Old Crow Review

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Old Crow Review

Front cover of Issue 6
Type Annual literary magazine
Format Periodical
Owner John Gibney
Publisher FkB Press[1]
Editor John Gibney
Editor-in-Chief Tawnya Kelley Tiskus
Founded 1990[2]
Language English
Ceased publication 2005
Price USD 7 per issue, USD 14 per year[3]
Headquarters Easthampton, Massachusetts, USA
Circulation 500[4]
ISSN 1085-6323
OCLC 28298077
Website: www.oldcrow.org (defunct; image retrieved from the Internet Archive)

The Old Crow Review was an English-language literary magazine established in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1990 by publisher John Gibney, owner of FkB Press, and its editor-in-chief Tawnya Kelley Tiskus. It published infrequently and distributed locally with a very small circulation; between the years 1993 and 2005 thirteen issues were published, of which only twelve are extant.[2] The Old Crow Review was concerned with "visions or fragments of visions of a new myth" and published original fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art.[2]

Contents

[edit] History and significance

The Old Crow Review was a multi-genre literary magazine publishing novel fragments, short stories, poems, essays, interviews, photography, and art; it had mythic concerns, declaring itself interested in "visions or fragments of visions of a new myth".[2] The literary magazine was founded in 1990 by publisher John Gibney along with editor-in-chief Tawnya Kelley Tiskus, who remained editor-in-chief until the periodical ceased publication. Old Crow launched its first issue in January 1993 with a press run of 500 and distributed locally in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts.[4]

The first issues published poetry by Simon Perchik, Patricia Martin, Pat Schneider, Christopher Jones, and Michael Ventura Jones. Screenwriter William Monahan's first novel, Light House, was published serially starting in issue 1 and ending in issue 5. Issue 2 reprinted Elmar Schenkel's interview with Owen Barfield.[5] There were also contributions from Sam Cherubin, Tobias Burghardt, and Richard Exner.[4]

The local independent bookshop Amherst Books hosted readings by Old Crow Review contributors following the publication of issues 12 and 13 in 2004 and 2005, respectively.[6][7]

[edit] Reception

In 1995, an editor for Factsheet Five wrote a short review of the Old Crow Review's serial run of future screenwriter William Monahan's Light House, describing it as a "gritty screwball comedy set in a Massachusetts coastal hotel during a raging winter storm" that is "very, very funny".[8]

The first Old Crow Review contributor to win a Pushcart Prize was William Monahan in 1997 for his short story "A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo", originally printed in the New York Press in 1994 and nominated by Old Crow Review in 1995.[9][10]

[edit] Bibliographic details

FkB Press published a total of thirteen issues of the Old Crow Review while it was active between the years 1993 and 2005. Each issue was digest-sized, neatly printed and perfect-bound with card cover, containing 100 pages. The editors accepted 2-3% out of approximately 1,000 submissions received each year.[11]

All extant issues of the Old Crow Review are available at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library (affiliated with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst) and The Jones Library, both located in Amherst, Massachusetts, however issue 12 is missing. The library system at the University of Wisconsin at Madison holds an incomplete collection of the Old Crow Review and is also missing issue 12. In fact, issue 12 is mysteriously missing from all U.S. libraries and was inexplicably pulled from the three known libraries holding collections in late 2004 shortly after it was distributed in January 2004.[12]

The last known mailing address of the Old Crow Review listed in issue 13 is no longer valid: FkB Press, P.O. Box 403, Easthampton, MA 01027-0403.[3]

[edit] References and notes

  1. ^ (1994) in Len Fulton: The International Directory Of Little Magazines And Small Presses, 30th edition, DustBooks, p. 445. ISBN 978-091668542X. 
  2. ^ a b c d (September 1996) in Christine Martin and Chantelle Bentley: 1997 Poet's Market: Where and How to Publish Your Poetry. Writers Digest Books, p. 297. ISBN 978-0898797466. 
  3. ^ a b (2005) Old Crow Review (13): FkB Press.
  4. ^ a b c (September 1996) in Len Fulton: The International Directory Of Little Magazines And Small Presses, 32nd edition, DustBooks, p. 442. ISBN 978-0916685560. 
  5. ^ Jane W. Hipolito (2007). Bibliography of the Published Writings of Owen Barfield (1917-2007). Owen Barfield Society. Retrieved on 2007-12-15.
  6. ^ Sara Megan Walsh. "Weekly Calendar", The Daily Collegian, 2004-02-25. Retrieved on 2007-10-20. 
  7. ^ April 2005 Events. AmherstBooks.com (2005-04-10). Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
  8. ^ "Arts & Letters" (October 1995). Factsheet Five (58): p. 112. R. Seth Friedman. ISSN 0890-6823. 
  9. ^ William Monahan. "A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo", New York Press, vol. 7, no. 43 (October 26-November 1, 1994).
  10. ^ William Monahan (December 1996). "A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo", in Bill Henderson: The Pushcart Prize XXI: Best of the Small Presses. Pushcart Press, pp. 419–421. ISBN 978-1888889000. 
  11. ^ (September 1997) in Chantelle Bentley and Tara A. Horton: 1998 Poet's Market: 1,800 Places to Publish Your Poetry. Writers Digest Books, p. 281. ISBN 978-0898797969. 
  12. ^ Issue 12 is listed missing at the Old Crow Review's library catalogue page at The Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts. The W.E.B. Du Bois Library and a library at the University of Wisconsin at Madison are also missing issue 12 according to their library systems.

[edit] External links

  • Amherst Books is a locally owned, independent bookshop that carries a large selection of small press titles and literary journals.