Written Word, #7, January 2008

Written Word #7 is the January issue of the online, semi-pro magazine published monthly by Rebel Dawn Creative Forces. They specialize in literary fiction and poetry of all stripes, not just genre fiction, but in the January issue, at least, the editors seem to have a taste for the bizarre and offbeat. I can start off by giving the editors top marks for not falling into the normal trap of most online publications that insist on using a tiny font. I’ve never understood that practice with virtual publications, as no trees are killed in their making. However, Written Word is presented in a large font with ample spacing between lines that allows for easy and pleasant reading.

The cover story for the issue, “The Sean Mutiny” by Gregory Adams, is an allegorical tale of a 20-something young man being forced to put away childish things by his adoring girlfriend. The theme could make this quite ordinary, except that the changes being engineered to Sean by Trishell are shown in the guise of a cartoon-like crew of little Seans that inhabit and operate the mighty Sean vessel. Each night, the multitude of Seans go ashore to the liberty port in the headboard of Sean’s bed. His understanding girlfriend seems to ignore the fact that Sean is a slacker, putting just enough into his job to get by and devoting considerable time and energy playing role-playing games with his former college buddies. But suddenly, Captain Sean finds that his crew is responding to orders he did not issue and that the formerly fixed routine of the Sean vessel is being changed without his knowledge. The ending is cute, if somewhat obvious.

This is an entertaining tale, but I had one complaint. While we are asked to believe that Sean and his buddies are all post-college guys deep into the Peter Pan syndrome, Trishell (and presumably her fellows) is mature, focused, and driven. Yet she takes on this slacker, obviously with an eye towards his potential rather than who he is. Of course she knows what is best for Sean and sets about fixing him without his knowledge or consent. Given this clear bias, this gives the impression of having been penned by a feminist writer with a definite agenda.

“A Moment in the Sun” by Fred Stewart is a nice vignette where dad tells his young son about the day his brother won the big game. It’s the bottom of the ninth inning; Uncle Bill is in the outfield when the other team has the winning runs on, and the big hitter smacks one towards the fence. Everyone else is convinced it’s heading out of the park, but Bill doesn’t concede the game and gives it his all. Can you guess the outcome? A nice little moment-in-the-life-of type of tale, although I wasn’t clear as to why this wasn’t told from Uncle Bill’s POV.

“Eureka, California” by Giano Cromley, while well written, is the kind of tale I personally don’t like. Lewis has fled Los Angeles to escape the fruits of his emotional, moral, and legal misbehaviors and taken up residence in Eureka, a small backwater town in the mountains, to get a “fresh start.” But it is clear from the beginning that Lewis’s idea of a “fresh start” is the opportunity to misbehave without the local folks knowing what kind of bum he is. And so he starts off again making one bad decision after another and showing us, on a visit back to L.A., that he has no idea how badly he’s acted in the past and doesn’t care. When the tale ends, we see that Lewis has learned nothing and that he will be moving on from Eureka in due course as well.

And that’s the reason why I personally don’t care for tales about the Lewises of the world. Why should we care about Lewis’s fate when, clearly, he doesn’t?

“Law of Equivalence” by Chris Bauer is a confusing nightmare of a tale where the unpublished author, Cliff, suddenly awakens to find he’s now the next Stephen King with bestsellers, movie contracts, and a trophy wife. But we are told by the shaman narrator that life must have balance, that good and bad will both be part of life. And so Cliff’s life turns bad, but at the same time, the other Cliff, the unpublished loser, reappears as reality slides loosely between the two realities. And then the balance seems to shift so the loser Cliff is unfairly burdened with winner Cliff’s bad karma. Sadly, this one left me scratching my head. Was this just the nightmare of a deranged mind or the cosmos making the necessary adjustment to keep the scales of good and evil in balance?

“Weep for the Child” by Guy Belleranti is a suspenseful short-short depicting a mother’s love for her son, even as she must face the fact that she has raised a monster. Told from the point of view of a preschool-aged kidnapping victim, we follow along as he is rescued by the kidnapper’s mother who clings to the belief that her boy is still good at heart. But in the end, the evil creature that the man has become makes it clear that only one will live, and she must choose between the innocent victim or her son. While the story idea is not new or original, told from the young boy’s perspective, this works nicely.

Finally, we are presented with the flash fiction tale “Fine” by Amanda Lawrence Auverigne. I’m still trying to figure this one out. I suspect this was born of the everyday frustrations of life, when you are obligated to pay a fee/fine/postage due and the agent demanding the money has no change. Why would these minions of bureaucracy be empowered to charge you if they can’t then take the payment in good legal tender? The protagonist pulls the answer out of one orifice, but I personally think another would have made the point more clearly.

Overall I enjoyed this issue of Written Word and can commend it to you. Until next time, enjoy!