The Magazine Rack: New Reviews, September 2011

This month brings reviews of two new magazines from Great Britain and one from Canada, along with a Western-themed literary magazine and a new offering from McSweeney's.

Delayed Gratification. 2010. q. £55. ISSN 2046-1933. Aud: GA (Subject: Current Events. Issue examined: No. 2, April 2011)
"Slow journalism" (taking an in-depth look at stories after the passage of time) is the concept behind this new magazine from London. Delayed Gratification's motto is "Last to breaking news." The passage of time for most of the blurbs and features is a few months, but the examined issue includes historical topics such as Marie Stopes's opening of the first British birth control clinic in 1921. Events in the UK receive the most attention, but one of Delayed Gratification's greatest strengths is its variety. The examined issue has pieces on the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, pandas at the Edinburgh Zoo, the Arab Spring, mothers in politics, Australian alligators, and Hosni Mubarak. The serious stuff is leavened with lists of each month's top pop music and movies, plus coverage of soccer, cricket, and the regrettably unavoidable Charlie Sheen. The graphic design is busy, in places almost frenetic, and the pages are unnumbered. The font is too small, but the editor tells me that is being fixed in upcoming issues. Hopefully the problems with graphic design and pagination will also be addressed. These quibbles aside, there is an amazing array of short- and longer-form journalism packed in a compact volume, making this a good independent compendium of current events. Delayed Gratification is a highly recommended addition to any library's news magazine collection.

Elsie. 2011. irreg. £10/issue. Aud: GA (Subject: Found Objects (Art). Issue examined: Issue 1, 2011)
In the editor's words, "Elsie is a new magazine. It is the work of one person. His name is Les Jones...he's Welsh." The subject heading "Found Objects (Art)" doesn't fully describe this quirky labor of love, but it does capture its most distinctive feature. Jones encourages readers to send in their found works for inclusion in future issues. Every issue includes personalized notes and inserts. The sample copy Jones sent me (copy No. 91 of the inaugural issue) had on page 3 a random handwritten message—a sketch of a catalog card complete with a made-up seven-digit ISBN and the subject "creative arts." Most of the content is visual, but there's a bit of text as well. Collections of text and photos cobbled together usually don't create a coherent magazine, but Elsie's hodgepodge manages to work. The photo-essays on Miechów, Poland, and summer fairs in Wales are highlights of the examined issue. The odds of Jones publishing Elsie for more than a few issues may be slim, but his wit and good eye make this a noteworthy project. Highly recommended for collections of contemporary arts.

Lucky Peach. 2011. q. $28. Aud: GA (Subject: Food. Issue examined: Issue 1, Summer 2011)
McSweeney's Chris Ying is editor in chief of Lucky Peach, and he shares creative responsibility with celebrity chef David Chang and Peter Meehan, a former food writer for the New York Times. Such high-powered talent leads one to expect a lot, and Lucky Peach delivers. It is witty, irreverent, insightful, and just plain fun. The target demographic is young urbanites (foodies in particular), yet there's enough variety to satisfy a broad range of readers. The superb graphic design expertly brings fresh creativity to fundamentals of good design. The examined issue treats Chang's specialty dish ramen from diverse perspectives. Meehan and Chang travel Tokyo in search of great ramen. Ivan Orkin is profiled—he's a successful Tokyo ramen shop owner who happens to be a Jewish New Yorker. Twenty of Japan's regional styles of ramen are described. There are features about New Orleans' ya ka mein and Momofuku Ando's invention of instant ramen. Add some illustrated recipes, an exploration of the meaning of authenticity, and a short story translated from Japanese, and the result is a substantial magazine of engaging writing and great visuals. Lucky Peach deserves top consideration for any collection of cooking, general interest, or literary magazines.

M/I/S/C. 2011. q. $12/issue. Aud: GA (Subject: Art & Society. Issue examined: No. 2, Summer 2011)
M/I/S/C is an acronym for Movement, Intuition, Structure, Complexity. This Canadian magazine is published by Idris Mootee, CEO of Idea Couture, a "global strategic innovation and experience design firm" (whatever that means). The majority of the content appears to be examples of work done by the Idea Couture firm, but it's hard to tell. M/I/S/C is one of the most inscrutable magazines I have encountered. The purposes behind slashes in the title, selection of artwork, choice of topics, and organization of features all escape me. The text and graphics seem artificially forced into the putative organizing principle of Movement, Intuition, Structure, Complexity. On the positive side, M/I/S/C is handsomely produced, and the examined issue includes interesting bits such as a section on work being done at the Royal College of Art's Postgraduate School of Art and Design. Libraries with extensive collections in design should take a look, but others can pass on M/I/S/C.

Three Coyotes. 2011. s-a. $20. Aud: GA (Subject: American Literature—21st Century. Issue examined: Vol.1, No.1, Winter/Spring 2011)
Tucson, AZ–based Three Coyotes literary magazine springs from and pays homage to the American West. It places special emphasis on Native American perspectives and human interactions with animals. As one might expect from the title, coyotes are featured in several of the works in the inaugural issue. Nonfiction, fiction, and poetry describe encounters with other creatures as well, including dragonflies, mountain lions, and fleas. An interesting but somewhat incongruous photo portfolio by Chuck Fox depicts trains and hobos; editor Joan Fox seeks variety, so perhaps it's fitting to include photos on a topic a bit out of sync with the other themes in the examined issue. Three Coyotes is attractively produced and competently edited. The writing is good, but not outstanding. Libraries that collect literature on the American West should consider Three Coyotes.

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