- Outsider Ink is named one of the top five markets for new
writers by Writer's
Digest in the June 2003 issue.
- Voted top art site by Top 100 Sites
- Ranked #28 in the Preditors and Editors
2001 Poll
From List
A Day - December, 2000
Review by Lisa Marie Heitman, Associate Editor
Every serious writer has experienced the
temptation to lose track of his/her surroundings and fall into
his/her own private world. It's a temptation that, once divulged,
often leaves "creative types" feeling like "outsiders" in their
own lives. Edited by Sean Meriwether, the Outsider Ink Newsletter
is an expression of those inner journeys and a special treat
for both readers and/or writers interested in fresh, original
and thought-provoking material.
Swimming close to the edges of his own
fish bowl, Meriwether allows curious minds a glimpse into the
deeper waters he prefers to lose himself -- and his readers
-- within. Each issue features the talents of many writers
as it delivers the dark fiction, poetry and artwork you need
to sate your desire to connect with like-minded individuals.
With a circulation of over 5,000, Meriwether
isn't struggling for readership. Although he only publishes
quarterly (in sync with the seasons), subscribers agree the
finished product is worth the wait.
From PIF
Magazine - June, 2000
Review by Ingrid Woodrow
Outsider Ink is a 'zine subtitled, "The
Voice of the Individualist." The editor, Sean Meriwether, knows
a thing or two about Outsider Artists because he, apparently,
is one of them. They are "normally overlooked during their
own time and later held up as a defining or pivotal voice by
a later generation." Meriwether informs us that he has established
Outsider Ink as a "platform" for those voices. Unfortunately,
the pompous editorializing diminishes — and misrepresents — the
work in this journal: an impressive array of thought-provoking
fiction and poetry that's recognizable as good literature right
here and now.
I liked Lorraine Berry's "The
Joy of Teaching," about a philandering academic husband
whose graduate-student wife languishes at home in "thesis
limbo" as she takes care of his kids. His burgeoning affair
with a teaching assistant evokes memories of previous conquests,
such as Laura: "She was an ocean — God she was wet — and
she undulated against his hand again and again like the incoming
tide." There is also the positively creepy "Company" by
Viet Dinh who, according to his bio, "is very undisciplined.
He most likely needs to be punished." (His email address
is supplied for anyone who's interested.) I liked the way
the narrator and a secondary character swap positions at
the story's climax, implicating the reader in the narrative.
Daniel A. Olivas' "Los
Angeles, 1970" is a bittersweet piece about Claudio who,
watched by his basketball companions, accidentally flings
a used condom onto the rim of the hoop. In a hilarious introductory
sequence, the offending article hangs there like a "deformed
icicle" as the players decide what to do. Things become a
little more complicated when the boys become aware of a Brother
from the nearby school watching them from a window.
Greggory Moore's "The
Nasty Astronaut" is an intriguing piece. The protagonist,
Robert Stevenson, is condemned to spend his remaining days
in space after being diagnosed with an inner-ear condition
that would cause his death if he were to attempt a return
to earth's atmosphere. The story is told from the point of
view of the astronaut's attorney and reads more as reportage
than fiction.
I also liked Eric Smiarowski's poems,
particularly "Blue
Collar Friday":
At home
I pick up my woman
spin her around till she slides
out of my grip
the dog barks and jumps
We smoke cigarettes and drink
till it's gone
Rush to the bar for dollar pints
skip dinner
Drink until we fight
until we forget about the week
Go home and have great drunk sex till daylight
then sleep till noon
Robert Klein Engler's "The
Theft of a Pencil" is another solid piece, told from
the point of view of a Junior Scribe who has worked in the
Scriptorium at the McGill Monastery "for five years without
ever ruining a document or wasting paper":
My desk is its own country. It does
not change with the seasons, but remains as constant[s] as
daily rituals. From a brown prairie of wood I see that a
white lake of paper stretches to the hills of tools and implements.
Pens and rulers sprout up like trees there. Beyond those
hills and to the left are the mountains of boxes and baskets
that hold the scraps of this and that project. Here in my
miniature land of letters all the tools my hand needs to
copy and illuminate reside as law-abiding citizens.
From what I can discern, the "Voice of
the Outsider" is predominantly (and predictably) male. Only
four women have been featured in Outsider Ink, and one of them
is a sixteen year-old from a little town in Wisconsin "who
plans to escape to New Orleans with a travelling puppet show
and steal a shrimp boat." There are also details of an upcoming
writing contest that must incorporate a given sentence in 600
words or less. We're advised to "keep an Outsider point-of
-view ... make it alternative, unusual or just plain odd." No
prize money is offered, but "won't it make your mom proud." (I
guess even Outsider Artists worry about Mom will think.)
Editor Sean Meriwether, in styling himself a risk-taking patron
of "marginal" literature, takes more credit than he deserves
for the work he has selected for inclusion in Outsider Ink.
It is my guess that most of what is here would be at home in
any of the quality mainstream literary journals such as Oyster
Boy or Twelve-Gauge. Ignore the self-aggrandizing editorializing
and immerse yourself in Outsider Ink.
Ingrid Woodrow is a writer based in Brisbane,
Australia. Her first novel, Goddess and the Galaxy Boy, will
be published in early 2001. She is completing a PhD in Creative
Writing at the University of Queensland and working on a new
novel.She is also the founding editor of the online writing
journal Mangrove, which is listed as a "Site of National Significance" in
the National Library of Australia's PANDORA archive. Further
information and samples of her work can be obtained by visiting www.uq.edu.au/~eniwoodr
