Cyber Corpse 2
Exquisite Corpse - A Journal of Letters and Life
issue 2 home || ec chair || critical urgencies || burning bush || ficciones
stage and screen
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secret agents || letters || portfolio

Persons,

I sent a note to you the other day. Well, nevermind. I see that the printed corpse is deceased and now lives on as an electronic entity. At least that answers why I have not received any issues in the mail recently. Like others I am deeply saddened by the demise of the printed corpse. I used to take them everywhere. No longer will they join me on the toilet or in the airplane or on the airplane toilet. I guess any corpse is better than no corpse but it feels very different. Not as pure somehow. Not as inviting. I am sure the change was made out of necessity. I am glad the corpse still lives among us but something has been lost in the resurrection.

- Grady Wilson, grady@pobox.com


Ed. Note: Something is always lost in the resurrection, Mr. Wilson. Look at Jesus. Where there was a man, there rose a church. Sadly, we must accept the responsibilities thrust on us by dying: we will be a big church with room for everybody, but will keep the clergy to a minimum. It's a new world, alas. Cyberpublishing will make corporate publishing obsolete. Cyberspace has evened out the playing field. Anybody with an imagination can now manifest instantly. We hope to add music and moving pictures to our site & book publishing as well. America's current celebrity culture is the last gasp of the centralized controlled media. The next wave of admirable people will be the ones navigating cyberspace on cool wings and a big appetite.


Dear Mr. Editor:

I am a neophyte to this computer thing. I can't even look at the screen for more than 15 minutes before my eyes start to hurt. Imagine my distress then when I discover the hallowed Corpse has gone on-line! Well, anyway, I'm forwarding the attached garbage which I had meant, most righteously, to print & stuff in an envelope. Enjoy.

Modus operandi: As the subscript indicates, every word (except for a few necessary ifs, ands or buts) originates from that stodgy organ of independent, international reporting, the Christian Science Monitor. I'm sure you're thinking, why not the New York Times? But I find I can read the Monitor without getting heartburn--most days, anyway. Plus, I feel the best way to dislodge the Times from its ill-deserved reputation as The Newspaper of Record is simply to ignore it, just as a sincere atheist doesn't indulge in blasphemy--undeniably an expression of faith, however extreme. All sentences represent complete phrases in the original except for two--the alert reader should have no trouble picking them out--which unite phrases >from different articles. This kind of plagiarism, of course, has by now a pretty long pedigree; according to convention, I've not credited any of the original authors by name, though ironically about a third of the phrases were anonymous quotes in the original: respectable journalism has itself become a pastiche of unnamed or euphemistic "sources." My only fear is that it's too tame. This morning's headlines on NPR included a squib about the wide availability of depleted-uranium armor-piercing bullets at international arms bazaars, including here in the USA. Seems they're legal for anyone over 18. (Can't wait to hear Charleton Heston defending this!) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

- Bruce Bonta, bdb1@psu.edu


Ed. note: There goes faith again. Clearly, the switch from one paradigm to another stimulates that spiritual hornet's nest at the front of the brain. We don't use the word "paradigm" lately because we hate it. But it fits the case. Ugly tool, does the job.


Subject: Gods

There is an analysis of the appropriate kind of God for each level of social and individual development on: http://i.am/Plexity If that interests you there are links to more detailed stuff.

- Karl Eklund, karlek@ix.netcom.com


Subject: Copyediting and all that

I have just found your web site, thanks to Yahoo!'s Picks of the Week, and have enjoyed reading the two pieces of this issue that I have read so far.

May I suggest, however, that your magazine could be enhanced significantly through the efforts of a competent, diligent, thoroughly anal copyeditor/proofreader whose mastery of English is unassailable. There were numerous stylistic errors of the sort that compete with the content for the native-English-speaking reader's attention. In addition, every time an apostrophe is intended, my browser instead inserts the symbol <'><’>--e.g., <don't> is rendered <don't>. Very distracting, don't you agree? It's strange indeed how willing so many publishers are, initially, to ignore the fact that online materials require the same full set of production steps as traditional printed materials.

Anyway, all this is easy enough to repair, so I thought you might value the feedback.

- Frederick Smith, ereks@ici.net


Ed. note: Mr. Smith, we offer you Dan McNamara next time you find us delinquent.


Subject: in gratitude

We just wanted to thank you
for your excellent
presentation.

Signed,

Freud
Jung
James Hillman
Joseph Campbell
William Blake
John Keats
and
little ole me,
Anim0n

- Anim0n, Anim0n@aol.com


Subject: Wishing you well

Dear Mr. Codrescu,

Just wanted to welcome you aboard. I've been a fan of the print version for a long time. Glad to know that you turned to the Web to keep it going. As beautiful as hard copy is -- I'm afraid most small journals may not be able to afford the publication expenses: the web is the future. Your web version is quite attractive. Well done! Enjoyed your first issue. Please feel free to drop by at ForPoetry (address below). I'd like to know if you'd be interested in submitting any work of your own for ForPoetry? We've got a great new issue coming out August 15th -- made some changes in the poetry format, and it's going to look terrific.

Hope to hear from you soon.

All best, Jacqueline Marcus Editor@ForPoetry.com www.FORPOETRY.com A daily literary webzine devoted to poetry, featuring established and new poets.

All best,

-Jacqueline Marcus Editor@ForPoetry.com www.FORPOETRY.com
A daily literary webzine devoted to poetry, featuring established and new poets.


Subject: Resurrection

I was happy to see you in the afterlife of cyberspace. I wanted to respond that death after cyberspace is microfiche.

