Editor	Scott Wilson
Publisher	The Fringe Magazine
Length	38 pages
Country

Review

Scott Wilson's new magazine The Fringe hit virtual shelves late last year, and naturally I've been completely amiss in not addressing the new kid on the block. Hey commitments, and we're only an issue behind, issue 2 is already available kids. So with Issue 1 we get some short stories, a couple of interviews, the obligatory editorial, lots of art, and a boot fill of book reviews. Worth a look or just another ezine that can be readily dismissed?

Festivities kick off with Scott Wilson outlining, in a quick editorial, just what The Fringe is about. Strangely about anything goes, the magazine is going to be non-genre specific, but will accept submissions from new Authors just as long as they are well written and entertaining, some slight problems there. I'm not entirely sure a non-specific ezine is going to be overly successful given the competition in the market place for readers prepared to go with the whole virtual thing. Time will tell, and maybe Mr Wilson will change direction as the magazine finds it niche, or he could be quite correct and folks are waiting on a literary magazine prepared to give equal opportunity to Speculative Fiction alongside Mainstream. It's a nice roll of the dice anyway, and as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So how did the contents stack up?

Issue 1 comes to us with eight short stories included. The first entry, Paul Lewellan's Chicken's Revenge, is either the most insane thing you are ever likely to read, or the most insanely brilliant. I was actually hooked by this story, which uses the juxtaposition of normality against ever increasing amounts of surrealism to tell one of the more whacked out yarns you are going to run across circa 2010. Does this mean Colonel Sanders is a patriot? Also notable from the story line up is Edward Rodosek's Almost Equal, that adds a touch of Science Fiction to the menu. And for those wanting some core horror on their plates then Scott Wilson delivers a wry take on the whole body snatcher thing with the excellent Grave Disorder, that should bring a smile to most fans' dials. One or two of the other stories are worth a look as well, though I'm not going to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, there's also a couple of duds thrown into the mix. Overall there's enough in the story line up to make it worth your while to check the magazine out, just flip pass the stories that don't hold your attention. I'm trying to avoid the “pretentious” word here in relation to some of the line up.

Included in the first issue are two interviews conducted by Scott Wilson. First in the chair is Michael KcKernan who has apparently written a book on Gallipoli. Clearly this is in keeping with what ever the concept The Fringe is going to have, but it's more mainstream than “fringe” one would have thought and is definitely not going to be of interest to people after a magazine dealing with speculative fiction. Still Scott Wilson has been upfront about The Fringe covering all genres, which apparently also includes historic non-fiction.

The second interview is going to be of a lot more interest to ScaryMinds readers with Scott Wilson probing G. M. Hague and getting the good oil on what the hell happened to one of Australia's leading dark fiction writers who dropped out of book shops dramatically. It's quite the story and Wilson extracts the full details with some good news for Hague fans who might still be waiting on new material from the Writer. If you ever wondered about whether or not the book industry is a commercial entity that will devour it's own young then Scott Wilson gets the answer for you. Excellent interview finishing on some light at the end of the tunnel perhaps.

At the back of the magazine we get a whole bunch of book reviews covering releases in a number of genres. Once again I got to say not everything there is going to be of interest to speculative fiction fans. The reviews are short and snappy and should give most readers enough to go on when it comes to a purchase decision. Nothing struck my fancy, but then I have a full dance card when it comes to books usually.

Adorning the first issue of The Fringe is some pretty solid artwork that will have the more art minded of ScaryMind readers happy with life. There's some cool stuff there, and Editor Wilson is not afraid to go with full page pieces much to the delight of the folk who only want to dial in for the pictures. Unfortunately the standard of the artwork wasn't maintained for the front cover of the magazine, that kind of looks like a bad photochop jobbie to me. I'm not too down on this as we're talking first issue and there's always going to be room for improvement in new publications.

I should add there are a couple of full page advertisements happening.

Overall then I guess you would say The Fringe is uneven with some good aspects mixed in with some not so good parts. Since it's the first issue that's to be expected as most magazines do take a while to find their groove and audiences. I'm not sure a general literature magazine is really going to cut it in the market, as one poor issue could burn off a lot of readers who might otherwise stick with a publication covering their genre. But as stated early days, things aren't set in stone, The Fringe will no doubt evolve to meet market conditions and focus on a core readership.

Now the really cool thing about The Fringe is it is absolutely free to download and abuse to your heart's content. If after a copy, and I would suggest it would be well worth your while having a look, then set your browser to the official site and knock yourself out.

ScaryMinds Rates this read as ...