May 2013
6 posts
9 tags
something in the 70s :: 'gesture magazine #4' by...
‘gesture magazine #4’ by various, edited by matthew sherling // gorilla press, 2k13
something in the 70s
(ed. ‘note’: matthew sherling contributes to this blog; he ‘may’ or ‘may have not’ written this; all reviews at ‘i am alt lit’ are anonymous unless otherwise noted)
Gesture is put out by Gorilla Press, which Matthew Sherling runs...
6 tags
55.0 :: '#personal' by caleb bouchard
‘#personal’ by caleb bouchard // author created, 2k13
55.0
seems like an uneven score seems like we’re ‘caught up’ in what it means to ‘fail’ & ‘succeed’ this is the end of the ‘school’ year, yeh this is the end of formal education, yeh but instead of the bipolarity of ‘failure/success’ let’s just think...
2 tags
the I AM NOT ALT LIT e-chap now here, nice
deckfightpress:
‘selected image macros from i am not alt lit’
this is how ppl talk about ‘alt lit’ when they talk abt ‘alt lit’
from the blog I AM NOT ALT LIT
read it below or download it now
Selected Image Macros from I AM NOT ALT LIT
7 tags
74.9 :: 'i am like october when i'm dead' by steve...
‘i am like october when i am dead’ by steve roggenbuck // self-published, 2010; new edition 2k13
74.9
this book is exactly the width of my hand
it’s the height of my ‘pointer’ finger
its pages have no numbers
it’s printed v similarly to ‘crunk juice’ – just ~much smaller
he first published this book in 2010 & just recently reprinted it w...
6 tags
35.0 :: 'the mall, issue 2' by various
‘the mall, issue 2’ by various // the mall, 2k13 35.0 robert fournier seems v ‘surreal’ // wondering if things had emitted particles before ‘now’/ what changed to make everything emit particles ‘good pile of dirt’ seems funny felt a ‘futuristic’ vibe from robert’s work interesting line breaks & capitalization choices parts...
13 tags
56.1 :: 'mdma' by tao lin & megan boyle + 56.7 ::...
MDMA (TRAILER 1) from MDMAfilms on Vimeo.
‘mdma’ by tao lin & megan boyle // MDMAfilms, 2011 56.1
+
‘i saw a bird sitting…’; by kelsea basye // sway press, 2013 56.7
//
decided to read ‘i saw a bird sitting’ while watching the ‘film’ ‘mdma’ by tao lin & megan boyle, each for the first time
thought ‘i’m glad i didn’t pay $$ for either of these’ ~3 mins...
April 2013
10 posts
10 tags
97.3 :: 'mumblecore' dir. by tao lin & megan boyle
‘mumblecore’ dir. by tao lin & megan boyle // mdma films, 2011 97.3 the movie begins w. tao & megan both speaking in the same tone, w. the same inflections that’s what happens in a relationship the 2 start talking like each other the 2 start high fiving each other & punching e/o in the arm, like megan & tao do in a bedroom, then she tells him abt a dream...
9 tags
60.8 'the prodigal' by alexander j allison
‘the prodigal’ by alexander j allison // civil coping mechanisms, 2012? 2013? 60.8 // started reading this book by not reading this book read 10 pages of the book felt really ‘off-put’ by gchat references came back to it ‘eventually’ aka ~2 months later (sorry) [[MORE]] // when i started reading this for the second time i was ‘listening’ ‘passively’ to tchaikovsky symphony no 2 in...
livemylief asked: there isnt much prupose of me submitting this here haha, but i love this :) "Readers of I AM ALT LIT typically are out of control much like those depicted in the award winning movie ‘Spring Breakers’. Unlike those out of control spring breakers the online readers don’t go anywhere. Even if they move they remain online." - Beach Sloth
7 tags
59.0 :: 'austin nights' by herocious
‘austin nights’ by herocious/Michael Davidson // tiny toe press, 2011
59.0
read this book if you believe in self-determination
“If I must run according to a clock, I want to run on this clock…the one of shifting tectonic plates, creeping oceans, imploding stars, and winding rivers.”
