Steel Bananas art collective has come a long way since it first started handing out bananas at Canzine in late 2008. They’ve moved on to continually put out a monthly online issue, start a reading series, and to complete another feat with this book. With a zine-aesthetic, Gulch: An Assemblage of Poetry and Prose successfully surprises by making a coherent collection out of 50-plus authored pieces. What an undertaking! This inventive book of fantasy fiction, concrete poetry, photo essays and short fiction is brimming with variety, and if you can get past its off-kilter design (which includes a sometimes-sideways and upside-down layout) you’ll be sure to find something worthwhile. Gulch plays with the idea of collaboration and does it well, with a buffet of new and exciting work from today’s up and coming talent. (Mike Nash)
edited by Karen Correia da Silva, Sarah Beaudin, Curran Folkers, $18.95, 265 pgs, Tightrope Books, 699 Markham St., Toronto, ON, M5T 2S1