Open Road - Info

Before I start up this week I'd like to make a request of regular and irregular readers of this column. Over the past few months many of you have been kind enough to recommend your favorite publication for a review, even though you're not the author. Thanks much!

Now the request: please continue to send these recommendations, and please keep your eye open for good original fiction publications. I'd like to explore that end of the spectrum more over the next few weeks and would appreciate any input you might have. Send suggestions / comments / rants / fluff / beer to zines@propagandist.com.

Now to this weeks column, an extremely enjoyable e-zine from Christopher Locke going by the name of Entropy Gradient Reversals (EGR) with another nicely unusual short take and a bit of reader mail..

Subscription Instructions:
Visit: http://www.rageboy.com/sub-up.html

Or send a e-mail to:
Address: egr-list-request@rageboy.com
E-mail Body: subscribe

WWW location:
http://www.rageboy.com/

Contact Information:
Christopher Locke - clocke@panix.com
or talk to the EGR Web Master

Cost: Obviously Free.

Review

Content - 5
When Christopher and his "royal we" feel like getting around to it, you end up with a unusual and unexpected column-rant-list of resources-message of sorts in your in-box. The topics range from serious political positions to not so serious political positions to personal anecdotes. Most are hilariously self-effacing and tend to ramble really well at times. Many issues are very unusual and stray into the arena of the unwell. Some are wrappers around reader mail and entirely self-aggrandizing. A lot of them have a hidden or in-your-face message. All are worth a read.

If the previous paragraph didn't help you out as far as a decent content description, my best and only suggestion would be to visit the EGR site and waste a few of your precious minutes in a preview.

Writing Quality/Style - 5
If you were hunting for a publication that was both consistent and rambling all in one package, you've found it. Well written (and presumably edited) EGR is easy enough to read without losing any of the penache that a newsletter like this needs.

Regularity - 2
Well I have to be honest, any site that spouts "every once in a blue moon as the spirit moves us" as their publishing schedule really wasn't looking for regularity. A 2 isn't so bad though. A 1 generally means that nothing shows up. (A 0 would probably mean that the publication comes in a night and steals your e-mail.)

A a stat, I've received 10 mailings in the last month...

Extras - 5
All the standard bits are here of course. You can't be this grumpy and not get some things right. The site has all the previous issues and al sorts of other goodies.

Overall - 5
I'm saddened, in a very strange way, that I've only subscribed to this exemplary publication for one month. As I read the first mailer I knew I was hooked. If you need a periodic distraction Mr. Locke provides an excellent one. EGR - All Noise - All the Time

Found this one by accident and decided to subscribe to it for a possible future review. I haven't looked at it in detail (sure, sure, sure) but thought I'd list it as it fits into the category called different. At first glance it seems to be entirely honest. If you like it, let me know.

Frequency of Publication: every three weeks

Subscription Instructions:
Send a blank e-mail message to: donjuan-on@mail-list.com

WWW location:
none.

Contact Information:
Allen Thompson - DJNewslet@aol.com

Cost: free

Reader Mail

Todd,

I've read your columns over the past few weeks... ... I am disappointed in you're (sic) willingness to provide newsletters like Newspeak an award and then provide the same to a conservative, establishment magazine like the Economist... ... I would suggest that you are hypocritical in your reviews and should make a stand for issues that you believe in.

Darlene (via e-mail)

Todd,

(about C-Theory) ...for the life of me, I don't know where you find these things... but what a jem!!

Mike (via e-mail)