Saturday, October 18, 2008

Zygote in My Coffee = dead?

Say it ain't so!

This comes as quite a surprise, and I'm sad. I always thought of Zygote in My Coffee as the only onther literary journal worth stealing writers from. I loved their front page newspaper layout. I loved that my job blocked Zygote on my work computer because there were stylized bare breasts on their front page. I loved knowing that if I saw a submission from somebody who had been published in Zygote, they were probably a wino. I loved their message board. I thought their small press books, which Fugate printed and bound out of his house, was the best of the indie presses. Zygote Print was an inspiration, and their Flipbook 69 series was one of the coolest things I had pulled out of my PO Box.

I never met Brian Fuggett, but we exchanged email plenty of times. He designed one of the original Thieves Jargon flyers. A lot of times I'd be drinking late in the night, reading through these submissions, wondering what the fuck I was doing, and I'd feel better knowing my brother from another mother was doing the same thing out in Ohio.

Not to say I don't understand. I'm a chronic single man, so there's some extra time to play around with. Fugate I know has a wife and a kid and a second kid coming (here?), all of which made it even more impressive how he was able to keep a journal going. Editing a journal is often times thankless. By virtue of rejecting at least 75% of the work you receive, all you're doing is pissing off unbalanced writers. You spend all your free time searching out this work you're so excited about, and you start message boards and nobody wants to talk about it and you wonder if the only people reading are writers looking for a place to get their work published, and then once you publish it, you never hear from them again. You get on the train and for a month straight you see people reading the same six books, so few people with gamble. There are plenty of frustrations, but you fight through them, because still, you believe you're doing something worthwhile. But shit, after five years, yeah, Fugate, happy trails. You done damn good, you left your mark, and you set the bar over and over again. Thanks for showing me how it's done.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

damn.
i never got in there.

Steve Barker said...

As someone who edited a print journal that only last five issues I commend Fuget for keeping it alive so long.

Zygote was one of the best online journals out there. It helped me discover a lot of great writers.

zimc will be missed.

And Matt, you're also doing great work. I always enjoy my visits to the webpage.

Anonymous said...

I'm going back in to finish my sentence on Tuesday morning. Hopefully I should be getting out around February. If anyone wants to write me a letter or send me a paperback book or magazines to read this is the address:

Mr. Jeff Kane

Suffolk County Correctional Facility

110 Center Drive

Riverhead, NY 11901

Anonymous said...

I got in it a number of times.Brian was always friendly in accepting or rejecting.This is a real shame-Zygote was one of the best.

David LaBounty said...

to say I'm sad would be an understatement. I had several poems appear on the site and in print. I will miss everything about it; the stories, poems, columns and the attitude.

I wish Brian all the best and I can't thank him enough.

Anonymous said...

Yeah but you know, even five years ago that web design was outdated. I never understood that. Guess it was part of the allure. Perhaps I am bitter because he got pissed at me and deleted some dozen stories he'd accepted out of the archives and everything. He was mad about money I owed him. I don't see why he can't keep the archives online at least until his web hosting runs out. It's only fair. I murdered my magazine ages ago, though, so I've got no room to talk. Anyway, as far as new places to submit go, this one seems promising. I got a poem in there under Chalise. Dig it.

P. H. Madore

Anonymous said...

archive archive archive archive

Anonymous said...

Do you get therapy when you're in jail or do they just assume it's bad enough you'll learn your lesson?

Anonymous said...

Whatever therapy you get is pretty shoddy. It just gets you out of your cell for an hour.

I mean if you have a drug or drinking problem you'll stay clean without really having to try since you have no choice.

I think losing my job, apartment, and car is a pretty crappy punishment already. The jail just feels like overkill at this point. Not to mention 5 years probation and being tagged as a felon.

Anonymous said...

Well, good luck in there. You should try to get some writing done, you used to be really good at that.

Anonymous said...

Eliminate anonymous posts.

Anonymous said...

“Schmidt ate a garbage meal”

Six whiskeys
Half a beer

A dozen after-work appetizers.

Three of each.



Fleisch is home,
Third city in two days,
Game 7 last night
And he’s gotta sleep.

p said...

so its true. far out.