Yet Another Last Thumbnail Picture Show (aka the last thumbnail picture show)

Litzine, Adam Thomlison, issue 5, 40-Watt Spotlight, [email protected]

The Lonely Man is the perpetual  protagonist of the literary canon.  Just look at Murakami or Kafa: This  figure allows the narrative space for  introspection and contemplation. Adam  Thomlison proudly continues this  tradition, sparsely populating his three  pieces of flash fiction with a handful  of lonely men. The prose is sparse  and luminescent, coolly atmospheric,  echoing the isolation of these suburban  dwellers. Poetic phrases such as “maybe  people aren’t afraid of the dark so much  as loneliness is afraid of the light” are  strewn throughout. With a cover made of photographic  paper and uneven hand-cut pages fixed  together with a single staple, the tiny  zine feels as casual as the encounters  depicted in the stories within. At the  end of the volume the author includes  a sincere letter of apology detailing the  origin of the pieces and sending his  regrets to the anonymous gas station  customers that he had to inconvenience  to do “research” for these pieces. It was  certainly more fun to read than the  usual list of grateful acknowledgments  to people we have never met. Yet Another Last Thumbnail Picture  Show feels like a photo taken with a  point-and-shoot at night. You can’t  make out much, only dark indistinct  forms and a few spots of orange-ish  light. And the feeling of being alone in a  city tucked full of people is what you are  left with. (Leanne Wang)

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