‘austin nights’ doesn’t bother with ‘conventional’ plot;
the novel functions like...
8 tags
86.0, 97.1 :: 'taipei' by tao lin
‘taipei’ by tao lin // vintage contemporaries, 2013
86.0 or 97.1, depending on level of sobriety
review by austin islam
***ed note: more ‘i am alt lit’ contributors will read this book, will probably concentrate on different elements, etc. read review #1 by josh s. thankks.*** // received this book in the mail as part of a ‘reading chain’, a sort of ‘round...
8 tags
62.0 :: 'if there is to be a zeitgeist going...
‘if there is to be a zeitgeist going forward, I imagine it to be focused on attempts at immortality, and the ways we erase ourselves for immortality, and the ways we record ourselves recording ourselves’ by james tadd adcox & robert kloss // nap, 2013
62.0
tumblthe ebook’s title ‘if there is to be a zeitgeist going forward, I imagine it to be focused on attempts at...
9 tags
82.1 :: 'Every September since 2005' by Paige...
‘Every September since 2005’ by Paige Gresty // UP Literature, 2013(?)
82.1
‘Every September since 2005’ is a 16 page ebook
with 4 short prose pieces and 2 poems
it is full of beautiful sentences like this:
They had spent the day with hands out of windows, a kind of Saturday arranged over instant messenger that ended up driving from quiet coffee shops to 14th street, hand-in-hand over the...
8 tags
19.8 :: 'selected tweets from i am alt lit' by...
‘selected tweets from i am alt lit jan 2k13-mar2k13’ // deckfight press, 2013
19.8 initial reaction to this concept: ‘who cares???’ (~4x) ‘i am alt lit’ is somewhat full of ‘themselves’ for putting this 2gthr like they are cannibals of their own ‘flesh’ selfies selfies selfies [[MORE]] we are ‘living’ in apr 2k13...
8 tags
64.0-73.0 :: 'twilight zone' by jackson nieuwland...
‘twilight zone’ by jakcson nieuwland & carolyn decarlo // nap, 2013
64.0-73.0
jackson & carolyn are in a ‘romantic’ relationship
they live in new zealand (she’s originally from the US, i think?)
i can imagine them in the process of writing this book underneath a very ‘homey’ ‘comforter’ w/ their backs against the bedframe...
6 tags
100.0 :: 'crapalachia' by scott mcclanahan
‘crapalachia’ by scott mcclanahan // two dollar radio, 2013
100.0
there are those moments that seem inconsequential at first but then you remember them for years and years, and possibly more
[[MORE]] like i remember in first grade when a girl threw up after swallowing too much toothpaste at the dentist her name was stephanie // scott mclanahan tho lives for exactly those...
March 2013
6 posts
3 tags
56.6-61.5 :: mspaint and heartbreak by michael...
‘ms paint and heartbreak’ by michael hessel-mial // author published, 2013
56.6-61.5
seems like i meant to review this approximately ‘4wks’ ago, wrote something, have been looking for it, can’t find it, it’s now like this ‘lost’ text that will haunt mew
[[MORE]]
this is an image macro series and i’ll say it straight: the images are better than the words
seems like hessel-mial...
0.0-100.0 :: 'young americans' by jordan castro
young americans by jordan castro // civil coping mechanisms, 2013
0.0-100.0
i spent this past wknd aerating my lawn i planted grass seed i bought top soil at the local ‘home improvement’ store i find more excuses not to go to shows than i used to i hate paying full price for movies i’ve ‘rolled over’ an IRA before i have a savings account i am not young...
8 tags
81.9 :: 'joke book' zine by victor 'kool ad'...
‘joke book’ zine by victor ‘kool ad’ vazquez // sorry house, 2013
81.9
thought ‘happy that kool ad finally accepted my friend request the other day’
thought ‘feels like ppl in the western world w/ computers are hiding if they’re not on facebook’
thought ‘I admire ppl who don’t “succumb” to facebook’s void’
thought...
7 tags
96.0 :: 'billie the bull' by xTx
‘billie the bull’ by xTx // Mudluscious Press, 2012
96.0
xTx is a literary hero
she’s been publishing on the internet since 2005, steadily building a list of work which includes more than 120 published stories and poems, 2 ebooks, 2 print chapbooks, and one short story collection which is so good it makes other short story collections cry
by all accounts, she is a stable member...
