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The Usual Thing -- a new e-zine in Columbus

Columbus has a new e-zine. It's The Usual Thing, and according to editor Sarah Guzzo it's a magazine for "writers, artists, creators and free thinkers -- a venue for anyone who has ever wanted to express anything, in a medium appropriate for display on the web."

Sarah Guzzo is a young fugitive from corporate America who's opted for a less lucrative (but more rewarding) life as an independent writer in German Village, where she's recently launched The Usual Thing with a vision of nurturing local writers. She's especially interested in what she calls the "closet artists" who hide their work from the world in the mistaken belief that only professional writers should dare to be published.

In its campaign against an "epidemic of squashed and buried personal expression," The Usual Thing is full of good intentions, sly humor and positive energy, and it's easy to like.

The first issue follows a Halloween theme, with suitable fiction like "Teen Thrill Story" by Anne Halsall and "The End of My World" by Dustin Harms. Guzzo's own "Suicide Stretch Car" is a grisly exercise in the macabre, and in "The Old Colonel's Hounds" Jane Halsall adapts an Scottish legend of the supernatural to an Alabama setting.

The poetry, contributed by cassiani peters , Andrew Stout, Don Ford and others, is appropriately dark, in keeping with the overall motif, though not specific to the Halloween season.

Overall, the debut collection shows a strong sense of language and storyline. The Usual Thing is visually appealing, too, especially on a newer internet browser with a high-speed connection. Almost every poem and story is accompanied by original artwork or photography, sometimes by the writers themselves.

To succeed on the internet, an e-zine needs to be a visual experience for the reader, Guzzo explains. Even though the writing is the magazine's focus, text e-zines haven't fared as well on the internet as ones that, like The Usual Thing, "combine interesting graphics with well-written pieces." As with all good literary magazine, the care given to this e-zine's layout and design highlights the quality of the writing.

After reading their work, I was curious to learn more about the writers and staff, but wasn't able to discover much about them beyond a note from the editor that "None of us sat at the cool table" back at school. The lack of background information about the contributors is the only thing lacking about The Usual Thing. But it's probably not beyond fixing. These are talented writers who are having fun and taking risks with their craft. We'll probably hear a lot more about them in the future.

-D. Gray