Tarpaulin Sky Magazine
Tarpaulin Sky Magazine
for your reading pleasure and pain
Hybrid / Transgenre / Monstrous Scripture
Lauren Russell, excerpt from “Descent”
"Heard a whippoorwill holler this morning for the first time this spring. Heard a whippoorwill holler. All hands choking cotton. Heard a holler, a whimper. Heard a will whip her. Will heard a whip. Whip or will." -- from Lauren Russell's Descent, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Jessica K Baer, excerpts from “Midwestern Infinity Doctrine”
"Behind the supercenter, its immortal gloaming a refinery pumps slowmagma against the purple-contour ripped sky. Outloud, colors I cry My God, My God." -- from Jessica K Baer's Midwestern Infinity Doctrine, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Jordan Chesnut, “How Gross, My Seances”
"In 2015, the body of my former partner was found in the wastewater treatment facility of our college town. I wrote this play-in-verse in an attempt to uncover the reason or path of his departure...." Jordan Chesnut's How Gross, My Seances, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Hybrid / Transgenre / Monstrous Scripture
Lauren Russell, excerpt from “Descent”
"Heard a whippoorwill holler this morning for the first time this spring. Heard a whippoorwill holler. All hands choking cotton. Heard a holler, a whimper. Heard a will whip her. Will heard a whip. Whip or will." -- from Lauren Russell's Descent, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Jessica K Baer, excerpts from “Midwestern Infinity Doctrine”
"Behind the supercenter, its immortal gloaming a refinery pumps slowmagma against the purple-contour ripped sky. Outloud, colors I cry My God, My God." -- from Jessica K Baer's Midwestern Infinity Doctrine, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Poetry
Madison McCartha: Excerpt from “The Cryptodrone Sequence”
"when sharing a host / in the contagion zone / install my blue-threat-checkpoints along the doors & windows" — Madison McCartha
Olivia Cronk, excerpt from “Womonster”
"You’re dead meat baby. / You’re not gonna kill the Internet, and you already missed your chance to sleaze up your thirties. / I’m sure I don’t know what you mean / but that choke of diamonds / is certainly sweetening the deal." — from Olivia Cronk's Womonster, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Chris Muravez, excerpts from “The Body Full of Hell”
"This garden is withering. I am on the edge of the sublime and the sun is melting my skullskin. The sun is afraid of its maternal power. The galaxy is the mother of the sun, galaxies are mothers of the universe. The sun is filthy for trying to fuck its mother galaxy. " — from Chris Muravez's The Body Full of Hell, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Poetry
Madison McCartha: Excerpt from “The Cryptodrone Sequence”
"when sharing a host / in the contagion zone / install my blue-threat-checkpoints along the doors & windows" — Madison McCartha
Olivia Cronk, excerpt from “Womonster”
"You’re dead meat baby. / You’re not gonna kill the Internet, and you already missed your chance to sleaze up your thirties. / I’m sure I don’t know what you mean / but that choke of diamonds / is certainly sweetening the deal." — from Olivia Cronk's Womonster, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Fiction
“A Pinker Pink”: fiction by Shantal Jeewon Kim
"I dreamed the same dream again, my sight blinded with pink, but this time when it covered my sight it started to turn red. And there was the dead flamingo." —Shantal Jeewon Kim, "A Pinker Pink"
Julia Brennan, excerpt from “Hunting Season”
"He was my teacher. He was teaching me how to be explicit in my work, and in his bed, we were doing very explicit things. Secretly, he and I slept in a sunroom in the back of his house, and I called him mother and he called me child. It was an incest game we played." — from Julia Brennan's Hunting Season, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Vincent James, excerpt from “Doomsday”
"We’d never been kept out past dusk. Never bottomed out to transcendent panorama. Never thrived in the unholy glower of the mountain-perched bighorns." — from Vincent James' Doomsday, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Fiction
“A Pinker Pink”: fiction by Shantal Jeewon Kim
"I dreamed the same dream again, my sight blinded with pink, but this time when it covered my sight it started to turn red. And there was the dead flamingo." —Shantal Jeewon Kim, "A Pinker Pink"
Julia Brennan, excerpt from “Hunting Season”
"He was my teacher. He was teaching me how to be explicit in my work, and in his bed, we were doing very explicit things. Secretly, he and I slept in a sunroom in the back of his house, and I called him mother and he called me child. It was an incest game we played." — from Julia Brennan's Hunting Season, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Nonfiction
“[Dragging the real],” non-fiction by AM Ringwalt
"Memoirs are performances of memory. To choreograph memory, you have to be lucid enough to move with it, to bend to it, to place yourself before it and know there’s always more to learn."
“I Cannot Resist the Terror”: Essay by Olivia Cronk
"Dizzy time-travel alienation self/ selves sadnessexhilaration. To walk 'the edge of the abyss.'” Olivia Cronk examines multiple selves, Scenes from a Marriage, The Double Life of Véronique, and books by Dionne Brand, Amanda Goldblatt, and Maria Negroni.
Mariko Nagai, excerpt from “Body of Empire”
"As soon as surviving women and children are ushered into civilian camps like scared sheep, trading of flesh starts: an extra bowl of food for a fuck..." -- from Mariko Nagai's Body of Empire, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Nonfiction
“[Dragging the real],” non-fiction by AM Ringwalt
"Memoirs are performances of memory. To choreograph memory, you have to be lucid enough to move with it, to bend to it, to place yourself before it and know there’s always more to learn."
“I Cannot Resist the Terror”: Essay by Olivia Cronk
"Dizzy time-travel alienation self/ selves sadnessexhilaration. To walk 'the edge of the abyss.'” Olivia Cronk examines multiple selves, Scenes from a Marriage, The Double Life of Véronique, and books by Dionne Brand, Amanda Goldblatt, and Maria Negroni.
