Lewis Carroll, patron saint of the unsaintly
and unpatronized, in bestowing such idiosyncratic mirth to the Hatter's
position at the tea party, sets the parameters for Mad Hatters'
Review and its Internet and Outernet world. Adorned with Carroll's
19th century vision of the demented hatter as "victim of mercury
poisoning" (the poor, working-class hatter "worked with hot
solutions of mercuric nitrate, in poorly ventilated rooms"), the
Review makes contemporary and metaphorical the plight of the hatters,
who suffered "neurological damage, resulting in such symptoms as
tremors, slurred speech, irritability, and depression." This enfolding
of legacy bestows Mad Hatters' Review with a new canon particularly
interested, as publisher Carol Novack says, "in edgy, experimental,
gutsy, thematically broad (i.e., saying something about the world and
its creatures), psychologically and philosophically sophisticated writings."
Issue #7 continues to endow this canon. Poets
Joe Amato, Gunnar Benediktsson, Bob Marcacci, Sally Molini and Michael
Neff are genes spliced from E.E. Cummings and some of his inventive
and eloquent ancestors and progeny. Each contributor is granted a vibrant
trove of visual and musical accompaniment, if s/he so chooses. Custom-made
artworks are provided by staff and guest artists and composers, including
(classical) Sandra Scheetz Wise, Quartetto Constanze & Jon Leifs,
Suchoon Mo , (jazz) Benjamin Rush Miller, the versatile, melodic Guthrie
Lowe, Steve Kane, Paul Toth, and fusion ace Benjamin Tyree. Stay for
the mad multimedia spree, a unique experience in the expanding field
of cyberitic publishing.
Gryphon, dormouse and dodo metaphorically
abound in Mad Hatters' Fiction, Non-Fiction, Whatnots, Dramas
and Audio Text Collages. Notables, among the fine work of Claire, Millas,
Ratner, Wilson and Wuori, is Brandon Hobson, who retells Hellenistic
Alexandria, illuminated by the epochocal art of Peter Schwartz. A King
of Hearts (writer Kevin P. Keating) appears to wrestle with Kubricks's
demons.
In case you've been beaten by love or have
reified sex, pedagogic lessons to redeem erotic neurotics surface in
Lynda Schor's "Sex for Beginners 2." Be not dismayed; the
end is not near. Check out the Columns, Comics (including "The
Perils of Patriotic Polly"), Contests, Galleries, Interviews, Site
and Book Reviews, Video clips, and text and visual collages. Pay your
nickel and the brilliant Don Bergland's "Mental Theater" comes
with 1954 American cheese. You'll stay parked, neck, and miss the movie.
Before sleep, as the rabbit hastens to his
black hole, Mad Hatters' Review probes Scottish talent in "Viva
Caledonia." Featured artist Calum Colvin was born in Glasgow .
It is well-worth perusing Colvin's phantasmagoric visual wit, as you
extend your stay with fiction, poetry, and a play by the famous Alastair
Gray, selected by associate editor Peter Robertson. Each issue includes
a special section devoted to creations from a different part of the
world.
Frontispiece "Lamb," by artist
Camille Martin, exemplifies the Hatters' daemonic ethos, carried from
the inaugural issue. The sublime and the agitated meld in these seven
issues. Of note in prior issues: #6, the poems of acclaimed poets Meltzer
and Rothenberg, the art of Lynn Schirmer, Art Director Tantra Bensko,
associate art editors Peter Schwartz, X-8, and D.K. Macdonald, and the
expressionistic art animations of Jean Detheux, who moves colors and
primordial forms to music.
The Review's resolute spirit and determination
to artfully exploit the expansive possibilities of Internet publishing
and offer quality, inventive creations, is manifest in every issue of
the journal.
____________________________________________________________
Daniel Y. Harris, M. Div,
is Adjunct Faculty at Sonoma State University . His poetry chapbook,
Unio Mystica (2007), will be published by Cross-Cultural Communications.
His recent publication credits include: Zeek, The Pedestal
Magazine, Exquisite Corpse, In Posse Review,
Mad Hatters’ Review, Sein und Werden, Poetry
Salzburg Review, Poetry Magazine.com, Convergence,
The Other Voices International Project, and The Denver
Quarterly. The Jewish Community Library of San Francisco, Market
Street Gallery, The Euphrat Museum, The Center for Visual Arts and Dolly
Fiterman Fine Arts are among his art exhibition credits. His website
is www.danielyharris.com