"Minerva's Wreck" Sticks the Landing
Wayne Alan Brenner's third whatchamacallit
By Cindy Widner, 5:18PM, Mon. Dec. 19, 2011
Damn, Mr. Brenner. We've really outdone ourselves, now haven't we?
While Austin Chronicle arts writer and Arts Listings Editor Wayne Alan Brenner toils mightily and produces much finery during those day jobs, on many, many nights and weekends (and, yeah, probably some of that aforementioned time of official toil), he descends faithfully to the metaphorical basement, building this thing he calls Minerva's Wreck out of nothing but talent – that of mostly local contributors and the mostly local people they sometimes interview (John Erler, David Jewell, Jacqueline May, PJ Raval, and more in this one). Plus some paper and ink, of course. There's a new one that's just hit the streets. Again, metaphorically.
Minerva's Wreck would most generally would be called a "publication," or perhaps an "objet d'art," but that doesn't really describe it. This one is wrapped, for instance, in a pillowcase on which is silkscreened a powerful, moving, somehow a little frightening ode to writing – a poem by local scribe Abe Louise Young.
Inside, so much more. Chapbooks, stickers, art, comics, a CD. Poems, plays, photography, silkscreening – you get the idea. It's like the arts-mag-design-trove-comic-book-literary-journal-actual-piece-of-art-in-and-of-itself-confetti-bomb you always hope you'll come across. And then sometimes, someone just hands it to you.
You can also get it at Domy Books, if you hurry. As of press time (actually, about three hours ago), there were 10 left.
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Minerva's Wreck, Wayne Alan Brenner, Domy Books