Literature Archives - STACK magazines

Cake Zine issue 7

Steve Watson — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 12:34:35 +0000

Each issue of Cake Zine tells stories inspired by a different adjective-inflected foodstuff. Previous issues have taken their lead from ‘Sexy Cake’, ‘Humble Pie’, and ‘Daily Bread’, and this seventh issue turns its attention to ‘Forbidden Fruit’.

In this issue:

Orange Crush becomes a dysfunctionally luxurious reminder of growing up with an alcoholic father
The synthetically fruity, jittery, sickly high of drinking jaba on a night out in Nairobi
An annual trip to Orange World in Orlando provides respite from the oppressive heat and homophobia of home
The inequality and exploitation that sees Barcelona’s fruiterías staffed by young men earning a couple of euros per hour
And the perfectly sweet, sour, but suddenly precarious pleasure of mango Juul pods

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Surprise Pack issue 5

Steve Watson — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 16:58:14 +0000

Have you ever wanted to try Stack without fully committing to joining the club? This limited-edition Surprise Pack is the perfect way to do exactly that, providing a one-off delivery of five previous subscriber magazines for just £20. As always, there are only 100 of these Surprise Packs available and we’re not re-stocking, so once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The magazines in this pack are worth a total of £84 and just like with our monthly magazine club, you won’t know what they are until they arrive at your door. They cover a range of subjects, from design to travel, and from dancing to the environment, and they have all been enjoyed by our subscribers at some point in the last year or so.

Numbers are always strictly limited for these special offers, so grab yours while you can. And at the risk of stating the obvious, please don’t buy this Surprise Pack if you have been a Stack subscriber in the last year, because you will already own these magazines!

Our artwork for this fifth edition of the Surprise Pack was created by art director, graphic designer and illustrator Ant Gardner. We love his weird little characters and lovely lettering – see more at antgardner.com.

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Profiles issue 3

Steve Watson — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 10:38:09 +0000

A literary magazine published in Dublin, Profiles explores portraiture in prose and visual art, showcasing contrasting approaches to depicting character. The stories gathered here range around the world, but they retain a strong sense of their Irish provenance, helping to locate Profiles within Ireland’s proud literary publishing heritage.

In this issue:

A would-be poet fails to write any poetry, escapes to Ireland’s Atlantic coast, and blows up his life
An Argentinian woman wracked with guilt and regret ekes out an existence working as a cleaner at a hotel in County Wexford
Two unnamed brothers in an unnamed Spanish-speaking town go on an abortive adventure
An Irish volunteer in Sarajevo is sent to repatriate the body of an Algerian migrant who was killed trying to cross the border
And a girl working at a fish factory comes to regret her affair with a married man

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Erotic Review issue 2

Steve Watson — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 15:04:10 +0000

Combining first-rate writing and beautiful art, the Erotic Review brings a literary approach to the subject of desire. A different guest art curator is invited to shape the visual art each issue, and for this second issue, Enuma Okoro presents a selection of works influenced by ideas of borders and structures.

In this issue:

A pair of literary translators consider the intimacy of sex and language
Loie Hollowell’s sensual abstract art features on the cover and inside
How the threat of patriarchal family shame is used to control Kurdish women’s bodies
Artist Yulia Mahr shoots thermal images of a model with a camera used by military and law enforcement
The social and artistic anxieties of sexy fanfiction
And John Burnside reminisces about sexual encounters on the road

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Surprise Pack issue 4

Steve Watson — Tue, 28 May 2024 08:59:35 +0000

Have you ever wanted to try Stack without committing straight away? This limited-edition Surprise Pack is the perfect way to do exactly that, providing a one-off delivery of five previous subscriber magazines for just £20. As always, there are only 100 of these Surprise Packs available and we’re not re-stocking, so once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The magazines in this pack are worth a total of £73 and just like with our monthly magazine club, you won’t know what they are until they arrive at your door. They cover a range of subjects, from art and design, to literature, fashion and the environment, and they have all been enjoyed by our subscribers at some point in the last year. (It’s worth emphasising that the illustration above gives no clue about what you’ll receive. I don’t think there’s a single article about insects in any of the magazines.)

Numbers are always strictly limited for these special offers, so grab yours while you can. And at the risk of stating the obvious, please don’t buy this Surprise Pack if you have been a Stack subscriber in the last year, because you will already own these magazines!

