Log Log 19
The editor talks about the current issue--
and hands out grades...
Are You an Internet Sex Addict? Two things attract readers: Sex, and humor. Fortunately, they are two things that also interest our writers. We were intrigued by how close to the unabashedly vulgar this little self-help test came. [A-] Tehuacana. When we published a more or less straight (meaning: linear) version of this novel in an early issue, we were not prepared for the reader response. Encouraged, we went back into the manuscript and laboriously added two whole "internet" layers. It is now viable meta-fiction (meaning it has lots of internal hyperlinks that let you jump around inside the world of the novel), and it can also be read in a random sequence of chapters. [A+] Gustaw Herling. So many people have paid such a high price in the battle for human rights. How easy, and dangerous, it is for the wired world to forget. [B] Howz Ur FQ?. Once again mixing sex and humor. Are there no depths to which we will not reach to try to get readers laughing about sex? [B-] Bodies. Given how many billions of square inches of skin are on display on the Internet, why should be add a few more? Because we wanted beautiful skin, that's why. [A] Naked Jesus. Now we've really done it: sex, plus religion. We haven't tried anything like this since "The Edges of Divinity" in an earlier issue. A good idea here, but we couldn't come up with enough images, so it seems a bit shallow. [C-] Words & Numbers. Maybe we were feeling some puritanical guilt about all the sex stuff in this issue. So we threw in a really mature puzzle. [B] Absolute Quarantine. Just when it seemed the issue was going to wind up without any of our usual metaphysical craziness-bullshit, here comes Denise Hawkins with a little Swiftian jab at human violence. [A-] The Great Fallacy. Not to be outdone by Ms. Hawkins, Harriet Lobdell chimes in with this nicely designed, sort of minimalist-orientalist argument for less-is-more. Or something. [B-] Novalis. So an issue that started out fun and frivolous, winds up knee-deep in Big Ideas. Still, when the editor-in-Chief speaks, we listen... [B-] Thought Unbound. We can always count on Chardo Blue Plains (at least when he puts in an appearance) to skew EVERYTHING in some totally weird way. Thanks a lot, Chard. [C-] Overall Grade for Magellan's Log 19: [B-]
|
