Sunday, October 01, 2017

Front & Centre (1999-2016): bibliography, and an interview




Matthew Firth was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario and has lived in Ottawa since 2000. He is the author of four full-length short story collections, most recently Shag Carpet Action, published by Anvil Press. Some stories from these four collections were translated into French and published by 13E Note Editions in Paris in 2013 under the title Made in Canada. He has run the micro press Black Bile Press since 1993. From 1998-2017 he was co-editor of the literary magazine Front&Centre. He works by day for a national trade union.

Q: How did Front&Centre first start?

A: Front&Centre evolved or emerged from an older zine I published in the 90s: Black Cat 115. That was more of a scrambly, chaotic thing with poetry, fiction, rants, grocery lists, old weather reports, graffiti-style art, etc. Front&Centre represented a move toward something more distilled and focused: short fiction, author features, book reviews. But I tried to keep the same edge by publishing salty short fiction with an urban vibe. Logistically, F&C started about 1997-98. It was co-published in Hamilton and in Scotland. In March 1998 I moved to Scotland for a couple years, as my wife had a job in St Andrews. So the first few issues were a blend of writers from Canada and the United Kingdom, although there was a guy from Finland who somehow heard about us and was in the first issue. The first 5 issues were designed by Jason Copple in Hamilton, an old friend of mine. The mags were printed there too; he used to ship me a box while I was in the UK. In 2000, we moved back to Canada; Hamilton for a bit and then moved to Ottawa. Front&Centre followed me around. 

Q: How was work gathered for each issue? Were you purely soliciting, or had you a call for submissions out anywhere?

A: Work was always gathered via call for submissions. I listed the mag in newsletters, mags, online, put posters up in bookstores, etc. We did not solicit submissions. It was an open process. 

Q: Had the shift from a journal that included poetry to one that focused on fiction something that came from a shift in your own writing, or were they simultaneous? What do you think Black Cat 115 taught you about putting a magazine together that you were able to bring to Front&Centre?

A­: The shift to fiction-only was more just part of an overall notion to streamline Front&Centre, compared to Black Cat 115. BC115 was more this “anything goes” sort of zine. F&C tried to put more order to the chaos. And part of that was its preference (more than preference, really – mandate, more like) to only have salty, urban (mostly), realistic fiction in the Carver/Bukowski/Selby et al tradition. Nothing obscure, contrived or flowery. Tell readers a story and don’t fuck around doing it, sort of approach. Yeah, that does reflect a bias, as that’s the sort of fiction I wrote and preferred to read. We (Jason, Leona and I at the start, and later Harold Hoefle and then Bill Brown for many years) all preferred the immediacy of fiction. Well, one thing BC115 taught me – and this was reinforced over the many years of doing F&C – was not to get too excited about the whole thing. By that I mean: keep expectations in check. And do the thing on our own damned terms. So, we didn’t sell advertising, didn’t search out grants or any form of financial support, didn’t set firm publishing schedules, etc. We took a more organic approach: the fucking thing will be read by those few dedicated souls who really want to read it and we will publish it when we have enough decent work to comprise an issue, simple as that. And no ass kissing, asking for this or that writer to send stuff. The only time we asked someone if they’d be in the mag was for the author features, which were interview based, so obviously you have to ask writer X if he/she would speak with us. The reviews were all small and micro press books, 95 per cent of it fiction. We knew we weren’t going to get rich, famous; that no one was quitting their day job; that this would be a labour of love, a passion toiled on when the time was right around the regular rigours of our day-to-day lives (jobs, kids, commitments, etc.). So, we made a concerted effort to have no illusions about the enterprise. Some writers/readers loved it and supported us for years. Others surely gave nary a shit about us. I always appreciated the support and interest from someone I’d never met in Calgary, Kamloops, Stoney Creek, or Omaha. I didn’t lose sleep over the billions of people who never heard of Front&Centre or the few snobby writers who likely turned their noses up at what we did. In the end – and it is the end now – the only thing that mattered was that a few dozen writers were heartened by having their fiction published by us and a few dozen more readers were perhaps gleeful momentarily to read what we deemed to be good shit. End of story.

Q: How were issues distributed? How did you get copies out into the world?

