Upon first glance at the zine Rad Dad 18, I imagined a collection dedicated to fathers across America trying to stay hip and in-tune with their children, along with the misfires that come when attempting to translate young generational slang (i.e. the famous scene in 10 Things I Hate About You, when the father quips, “Those damn Dawson’s river kids, sleeping in each other’s beds and whatnot.”).

Luckily, that’s maybe 0.2 percent of it. This small zine, run by Tomas Moniz, covers topics from parenting and child nudity to open relationships and anti-breeding anarchists. Basically, if it’s a relationship or practice outside of the “norm,” it qualifies.

While some stories, by nature, proved more interesting and mysterious, like attempting polyamory after nine years of “dry monogamy,” the entire non-fiction collection, from start to finish, kept my full attention—so much that I stupidly missed a doctor’s appointment in the vigorous process.

Even as a person without any kids, I found myself relating to every article or using it as a preparation for, perhaps, a (daunting!) future of childbearing. For those with children, or non-traditional ways of living, I imagine it could provide a sense of compassion and understanding, the way a Sci-Fi convention might comfort the kid who only wears Trekkie outfits to class. The point is: relationships are weird, messy, and ever-evolving. The storytellers in Rad Dad 18 tackle this observation by sharing their insights and frustrations in a positive, healthy light while at the same time skillfully using elements of craft as a piece of compelling short fiction.

Instead of a magazine geared toward fathers, or even parents, it is one for, as Jason Gonzales beautifully said in his story, “Earth Abides,” “warriors committed to a multi-generational movement of positive change.” In sexual relationships, parental relationships, environmental relationships, and foremost, the relationships we keep with ourselves.

New and back issues of Rad Dad are available at raddadzine.blogspot.com.

–

Amanda Kimmerly graduated with a BA in Journalism and minor in Creative Writing from  Stephen F. Austin State University. She writes mostly fiction and poetry and is currently co-authoring two books: a YA novel exploring the peculiar habits and inhabitants of podunk East Texas and a Dvarsh glossary for the Hidden Lands of Nod fantasy series, by Robert Stikmanz. She reads fiction submissions for Fringe Literary Magazine and just recently extended her hand to Black Heart Magazine as a volunteer book reviewer and poetry reader. She promises she is not as drab in real life as her bio suggests.

Next to the skeletons in Milo’s closet lie boxes and boxes of dusty, unpublished novels. Furious over the amount of rejection letters he’s received, Milo agrees to take on the smaller task of translating a sickly Spanish author’s novels into English for a publishing company run by the same woman he once offered a SPAM sandwich to on their first date. The kicker: Milo knows as much about Spanish as he does about first dates. He therefore replaces the original author’s plot with his plotlines. They’re an overnight Oprah’s Book Club success. Milo basks in the glory and, when realizing the glory still isn’t publicly his, he does what any depraved underdog artist would do—kills the competition.

If the storyline feels epic, that’s because it’s meant to. It’s the difference between a Hollywood action film and a Sundance Film Festival winner—meant to entertain rather than change your worldview. Milo as a character is not as epic, however, which is why this odd contrast works. He’s relatable. Average. An unrecognized, tortured novelist. And he gets away with murder. Rock on.

Fitting the Hollywood theme, the story even reads like a screenplay, with short, punchy sentences and one-line paragraphs. Even the font is Hollywood (Courier New). Only Milo is perfect for an ADHD, crime show fanatic, because even at 256 pages, it’s a quick, easy read. Afterward, you can brag via Facebook status to your fellow ADHD, crime show-crazed friends (who never read anything beyond bad movie review headlines), that you actually finished a novel in an afternoon.

–

Amanda Kimmerly graduated with a BA in Journalism and minor in Creative Writing from  Stephen F. Austin State University. She writes mostly fiction and poetry and is currently co-authoring two books: a YA novel exploring the peculiar habits and inhabitants of podunk East Texas and a Dvarsh glossary for the Hidden Lands of Nod fantasy series, by Robert Stikmanz. She reads fiction submissions for Fringe Literary Magazine and just recently extended her hand to Black Heart Magazine as a volunteer book reviewer and poetry reader. She promises she is not as drab in real life as her bio suggests.

While mostly short in length, the endings pack on a punch so hard, they’ll leave you bruised as the assembly line men mentioned in “Lotto Blistered Fingertips,” with their “labor-worn lips, soul-sunk eyes.”

