Status Update

Howdy!

Big news!

Brave New Word was gone and now it is ungone. Because exactly one week after i decided to put it on the shelf things have changed and the big opportunity i was given was no more because "you're weird - fuck off". Whatever.

And since that thing got out of the way (Thank You, Ludacris) - i don't see any reason to keep BNW in stasis. Even more - I'm gonna shake things up a bit. I mean - why the fuck things should stay the same after a break? It makes no sense.

So here's what i will do in the near future. Autumn Special is still thing. It will contain works from past contributors. Also I'm slowly gathering stuff for the 8th and final "all-new contributors" issue. But i'm already looking forward for Number 9 which will be giant clusterfuck. It will go down in history as the single greatest U-Turn in the history of online mags. It will be unlike anything you've ever seen. Get ready.

ISSUE 7

ISSUE #7

Editors note: 

Times they are a-changin'! So this is the last regular BNW issue for the forseeable future. That's it. Things have changed. I don't have much time to devote myself to this mag. It's personal.

But sadly that's not the only reason.

Over the course of last couple of months i started to feel that this magazine despite all my efforts is eerily unremarkable. And that was irritating. No offences to all contributors past and present - but I saw the same kind of stuff all over the place. But i kept going hoping someday things gonna change. Things stayed the same. Sometimes it happens that way. Combined with severe lack of time and overall disillussionment of ambition to make a difference - i thought it would be better to take a pause then multiply the same. My bad.

The other rather significant reason are submissions. Let me give a little bit of stats. Issues 4-5-6 were big on unsolicited submissions. Since May i've received over 300 email submissions. That's a whole lotta stuff to review. And it takes a lot of time that i should've dedicated to something else. Most of those submissions were utter rubbish. And it's OK. The term "experimental writing" is a vague umbrella and every author digs it the other way. But holy smoke - it was wrong. But that's not the the problem.

The problem was that more often than not while declining the submissions i've received lots of bad words regarding editorial politics. Not everyone were cool with declines. Aside from innocent idiotic "Well, just take it to the next issue" there were overreactions like this: "you don't get it! i feel pity for you, dumb fuck. i'm hurt by your narrowminded attitude. i'm the best out there and i'm getting published all over the place - no one says no to me. it doesn't work that way. this is going to have some consequences." (that is real response). But that's the roughest.
Typical response was - "go fuck yourself _faggot, idiot cunt, dookie squid (seriously), gnomic bohunk (in fact i had to look at the dictionary to find out what that word meant), stuffed soilsack_ your blog is nothing but a _dumpster, rathole, pit of worms_ for _sickos, queers, sissies_ to vomit". What kind of insecure dumbo the man has to be to react in a such manner to a decline from a microscopic (all things considered) magazine that is barely indexed by Google and is technically invisible? It is tiring to get such reaction and so i thought "Should I really waste my time on such crap?" and the answer was "I don't so".

Things got very emotional. But let's go back to the issue. This one was half-ready in July. I wanted to use works from two past contributors but ultimately excluded them from the issue due to fast-tracking Special Issue where their work will be represented. Otherwise it is a solid patchwork of texts and images, a little kaleidoscope of various forms of art. I'm really glad the issue is the way it is. There is something cathartic.

***

Table of Contents:

1. Patrick Leech - The Concert
2. David Kjellin - Visual Poetry
3. Wayne Russell - Two Poems
4. Eryk Wenziak - Three visual poems
5. David Russell - Five Poems
6. Letitia Trent & C.R.E. Wells - Four collages from The Body Problem
7. Jeff Hansen - Three poems
8. Rupert Loydell - Mapping Devices
9. Halvard Johnson - Poems
10. Ricardo Suave - Three Pieces
11. Jonathan May - Heiligenacht
12. Alec Finlay - Eleven Visual Poems 

Letitia Trent & C.R.E. Wells - Four collages from The Body Problem

  

C.R.E. Wells lives in central Ohio, USA. His work has appeared online and in print in several publications. Flaming Giblet Press published his debut novel, White Kitty, in 2009. His collages and visual poetry have been exhibited locally and internationally. He shares poetry, visual poetry and mail art regularly on his blog at http://faintpress.tumblr.com.

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Letitia Trent's books include the novels Almost Dark and Echo Lake and the poetry collections One Perfect Bird and Match Cut (available in 2018). Trent's essays, poetry, and fiction have been published widely both online and in print. Her short story, "Wilderness," was featured in Best Horror of the Year, Volume 8 and was nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. Trent is an associate poetry editor for Tupelo Quarterly. She lives in a haunted Ozark mountain town with her son, husband, and three black cats.

