Litzine, various authors, [email protected], thequilliad.wordpress.com, $5
With 16 different contributors who appear far more literate and well-read than me, I’ll reserve comment on much of the The Quilliad because this definitely skews on the more cerebral side of creative writing and poetry. This collective collection is four issues in and showcases authors who are not afraid to flaunt their styles, offering bite-sized teasers of their handiwork with an implied invitation to google them to find out more. In the same vein, I googled The Quilliad and discovered a great website, Facebook page and Twitter feed, so mad props to editor-in-chief Sarah Varnam for her spirit of collaboration and promotion, shining a light on a community of writers and getting things out in the ether via hard copy. The artwork in The Quilliad is top notch. Hyper-realistic drawings of birds, bugs and what appears to be a corpse are all really well done and complement the words within. This is interesting because there’s no real central narrative since these short stories and poems veer in many directions, some in a formalized manner and others in anything but. I’d almost suggest it’s “soooo random” but again, The Quilliad is kind of academic so I’ll park the colloquialisms elsewhere. (Cam Gordon)