Abjective

Abjective is a place to be spun around from the inside, to see something new, to witness flames crackle and the unborn crack their way out of an eggshell.  This online journal publishes one new text every Saturday.  So if you get addicted to the wildly inventive writing featured here, you won’t have to wait long to get your fix.  Abjective is bursting with writing that challenges the reader.  There are times that you’re not sure what’s you’re experiencing, but you are damn sure experiencing something; something magical, something unexplainable.

The handsomely stark design lets the texts speak for themselves.  A white background, black text, a few splashes of gray and that’s it.  The words that editor Darby Larson selects to display don’t need any dressing up. 

The archives include the explosively poetic Juliet Cook whose piece The Paper Dolls is a moody, spooky and dizzying joyride.  There is also a gorgeously constructed piece by Shome Dasgupta called A Map of the House.  Here Shome arranges the punchy paragraphs about what is going on each room of the house in such a way that they look like an actual map of a house.  And Brandi Wells’ Puzzle is a Barthelme and Aimee Bender-reminiscent beautifully surreal story about a woman’s boyfriend surgically inserting puzzle pieces under her skin.  Abjective also displays some of the work of pioneers and literary explores like J.A. Tyler, Molly Gaudry, Tom Sheehan and Blake Butler.

A bonus for writers of the experimental, playful and lyrical ilk, editor Darby Larson, is refreshingly lightning-quick on responding to submissions.  So some Saturday you may be sharing your mindfuck of a vision with the rest of us.

Abjective is definitely worth a bookmark.  It’s a journal to peek in on every week and get your daily dose of literary inspiration.  It’s a place to see some of the best writers you haven’t heard of yet.  It’s a ride you’re going to want to take, but not without a seatbelt across your brain. 

SHELFLIFEMAGAZINE : issue #008