What's that you're reading? F&SF? Now, would you like to know why I just slapped it outta your hand? I'll tell you, but first, hold this while I spray a few squirts of lighter fluid...now a match and...PRESTO! an exothermic reaction! Science fact!
What you're holding, by the way, is the latest issue of Greatest Uncommon Denominator (call it GUD--like the opposite of bad--and you're in the club), a twice-yearly array of mostly bite-size stories and poems (and paintings) about Everything. That's right, there are spaceships, magic swords, fathers and sons, Mennonite paratroopers, time travelers, taxidermists, cats, real people disserting, monsters flighting, and, you know, MORE. Lots more. Seriously a whole lot more--and that's in this one issue. There are others--and to come? MORE, of course. It's beautiful, it fits in your cargo pants or pocketbooks, it wants you to undress it with your eyes. So put down the big mags, they're pandering, and pick up a periodical with some guts. And Mennonite paratroopers.
Hey, hang on, you gotta stomp out your old big mag before you go--ah, never mind. You're engrossed. I'll get it.
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This is a very nicely printed, thick literary magazine with short works of fiction and poetry. The genre is young and edgy. There are poems of love, of stage IV liver cancer, short stories bordering on sci-fi or fantasy, and regular fiction. The tone is definitely youth-oriented though not excessively so. There are swear words and some "adult situations." It's a handsome volume, and if you are a writer or someone who enjoys contemporary fiction and literary work, GUD could be something to check out.
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I love how GUD magazine isn't your predictable, run-of-the-mill kind of magazine. There's an interesting mix of fiction and poetry as well as artwork between these pages, and to a bookworm like me, variety is key.
I enjoyed reading Debbie Moorhouse's, "Sundown". Beautiful prose in there. And there is this unusual and clever piece entitled "4 Short Parables around the Theme of Travel" which made me go... ha. Which translates as: "I'm impressed."
I am in the midst of reading Issue number two and will leave some feedback when I get around to finishing all the stories. Issue 0 was a feast for this short story lover, and I'm certainly looking forward to more of GUD.
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I'll be brief as the others have posted my thoughts, but this magazine is filled with cutting edges pieces, highly imaginative and intelligent... They are also accessible, unlike some other highly technical or subsequently dull speculative publications..
As you can see, they have really cool artwork too...
Investigate... now...
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Have you ever heard a song so good that you felt compelled to buy the entire album? Well GUD (pronounced, "good") is like that. I read "Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Stage IV," a poem by Samantha Henderson from GUD issue #2, and I realized I *needed* to subscribe to GUD.
Henderson's poem is filled with imagery that finds beauty in decrepitude and illness. From the title itself, you can guess both the subject matter and the ending few lines, but far from being telegraphed, the poem takes you on a sensorial journey that leaves you longing for more.
As you can see from the other reviews here at Amazon, the magazine appeals to a wide variety of readers. All you have to do is peruse GUD's website ([...]) to understand why this is so. The magazine is obviously hand-crafted, and the publishers also embrace technology by offering not only print editions of each issue, but also PDF versions of both the entire issue and each individual piece. This kind of flexibility rewards the readers, the writers, and the publishers.
The whole situation is GUD.
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Unfortunately for me I don't have the time, attention span or enough fluoxetine hydrochloride to read more than perhaps 2 pages of anything at a time and so when I do actually read it's nice have a copy of GUD on hand. I have not yet found something in this magazine that I didn't enjoy. The stories are well written, often surprising and even startling. They are always interesting. Once in a while I do read more than 2 pages in a single sitting, and GUD is really right on the money for that as well, since it's about 200 pages long in total. If on the other hand you don't like to read at all, there's a lot of great artwork too! I truly love this magazine. I am looking forward to more from GUD.
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GUD is good. I read for entertainment, and to find an entertaining magazine that keeps its literary integrity is refreshing indeed. Each issue gives me another few hours of good reading and who can ask for more than that? It's not your run of the mill venue. Uncommonly GUD.
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I'm not much of a short fiction reader, especially of the spec fic genre. But I have really enjoyed reading and rereading both issues of GUD so far--the stories, poetry, and art are all inventive, thought-provoking, and high-quality. Kaolin Fire and the rest of the GUD staff have done an outstanding job assembling a variety of contributors and putting together a quality product, and I look forward to my next issue!
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I'm not much of a short fiction reader, especially of the spec fic genre. But I have really enjoyed reading and rereading both issues of GUD so far--the stories, poetry, and art are all inventive, thought-provoking, and high-quality. Kaolin Fire and the rest of the GUD staff have done an outstanding job assembling a variety of contributors and putting together a quality product, and I look forward to my next issue!
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