You Say You Want a Revolution

This week I received my contributor's copy of the literary journal Struggle, or more accurately as to the journal's subtitle, I received my contributor's copy of the "Magazine of Proletarian Revolutionary Literature" called Struggle. It's a saddle-stapled, summer/fall 2009 double issue of 72 pages and it includes my prose poem/flash fiction piece "The Bear," which was accepted for publication about three years ago and which, until I received my contributor's copy this week, I thought would never actually make it to print.

The journal/magazine is a collection of poetry and short fiction ardently opposed to capitalism, war and The Man in general, and while I don't necessarily agree with all of editor Tim Hall's politics (I don't necessarily disagree with all of them either), it's a decent read and it fills that void of militant socialist dogma in print we've all been secretly pining for since the Religious Right began questioning the birthplace of our president however many months ago.

Unfortunately the publication -- "an anti-establishment, revolutionary literary journal oriented to the working-class struggle," according to its Web page -- like so many other arts institutions of late has fallen on hard times. According to a handwritten, personalized note from Hall included with my copy of the journal, the publication must raise $700 to survive.

If the inclusion of a handwritten, personalized note from the editor of a literary journal isn't enough to make you want to send him a couple bucks to carry on in a floundering economy (one that's only serving to make the focus of his publication more relevant), what is? If you feel so inclined, shoot him some support at P.O. Box 13261, Detroit, MI. 48213 or e-mail him at timhall11@yahoo.com to see how you can help.

Hall also is involved with Communist Voice, which according to its Web page "deals with the world crisis of revolutionary theory, analyzes what happened to the revolutionary movements of the past, and opposes Stalinism, Trotskyism, anarchism and reformism." Another version of the Struggle site can be found here.

Nisi Shawl

In my last post I listed off a number of authors with ties to my native city of Kalamazoo, Mich., concluding that despite the number of authors with impressive resumes already listed I was sure I had forgotten some. Sure enough, it's a day later and I've already realized I left a glaring hole in the list: Nisi Shawl.

Shawl is a fantasy and science-fiction writer who now lives in Seattle but lived in Kalamazoo through her high-school years. Earlier this year Shawl became the first African-American woman to win the prestigious James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award, for her 2008 short-story collection "Filter House." The award is an annual $1,000 literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that explore the understanding of gender.

Additionally, "Filter House" and another of Shawl's works, a novella titled "Good Boy," both were nominated for 2009 World Fantasy Awards.

For more information on Shawl, follow her on her blog.