10 tags
81.5 :: 'there is no reason for tigers to be...
‘there is no reason for tigers to be beautiful, they just are’ by heko julien // pop serial, 2013
81.5
thought ‘Heiko is a wise human being’ a few times while reading this thought ‘whoah he shifts around a lot from paragraph to paragraph’ thought ‘he likes to end his pieces similarly - usually with existentially optimistic messages’ thought...
7 tags
68.7 :: 'art goes here' by libby rindal
‘art goes here’ by libby rindal // habitat, 2013
68.7
feel as though ‘emo’ is ‘in’ rn
like ‘emo’ and ‘emotional’ and ‘feeling’ things
idk, seems like it can be ‘bleak’ os
‘sometimes’
[[MORE]]
//
immediately feel ‘forced’ into ‘sadness’
like ‘hella dark, bro’
like ‘obligatory sadness’
poems like ‘getting “clean”’
and ‘shower poem’
makes use of this ‘imagery’ that has been seen before
‘a million...
6 tags
79.9 :: 'illuminati girl gang vol. 3' by various;...
‘illuminati girl gang vol. 3’ by various; edited by gabby gabby // illuminati girl gang, 2013
79.9
Gabby Gabby is pretty much ‘the shit’
her writing never seems lazy & neither does her magazine ILLUMINATI GIRL GANG
//
[[MORE]]
Brittni Collins opens the magazine with photo collage that explores the tension btwn the ‘natural’ & the...
February 2013
10 posts
iheartfailure asked: How may I submit something to be reviewed/abused by y'all?
6 tags
90.0 :: pop serial #4 by various
pop serial #4 by various // pop serial, 2012(?)
90.0
ben brooks might be the most ‘successful’ alt lit writer, for real
he has like 1 ‘major’ novel out, several other novellas, and is contracted for ‘more’
seems ‘underappreciated’ right now
he was doing this back when he was like 12 or something and we’re all catching up to him
...
6 tags
74.9 :: lift & other noise by austin islam
‘lift & other noise’ by austin islam // self-released, 2012
74.9
surprised at the ‘fluidity’ of this
overall it was ‘spastic’ but that works
like a circus or something in that ‘realm’
[[MORE]]
//
i own the ‘gray’ copy of it
recommend the online ‘color’ version
much better read
//
really ‘throws you for...
9 tags
51.3 :: 'rontel' by sam pink
‘rontel’ by sam pink // lazy fascist, 2013
51.3
keep thinking the words ‘irreconcilable asshole’ not directed ‘at’ anyone per se but almost definitely w/r/t ‘sam pink’s inner monologue’
//
[[MORE]]
Thought about myself in front of everything. Thought about the nearly impossible idea that there was this many things and so many more, then endless things between...
9 tags
80.0 :: 'i will never be beautiful enough to make...
‘i will never be beautiful enough to make us beautiful together’ by mira gonzalez // sorry house, 2013
80.0
this is the 1st release on sorry house, a highly ‘buzz-worthy’ publishing house run by spencer madsen and willis plummer
the hype for this book seems ‘potent’ and ‘multilateral’ but well-deserved
recently there was a ‘launch...
5 tags
84.8 :: 'airplane food' by gabby gabby
‘airplane food’ by gabby gabby // nap, 2012
84.8
I usually judge poems by whether or not I would get a part of it tattooed on my body
I would get this line from ‘Airplane Food’ tattooed somewhere on my stomach, in bright red letters
I’m just going to swallow you whole, okay?
[[MORE]]
//
‘Airplane Food’ feels like one long poem, broken into 25 sections
the 25 poems aren’t titled,...
68.6 :: 'keep this bag away from children #2' by...
‘keep this bag away from children #2’ by various // keep this bag away from children, 2012(?)
68.6
more poems in here than
non-poems
don’t think i ever read the #1 issue
[[MORE]]
//
the cover has
a house with paint chips
loads of paint chips
bring some dip
& a scraper
i’ll use some figurative language, b/c i’ll pick a few pieces off and...