Our artwork for this fourth edition of the Surprise Pack was created by Lebanese illustrator and comics artist Raphaelle Macaron. She’s currently based in Paris, and we love her bold, distinctive graphics – see more at raphaellemacaron.com.

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American Chordata issue 13

Steve Watson — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 15:39:51 +0000

An annual literary and arts magazine published in Brooklyn, American Chordata never themes its issues, preferring instead to leave the submissions process open for writers, photographers and artists to pitch whatever they want. But subtle themes nevertheless present themselves during the process of making each issue, and this time there’s an understated creepiness to the stories and poems, while the artworks suggest a stylish sense of darkness and uncanny isolation.

In this issue:

A woman questions her own grip on reality
One man’s life collapses under the weight of an urban myth
Unhinged jealousy leads to a bizarre life on the run
And Capitalist Coping Mechanisms for Communist Guilt

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The BitterSweet Review issue 2

Steve Watson — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:44:27 +0000

Describing itself as, “A literary magazine for queers and their friends”, The BitterSweet Review is a publishing platform dedicated to the advancement of queer literature and visual culture. This second issue is themed, ‘I started a joke’, exploring the places where queer culture and humour rub up against each other.

In this issue:

Michelle Tea on polyamory and a cold shower
Considering the underappreciated importance of humour in Greer Lankton’s photography
Kafka’s A Hunger Artist gets a bizarre twist in A Humour Artist
Chris Kraus remembers her days as a dancer in a ‘hustle bar’
And artist-cum-fashion designer Bárbara Sánchez-Kane spills the beans on the art of grooming pubic hair

The post The BitterSweet Review issue 2 appeared first on STACK magazines.

Surprise Pack issue 3

Steve Watson — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 09:40:19 +0000

The third edition of our Surprise Pack is the ideal way to get a taste of our monthly magazine club experience, but without subscribing. Buy this Surprise Pack and you’ll get a one-off delivery of five previous subscriber magazines for just £20. But there are only 100 of these Surprise Packs available and we’re not re-stocking, so once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The magazines in this pack are worth a total of £72 and just like with our monthly magazine club, you won’t know exactly what they are until they arrive at your door. (Don’t be fooled by the illustration above – these are not magazines about coffee! Though we thoroughly recommend reading them with a drink by your side.) They cover a range of subjects, from art and design, to literature and the environment, and they have all been enjoyed by our subscribers at some point in the last year.

Numbers will always be strictly limited for these special offers, so grab yours while you can. And at the risk of stating the obvious, please don’t buy this Surprise Pack if you have been a Stack subscriber in the last year, because you will already own these magazines!

Our artwork for this third edition is by Brazilian artist Daniel Batista. We love his bright, wobbly illustrations – to see more of his work, go to instagram.com/freshprincipee.

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Cake Zine issue 3

Steve Watson — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 14:00:33 +0000

A lovely, literary food magazine published in Brooklyn, Cake Zine’s first two issues were dedicated to an appreciation of cake (‘Sexy Cake’ and ‘Wicked Cake’ respectively). But this third issue takes a different culinary direction, devoted to the crusty delights of pie, and the various interpretations of ‘Humble Pie’.

In this issue:

In praise of the gas station pie
The surprisingly stressful experience of writing recipes
A grisly short story that imagines the Humble Pie as corporal punishment
Celebrating the thrifty creativity of the desperation pie
And a particularly gross, bodily appreciation of soggy bottoms

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The Believer issue 140

Steve Watson — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 11:35:25 +0000

McSweeney’s started The Believer in 2003, quickly establishing it as one of America’s most exciting and accomplished literary periodicals. It has been owned by several other publishers since then, but McSweeney’s bought it back last year, and this 140th issue is the first one created from its old home. It’s a triumphant return, with a hugely rich collection of stories, interviews, poems and comics, all presented in The Believer’s signature warm and friendly tones.

In this issue:

Actor Aubrey Plaza interviews director Miguel Arteta
Exploring the kitsch nostalgia of “America’s preferred diner art”
Silicon Valley in the 90s, featuring “organized crime, narcotics trafficking, confidential informants, and Asian gangs”
Inside the McDonald’s on 24th and Mission in San Francisco
And “the return of literature’s most reliable columnist, Nick Hornby”

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