History, culture, art and post-modernism all get some serious time in Rampike, a periodical dedicated to the chaotic maelstrom of modern life. While there are a couple of interviews (historian/novelist Modris Esteins and perennial geek William Gibson among them) there’s an awful lot of fiction, poetry and art in here. I don’t mind the art. Most of it’s that boudary-pushing post modern kind that we now call ascii-art. The poetry is actually okay because it plays with form, inserting images and working with different sizes and page placement. Almost all the prose pieces take a similar approach, fucking with traditional narrative forms. Intellectual and fun. (SA)
magazine, Twentieth Anniversary Issue II, 7 1/2 x 11 1/2, $8, 95 Rivercrest Rd, Toronto, ON, M6S 4H7