Book Reviews
Janaka Stucky’s “Ascend, Ascend” reviewed by Chris Muravez
"We thrive on the dead – animal and plant carcasses, fossilized energy, microbial environments in our guts – and in this sin, we are allowed to continue breathing, fucking, shitting, living, becoming." Chris Muravez explores "negative ecstasy, incantations, and ritualistic destruction of the ego" in Janaka Stucky's Ascend, Ascend, from Third Man Books.
“I Cannot Resist the Terror”: Essay by Olivia Cronk
"Dizzy time-travel alienation self/ selves sadnessexhilaration. To walk 'the edge of the abyss.'” Olivia Cronk examines multiple selves, Scenes from a Marriage, The Double Life of Véronique, and books by Dionne Brand, Amanda Goldblatt, and Maria Negroni.
Jordan Davis’ “Shell Game” and Drew Gardner’s “Defender” reviewed by Tyrone Williams
Davis's Shell Game and Gardner's Defender "demonstrate the discursive poles of naïveté and cynicism underpinning avant-garde practices." -- Tyrone Williams
Book Reviews
Janaka Stucky’s “Ascend, Ascend” reviewed by Chris Muravez
"We thrive on the dead – animal and plant carcasses, fossilized energy, microbial environments in our guts – and in this sin, we are allowed to continue breathing, fucking, shitting, living, becoming." Chris Muravez explores "negative ecstasy, incantations, and ritualistic destruction of the ego" in Janaka Stucky's Ascend, Ascend, from Third Man Books.
“I Cannot Resist the Terror”: Essay by Olivia Cronk
"Dizzy time-travel alienation self/ selves sadnessexhilaration. To walk 'the edge of the abyss.'” Olivia Cronk examines multiple selves, Scenes from a Marriage, The Double Life of Véronique, and books by Dionne Brand, Amanda Goldblatt, and Maria Negroni.
Reading Guides
What I’m Reading Now… by Terri Witek
Terri Witek discusses "The Tale of Genji" and the Minard System, as well as books by Charlotte Salomon, Olga Tokarczuk, and others.
What I’m Reading Now … by Suzanne Richardson
Suzanne Richardson discusses books by Casandra López, Lacy M. Johnson, Malcolm Friend, and Jenifer Sang Eun Park.
What I’m Reading Now… by Katie Jean Shinkle
Katie Jean Shinkle discusses an anthology edited by Dodie Bellamy and Kevin Killian, along with books by Sade LaNay, Steven Dunn, Juliet Escoria, and Ria Brodell.
What We’re Reading Now ….
What I’m Reading Now… by Terri Witek
Terri Witek discusses "The Tale of Genji" and the Minard System, as well as books by Charlotte Salomon, Olga Tokarczuk, and others.
What I’m Reading Now … by Suzanne Richardson
Suzanne Richardson discusses books by Casandra López, Lacy M. Johnson, Malcolm Friend, and Jenifer Sang Eun Park.
Music(k)
Holistic Method Musick Exercises (part 1)
Including "Space Chord" (Sun Ra); "The 'This is the greatest album ever made' exercise" (Royal Trux); and "The Slow Dwell" (Y Road).
“Reiki Holograms”: Essay by 5-Track
TS Music(k) Editor 5-Track discusses Reiki in general, and more specifically the books Psychic Reiki, by Brett Bevell, and Essential Reiki by Diane Stein.
Party For Your Right To Fight: Michael Hughes’ “Magic For The Resistance”
"Everything’s here, from clear & concise technical instruction, to tales of occult anti-Nazi ww2 actions, to self-care ... to recipes for spells ... for hexing the NRA, for justice for victims of police violence, for healing the Earth, for reproductive rights."
Musick
Holistic Method Musick Exercises (part 1)
Including "Space Chord" (Sun Ra); "The 'This is the greatest album ever made' exercise" (Royal Trux); and "The Slow Dwell" (Y Road).
“Reiki Holograms”: Essay by 5-Track
TS Music(k) Editor 5-Track discusses Reiki in general, and more specifically the books Psychic Reiki, by Brett Bevell, and Essential Reiki by Diane Stein.
Occult Studies
Janaka Stucky’s “Ascend, Ascend” reviewed by Chris Muravez
"We thrive on the dead – animal and plant carcasses, fossilized energy, microbial environments in our guts – and in this sin, we are allowed to continue breathing, fucking, shitting, living, becoming." Chris Muravez explores "negative ecstasy, incantations, and ritualistic destruction of the ego" in Janaka Stucky's Ascend, Ascend, from Third Man Books.
Madison McCartha, excerpt from “Freakophone World”
"A series of occult recordings, hauntings, and invocations performing new black diasporic identities in an increasingly imperiled and globalized society." -- Madison McCartha on Freakophone World, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Candice Wuehle, poems from “Death Industrial Complex”
"for our initiation we prayed to a sponge; we looked real close at our tan lines to try and decide where the darkness started and stopped; we knew we were living when our voices came out like theremin, when we could sense the fault lines moving under our feet." — from Candice Wuehle's Death Industrial Complex, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Occult Studies
Janaka Stucky’s “Ascend, Ascend” reviewed by Chris Muravez
"We thrive on the dead – animal and plant carcasses, fossilized energy, microbial environments in our guts – and in this sin, we are allowed to continue breathing, fucking, shitting, living, becoming." Chris Muravez explores "negative ecstasy, incantations, and ritualistic destruction of the ego" in Janaka Stucky's Ascend, Ascend, from Third Man Books.
Madison McCartha, excerpt from “Freakophone World”
"A series of occult recordings, hauntings, and invocations performing new black diasporic identities in an increasingly imperiled and globalized society." -- Madison McCartha on Freakophone World, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.