Megazanthus Press, UK, pb, 211pp.

A problem comes up whenever I try to review a “rival” fiction magazine (“rival” is in quotes because (a) in my very short experience small press editors seem to be very nice to each other and (b) TQF has no rival – boom, boom). By far the greatest part of the work involved in publishing TQF is sitting down and reading every word of it very carefully – the same work involved in reviewing a magazine! And so when reviewing I often wonder if I wouldn’t be better off working on my own stuff. If I was still reading a book a day while commuting to the far-off land of Sutton Coldfield it wouldn’t be an issue, but nowadays I tend to read my books in ten minute chunks before falling asleep at bedtime – not great for careful reviewing!

Another issue is that I tend to be as intrigued by the practicalities of how the magazine is put together as I am in the stories contained within it. Zencore! provides much to think about in that regard. Though there is nothing to say as much, other than a website address and a list of attributions for the previous issue, this is issue seven of Nemonymous, a magazine that has been going for a number of years, though last year’s number six was a special non-existent issue.

Nemonymous is notable for the interesting concept behind it – the authors are not credited, and their stories are selected anonymously, on merit alone. The reader is forced to read them in the same way, which has the fascinating effect of pushing the stories together, creating the impression of a gestalt literary entity of much greater cohesion than a normal magazine or anthology.  However, Zencore! could do more to sell the impressive premise. The cover bears the subtitle “Scriptus Innominatus” and the first page says “This book is the next anthology of Nemonymous Magic Fiction and Magic Realism”, and that is pretty much your lot as far as setting the publication in context goes. With previous issues being so stylishly put together, that wasn’t such a problem – readers would take it on trust that the editor knew what he was about and was just being  mysterious – whereas in this format (with somewhat skewiffy typesetting in places) the package just feels slightly unfinished.

With this issue a couple of things have changed. The quality of the stories remains constant. However, as mentioned above, production values have fallen somewhat. Surprisingly, I welcome that. The astonishing print quality of previous issues, the reputed 500 copies of each that the editor printed up, and the fact that he pays the authors quite generously (unthinkable, I know!), made me worry whether the editor would ultimately be forced to abandon this remarkable project in the face of financial ruin. That worry still remains (do Biddles, the new printers, still do short runs?), but Nemonymous is now a straightforward paperback book, and if the editor runs into money troubles he could easily transfer future publication over to our friends at Lulu without compromising on quality.

Another change: instead of selecting stories anonymously, this time the editor selected only a shortlist that way before asking for the names of the authors. I’m forced to wonder whether he regretted missing out on a big name or two for previous issues. If that did motivate the change, it’s a shame the principle was compromised.

Now, left with little else to talk about other than the book’s contents, I am forced to admit that I have lost it (probably in the pub), and only got about a third of the way through reading it. What a shameful admission for a reviewer! I remember enjoying a curious and disturbing story about snails, reminiscent of the similarly-themed film Uzumaki. Another told of God’s gift to advertising, and I remember that as being suitably creepy. There was also a story about relationships and a bathroom, which I believe involved some crying. Anyway, be assured that despite my shortcomings as a reviewer, everything I read was of excellent quality, and held my interest effortlessly. – SWT

Originally published in Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #19.