Have a good journey.

jqs@thegrid.net


Subject: Termination of Lifetime subscription

Greetings,

At one time I had a "lifetime" subscription to the Corpse which apparently expired a few years ago. I never received a notice that my life or the life of the Corpse or the life of some party I am unaware of had somehow terminated my subscription. Nevertheless I would like to resurrect my subscription, perhaps for another "lifetime" but do not know who to contact or how much to pay. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

-Grady Wilson

grady@pobox.com


Ed. Note: Guess what? The Cybercorpse is free. However, since we have no earthly idea how to survive without subscriptions we have created the Corpse Mall where our readers can buy highbrow Beanie Babies, or actually, items of rare and instantly appreciating transcendent value.
Subject: copyright query

Cher Cadavre,

Who controls the rights to my essays in EC 45 and EC 52? I would like to post the latter on my personal web page.

Yours,

-Josh Lukin

jblukin@acsu.buffalo.edu


Ed. Note: We only get first serial right to anything published here. You are free to use your work any way you please. We would, of course, appreciate credit.
Fate of the Corpse

Mr. Codrescu: I'm having a hard time figuring out if Exquisite Corpse is dead, alive, or if efforts toward resuscitation are still underway. Could you enlighten me? I am interested in becoming a subscriber, as well as in submitting work. Any prayer for either of these two hopes?

Sincerely,

- Victoria Marinelli, Marinelli@New-Quest.net


Ed. Note: In the continuation of the prayer-faith motif we invite you to read our Guidelines. In our opinion, reading is a form of prayer. There are others. To quote the immortal lines of Bill Knott: "People who get down/on their knees to me/are the answers to my prayers.
Dear Editor,

Could you tell me if your journal considers previously published fiction, whether electronic or print? Any other info you could provide about your journal would also be helpful.

Thanks,

- Jason DeBoer, tremblingsun@yahoo.com


Ed. Note: We do not consider anything previously published, with rare exceptions originating in this office.
Dear Exquisite Corpse Folks:

Sorry to hear of your demise (printing-wise) and was wondering if any back issues are available for purchase? It is wonderful to at least have the cyberversion available...

Thanks,

-Meesh Rheault Miller, imagewks@idt.net


Ed. Note: We have back issues for sale. They are five dollars each. Make check payable to Cybercorpse, PO Box 25051, Baton Rouge, LA 70894.
Subject: I'd Like to After-Live

Dear Resurrected Corpse,

I just read the following from your web site: "We encourage you to write us, request or propose books for review, and generally, shine with us in the afterlife." Well, I would like to so shine. Please send me any writerly guidelines you have, and let me know if there are any books you would like to have reviewed.

My previous reviews have appeared in the Harvard Review. Clips available if you want them. I look forward to hearing from you.

- Roger Turnau, rturnau@ixl.com


Ed. Note: Please email us your review proposals with a brief paragraph explaining just why The Corpse should bother. Also, in answer to Ms. Ducan (below), we like reviews of the great & neglected. We prefer experimental, avantgarde, and fantastic authors. We despise Psychological Realism & reach for our guns when we hear the approach of Pop Psychology (unescorted). Reviews should be short, 300 words or less, or immense, depending on the subject. We pay nothing but our scale of prestige is such that each appearance in the Cybercorpse is worth at least five hundred quid. (escudos)
Subject: reviews

Dear sir:

I am in the process of writing an electronic book about becoming a reviewer. May I ask how long you prefer reviews to be for your magazine, what types of reviews you use, and what your pay scale is?

Any information is appreciated. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Melanie C. Duncan, M.S.L.S.
Reference Librarian
Washington Memorial Library 1180
Washington Avenue
Macon,
Georgia 31201
(912)744-0825

duncanm@mail.bibb.public.lib.ga.us


Subject: Joy

Dear Andrei & Laura - Welcome back.

- John Stickney, jjstick@stratos.net


Ed. Note: Thanks, John. And bring us Cleveland, raw! Like in the old days.
Subject: about the name

hiya

I've just been reading through the ezine - very cool

I'm writing because I'm part of a band called 'Exquisite Corpse', which has been quietly hanging around for just under 10 years now in Palmerson North and Wellington, NZ - and is in very much the same vein as the magazine.

We've obviously both been using the name Exquisite Corpse for some time, I hope you have no problem with this continuing :)

We're going to be publishing a web site for the band in a few weeks, and I would like to place a link to your site on it if you can supply me with a suitable version of your banner logo or similar. The site will be at http://www.nitro.gen.nz/ec/ initially (until I can talk my wife into letting me pay for another domain name :) )

There will be some MP3s (or similar) on the site if you're interested in hearing what we've got.

Thanks Heaps

- Tim Simpson
nitro design
http://www.nitro.gen.nz
tim@nitro.gen.nz
phone +64 4 938 7845
fax +64 4 938 7846


Ed. Note: Tim, we're with you. Link us up. Corpses that stick together, rise together. (The Church)
Subject: My Favorite Quotations

"Ford salesmen don't shoot Chevy salesmen." - Meyer Lansky

"Keep your friends close but your enemies even closer." - Gaetano Lucchese

"I like to be by myself. Misery loves company." - Antonio (Tony Ducks) Corrallo

"God is a fucking fag." - John Gotti

"Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast." - Dutch Schultz

"I told you a million fucking times. I don't like being called Gas Pipe." - Anthony (Gas Pipe) Casso

"A boy has never wept nor dashed a thousand kim." - Dutch Schultz

"Crime doesn't pay--well, not like it used to." - Joe E. Lewis

"Jeez, I could go for a slice." - Peter (Fat Pete) Chiodo

- Mike Topp, mike_topp@hotmail.com

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