 Mslexia PO Box 656 Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 2XD UK £4.75 [Europe £6; RoW £7.50] Subscriptions: £18.75 pa [Europe £24; RoW £30] email Mslexia visit Mslexia's website Before commenting on this review please read the FAQ page Home page Notes for publishers Want to be a reviewer? Anthologies. Books. Audio. Magazines. Software. Video. Artefacts. Web design by Gerald England This page last updated: 11th August 2004. |
Mslexia #17 | |
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Where to start? By not lending Mslexia to friends — it never comes back. As even they point out, subscribers contact their office weekly and pay for replacement copies, and yes, it has happened to me. It includes too much to read at once, the assortment of good advice, market outlets and news gives enough to sift through for the three months between issues. The covers of publishing/journalism/ how-to-do it are lifted here and there and we are allowed to look further into the snakes-and-ladders world of publishing than in any other magazine. Where else have you encountered a personal little black dress and all story of how to do your own P.R.? I made 50 telephone calls a day,says Preethi Nair, promoting her novel GYPSY MASALA, which was eventually taken up by Harper Collins. There are fifteen pages of new writing by readers, on the subject of INTERVIEW, chosedn by Kathleen Jamie. Please note — women entrants only here, as men predominate in so many other magazines. Even here, though, meritocracy can seem threatened by the academia aristocracy; M.A's abound, lecturers, tutors, writers in residence. Two are first-time publications, though. This issue's featured writer is Ruth Padel, who gets a full-page photograph. Each interviewee gives their method in 100 WAYS TO WRITE A BOOK, Ruth Padel advises Keep a quarry or running file of phrases and images.When something engages you or has a charge, add it to your file.In the Craft pages, Hilary Mantel wrote such a good article that I went out and got her novel AN EXPERIMENT IN LOVE. She was one of the judges of the 20 Best British Novelists Under Forty, 2003. When we struck gold, we knew it.She asks relevant questions — Why don't the plots work? Who is this book about? Why is this a book at all?5 pages of reviews — the most comprehensive survey of new literature by women. Creativity lessons (if that is possible ...) Letters — one of the sparkiest pages. Campaigns — Save the Short Story. Opportunities — 9 pages of magazines, prizes, readings, weekends,enough to make a full-time job. Don't leave Mslexia on any coffee-table, it should be kept in a locked study. | ||
| reviewer: Pat Jourdan. |