zine review:
Incomplete Works
With a hand-printed cover and some swell drawings, Neal Rockwell’s Incomplete Works IV makes a good first impression. Aside from the art, the main attraction here is an (apparently) unfinished short story, “The Remainder,” which tells of a post-apocalyptic world, and the naturalistic lifestyles of its inhabitants. Despite being a mere story fragment, the work is surprisingly engrossing, although Rockwell spends too many words on uninspired descriptions of scenery. The narrative primarily follows the reflections of an old man who has adjusted to living by himself in the forest, years after his ancestors and groupmates have perished from disease. As a nice touch, the story also occasionally adopts the perspective of an anthropomorphic pack of dogs who come to live symbiotically with the old man. Ultimately, Rockwell’s prose drags a little, but a few missteps hardly mar what is otherwise a remarkably well-executed work. By the time the piece reaches its abrupt end, the reader is left yearning for it to continue. (Michael Tau)
Litzine, Issue 4, nealrockwell.com/writing/ the-remainder, [email protected]