Ken’s Guide to Texas comes with a beautiful design. The front and back covers are the flip sides of a postcard. It’s perfect, because the story within is Ken’s road trip. The story, told in a series of vignettes, reads like a short coming of age tale that revolves around Ken’s imminent departure for the southwest. The short, somewhat disconnected episodes speak of change, loss, reflection and things said and left unsaid between family and friends. The characters are often caught up in dreams and the reader is also in a dreamlike state. But this state is not a pleasant slumber, underneath it lies unresolved tension. (Jeffrey Mackie)
zine, Joni Murphy, Catch and Release Press, 265 Bernard St. O, Montreal, Quebec, H2V 1T5