Redivider, Spring 2007

I finally had a chance to finish the newest issue of Redivider the other night. The Spring 2007 issue (4.2) is about 160 pages of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, interviews, and reviews, with the usual mix of art scattered throughout, all bound together beneath the simple cover by Helen Kim: an oil painting of a woman(?) standing under the reddish glow of a street lamp. As for the list of contributors, it is a nice mix of recognizable names (Benjamin Percy, Julianna Baggot, Kim Chinquee) as well as names I'll have to look out for in the future.

Although I enjoyed all of the stories in this issue, two fiction pieces in particular stood out for me: Rob Phelps' "The Sinking Robert" and Percy's "The Faulty Building." Phelps' experimental story describes the neurotic self-destruction of a desperate man (The Robert) and how this affects the world around him. It's written in a surreal, mechanical sort of way. I'm reminded of portions of Barthelme's The Dead Father as well as a lot of Ben Marcus' work. In contrast to the intellectual mood of "The Sinking Robert" is Percy's emotional story about a vacation to the mountains in the Pacific northwest gone bad. I couldn't wait to read it, given how much I liked his first collection The Language of Elk and as his story "Refresh, Refresh." This is standard Percy, filled with nice descriptions, unique violence, and a strong plot, all of which give it a pleasant kind of sadness.

As for the poetry in the issue, I liked Josiah Bancroft's "The Skywriter," Ian Harris' "1776 Sea Battles," and Jae Newman's funny poem "Hole-in-One," which talks about Kim Jong, the trouble with convincing others that you're God, and golf all in 8 lines. Too bad Redivider hasn't yet posted some of the poetry online.

Other things of note:

• Catherine Roach has a cartoon: "left and leaving: illustrations of what was"
• Aydasara Ortega has two must-see collages: "Appeasement" and "The Will of the Wheel." They made me laugh. Look at them online to see their color; they're printed in black and white in the issue.
  
• Kathleen Rooney interviews Tao Lin
  

That is all.