Inspired by Distroboto in Montreal and Outsider-art-in-a-box more locally, Capilano now has its own art- and chapbook-vending machine. The machine (which rests under a rather large and sombre-looking clown’s head) will make a brief sojourn off campus next week, stopping in briefly at Cafe Montmartre for a launch. Thereafter, the clown’s head vending machine will reside at Capilano (Fir 402) where it will be open to your works (whether you are a Capilano student, whether you have only known one, or whether even briefly, for the purposes of inclusion, you wish you had…). I’ll post a link to the specs as soon as they’re available online… 

The launch, next week, will feature readings by first year Capilano creative writing students and there will be a series of chapbooks available for a nickle a piece. Come out and show your support.

Launch of the Capilano Art-Vending Machine
Wednesday August 20th
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Café Montmartre
4362 Main Street (at 28th)

Okay, I’m inspired by this (by way of Bookninja). When I was a kid, I read the Websters from a to zed, and now, on my Mat leave, along with working on the next novel, editing Charles Demer’s brilliant debut, and … oh, yeah, having a baby … I’m going to read the OED from cover to cover. The two-volume version, the one that comes with the magnifying glass in a little drawer. Yep. That’s a plan. Now, off to Abebooks to find me a lovely boxed set.

The Relit Awards longlist is out and Delible is there, along with a lot — uh, a lot — of other great independent works. And I felt the first kick today (from W’s & my little one). An awesome day. 

Matrix Presents

Issue 80: The Gallows Humour Issue

Matrix magazine is now accepting submissions for its Gallows Humour dossier. We are looking for your darkest, most absurd and sardonic, witty, acerbic, ironic and sarcastic unpublished writing. Edited by Mike Spry. Poetry: (3-5 poems). Fiction: (3500 words max.).

Deadline: April 11th, 2008.

Electronic Submissions Preferred: spry@matrixmagazine.org

On Gallows Humour:

“The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure.”
– Sigmund Freud,“Humour (Der Humor)”

“When Oscar Wilde allegedly gestured at the garish wallpaper in his cheap Parisian hotel room and announced with his dying breath, “Either it goes or I go,” he was exhibiting something beyond an irrepressibly brilliant wit. Freud, you see, wasn’t whistling “Edelweiss” when he wrote that gallows humour is indicative of “a greatness of soul.” The quips of the condemned prisoner or dying patient tower dramatically above, say, sallies on TV sitcoms by reason of their gloriously inappropriate refusal, even at life’s most acute moment, to surrender to despair.”
–Tom Robbins, “In Defiance of Gravity”

If you’re viewing this page spectrally and lack an email account, but still want to submit, send your hardcopy to:

Matrix Magazine
The Gallows Humour Issue
1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., LB-658
Montreal, QC
H3G 1M8

The latest Matrix is at press now, with poems by Stuart Ross, fiction by Sarah Steinberg, and a special section, the New Underground, with writing by some of the best emerging writers (glad to see an excerpt of Jenny Sampirisi’s forthcoming novel, Iswas, included there). In this issue, there’s also my piece on writing spaces (looking at the studio writing practice of Betsy Warland, but dipping into the public writing practices of a few others as well). Check it out here. 

REDUX: Here in Vangroovy, winter’s set in, which means rain. The current issue of the McGill News has a great review of Delible.

Rita Wong and Robert Majzels have thoughtful responses up on rob mclennan’s ‘12 or 20.’ (I’m sure I should get why they’re called ‘12 or 20,’ but don’t.) Can’t wait to read Rita’s new book, Forage.

Tonight, Wayde Compton (my sweetheart) performs at the Western Front.

Wayde Compton and Jason De Couto: The Reinventing Wheel, A Turntable Project.

Sat., Jan. 12, 7:30 pm, The Western Front, 303 E. 8th Ave., Vancouver. Reception to follow. Free admission. Presented by the SFU Writer-in-Residence Program

And, in a week or two, David Chariandy and I read out at UBC. Here’s the announcement from the Play Chthonics Reading Series website:

Play Chthonics Reading Series
will host writers Anne Stone and David Chariandy.

Wednesday January 23, 2007 at 7:30 PM. Cash bar.

Cecil Green Park Coach House
Green College
6201 Cecil Green Park Road, UBC

MAP: http://www.maps.ubc.ca/PROD/index_detail.php?locat1=421

(more…)

Zoe Whittall (author of Bottle Rocket Hearts) chose Delible as her book of the year for the Globe! — along with Elizabeth Bachinski’s Home of Sudden Service and Emily Holton’s Little Lessons in Safety. (Nice company to be in, all round.)

On Rabble, Amber Dean reflects on what the Pickton trial has and has not told us about “what really happened” to the women who were murdered. Writes Dean:

I thought I was prepared that day for what I was about to hear, as I was no stranger to the circumstances surrounding the trial. But as I listened to Crown council describe, in the cold, matter-of-fact language of legal-eze, “what really happened” to those six women, I knew that I was not prepared, not at all. And I wondered how knowing this information could make any difference to the injustices the women experienced, injustices which continue to shape the present.     

Libby Davies also responds to the verdict, calling for reform of legal and social policy, an inquiry into police handling of the case, and fundamental changes to the social backcloth that has sex workers face such terrible risks of violence.  Says Davies:

Surely the trial of the missing women must compel us to act, to seek answers and make changes that will minimize the risk and harm that sex workers face.      

“People drive by in their nice cars and stare because, like an accident, they realize it could happen to them. So for that brief moment, they can’t take their eyes away from that person’s tragedy because for that brief moment, they understand it could be them, and for that long moment it is them, and even when they are saying ‘poor bastard,’ they’re really thinking of the weight of their own potential loss.”
    —Marie Clements. The Unnatural and Accidental Women: a play. (Talon Books, 2003). 

“I was born with a fever, but it seemed to subside for sixteen years. High school, I was a good girl. I was pretty, I smiled, I fit in fine. And then as I turned sixteen and stopped smiling, the fever returned, though my skin stayed pale and sure, showing no sign of the heat inside me.” 
    —Rebecca Godfrey. The Torn Skirt: a novel. (Harper Collins, 2001). (more…)

MATRIX MAGAZINE presents…Issue 79: THE NEW UNDERGROUND.

We are looking for the best unpublished writers in Canada for our 79th issue.

We are looking for innovative short fiction and poetry by young or emerging writers.

Eligible applicants include Canadian citizens who have NOT published a trade book. People who have published chapbooks or have been published in anthologies or magazines may submit.

Edited by Ian Orti and Maya Merrick

Electronic submissions only. (Word or text files only)

Send to: ian[at]matrixmagazine[dot]org
Due date: December 5th