Santa Monica Review...Review

Reviewed: Santa Monica Review

Issue: Fall, 2014

I need new ways of describing stories. At least that's how I'm starting to feel after reading the Santa Monica Review. It's just that I find it difficult to talk in a precise, communicative way about the different styles of writing I am reading, particularly since most of the stuff I've read has been either psychological or straight-up realism. Is it possible that I'm getting bored of this type of writing?

This issue of the Santa Monica Review kicks off with a story about self-help, self-analysis, and intervention (Victoria Patterson's “We Know Things”). I liked this story. It developed nicely around a venn-diagram shaped trio of enigmas, which is quite an accomplishment in such a short work of fiction. The narrated focalizer or protagonist – Karen -- felt real and special to the story. There was closure, but also an open-endedness that was suggestive of reality. In other words, Patterson's work was an amazingly executed short story.

I just want a better way to describe the way her prose sounds compared to the toerh (did the word “other” just come out like that? Jesus.) writers I have read. I suppose I could call her prose-style: loose-casual sentences with flickers of melancholic interiority. What I'm getting at is this: I need to start examining the language of these stories on a language level rather than just on a story/structural level. In the end I'll probably devolve into a Derridian huckster, but in the meantime I'm just curious about how I might talk with some originality or creativity about writing that all seems the same!

To return to the journal in question. The Santa Monica Review is a Southern California literary pamphlet of some reknown. According to the masthead: “Founded by Jim Krusoe in 1988, Santa Monica Review is a nationally distributed literary arts journal sponsored by Santa Monica College.” And like the Paris Review or the New Yorker, there is settled-in, confident feel to the entire format of the journal. One glance at the website and you'll see that every issue features the same sparse layout and a rectangular bit of black and white art centered on the egg-shell white cover.

The Review is edited by Andrew Tonkovich “a graduate of the MFA Creative Writing Program at UC Irvine and a former Santa Monica College student of writer Jim Krusoe.” Jim Krusoe, by the way, and in addition to mentoring Tonkovich, has authored five books of poetry and is a recipient of The National Endowment of the Arts. One must wonder if Tonkovich labors under the umbrella of Krusoe, caring for Krusoe's baby rather than seeing what new territory the Santa Monica Review might conquer. I'm thinking of another Santa Monica City College institution, the radio station KCRW. That stations flagship program, “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” was ushered into global popularity by – now KCSN “luminary” -- Nic Harcourt before he abruptly left his duties “to pursue other passions” and was replaced by one-time smoke-tar voiced night-owl and dance tripper Jason Bentley. Having just heard one of Bentley's broadcasts, it is easy to see that Bentley has just taken the oars from Harcourt and continues to row in the same direction as his predecessor, and this direction, while once relevant, now seems stale and commercial. So, I wonder if something similar is happening with Tonkovich. Is he merely a fill-in for the shadowy spector of Krusoe, still lurking in the alcoves of Santa Monica College, eagle-eyeing his baby of a journal. I wonder.

Content: Standard length short stories. Period. Occasional experimental pieces (notably a Pynchon-lite mindbender by Andrew Nicholls; didn't he write a movie – I'm checking...okay, yes, he wrote about a thousand cheesy tv shows) punctuate otherwise naturalistic prose.

Quality: Feels workmanlike. A thoroughbred that's run a few laps but can still place. Benefits from a self-assured quality.

Submissions: According to their website: “In nearly twenty years of production, the Review has featured both first-time writers and established literary authors, with a focus on showcasing the work of Southern California and Pacific Rim writers.”

X-factor: See above, regarding the local bias. As though to send their point home, they add: “There is a special effort toward presenting and promoting writers who make their home in Southern California. To this end, each issue combines work by established and emerging writers from Southern California and beyond.”

Score(on a scale of 1-11): 8. Very good, workmanlike effort. Blue collar stuff. Just a little boring around the edges.

Other info:

Santa Monica Review

Published by Santa Monica College

222.smc.edu/sm_review/

Editor: Andrew Tonkovich