Cat Rambo of Fantasy Magazine and Charles Tan from Bibliophile Stalker posted two reviews almost simultaneously in the respective magazines. Both are very positive reviews. What’s more one of them even mentioned my story!
Cat Rambo had good things to say right from the start – ” Ever since first discovering the magazine Sybil’s Garage in 2005 after being shown it by Kris Dikeman, I’ve loved the small press magazine produced by Matt Kressel of Senses Five Press. The magazine’s steady climb in quality moves to upward from an already pretty high starting point, and this issue shows the trend continuing…”
Later on in her review she mentions my story “Mother’s Garden” as well – “Jason Heller’s “The Raincaller” is, like several other pieces in the magazine, a love story. Sybil’s is fond of having stories that set off strange resonances with each other, and “The Raincaller” benefits from its juxtaposition with the Jessup story as well as the transformations occurring on other pages. Similalry, Sean Markey’s “Waiting for the Green Woman” echoes against Canter’s piece, “Mother’s Garden” by Rumjhum Biswas, and Liz Bourke’s poem, “The Girl” almost eerily.”
Charles Tan’s review contained slightly mixed reactions. But overall pretty good.
He writes at the beginning – ” One of writer Damien G. Walter’s challenges is that “We need more beautiful magazines” and Sybil’s Garage No. 6 easily fits that bill. While not as experimental as McSweeney’s, editor Matthew Kressel does a lot of outstanding things with this issue. Aside from the well-designed layout, each story/poem is preceded by a recommended song and this presentation is consistent. There’s also what seems like random scribblings by an enigmatic writer at the end of various texts but it all culminates into one meta-narrative that this reviewer found tear-jerking, even if it’s just a simple plot and conceit.” Further down he says – ” When it comes to the fiction and the poetry, Sybil’s Garage No. 6 is actually quite meaty in the sense that it manages to include a total of 29 stories and poems. I wouldn’t identify most of them as particularly memorable, but even in their mediocrity they provide something different from the norm, and there’s a distinct flavor and character to the selections.”
Well, I have pretty much finished reading my contributor’s copy of “Sybil’s Garage.” My opinion has nothing to do with being a contributor. I thoroughly enjoyed reading most of the stories and poems. Some didn’t touch me as much as some others did, but that is a normal reader reaction, isn’t it?
Some of my favourite stories in this issue are “The Drink of Fine Gentlemen Everywhere” by Genevieve Valentine, “Waiting for the Green Woman” by Sean Markey, An Old Man who went Fishing on the Sea of Red by Don Norum and Day of the Mayfly by Autumn Canter. I liked almost all the poems, really. But the little beauty “Backsight” by Daniel A Rabuzzi deserves special mention from me. I read a lot of poetry and I know it is pretty hard to write good, really good, speculative/sci-fi/fantasy poems. The poems in Sybil’s Garage No. 6 are the kind that linger long after they are read.
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Read Mathew’s Kressel’s post in live journal : http://mattkressel.livejournal.com/127945.html
Tags: Bibliophile Stalker, Cat Rambo. Fantasy Magazine, Charles Tan, Live Journal, Mathew Kressel, Sybil's Garage
