By Stacey Madden
You’ve heard it a gazillion times — “We enjoyed your story but it’s not for us.” Maybe you’ve been told that your story or poem was “too experimental,” “too dark,” “too violent” or “too raunchy.” You can make a papier-mâché elephant out of your rejection slips. You buy the magazine that rejected you when it comes out and you’ve read it all before — safe, dull, cliché. Stuff your grandmother might enjoy. You feel discouraged but that ragged muse calls you back to your writing desk and you do it all over again.
Writers and readers who are looking for a refuge from the abundance of mainstream English-department style literary journals in Canada should check out Matthew Firth’s Black Bile Press chapbook series and grit-lit mag Front&Centre. The writing hits hard, takes chances and offers textual proof that Canadian writing doesn’t have to be boring.
Firth started Black Bile Press back in 1993 and runs it out of his home in Ottawa, with the help of his co-editor Bill Brown and without a cent government funding. He started it out of a sense of frustration with the literary magazines of the day, and his motivation, now 17-plus years later, remains the same.
“I woke up one day and called myself an editor/publisher and learned as I went,” said Firth via interview. “The response was great. The response is still what drives me: having writers send me cool stuff that surprises me. The same ideas from the beginning apply now — to give an outlet for writers to express themselves that might not otherwise be available, and to provide a forum for bold voices that aren’t afraid to write stuff that might be unpalatable and wart-covered to some.”
Front&Centre will be releasing its 25th issue in spring 2011. I asked Matthew Firth about the secret to its longevity, and how he’s able to keep it so darn affordable at five dollars a pop, especially without funding.
“It has lasted this long precisely because I have not received a cent of government money,” he said. “It means I can do it on my terms and that I’m only answerable to the contributors and the subscribers. I keep it affordable because I want people to read it. No one wants to pay $12 for a literary mag. $5 is reasonable. Plus, if all I’m asking you to pay is roughly the equivalent of a pint of beer, then that’s not asking too much. I’m not interested in national distribution and government sanction — those things over-extend publications and create a false market and then the endeavour soon dies. I’ve seen it happen many, many times.”
Operating and maintaining a fringe or underdog-type magazine is not without its challenges. Not everyone likes to read the kind of rough-and-tumble fiction that Front&Centre publishes, for example. But Firth says he’s more than happy to provide quality hard-hitting fiction for a niche audience.
“New readers come to the press because they are seeking writing from “underground” sources, so to speak. There’s enough mainstream crap out there. Front&Centre/BBP readers look for something with more of an edge — more salt, bite and sandpaper. Are there hundreds of thousands of readers who like this sort of fiction? No, but I don’t care. Someone else can publish fast-food fiction. I’m just as happy with 50 subscribers as I am with 500,000. As an editor, I’ve always had a nose for quality fiction that is not sugar-coated. So long as good writers keep sending me good stuff, this won’t change.”
When I asked his opinion on mainstream Canadian publishing, Firth didn’t shy away from voicing his dissatisfaction.
“Not enough Canadian writers or publishers take chances. They stick to the formula. They don’t rock the boat. There are exceptions. Mark McCawley’s Urban Graffiti/Greensleeve Editions and Chris Walter’s Gofuckyerself Press are also purveyors of fine, ballsy literature. By that I mean writing that is not afraid to document life as it is really lived, and that has the courage to overturn lives and show readers all the pain, ugliness, minor joy and drudgery that comes with the average life. Ninety-eight percent of Can-Lit doesn’t have the courage to do this. It’s dull and predictable as a result and I have no idea why people spend their money on it.”
Matthew Firth’s own writing is very much concerned with rough urban life, work and sex. His most recent book, Suburban Pornography, published by Anvil Press in 2007, drew comparisons to the likes of Rimbaud and Bukowski for its rawness. He counts Hubert Selby and Raymond Carver among his other literary influences, but his inspiration doesn’t just come from writing. “The energy, passion and anger of early punk bands and their DIY ethos inspire me too,” he said.
Contributors and subscribers to Black Bile Press and Front&Centre share Firth’s DIY mentality. Those who are interested in reading some of Canada’s boldest and brashest fiction, or who feel they have some salty writing of their own to contribute, must do the digging themselves.
“That’s another thing that distinguishes BBP/F&C,” says Firth. “You can’t just drive to your suburban bookstore and find it. You have to seek it out. You have to make an effort to lay your hands on it, all by ordering the stuff from me.”
Here’s some help: go to www.blackbilepress.com, send Matthew Firth a cheque in the mail, and he’ll fire back some of the rawest, saltiest, punch-to-the-gut writing you have ever read. Feast your eyes on some gritty fiction, then wipe out the eye-gunk and keep a lookout for Firth’s new novella/short story collection due out in fall 2011 from Anvil Press.
 |
Stacey Madden lives and writes in Toronto. He works at Book City, holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and is currently at work on a novel. Incidentally, his short story “Mammary Man” will appear in Front&Centre #25.
|
Post new comment