A: The usual, old-fashioned way: in the mail, handled and delivered by unionized workers. Way back, we sold a few on consignment at bookstores that would have us, but that’s never very effective. Word of mouth. Online listings. Reviews here and there. Black Bile Press website, etc. There was a loyal but small bunch of subscribers. I offered to buy them each a beer now that the thing has gone under but, so far, no one has shown up at my door.

Q: What was the response to the journal? Were there any surprises?

A: I guess it’s best to say the response “met expectations,” recalling what I wrote earlier. There was a time, way back, when I was doing BC115 where I expected more: submissions and orders to jam my mailbox every day. I gradually tempered by expectations and realized that F&C was a niche thing, a bit cultish. Those who loved it, loved it a lot. Those who were indifferent or underwhelmed or pissed off that they were rejected – we never heard from again. But there were enough repeat offenders and enough occasional surprises (a beauty story that dropped out of the blue from a completely unknown writer in Moose Jaw or whatever) to sustain our faith in the endeavour. It did garner respect and praise from some parties, which was gratifying. And whenever someone said something nice and sent a $12 cheque; that perks you up at the end of a work day. But it was never going to last forever, I suppose. And my interests and commitments began to change, so things literary were pushed to the back burner. 

Q: Part of my question about surprises was in terms of authors who you might not have known about, had it not been for the journal. What authors did Front&Centre introduce you to? Who were the authors submitting that startled your sense of prose, if at all?

A: I did not know the work of the vast majority of the writers who were published in Front&Centre. I’d say, 90 per cent were unknown to me until I tore open their envelopes and read their stuff. There were a few carry overs from BC115 and my days on the zine scene early on but that dissipated quickly. Honestly, right through to the final issue I was mostly publishing writers I’d never heard of before and not by design, that’s just the way it went. Plus I was never one to read university journals or too many other mags at all; never had the inclination or time for it – so I had (and have) no idea who the up-and-comers were/are or whatever.

Writers who startled me via F&C:

David Rose, Salvatore Difalco, Raymond Soltysek, Iain Bahlaj, Harold Hoefle, Christina Decarie, Zsolt Alapi, Virginia Ashberry, Donald Avery, Joel Williams, Martin West, Jeffrey Griffiths.

Q: What kind of print runs were you doing for the journal?

A: Varied depending on our level of optimism. But generally highs around 200-250. Then steady around 100 the last ten years or so when all copies went to subscribers and contributors.

Q: I’m curious as to if and how your own writing might have been affected through editing Front&Centre. Did the journal cause any shifts in the ways in which you approached short fiction?

A: No, I honestly don’t think editing Front&Centre had much impact on my own writing. Like most things in my life, I sorta compartmentalized/separated the two. There was time for editing the mag and reading submissions and then other times for writing. Now, there are similarities between what I wrote and what I published but I also didn’t want F&C to be this circle jerk type of thing where there was no nuance, no variety. So we (me and other editors) looked for and appreciated writing that came at us from different angles, while having a certain saltiness to it.

Q: You managed to keep Front&Centre afloat for an impressively long time, especially for a journal without distribution, marketing or funding. What was behind the decision to stop?

A: The thrill was gone. After nearly 20 years, it started to become too much like work and not the gratifying/job-well-done type of work. More like having to grind it out. And my life got in the way. I have other commitments and passions that usurped Front&Centre’s place in my daily life. Hitting issue #30 seemed like the perfect place to pull the bus over and tell everyone to get out; the ride was over. You do also start to get a bit cynical after a while. I did start to wonder why I kept at it all those issues, publishing literally hundreds of stories, while losing money, losing sleep, losing time. But basically the spark went out so we snuffed it.


Front&Centre bibliography:

#1 (1999) Editors: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, Leona MacCharles
Feature: Daniel Jones & 1978.
Fiction: Eric Ellul “Girl found hanging”; Catherine Smith “House Hunting”; John Swan “Snare”; David Rose “Biedermeir”; Sari Pauloma “Bloody Love”; Jim Ferguson “A Fried Egg”; Jonathan Goldstein “Horse’s Ass”; Simon Skinner “Flatmate”; Tom Schmidt “The Wrong Lois”; Michelle Berry “A Course in Miracles” Mark Jarman “Skin a Flea for Hide and Tallow”; Julie Roorda “Advent”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, Leona MacCharles
Photography by: Jason Copple