Arousal aside, the first half delves more into religious commentary and returning to a time where land wasn’t so ruined. And though this did not make me want to get naked, it did inspire a wishful act equally as bold, like chunking a bible through a church window and then somersaulting in the open grassy field beside it.

Based on my dramatic reaction you’d think these poems were part of an “I’m a reformed Catholic” hate rant, but (thankfully!) they are not. They’re intelligent, funny, and if nothing else, thought-provoking—focused more on the perceptions of religious figures and stories rather than the actual stories themselves.

All of the poems, no matter the theme, shine in the sound department. Mashak shuffles back and forth beautifully from soft and hard consonants, often sprucing up commonplace language with a peculiar, memorable word, like “kamikaze” or “mastoid.”

Salty as a Lip is Mashak’s first collection. In a recent interview with Austin, TX publisher, Haggard and Halloo, Black Heart’s editor, Laura Roberts, asked what type of writing they go for. Publisher Travis Catsull answered: experimental, surreal, and sincere. With creative imagery such as “pinecone slippers” and “croccodile mummies” and smoking a bong in the Ark of a Covenant, Mashak certainly fits the bill.

–

Amanda Kimmerly graduated with a BA in Journalism and minor in Creative Writing from  Stephen F. Austin State University. She writes mostly fiction and poetry and is currently co-authoring two books: a YA novel exploring the peculiar habits and inhabitants of podunk East Texas and a Dvarsh glossary for the Hidden Lands of Nod fantasy series, by Robert Stikmanz. She reads fiction submissions for Fringe Literary Magazine and just recently extended her hand to Black Heart Magazine as a volunteer book reviewer and poetry reader. She promises she is not as drab in real life as her bio suggests.

The book, Let Me Entertain You (published by Austin’s Monofonus Press), is a introspective collaboration of short stories, poems, visual art, e-mails, letters, and quotes from Pangallo’s group of creative peers. Imagine eavesdropping on a scrapbook between writer-friends: all the quirky letters bantered back and forth, edited again and again because they might (fingers crossed!) just end up in an anthology one day. You want to read it because you wish your own stuff was in it. Plus, the writing is really good.

All of the written pieces included were first performed by Pangallo and compiled later into book form. Most of the contributors are now successful musicians, novelists, filmmakers, poets, performers and trannies.

The first story, “Yr a Nkd Movie Star” by Mike Albo, cleverly showcases one man’s long, sad rambling voicemail to the man he is asking out. You don’t realize the narrator’s gender until half-way through, however, because Albo is displaying characteristics relatable to any sex in this predicament: insecure, nervous, yet trying to play it cool. It was so relatable, in fact, that I found myself underlining passages to share with my friends about personal, similarly awkward interactions, which, if we’re searching for themes here, could thread together the whole collection: awkward situations, skirting around funny and sad sexual encounters.

Though the book touches beautifully on despair, identity and inner longing (read “Self Improvement Poems” by Dan Boehl),  it relieves the seriousness with bizarre, hilarious images worth keeping around in your purse, just in case someone’s talking about Barbies, bad hair or Pampered Shoes. Most memorable is the ad titled “Pop-up Hot Dog Cooker.” (Don’t worry, the first time around, I read “Cocker,” too!)

Let Me Entertain You is meant to, well, entertain. And it does, effortlessly, as though watching an episode of Robot Chicken. You’re not sure exactly whether you understand everything, or if you’re meant to understand everything, but maybe that’s the point.

If you are a man who dresses up as a woman, you’ll like this book. If you are a woman who wishes she were a man who dresses up as a woman, you’ll like this book. Most of all, though, if you’re an artist struggling to find your voice, way or path, however crooked and unconventional, you’ll really like this book, as it shows what a little passion mixed with creativity and the right group of people can do.

–

Amanda Kimmerly graduated with a BA in Journalism and minor in Creative Writing from  Stephen F. Austin State University. She writes mostly fiction and poetry and is currently co-authoring two books: a YA novel exploring the peculiar habits and inhabitants of podunk East Texas and a Dvarsh glossary for the Hidden Lands of Nod fantasy series, by Robert Stikmanz. She reads fiction submissions for Fringe Literary Magazine and just recently extended her hand to Black Heart Magazine as a volunteer book reviewer and poetry reader. She promises she is not as drab in real life as her bio suggests.