7 tags
::confidential:: 1.2 w/ mira gonzalez
new episode of ‘::confidential::1.2’ w/ mira gonzalez. the ‘joke’ is over. watch ‘after the jump’[[MORE]]
7 tags
79.9 :: 'taipei' by tao lin
‘taipei’ by tao lin // vintage contemporaries, 2013
79.9
review by josh s.
***ed note: more ‘i am alt lit’ contributors will read this book, will probably concentrate on different elements, etc. thankks.***
read this book & fell asleep approx. 2-3x
read this book & ate gyros approx 1-2x
read this book & ate a hamburger i made myself 1x
read this book & spilled water on it 2x
read...
January 2013
11 posts
7 tags
61.3 :: 'i'm sorry bukowski' by michael seymour...
‘i’m sorry bukowski’ by michael seymour blake // self-published, 2013
61.3
Michael Seymour Blake’s ebook begins w/ a letter from father to son
the letter ends w/
‘I’m sorry about your mother’
this gave me the ‘impression’ that the ebook wld perhaps ‘speak’ abt the dyamics btwn father & son & perhaps the loss of a...
8 tags
75.3-85.4 :: 'baby babe' by ana carrete
‘baby babe’ by ana carrete // civil coping mechanisms, 2012
75.3-85.4
Ana Carrete (aka Ana C) prolifically posts pictures of herself on her blog
she seems very ‘petite’
she apparently is ‘in a relationship’ w Mike / Salisbury Bushnell - according to Facebook & videos I’ve ‘watched’
she ‘released’ this book via CCM...
4 tags
81.4 :: 'i want to die' by walter mackey
NOTE: NO COVER ART ‘FOUND’
‘i want to die’ by walter mackey // plain wrap, 2013?
81.4
seems like this book has been ‘a long time coming’ or something
think it was first announced during the ‘alt lit boom’ of 2012, for maximum exposure
when walter was asked about a release date, he said something to the effect of ‘idk, ask plain wrap press’
i think that’s still the...
6 tags
'news'
-we now have an ‘i am alt lit’ facebook page
—our official ‘obligatory response’ to the vice-uk alt lit piece
—-our interview ‘series’ has been ‘revamped’ & is now called ’::CONFIDENTIAL::’
——a ‘mildly popular’ recent image macro
send yr ‘alt lit’ to be reviewed to...
9 tags
::CONFIDENTIAL:: 1.1 w/ hannah fantana
the ‘reboot’ of the ‘I AM ALT LIT’ interview series
::CONFIDENTIAL:: 1.1
interview w/ ‘hannah fantana’ by ‘stephen michael mcdowell’
discusses her book ‘sans you’ & other things
read the ‘i am alt lit’ review of sans you
[[MORE]]
7 tags
86.8 :: 'sans you' by hannah fantana
‘sans you’ by hannah fantana // habitat, 2012
86.8
hannah fantana is a cool girl who wrote a novel called ‘Sans You’ it’s 25,000 words long & can be read in one sitting it takes roughly ‘one full-length hobbit movie’ to read this book from start to finish if u have the guts enough I hate the word ‘novella’ it sounds like a damn kiwi fruit if you enjoy novels like...
9 tags
95.7 :: 'you private person' by richard chiem
‘you private person’ by richard chiem // scrambler books, 2012
95.7
an idea somewhere
that this was a novel
that ‘you private person’ was a novel
not sure where i got this from
i rlly want this to be a novel
[[MORE]]
but even on the author page it says this:
“this is his first collection of short stories”
no i say no idgi
b/c there are these ppl in...
4 tags
500 ‘followers’
‘untold’ millionz of hits
thankks rlly ‘thankks’
7 tags
68.8 :: 'five animations' by codi suzanne oliver
‘five animations’ by codi suzanne oliver // habitat, 2012
68.8
this is a series of 5 short stories
//
in the first there are parallel events, seemingly same-sex couples, one person in each couple wearing a coat and being blamed for something
the parallels in this story are the strong point, possibly the main point
the lack of context sets up the overall ‘vagueness’ of this collection and...