#2 (1999) Editors: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, Leona MacCharles
Feature: Maxim Jakubowski & The State of Montana.
Fiction: Jennifer Footman “Sisters”; Dan Buck “Better Hard”; Gregory Santo Arena “A Language by Itself”; Colin Mackay “Sniper’s Bridge”; Heath Carra “Indestructible”; Rob Payne “Shit Night”’ David Williamson “First Sex”; Michael Bryson “Crow teaches City Boy a new lesson”; Alex Zelenyj “Poppy, the girl of my dreams, and the alien invasion I can detect like radar through my braces”; Patricia Cleveland-Peck “The Silence between the Sounds”; Elizabeth di Mariaffi “I am Happy”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, Anya Wassenberg, Steve Shikaze, Andrew Hook

#3 (2000) Editors: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, Leona MacCharles
Feature: Laura Hird & Nail and other storeis & Born Free.
Fiction: Daithidh MacEochaidh “Just the Essentials”; Philip Quinn “Holes”; Kenneth J. Harvey “Last”; Sam Difalco “Stones”; Susannah Rickards “Cots”; Shirley Kitchen “Vacation for Sandy”; David Rose “Gravel”; Ian C. Smith “Listen to me”; Raymond Soltysek “Twitchy”; Arcey Hamilton “Effluvie”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, Steve Shikaze, Andrew Hook

#4 (2001) Editors: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, Leona MacCharles
Feature: Kenneth J. Harvey Skinhound (there are no words)
Fiction: Jason Copple “Whale River”; Allen Ashley “Swim to Daddy”; Stan Rogal “Tell him you’re married”; Ian Bahlaj “This is not Los Angeles”; Ken Sparling “Threatening Coherence”; Kaith Murphy “Crossing India”; Frederick Lightfoot “The Death of Dona Herrera”; Lindsay Tipping “Loving Courtney”; John Swan “Buying the Farm”; Tom Murray “Dreaming of sunshine” 
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, T. Anders Carson, Kerry Schooley
Photography by: Jason Copple

#5 (2002) Editors: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, Leona MacCharles, T. Anders Carson
Feature: Alexandra Leggat & Pull Gently, Tear Here
Fiction: Andrew Hook “The Summer of Hate”; Hal Niedzviecki “Breathe”; Katia Grubisic “Kissing Lindsay”; Matthew Firth “Minimum Wage”; Andy Brown “Reunited”; Kathleen Whelan “Hush Puppies”; Stephen Wade “An Open Heart”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Jason Copple, Joy Hewitt Man
Photography by: Jason Copple, Andrea Firth

#6 (2003) Editor: Matthew Firth
Fiction: Todd Besant “I really liked it and you liked it too”; Andrea Samuelsson “Don’t”; Alan Ram “Puncture”; Rick Taylor “Box 4335”; Laura Hird “The Happening”: Harold Hoefle “Czechs”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown

#7 (2003) Editors: Matthew Firth, Harold Hoefle
Fiction: Jodi Lundgren “Sexual Relations”; Lowell Blood “Small Favours”; Steven Manners “Mirror”; Nathaniel G. Moore “Heel Turn”; Jon Boilard “The Moon, Wherever”; Nichole McGill “Number Ten”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Lorie Boucher, Philip Alexander, Harold Hoefle
Art by: Sam Firth

#8 (2004) Editors: Matthew Firth, Harold Hoefle
Fiction: Philip Alexander “Housesitting”; Graham Baron “Business”; Philip Quinn “NightClub Dream”; Helen Kitson “The Jubilee Café”; John Swan “Thin Line”; Vern Smith “Beckman’s Whore”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Lorie Boucher, Harold Hoefle, Chris Robinson

#9 (2004) Editors: Matthew Firth, Harold Hoefle
Fiction: Marcie McCauley “Notes for a Working Draft”; Mark McCawley “Screaming my Face Off”; Mark Anthony Jarman “Your Very Own Personal All-Canadian Marxist Hockey League”; Clint Wastling “Obligato for one”; Christina Decarie “Lite and Brite”; PG Tarr “King Shivers”; Brian Ray “Saturday Night Live”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Philip Alexander, Bill Brown, Frances, Ward

