Letters to Sol

This page was last updated: 02 February 2007

Letters about the printed edition of Sol or about Sol's web pages should be addressed to Sol Magazine,
PO Box 5828, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 9FA, England, UK,
or you can e-mail your comments to solmag(at)solpubs.freeserve.co.uk

Hello Malcolm. We have just got connected to computerworld and while footling about on the net we found the Sol website so we thought we ought to send you a webrocket to say congratulations on reaching issue No. 31. Little did we think back in 1968 that it would last more than thirty years, so well done!

The latest edition of Sol was as usual an excellent production with a fine balance of prose, poems and black and white art. Sol always has a wash and shave and puts on its very best shirt, and the words it speaks have substance. It's always welcome in the market-place of poetry and prose.

Ken Weavers, Oxford:

I've just been through the website - excellent! I enjoyed reading your review of The Prince of Egypt and wondered if you had seen The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. De Mille, and whether such a comparison would be odious! As a kid, it was one of those films I marvelled at, quite agog with awe and amazement. I couldn't imagine a cartoon evoking such feelings, but who knows with modern animation?

Dave Wright, Bridlington, East Yorkshire:

Many thanks for Sol 30. An incredible 3 decades old! Time passes too quickly. Enjoyed the contents. All the prose interesting and extremely readable. My favourite poems this issue are Sam Smith’s As the Asylum Closes, Dee Rimbaud’s Alone and in Tatters, Bruce Morrison’s Bosnia 1994 and especially Mario Petrucci’s Ghosts. Many thanks once again for Sol 30, which I enjoyed reading.

Sam Smith, Taunton, Somerset:

Thanks for Sol 30. I’d quite given up on ever seeing Sol again, had assumed that, like so many small press others, it had disappeared into SP-space. I’m glad you haven’t. This is a quality publication. I was very impressed by Laurence Calvert’s drawings, and I liked the first part of Robert Trudel’s Where Will I Meet Her; although I felt it had a lame ending. Poems that appealed to me were Rupert Mallin’s Dear Heathers, Margot K. Juby’s excellent Love, Death & Doctor Allingham. Also liked Tim Love’s Obscurity.

Brian Blackwell, Leeds:

Many thanks for Sol 29. An excellent production in every way.

David Berthelot, North Walsham, Norfolk:

Thank you for the copy of Sol 29. I particularly enjoyed the stories, articles and reviews. Neighbours by Edmund Harwood moved me, and Eric Slayter’s critical piece on modern poetry rang true in places. Most of the poetry didn’t touch me this time for some strange reason but Derek Adams’ Measuring the Volume of an Elephant had impact when I first read it in the waiting room at Norwich Station, and Hilary Mellon never fails to demonstrate her love of words.

Simon Whitechapel:

Thanks very much for the copy of Sol with Margot K. Juby's review of my book, The Slaughter King. I enjoyed the review and am glad Margot seems to have enjoyed the book: she certainly says several very pleasing things about it. I'm happy to accept her negative criticisms too, except the ones about the 'laughable' sex-scenes and occasional 'illiteracies'. The sex-scenes were meant to be laughable (I'm happy to report that one received a dishonourable mention in the Literary Review's 1993 Bad Sex Award), and the example Margot chose as an illiteracy - 'Nobody did nothing' - was something being thought by a Spanish character. Spanish uses double negatives, which is why I 'translated' her thoughts into English like that. Apart from that, as I said, it was a very pleasing review and I hope you'll pass my thanks on to Margot for it.

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