Reckoning 1

Reckoning #1

by Michael J. DeLuca (Editor), Benjamin Parzybok, Erin Hoffman

Reckoning: an imperfect means of navigation by which one determines where they’re going using only where they’ve been.
Reckoning: a settling of scores; justice.
Environmental justice: the notion that the people (and other living things) saddled with the consequences of humanity’s poor environmental choices and the imperative to remedy those choices are not the ones responsible for them.
Reckoning: a nonprofit, annual journal of creative writing on environmental justice. First issue: winter solstice 2016. Edited and published by Michael J. DeLuca.
Contents
Art
Cover – Mona Robles
from Concrete Jungle – Travis Macdonald
Reckoning – Steve Logan
Poetry
Erin Hoffman – Transition
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam – Rivers Lament
James Treat – Four Found Poems
Blythe Woolston – Agapostemon
Chloe N. Clark – Sidelong Catastrophe
Aozora Brockman – Kill or Be Killed
Tai Allen – third world problems
Brandon O’Brien – Papa Bois and the Boy
Fiction
Giselle Leeb – Wolphinia
Kate Schapira – Three Alternate Histories
Johannes Punkt – The Bumblebee-Maker’s Kiss
Goldie Locks – 2222
Daniella Levy – The Olive Harvest
Cae Hawksmoor – Civitas Sylvatica
Emily Houk – Plague Winter
Danika Dinsmore – Insanitary
Diego Reymondez – Wine and Wisteria
Robin Wyatt Dunn – The End of Occidentalism
Lora Rivera – When No One’s Left
J.R. McConvey – Eel of the Lake
Benjamin Parzybok – The Hole in the Reef
Justin Howe – Behind the Sun
LJ Geoffrion – Written in the Book of the Woods
Nonfiction
Michael J DeLuca – Editor’s Note: Love in the Time of Reckoning
Marissa Lingen – How Far Are We From Minneapolis?
Christopher Brown – Rule of Capture
George F – In Hambach Forst

Genres: Solarpunk, Anthologies, Environment

240 pages, ebook

First published December 22, 2016

Reviews

[Kalin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A marvelous endeavor with equally thrilling results. The magazine embodies the same spirit as our own Зелени разкази; I've jotted down a few stories that I'd love to include in the next volume of our series if we ever get to do it. (And I'm going to submit a few of our stories to the next Reckonings. ;)

My notes as I read:

https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...

[Lena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wine and Wisteria by Diego Reymondez ★★★★☆
“I tell them they need to need less, but I’m trying to educate my parents.”

Needing less and working less are going to be hard lessons but valuable ones.


In Hambach Forst by George F. ★★★★☆
“One day, once the lignite is stripped from the earth, they will fill the crater with water and sail boats on top of it—the final insult of turning a rape victim into a playground for the rich.”

An understandably angry story about the loss of old German forests for the worst of coal mines. Even as Germany makes great strides towards sustainable power, this is going on.


2222 by Goldie Locks ★★★½☆
In a future Russia, being allowed to have a child is a rigorous process of health, and possibly morality screenings, but adoption is available! This is the story of one family telling their daughter where she came from.


Written in the Book of the Woods by LJ Geoffrion ★★★½☆
A walk through the forest goes on much longer than expected when off trail. It was a bit psychedelic.


The Olive Harvest by Daniella Levy ★★★½☆
A story of an olive tree and religious conflict. Two individual men from either side could find common ground in the care of the olive tree but two groups would rather destroy the tree than share.


The Rule of Capture by Christopher Brown ★★★½☆
“Imagine if the opposite were true—that we were governed by obligations to protect the natural world in the way our contemporary religious traditions tell us is our duty, and that our rights to take from nature were confined by their concordance with ecological balance.”

Not really a story although I enjoyed it all the same. Seeing the authors photos and his work turning a petroleum pipeline site into living prairie is inspirational. Here is another story of restoration in Texas that must be seen to be believed! https://youtu.be/ZSPkcpGmflE


Wolphinia by Giselle Leeb ★★★☆☆
It’s the final days of humanity on a toxic world. A new breed of dolphin is immune to our poisons, growing legs, and about to claim the world. But they will need one last favor.