#10 (2004) Editors: Matthew Firth, Harold Hoefle
Fiction: Tony D’Souza “The Hard Life”; Thea Atkinson “Green Means Gone”; Jason Heroux “Kingston”; Anya Wassenberg “Little Finger”; Bill Brown “When Jupiter’s Aligned with Mars”; Zsolt Alapi “Eva”
Reviews written by: Nathaniel G. Moore, Matthew Firth, Chris Robinson, Harold Hoefle, Barry Doyle

#11 (2004) Editors: Matthew Firth, Harold Hoefle
Fiction: Hannah Holborn “World’s Greatest”; Daithidh MacEochaidh “More than an Angel”; Len Gasparini “A Day in June”; Bilbo Poynter “The Parade”; Philip Quinn “One Summer She was Beautiful”; Cathleen Kirkwood “Grangran Warmfeather’s Sitting on a hot bingo”
Reviews written by: Mark McCawley, Richard Van Camp, Zachary Houle, Bill Brown, Matthew Firth, Megan Butcher

#12 (2005) Editors: Matthew Firth, Harold Hoefle
Fiction: Robert Osburn “Photos”; Thelma Wheatley “The Looney Bin”; Dave McIntyre “Gridlocked”; Shannon Campbell “Caryatid”; James R. Cooley “Born on the Fourth of July”
Reviews written by: Len Gasparini, Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Art by: Willem Firth

#13 (2005) Editors: Matthew Firth, Harold Hoefle
Fiction: Len Gasparini “Ghosts”; Shelagh Rowan-Legg “Take Me There”; Kara Sievewright “The Golden Egg”; David Rose “Back to Descartes”; Virginia Ashberry “Gnomes”; Alan Ram “Make sure there’s something in the freezer”
Reviews written by: Lorie Boucher, Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Christina Decarie, Chris Robinson

#14 (2006) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Michael Bryson “Hercules”; Randall Brown “The Bone Orchard”; Salvatore Difalco “Proportion”; Lucy Policelli “Reinventing Love”; Gerald Locklin “Insignificance”; Susan Raby-Dunne “Denny and Me”
Reviews written by: Philip David Alexander, Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Lorie Boucher, Megan Butcher, Mark McCawley

#15 (2006) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Virginia Ashberry “Passages”; Peter Martinez “Oh Uncle”; Tania Hershman “Exchange Rates”; Richard Milward “Cotton Wool”; Jon Boilard “Capp Street Incident”; Nathan Graziano “Pissing on my own leg, or how I found fiction”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Salvatore Difalco
Art by: Nathan Graziano

#16 (2007) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Tony O’Neill “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”; Ian Colford “The Cure”; Carrie-May Siggins “Lately”; Jeffrey Griffiths “Living on Easy Street”; Tom Leins “Paigton Noir” 
Reviews written by: Lorie Boucher, Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Salvatore Difalco
Photography by: Bill Brown

#17 (2007) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Steven Mayoff “The Same Machine”; Philip Quinn “Street Images”; Amanda Earl “Caught in the Rain”; John Swan “Christie”; David Burke “Maria”; Dennis E. Bolen “Fractionacting”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Photography by: Bill Brown

#18 (2007) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Mark Fleming “Kola”; Katherine Coldiron “Fucked”; Parker Dorris “The Courier”; Tom Johns “Bar Fly”; Donald Avery “Window”; David Rose “Empire”; Blas Ulibarri “The Way a Road can Lead You”
Reviews written by: Lorie Boucher, Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Salvatore Difalco
Photography by: Bill Brown

#19 (2008) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Matt Peake “Record Stores”; Cynthia Watson “Golden Shower”; Craig Barron “The Annex”; Don McLellan “Horse”; Claudia Labin “Romania”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Jeffrey Griffiths, Bill Brown
Photography by: Jason Copple

#20 (2008) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Bill Brown “Opera Quiz”; Laura Caigle “Contraction”; Tom Lane “Out for the Night”; Janset Berkok Shami “The Devil”; Drew McDowell “Four on the Floor”; Jeffrey Griffiths “Little Man”; Christina Decarie “Hot Ketchup and Vinegar”
Reviews written by: Virginia Ashberry, Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Mark McCawley
Photography by: Bill Brown

#21 (2009) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Catherine A. O’Toole “Maddalena”; Salvatore Difaclo “Four shorts”; Len Gasparini “Forbidden Fruit”; Jim Christy “A Free Bindle Stiff”; Tyler Keevil “Retribution”; Ryan Turner “The Bear”; Ben Hart “Intersection”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Lorie Boucher, Jeffrey Griffiths
Photography by: Bill Brown

