Blogetary (Weblog + Commentary = Blogetary)

I was pleasantly surprised when I received the most recent edition of Aoife’s Kiss. They have added a nice looking card stock cover and made it perfect bound.  It’s nice and pretty and shiny.  So, while it’s not rollable into a tube anymore to stuff in a bag, it is nicer.  And just in case you’re thinking of asking, no, I’m not giving it away. I’m keeping this one all to myself.

One of the reasons this zine was so good looking this time out was that this was the 6th Anniversary Issue!  So, congratulations Tyree Campbell and Sams Dot Publishing for keeping Aoife’s Kiss going for 6 years.  These days a zine can die in less than a year if people aren’t careful.  It’s nice to see them succeed.

On to the review.

The cover art was done by Marge B. Simon.  I always like her work. This one was titled “Coming Home.” While it was mostly in monochromatic blues, I really liked the lines and the addition of some red to warm it up a bit.  Simon was also the writer and illustrator of the poem “Tomorrow’s Eve,” which was about how someone further up the evolutionary chain was waiting patiently for their captors’ (humans) demise.

That was one of 13 stories, 9 poems, 3 articles and 3 pieces of artwork (besides the cover). The other poems included “Crazy Phases” by Karen R. Porter, “The Vampire’s Husband” by Gwen Veazy, “There Are Doors” by Kristine Ong Muslim, “Night Creatures” by Linda Herring, “The Last Argonaut” by Janie Hofmann, “Strangleweed” by Guadeloupe Garcia McCall, “Under the Bridge” by Jamie Lee Moyer, and “Trapped” by Linda Woolven.

That’s a chunk of poetry!

What people like in art, stories, music, or poetry is pretty subjective.  The poem either strikes a cord for someone or it doesn’t. That being said, I don’t think there was a poem in this issue that I didn’t like.  There were some that I preferred over the rest, however.  The graphic word pictures of “Night Creatures” and ”Crazy Phases” were very clear for me, while the poem “There Are Doors” mesmerized me. I think those were my three favorite poems.  What I found interesting about the rest of the poems was the point of view used by the authors.  All took intriguing tacks in expressing themselves.

For the rest of the artwork, Amanda Veazy illustrated the poem by Gwen Veazy.  I thought that was cool. Sisterly cooperation? And “The Singing Girl” illustrated a story, “The Origin” — both of which were done by F. Taylor.  I very much enjoyed the picture done by F. Taylor.

There were three reviews done by Cathy Buburuz, who was very much a cheerleader of the works she reviewed. Not my style, but I was presented with overviews of material I would not otherwise have been exposed to and I appreciated that.

Of the stories that were spun and placed between these covers, two made me cry (in a good way) and two more made me go ”oh” in that soft thoughtful way that doesn’t quite have you tearing up but does have you say – “Well I liked that.”  While the rest were also enjoyable, they didn’t strike the same cord as these others.

“Vesta” by Rhona Westbrook made me cry. Really. It was terribly sweet without being saccharine.  It was a nice story idea. There were bits where I was quite scared for the protagonist (a middle school aged child).  I thought Westbrook did a very good job.  She didn’t make it easy on her protagonist, but she wasn’t cruel either. She wasn’t obvious, and used subtlety well and was very honest. I thought it was very well done.

The other story that made me cry was “Chrysalis” by T.K. Thorne.  Again – enjoyed the idea, but more importantly how it was presented. She didn’t make it easy for her protagonist or readers – but she wasn’t cruel either. It was a very thoughtful tale and didn’t present anyone with easy answers. I want to make friends with someone like Hy in her story.

“Homesick” by Anthony W. Spivey and “The Treestand” by C.L. Rossman were the two tales that had me going — “oh” and made me tear up a little. In “The Treestand,” two beings need to overcome fear and misunderstanding of each other before they can give each other gifts that will change their lives forever. In “Homesick” I found myself cheering really, really hard for a robot named Wizard. I liked the “little” (fifty kilogram) guy.  These four stories were my favorites.

Of the remaining:

“It Came From Out of the Air” by Shelley Lesher was a LOT of fun.  I felt like I was reading a mix of Sherman Alexie and I don’t know who else.  It had a definite flavor and oddball sense of humor. That’s really all I can say about it without giving anything away.

“Tai Chi Rap Master” by David Lee Summers, “Universal Adaptor” by Geoffrey Girard, and “Tails You Lose” by David C. Kopaska-Merkel were all clever, interesting story ideas and well-written I thought. “Universal Adaptor” was also fairly dark  This was, again, a story that could have gone to a much darker place, but the writer knew enough not to underestimate his audience.  Just the hint at how dark it can go can be enough to send shivers of fear up your spine.  I appreciated that.

The other five included “The Watching Dead” by Eric Hermanson, “The Origin” by F. Taylor, “The Hat” by Kyle Heger, “The Pass” by Grace Seybold, and “Deleted Scenes” by Robert Reed.  While these five were good, they were not my favorites.  “The Watching Dead” was an interesting action/adventure tale, but I think it could have done with a little bit more proofing by someone before it was put into print.  But it was an enjoyable tale.  “The Hat” had a Samuel Clemens/William Faulkner flavor, but it didn’t grab me like the others did. “The Origin,” “The Pass,” and “Deleted Scenes” were all a little sad, which may be why I didn’t like them as much.  “The Origin” deals with a man and lost love and death (at least, that’s what I think it was dealing with – I think I got a little lost). “The Pass” created a scene straight out the real world, but used it in an otherworldly way.  Bleak would be the operative word for that one.  But not as bleak as ”Deleted Scenes,” which had to do with the death of a planet, a system.

They all had to do with death of different kinds (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  I kind of needed to take a break after reading them though. They were well done, but  they didn’t grab me. But as I said previously, I really liked the artwork for “The Origin.”

Don’t think that just because I said something was dark or bleak or that it wasn’t my favorite that I didn’t enjoy it.  There were just other stories or poems that I liked better.  It takes all kinds of writers to assuage the need of all sorts of reads. I relished reading this edition of Aoife’s Kiss and I look forward to the next one.