Eryk Wenziak - Three visual poems

Eryk Wenziak serves as art editor of A-minor magazine, art director of A-minor press, and teaches at the graduate level. He is widely published and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. He is the author of four chapbooks, including "1975," a long poem on the Cambodian  genocide, and "4am," a collection of visual poetry and photocopy art.  His new full-length book of poetry, I NEED SPACE, was recently released by Deadly Chaps Press. His text-based visual art is routinely on exhibit in Brooklyn area gallery exhibitions and his photography has been used as cover art for several prominent authors. He lives at www.erykwenziak.com.

Rupert Loydell - Mapping Devices

Rupert Loydell is Senior Lecturer at Falmouth University, and a poet, editor and artist. His most recent book of poems is Dear Mary (Shearsman 2017).

Patrick Leech - The Concert

Patrick Leech lives in Ottawa, Ontario. He enjoys reading, writing and birdwatching. 

David Russell - Five Poems

David Russell is a writer of poetry, literary criticism, speculative fiction and romance. Main poetry collection Prickling Counterpoints (1998); poems published in online International Times. Main speculative works High Wired On (2002); Rock Bottom (2005). Translation of Spanish epic La Araucana, Amazon 2013. Romances: Self’s Blossom; Explorations; Further Explorations; Therapy Rapture; Darlene, An Ecstatic Rendezvous (all pub Extasy (Devine Destinies). Self-published collection of erotic poetry and artwork, Sensual Rhapsody, 2015. Singer-songwriter/guitarist. Main CD albums Bacteria Shrapnel and Kaleidoscope Concentrate. Many tracks on You Tube, under ‘Dave Russell’

Wayne Russell - Two poems

Wayne Russell is a creative writer and amateur photographer that was born and raised in Florida, in March 2016 he founded the online underground lit zine called Degenerate Literature. DL can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and at their website at the following link.

http://degenerateliterature.weebly.com/

Alec Finlay - Eleven visual poems

photo: Emma Nicolson, 2011

Alec Finlay (Scotland, 1966-) is an artist & poet whose work crosses over a range of media and forms. Finlay has published over forty books and won six Scottish Design Awards, including two Grand Prix Awards (2001, 2015). Recent publications include minnmouth (2017), A Variety of Cultures (2016), ebban an’ flowan (2015), and a better tale to tell (2015). www.alecfinlay.com

David Kjellin - Visual Poetry

David Kjellin is a writer, artist and musician, working with elements such as chance, repetition, bricolage and spontaneity, as well as the absurd and useless. He currently lives in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Halvard Johnson - poems

Halvard Johnson was born in Newburgh, New York, and grew up in New York City and the Hudson Valley. He has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Baltimore City Arts, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He has lived and taught in Chicago, Illinois; El Paso, Texas; Cayey, Puerto Rico; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; and New York City. For many years he taught overseas in the European and Far East divisions of the University of Maryland, mostly in Germany and Japan. Currently, he lives with his wife, the prize-winning writer and visual artist Lynda Schor in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

Jonathan May - Heiligenacht

Jonathan May grew up in Zimbabwe as the child of missionaries. He lives and teaches in Memphis, TN, where he recently served as the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. In addition, May teaches writing as therapy at a residential facility for women with eating disorders. Read more at https://memphisjon.wordpress.com/

Jeff Hansen - Three poems

Jefferson Hansen is the author of and beefheart saved craig and Cruelty, both from BlazeVox, and is the forthcoming author of 100 Hybrids (Post-Asemic).

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Ricardo Suave - Three pieces

Ricardo Suave is a plumber from Mexico City who hates people. He opted not to share his photo because he looks like the guy from GTA III. He often writes anonymous scribbles at random places and more than happy to present his Nouveau Realisme Schtick for all to see.

Announcing Brave New Word Issue 7

Ladies and gentlemen!

Brave New Word #7 is going live on September 2.

Times they are a-changin'! So this is the last regular BNW issue for the forseeable future. That's it. Things have changed. I don't have much time to devote myself to this mag. It's personal.

This issue was half-ready in July. I wanted to use works from two past contributors but ultimately excluded them from the issue due to fast-tracking Special Issue where their work will be represented. Otherwise it is a solid patchwork of texts and images, a little kaleidoscope of various forms of art. I'm really glad the issue is the way it is. There is something cathartic.

***

Issue Line-up:

• David Kjellin
• Eryk Wenziak 
• Letitia Trent & C.R.E. Wells 
• Rupert Loydell 
• Patrick Leech
• David Russell
• Halvard Johnson
• Ricardo Suave
• Jeff Hansen
• Jonathan May
• Alec Finlay 
• Wayne Russel