Post Scripts # 3 spring 2005
01/09/2005 . Source: Donna Jones 
pub: PS Publishing. 143 page softcover magazine. Price: £ 6.00 (UK), $10.00 (US). ISBN: 1-902-880-88-9. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.pspublishing.co.uk
I hoped for more, I wanted to say that this was a contender. I at least wanted to be entertained. Drawing to the close of the magazine I had only one thought in my mind: most people would have put this down after a few pages!
The stories are introduced using much the same format as 'Argosy' minus the signature of the author, a short paragraph (sometimes longer) telling you the author's motivations and reason for writing the story in the first place. I think it was in the 80s horror flick, 'The Lost Boys', where one of the characters says he doesn't need to watch the TV when he can read the TV guide. In the same way, I would say that these introductions only serve to make their subsequent fiction a little redundant.
Some of the writing at times appeared to me to be nonsensical prose intermixed with verbose meanderings. These end up being more adept within the pages of a modern poetry student mag sold on the bicycle bloated enclaves of Cambridge's University steps.
In one of the tales, 'Black And Green And Gold' by David Herter, much of the backdrop is described like the pages of a tour guide. Unfortunately, it becomes swamped in the need to give the reader a history lesson. Another problem with this story was its illustration, by David Kendall. The artwork was perfect but placed where it was, meant that you had seen the horror before you had read about it.
In amongst the cragginess of fallen rocks, there was one story that was rather an uncut diamond. 'Circle Dance' by Richard Bowes was a breath of fresh air. The characters were so real you could almost touch them and that was what really made it great. No language acrobatics, no verbose raving, just a good sound story about people and the way life is stranger than fiction. The colourful metaphors that were judiciously scattered were honest and lucid.
'Post Scripts' seems to me as if it is trying to be a popular magazine and perhaps take on the cheaper genre mags. It looks the part, with an edginess bordering on madness ... but what makes this stand out from a small, but well-established crowd of its rivals?
If you asked me if I would subscribe or buy a second issue of this magazine, the answer is no I would not. Based on the fiction within its pages this magazine does about as much for me as a poke in the eye.
Donna Jones |
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