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T.W. Walsh should not be insulted. TNI Books may have nicked one of his lyrics for the name of its new journal, but they've also put together a fine debut. Little Engines' uncredited editor (Adam Voith, presumably?) has assembled a collection of short stories, comics and interviews that, a few missed beats aside, is solid and rewarding. There's a pleasing editorial finesse displayed in the grouping of stories into subtle motif-sets (threes, theft, a corrosive futurism) and the commitment to humorous, short bios for each of the authors, breaking the air between stories like groove gaps on a LP. A more direct editorial decision is the selection of works exploring a common theme -- human interaction, specifically one-on-one encounters. Each of the works handles this theme in different ways: directly, in the case of "Munday Series: Cassette One", or in the more obtuse, surreal fashion of "You Never Let Yourself Be Touched". This subject is nothing new for literature or film, but the works here use a gentle brush to illustrate the details. This even-handedness evokes a calm pondering, thereby pulling the collection out of the common to something more special. The level of writing varies between the works; there's no actual "bad" writing, but certain works are handled better than others.
The highlight of Little Engines occurs early for me, with Gerald Beckman's story "Cowboy Cafe". Though David Drury's short, child-story-like "Moonboy" appears first, "Cowboy Cafe" really starts the collection in earnest. Using a cinematic style of crosscutting and group narrative, Beckman moves through the thoughts of three lived-in characters, Billy, Early and Irene, and their actions on a snowstormed day in Texas. Beckman's attention to the color and locale of the language keeps you in the story even as it skims the surface of predictability time and again. The story even ends exactly as one is led to predict, but Beckman, like a skilled pilot, feathers the landing rather than simply dropping out of the sky. This flirtation with expectation is not handled as well by Susannah Felts' "Strategically Concealed Light". A story of three twenty-something roommates in Chicago, "Strategically Concealed Light" has more ideas for plot threads than words and phrases to make them original. Coming on the heels of "Cowboy Cafe", it's a bit of a let-down, though I'll give Felts credit for having her characters make a game of shoplifting from Whole Foods. There's something wholesome about it that brightens my mood.
Al Burian's "First Night in the New Apartment" is in a way a comic version of "Strategically Concealed Light", boiled down to a single plot thread and told from the perspective of a less self-absorbed central character. Burian's comic is one of clean lines and just enough detail. It also reads quickly, providing a nice tempo break between the first third of the book and "Munday Series: Cassette One", which starts the middle.
"Munday Series: Cassette One" is best described as the EP sequel to Damien Jurado's found sound collage album Post Cards and Audio Letters, in transcript form. The four conversations presented here follow Leon Munday and his interactions with various people, including an old friend who doesn't completely remember him. I found the "Munday Series" interesting as I really enjoyed Postcards and Audio Letters, but reading the words transcribed on paper does not create the same effect as hearing them sputtered, yelled and whispered on tape, as in the previous collection.
"Bugkilla 48" is "The Jetsons" as imagined by Paul Verhoeven. I will admit that I am not the target audience for bleak visions of the future a la Blade Runner or Robocop, but Jim Munroe's writing moves at a good clip, with nice attention to the mood of the characters. This tight construction floats the story above futurist drivel. Following "Bugkilla 48" is an interview with Munroe, conducted by Todd Dills. Munroe is very much concerned with media control and saturation (e.g. "Bugkilla 48"), and he and Dills discuss his interactions with Harper Collins Publishing, Rupert Murdoch, Zines and punk music. This interview, unlike Toby Carroll's discussion with Dalek, feels as if it belongs in Little Engines. Carroll's interview with Dalek is a thorough, well thought out piece, but it seems sort of tacked on.
Remove the Dalek interview and Little Engines would have one hell of a closing act. Adam Voith's story "My Television is 39 Inches" is a sort of round robin, with television at the center. The lives involved with television in these vignettes are not happy ones, but they are interesting. The third section, "The Coach", is a fantastic portrait of a lifelong dream (or trap, in this case) and how it plays out with the television. The image of an ex-coach watching his former football team on television while remembering his father watching that same football team as a child is great bit of imagination-wrangling.
"No Good For Your Heart" by Andy Jenkins, starts off as a slacker day in the life, and had me worried that it would not be more than that. Adam, a very disgruntled and lazy bread delivery man for his father's bread company, is also a rather selfish bastard. What saves the story is an unexpected ending that requires Adam to do more than whine, even if it is coupled with a sort of liberal-guilt-soothing action toward a handicapped man. Jenkins has a nice ear for writing Adam's internal dialogue, which helps to make "No Good For Your Heart" one of the strongest works in the collection. Little Engines ends with (Low's) Zak Sally's "You Won't Let Yourself Be Touched", a wide-screened set of illustrations that recount a dream Sally once had. Part evangelical longing for heavenly redemption and part longing for an end to loneliness, the comic moves in sweeping pans and rises towards the sky before pulling back and waking up.
This is a good start for the series. Little Engines Issue One does not outstay its welcome by running too long or getting bogged down in literary politics. TNI Books has also done well by handing over the reins to Chris Pew, who designed and layed out the issue. Pew backs each story with drawings keyed from the text, providing a nice underscore. The layout, a delicate double column, makes good use of the space on the page without ruining the flow of the text. Pew's work goes a long way in setting Little Engines apart from other journals, music or literary. All in all, I'd be honored to have my work pilfered to name Little Engines.
-- Jason Broccardo
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