NERO FIDDLED WHILE ROME BURNED #2, A4, 16pp corner-stapled, and #3, A4, 16pp side-stapled, enquire to Jacob David, PO Box 3050, Eureka, CA 95502, USA. Continuing the crusade to expose corruption in the Bush administration, #2 explores the unprecedented nature of US imperialism, while #3 drives holes through the official accounts of what happened on 9/11, and for the justification of war on Iraq.
NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION #176, A4, 24pp, $4 (12/$36; Canada 12/$38; r.o.w. 12/$48) from Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570, USA (e-mail: info@nyrsf.com; http://www.nyrsf.com). Essays, reviews and topical comment for the SF field from a fourteen-time Hugo award nominee. This issue sees Michael Bishop reflecting on his stories, Dave Smeds on his turning points, Damien Broderick on The Judas Mandala, Joe Sanders on Theodore Sturgeon's importance, David Griffin on Salman Rushdie, and Graham Sleight on The Hard SF Renaissance.
RAZORCAKE #14, A4, 108pp, $3 (6/$15; Canada 6/$27; Mexico 6/$33; r.o.w. 6/$45) from Razorcake, P.O. Box 42129, Los Angeles, CA 90042, USA (http://www.razorcake.com).Magazine of hardcore and underground music "that slips under the sloppy national radar or can't be neatly shoved into itty-bitty cubbyholes". This issue features interviews with The Orphans, Broken Bottles, Avail, and The Stitches, articles on the assassination of Martin Luther King, travelling in Appalachia, Tijuana whorehouses, and rock goddesses, plus 24 pages of record, zine, book and video reviews
THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE #34, A4, 68pp, £3:95 (6/£21; Europe 6/£24/Eur36; r.o.w. 6/£27) from TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB (e-mail: ttapress@aol.com; http://www.ttapress.com); USA $7 (6/$36) from Wayne Edwards, TTA Press, 360 W. 76th Ave #H, Anchorage, AK 99518, USA (e-mail: we21011@earthlink.net). "Extraordinary new fiction" from Patrick Samphire, Alan Wall, Eric Brown, Leslie What, James Sallis, Paul Meloy, Tim Lees, and Mike O'Driscoll, plus and interview with Alan Wall, and an appreciation of the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky.
2 GREAT PLAYS by Lori Bortz, ISBN 0-9677326-0-3, A5, 108pp p/b, $15 from Abaton Book Company, 100 Gifford Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304-1704, USA (e-mail: abaton@voicenet.com; http://www.abatonbookcompany.us). Two tragicomedies, "A Modicum of Passion" and "Fixed", the first published works (1997) by this Chicago-born playwright, illustrated with 24 drawings by New York artist J.D. Fleishman
PLAYBORTZ by Lori Bortz, ISBN 0-9677326-3-8, A5, 100pp, $15 from Abaton Book Company, 100 Gifford Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304-1704, USA (e-mail: abaton@voicenet.com; http://www.abatonbookcompany.us). Two tragic farces, "Skirting the Issue" and "Catfight", both of which explore themes of gender in language, role-playing, role modeling, and the education of the American youth. Illustrated with vintage advertisements that have been appropriated and altered by the playwright and Brazilian-born artist Roberto Cabot.
ROBERT AICKMAN: AN INTRODUCTION by Gary William Crawford, ISBN 0-913045-10-1, A5, 84pp, $20 from Gary Crawford, Gothic Press, 1701 Lobdell Ave. #32, Baton Rouge, LA 70806-8242, USA (http://www.gothicpress.com/). An overview of the life and works of one of the most important writers of ghosts stories in the twentieth century.
LOOKING FOR MAYA by J.D. Fleishman, ISBN 0-9677326-4-6, A5, 32pp, $10 from Abaton Book Company, 100 Gifford Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304-1704, USA (e-mail: abaton@voicenet.com; http://www.abatonbookcompany.us). The latest chapbook from the New York conceptual artist is a photojournalistic documentation of two years access to the daily operations of an elite NYC massage parlour. Combining 20 photographs (five of which are in full colour) with a novel extract and other texts, she captures the sex server in moments of candour and exposes the beauty and stark availability of female form.
