Source of Lit - Annalemma

There may not be a journal around right now putting more into its appearance than Annalemma, edited by Chris Heavener.  I've had issue five now for a few weeks and have continued picking it up and leafing through it, not just to read it, but to admire it.

That is not to say, however, that the material isn't worth reading - FAR from it.  "Line of Scrimmage" by BJ Hollars is a great story, adding itself to the many fine "father/son" stories that have been written; "What I Love About History" by Angi Becker Stevens is also a winner; William Walsh's "Barber vs. Heart Disease" caught me completely off guard a couple of times in the best ways; "Waste" by Amelia Gray continued to develop my growing admiration for her work, and her ability to once again start with a scenario that I cannot imagine what she's going to do with - I've learned however to sit back and enjoy the ride, knowing she's always going to do something fantastic.

These were the highlights to me, but there really isn't a dull story in the journal.  And the two essays were interesting and well written, plus there's a great photo-essay toward the back, along with nice images included in each story, plus a letter pressed (numbered, limited edition) piece from Danny Jones included in the back cover, as well as color photos in the contributor's notes.

It's hard to believe you can get all this for a mere ten dollars.  I highly recommend it.

Comments

[Roxane]

I couldn't agree more. I've been reading Annalemma 5 this week and its just so rare to see a full color literary magazine. The only other one that comes to mind is Canteen (also fantastic). Anyway, this is a great issue. I'll be blogging about it next week some time.

[Richard Thomas]

Roxane you said everything that I was going to say. And what you didn't, Dan did. This was a fantastic issue, and the design is amazing. I'm glad you said Canteen. Vain is another really nice one as well. A really solid issue (I just bought all the back issues) and I look forward to more work from them. Just sent them a story, in fact. We'll see.

Peace,
Richard

[aaron]

I just today finally started digging into this and it picks up right where the previous issue left off. Which is to say the journal is so freaking beautiful I almost expect the stories to not be able to live up or to be less than or something but, damn, they are some of my fave stories I've read recently. I remember issue 4 being one of the *very* few issues of a lit journal that I actually read (and enjoyed) all the way through, and I've just dug into this one but BJ's story, "Line of Scrimmage" was something I can already see myself forcibly recommending to others for a while...