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"Out of the Gutter," an independent journal of pulp fiction and degenerate literature, is amazing, heartwarmingly disturbing, vomitous and laugh-out-loud disgusting.
"Degenerate Literature refers to gritty new writing that doesn't fit in another category," explained Justin Gordon, editorial assistant at OOTG. "In publishing, people like categories. Like with Chuck Palahniuk, people in Hollywood refer to the 'Fight Club' genre. In 'Sons and Lovers,' D. H. Lawrence has a scene where this girl is rubbing a tulip all over her lips. One hundred years ago that was degenerate literature."
Here is a picture of what you get when you crack into an issue of OOTG. Kidnapped women fight to the death and the loser's baby gets torn apart by dogs. A lawyer gives a blowjob to get a rapist's DNA sample.
OOTG's is not just some punk zine with unedited drivel. This filth is well-executed. The magazine is tightly edited and focused on story construction.
"People read from screens, emails, blogs - basically unfinished products. The pool of things people read is diluted. So we are 'out of the gutter,' as opposed to in the gutter with all that other stuff," Gordon said.
Each issue has some kind of theme tying the stories together. The third OOTG was the "war is all hell" issue. The fourth installment of OOTG is out now, the "hard times" issue.
The stories in OOTG are organized by read times. You know going in about how long you will have to devote to the story in your hand. How you like them apples, New Yorker?
"In addition to the shrinking market for fiction, the time people have to read is shrinking. The read times were developed for this reason," Gordon said.
Read some flash fiction during a quick trip to the toilet. Pick a story from the 15 to 20 minute section during a wait at the DMV. Just be prepared for a jarring literary experience.
The journal sports a few nonfiction articles as well. This issue has a brilliant article on hobos by Seth "Soul Man" Ferranti who is busy serving out a 25-year sentence for a Continuing Criminal Enterprise charge - the kingpin charge. His access to the underbelly of society is reminiscent of Iceberg Slim and he is a frequent contributor to OOTG.
OOTG brags that the journal has more stimulation per ounce than crystal meth. The comparison of the magazine to crystal meth does not stop at stimulation. The magazine produces a new kind of paranoia in readers.
Violent movies and Internet porn have desensitized readers to some literary brutality (though that part in "Crime and Punishment," when they beat the horse to death, still counts as one of the most brutal passages ever). Many of the stories in OOTG have imagery that forces itself beyond our media-hardened minds. From OOTG 4, M.C. Connor writes, "Pulpy gobbets fanned out from the wound, plopping like warm rain on his face and hands."
OOTG is the blood-soaked answer to fiction dominated by stuffy, MFA-wielding literati. Take that, McSweeney's.
WHAT: "Out of the Gutter" book signing WHERE: BookPeople WHEN: July 11, 7 p.m.
