Spring is in full bloom! Like most people, I’m happy to be getting outside more often these days: from sitting on the porch watching the neighbourhood lightly buzz with casual activity, to carefully, cautiously venturing out to art events in response to the city’s cultural pulse. Potential is in the air, so now is really the perfect time to be introducing the first 2022 issue of CAROUSEL to our readership …
What do we have for you this time? Let’s begin with ‘Bar Delicious’ — a long-form illustrated art-deco comics sequence created by Canadian artist / writer / musician Blaise Moritz. This curious work fits us like a glove: Moritz’s cleverly experimental combining of words & images has always struck me as a great match with our ‘Hybrid literature for mutant readers’ tagline … it’s a tasty delight to finally be featuring a full-realized project from this creator in our pages.
In our Fiction section, we present four wonderful new prose works: Catherine Austen’s ‘Sadistic Romance Writers’ lovingly (and metatextually) lampoons one of the most popular literary genres in the world. Hana Mason’s ‘Same-Same’ offers a portrait of a friendship that is so strikingly relatable, you too might find yourself using Mason’s coinage ‘same-same’ to refer to people you know in real life. In Tusa Shea’s ‘Regina’ menace illuminates the mundane like a porch lamp glows dangerously behind the shadow of a moth, but the outcome is not what you expect. T.L. Tomljanovic’s protagonist in ‘The Goat Hunter’ tries to find his way back to life while being dogged by deaths both past and imminent.
The issue’s Poetry section features a diverse selection of new writing by Jeff William Acosta, Faiz Ahmad, Susie Berg, Anna Binkovitz, Domenico Capilongo, Jen Currin, Loisa Fenichell, John Focht, Hollay Ghadery, Robin Gow, Jessie Jones, Daniel Maluka and Emory Rose … that’s 13 incredible poets, the majority of which have never appeared in our pages!
In our Conversations section, resident interviewer Elee Kraljii Gardiner takes tea with Canadian writer and psychologist Lydia Kwa; short and sweet … if you like the format and tone of this chat, be sure to go back into our blog to access more of Gardiner’s ‘Decoction’ installments.
The remainder of the issue formally collects traditional, experimental or concentrated capsule Reviews posted in recent months on our social media feeds as part of our weekly USEREVIEW column; it’s a perfect way for readers who prefer to take in a bunch of reviews in one sitting — or contemplate book culture in wide view — to enjoy more than a dozen insightful reviews from the ongoing review column.
As always, I wish to thank all the members of our editorial team for their dedication, energy and insight — our issue’s don’t happen without you. Similarly, I’d also like to thank the creators appearing in this issue for their patience and creativity— your works are the fuel that powers CAROUSEL’s engine.
So here it is: another lovely literary flower to enliven your senses! We sincerely hope you enjoy CAROUSEL 47, our 4th entirely paywall-free online issue. We encourage you to read, enjoy and share these works freely: let your friends feed on the nectar of your favourite works — or the entire issue — by praising them to social media today.
Warmly,
Mark Laliberte
Editor
Mark Laliberte is a Canadian artist, writer, editor and graphic designer — and the publisher of Popnoir Editions (est. 2016) which publishes art books, comics, zines and other creative ephemera. Recent personal books include: BRICKBRICKBRICK (BookThug), Grey Supreme 01 (Koyama Press), asemanticasymmetry (Anstruther Press), BookBook (above/ground) and Explosive Comic (Swimmers Group). Laliberte is also a member of the collaborative writing entity, MA|DE, who released completed their first full-length manuscript, ZZOO. More info: marklaliberte.com + ma-de.ca