (two issues)
> and our contest has been announced for the spring/summer 1999 issue
> (see poets & writers (Jan/Feb issue) and send SASE to above address
> for guidelines and rules.
> all the best in the new year.
> ellen balber
> managing editor
> bananafish
It was magazines like this that helped our man JDS get out of the slick
trenches (I'm thinking of the old "Story" magazine), and thought it
would be decent to at least mention the magazine. I've been a charter
subscriber, and have enjoyed it very much.
Please think of this not as an advertisement, but as an endorsement.
The magazine appears to be a labor of love for its creators, but they
can't exist without readership and subscribers.
Granted, it's not the same as seeing your name dancing on a CD-ROM, but
you can submit your work for consideration. DISCLAIMER: I have
absolutely no connection with the magazine. I'm simply a reader. I
like to open the magazine and see work from people I have never heard
about. That's a thrill one always seeks, I believe, when turning a new
page. (I guess I'm old-fashioned, because I enjoy seeing what I write
on PAPER, not on a screen -- and of those loonies who make corrections
to their own work, I am one. It's hard to make marginal notes on a CD!)
Cheers!
--tim o'connor