Three Alternate Histories by Kate Schapira ★★★☆☆
This was almost good. The idea of taking our concerns and then providing an alternate history of us addressing them was inspired.


Plague Winter by Emily Houk ★★★☆☆
A broke collegiate starts breeding beetles with the hope of saving a forest of hemlock trees.

When No Ones Left by Lora Rivera ★★★☆☆
The last two people on earth really don’t want to have children but somehow forgot to pack birth control.

Eel of the Lake by J.R. McConvey ★★½☆☆
A protesting woman is harassed but meets a new girlfriend.

Civitas Sylvatica by Cae Hawksmoor ★★½☆☆
Well, that was depressing. As war breaks out a botanist chooses to stay with his white whale of a tree sprout instead of escaping with the woman who loves him. He dies alone, treeless, and with great regret. Sigh, men.


The Bumblebee-Maker’s Kiss by Johannes Punkt ★★☆☆☆
“There was no story, as such.”
Agreed.

The Hope in the Reef by Benjamin Parzybok ★★☆☆☆
I have no idea what this estranged father-son boat trip story is doing here. At least there was a dog.

Behind the Sun by Justin Howe ★★☆☆☆
Poisonous sand worms that are purified and consumed fur healing. There was a lot of Dune in this story that did not strive for sense.

How Far Are We From Minneapolis by Marissa Lingen ★★☆☆☆
As boring as any family camping slide show.

Insanitary Danika Dinsmore ★★☆☆☆
That was not a story, that was a one page gripe.

The End of Occidentalism by Robin Wyatt Dunn ★★☆☆☆
This story lost me.

Average Rating 2.83 rounded down because it was mostly boring and odd.

[Phoebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the current political climate, diving into an environmental journal can be uplifting or discouraging, too obvious or too obscure, leave the reader feeling bleak or encouraged to resist. Edited by Michael J. DeLuca, Reckoning's first issue sets the tone for a (hopefully long) future for Reckoning. The stories, essays, poems, and art balance the horror, beauty, and potential for healing present in nature.

"Wolphinia" by Giselle Leeb starts off the issue and begins with a near future story of evolution, resistance, and the connection between human and animal. Leeb's protagonist, a human, teams up with Wolphins, questioning the separation between land and water, human and mammal. One of the more strict speculative stories, it encouraged a sense of imaginative thinking that will benefit the reader throughout the issue. While common environmental concerns threaded the issue (such as poisoned water), the depth of diversity in this issue was impressive--from speculative stories like "Wolphinia" and "The Bumblebee-Maker's Kiss" by Johannes Punkt to essays on disability--"How Far Are We from Minneapolis?" by Marissa Lingen--and guerrilla protest camps in Germany--"In Hambach Forst" by George F.

In addition to content, a reader can find so many styles--from James Treat's historical found poems, "Four Found Poems"; concrete poetry in "Concrete Jungle" by Travis MacDonald, to a visual essay by Christopher Brown, "The Rules of Capture." Some of my other favorites included Chloe Clark's poem "Sidelong Catastrophe," Brandon O'Brien's poem "Papa Bois and the Boy," and the fairytale-esque piece "Written in the Book of the Woods" by LJ Geoffrion.

As a first issue, Reckoning promises to be a bright spot of thoughtful, environmentally focused literature and art. I look forward to the second issue.

[Joanne Merriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

First issues of a magazine are always a difficult choice to purchase - do you take a chance on an unknown, and support a new venture, or do you stick with tried and true venues? This magazine is definitely worth taking a chance on. They focus on environmental justice, and are inventive, thoughtful, and insightful in doing so.

I was happy to see some names I already know (Chloe N. Clark and Brandon O’Brien are both in an anthology which my press published a month ago, Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation, and I have been impressed in the past by the writing of Marissa Lingen and Benjamin Parzybok). Favorites as I read included: Kate Shapira's hopeful "Three Alternate Histories," Emily Houk's "Plague Winter," and Parzybok's "The Hole in the Reef."

[Mohammad Shafiqul Islam · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an excellent literary journal on environmental justice. The maiden issue features a wide range of poems, short stories, essays and anectdotes. It's wort reading a journal.