Voiceworks #87: Play

Philosopher Marin Buber defined play as 'the exultation of the possible', and this summer's play-themed edition of Voiceworks makes a fair go of exulting literature's possibilities.

This is a magazine that invites you to join the dots to create your own front cover, and where one of the featured artworks is a fill-in-and-keep drawing game whose author is listed as 'You!'. Inventive and surreal characters jump off the pages, from Oliver Mol's irrepressible tiger-suit clad (Sendak-inspired?) hero in Sam to an oddly charming story by Peter Dawncy about a man who eats breezes, toasted children and stolen gnomes.

Despite these flashes of exuberance however, the underlying tone of the collection is more sombre. There's an elegiac feel to many of the pieces, and a dreamlike atmosphere that darkens as the stories progress. In A Bank of Cloud the vision of a beautiful man, “fawn-coloured hair rising as if suspended in water, gardenias attached to their ends like reverse weights” appears to a woman, but she lies trapped in her home by an inexplicable, inexorable wave of snow. In Jack Madin's artful Arthur and Sylvia, a couple holiday in an apparently idyllic marine landscape, but their relationship and surroundings grow more sinister by the minute.

The winning entries for the John Marsden Prize comprise some of the issue's most powerful writing, in particular Madeleine Griffith's Shining Armour, which sketches a young woman's experience of a psychotic episode. Other stand-out pieces include This Morning by Jeremy Thompson, a stunning and darkly funny piece of flash fiction, and Ronitte Kohl's finely poised poem You Said Falling Felt.

In general the poetry and fiction is of a high calibre; either these submissions to Voiceworks are exceptionally polished or they have been edited with a lot of care. Casting your eyes over Voiceworks is also a better visual experience than reading most – frankly myopia-inducing – other literary journals on the market. The layout is uncluttered and the illustrations – more of which would have been great – are perfectly suited. Aaron Billing's paired story and artwork are a notable example, both imbued with a melancholy, folkloric feel. Some of the non-fiction, however, makes for rather laborious reading and would have benefited from being pruned back.

Notwithstanding this gripe, Voiceworks is designed and edited to showcase a range of emerging writing talent brilliantly. It stands out among other Australian literary magazines not so much because of its most blatant distinguishing feature – the youth of its contributors – but because of how well put together and appealing it is. There's no magazine more dedicated to celebrating the potential of new writing — and what could be more playful than that?

Voiceworks #87: Play
Published by Express Media
RRP $10