6 tags
77.9 :: 'please please please, don't get your...
‘please please please, don’t get your goddamn heart broken’ by chris dankland // self-published, 2013
77.9
Chris Dankland is a powerful force in ‘Alt Lit’
on his blog he covers poems & stories from a wide range of ‘Internet writers’
he seems ‘dedicated’
he seems ‘devoted to the game’
& he refuses to showcase merely one...
6 tags
83.6:: 'crush dream' by lonely christopher
‘crush dream’ by lonely christopher // radioactive moat, 2012
83.4
guys ladies Lonely Christopher is rlly ‘good’ I just finished ‘crush deream’ & it made me ‘excited’
[[MORE]] he has a ‘hip’ lyricism or smthng or maybe not even ‘hip’ what makes something ‘hip’? Lonely Christopher doesn’t have much...
December 2012
7 posts
7 tags
'news'
-here is every review we did in 2012, ranked from ‘high’ to ‘low’
—the newest I AM ALT LIT ‘vertical’ is I AM VIDEO. these are reviews of ‘semi-popular’ to ‘popular’ videos. this is still a ‘work in progress.’ submit reviews. follow it.
—-the 2nd newest I AM ALT LIT ‘vertical’ is GREAT AMERICAN MEME....
8 tags
'every 2012 I AM ALT LIT review' :: ranked 'high...
AVERAGE:: 71.8
MEDIAN:: 77.3
[[MORE]]
XX.X every love story is a ghost story // d.t. max
N/A these are the 100 poems of varied length that i wrote today // santino dela
∞ fast machine // elizabeth ellen
100.0 i am my own betrayal // guillaume morissette
100.0 I am// peterbd
100.0 action, figure // frank hinton
95.8 oh no everything is...
7 tags
100.0 :: 'action, figure' by frank hinton
‘action, figure’ by frank hinton // tiny hardcore press, 2012
100.0
I have an inherent responsibility, it’s this unconscious social contract that ME AND YOU have entered into, neither one of us signed anything, YOU just expect ME as a reviewer to actually vouch for whatever it is I’m reading, to fully trust ME to be thorough, if YOU see a ‘pattern’ of neglect in this relationship,...
7 tags
78.3 :: 'stealing things' by keegan crawford
‘stealing things’ by keegan crawford // self-published, 2012
78.3
definitely ‘enjoyed’ this
this is in the ‘upper’ echelon of poetry i read this ‘year’
[[MORE]]
keegan writes abt explosions, and bookstores, and rhubarbs, and going to work, and more
seems like his ‘take’ goes ‘beyond’ the typical ‘alt lit...
8 tags
49.9 :: 'keep yr heart in the cloud' by john...
‘keep yr heart in the cloud’ by john rogers // self published, 2012
49.9
mind was really ‘going’
spinning, dreaming, wondering, then i kind of ‘lost’ it
the ‘thread,’ the ‘tab’ if u will
idk seems like this score is pretty ‘harsh’ especially considering my ‘initial’ reaction which was full of...
7 tags
90.7 :: ‘SUBCULTURE AND MEGACULTURE aka GET ME IN...
‘SUBCULTURE AND MEGACULTURE aka GET ME IN CONTROL OF ABC FAMILY AND I WILL F*** THIS COUNTRY UP’ by chris dankland // dankland.blogspot.com, 2012
90.7
seems like c. dankland’s ‘monster essay’ has gained some traction
[[MORE]]
seems possibly less ‘relevant’ tho b/c it was not ‘cross-posted’ onto any of his tumblr feeds, from my...
8 tags
'reflectionx' from I AM ALT LIT re: Chris Dankland...
(((SOME OF CHRIS’ COMMENTX APPEAR IN ITALICSSS)))
Chris,
thankks for saying that we’re ‘really good’ no one has ‘ever’ said that before
seems like ‘alt lit’ is a tiny community, I guess, in the ‘wider’ scope of communities (‘underground’ food mvmnt / needlepoint are alt lit’s 2 ‘biggest’ competitors ‘probably’)
re: an audience outside of the 500
but this audience is ‘bigger’ than it...