#22 (2009) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Julie McArthur “20 Grit”; Victor Sakalauskas “Flowers of Despair”; Drew Gates “The Oracle”; Lisa Foley “The Hitch”; Joel Williams “Tyrannosaurus Sex”; Zdravka Evtimova “Banno”; Gregory K. Betts “Before you were born”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Photography by: Bill Brown

#23 (2010) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Corrine Wasilewski “Five”; Elaine McCluskey “A Great Nation”; Kathy Meagher “I want to me a man like Raymond Carver”; Dave Newman “This has to be better than that”; J.R. Helton “The Good Stuff”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Lisa Foley
Photography by: Bill Brown

#24 (2010) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Fiction: Grant Flint “A Mouthharp in the Shadows”; Kathryn Sussman “Dirty Old Motel Room”; Gary F. Iorio “The Academic”; Peter Stockland “Orange and Peel”; Salvatore Difaclo “Five shorts”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Photography by: Bill Brown

#25 (2011) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Feature: Salvatore Difalco
Fiction: Zsolt Alapi “The Balcony”; David Burdett “The Road to Happy Destiny”; Christine Catalano “Fuck the Mets”; Julie McArthur “Orchestrated Disaster”; David Rose “Like It”; Daniel MacIsaac “Old Christmas”; Chelsea Novak “Smashed”; Jeremy Hanson-Finger “Grandmother Two Tongue”; Stacey Madden “Mammary Man”; Zachery Alapi “Gap-Toothed Genevieve 
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Photography by: Matthew Firth

#26 (2011) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Feature: Zsolt Alapi & Zachery Alapi  and Siren Song Publishing
Fiction: Raymond Soltysek “A Gathering of the Clan”; Elaine McCluskey “Victor”’ M.L. West “Dog Breath”; Christina Decarie “Lipsmackers”; Michael Cuglietta “My Wife and My Two Kids”; Jim Read “The Librarians
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Photography by: Bill Brown

#27 (2012) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Column: Joel Williams “Writing is my Bitch”
Feature: Liz Worth & Treat Me Like Dirt
Fiction: Heather Babcock “Half Off”; Ivano Stacco “Loose Tendons”; Kit Jenkin “Love Letter #6”; Lisa Foley “Skinny and Unavailable”; Tyler Keevil “The Silver Grin of the Glass Eater”; S.C. Armstrong “Monson Crescent”; J.T. Siemens “Scar me for Love”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Photography by: Bill Brown

#28 (2013) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Column: Joel Williams “Inside Insights”
Feature: Christine Catalano’s photography
Fiction: Steven Manners “Eclipse”; Becky Blake “Make Believe”; Chris Walter “Devil’s Elbow Bridge”; Michael Laverty “Divination Hour in Valhalla”; Philip Quinn “The Quarry”; Catherine Owen “Things You Don’t want to Hear”, “Johnny” & “Pow”; James P. Hanley “The Realtor” Madison Glover “The Becker’s Bum”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth
Photography by: Christine Catalano

#29 (2014) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Feature: Chris Walter & Gofuckyerself Press
Fiction: David Haggerty “Waiting on the Stress Boxes”; Keith Ebsary “Packer”; Isabel Wolfe-Frischman “If only I Lived in the Next Universe Over”; Stan Rogal “The Criminal’s Tale”; Tomek Dzido “Going Out”; Donald Avery “Hindenburg”; Mark Sampson “In the Middle”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Lisa Foley
Photography by: Jen Dodds, Darren Lulka

#30 (2016) Editors: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown
Feature: Salvatore Difalco & Mean Season
Fiction: Duncan Kluwak “Tangiers”; Skylar Radojdovic “Radiator”; Brian Kaufman “Cruel Cargo”; Virginia Ashberry “Jan Webster”; Zsolt Alapi “The Session”; Martin West “Hours in Between”; Lynda Zamkotwich “Rough Trade”; S.C. Armstrong “The Golden Years”; Jeffrey Griffiths “Lake Bashkung”; Stacey Madden “The Funny Game”
Reviews written by: Matthew Firth, Bill Brown, Zsolt Alapi
Photography by: Bill Brown







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