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Night Train Magazine Is On The Right Track In Somerville
By Doug Holder It seemed fitting to be talking with one of the founders of a literary magazine in the environs of the Diesel Café in Davis Square, Somerville. This place appeared like a dark oasis for writers of all stripes. At the tables or in the booths, I could see people scribbling in their journals, or pounding the keys on their state-of-the-art laptops. The dim lighting and the iconoclastic décor provided an enigmatic backdrop for their solitary pursuits. Rod Siino was a denizen of one of these black leather booths, and I sat down to talk with him about the magazine he founded with Rusty Barnes, NIGHT TRAIN. Siino, a Somerville resident and Barnes produced their premiere issue with their own money, and their own very valuable time. Both have fulltime jobs and their fill of obligations. But like so many writers with a dream they used the little spare time and funds at their disposal to produce a first class literary magazine. I talked with Siino over the din of conversations and Progressive Rock that permeated this bustling café. Doug Holder: Literary magazines come and go like the tide in the Small Press. Why did you decide to embark on a project that in most cases folds in a year or two? Rod Siino: A good question. It took us a long time to finally decide that this is what we were going to do. Rusty and I met in 1992 at Emerson, and then we kind of lost track of each other, after finishing. We found each other after a couple of years. So we started talking about the idea again. It was something we always wanted to do. At first we thought that this might not work. This stopped us from doing it for a long time. Finally, we both knew this was something we had to undertake. It was not logical; it was more of an emotional or gut feeling. We wanted to try and see if we could add something to a literary landscape that was our very own. We had experiencing editing the literary magazine at Emerson (The Beacon Review), and we really enjoyed it. Although you are absolutely right that magazines don't last…we wanted to take a chance. We had the passion to do it, and we had a good partnership. On a gut level we felt this was something we really could do. Doug Holder: The short story award competition you are sponsoring is in memory of the writer, Richard Yates. Does Yates ( who lived in Boston for a number of years) embody the qualities you are looking for in your submissions? Rod Siino: Richard Yates was somebody we only heard about when we were at Emerson. When we first got there, he had just passed away. He had a friendship with DeWitt Henry( a founding editor of Ploughshares Magazine) who was the chair of our program. As part of our graduate written exam, they had us read "Eleven Kinds of Loneliness" ( a short story collection by Yates). That was my first exposure to Yates. His stories blew me away. Yates is someone who spoke to me on a level I haven't experienced before. After I read his novel "Revolutionary Road," I really believed the book was one of the best American novels I have ever read. We want to honor Yates in the competition. We don't feel someone has to imitate him to be the award winner. Yates' characters are people I feel I know, and recognize. The style is very clean. There are insights revealed about ourselves along the way. There is an undercurrent of doom that keeps the reader uneasy. Doug Holder: In your introduction to the Premier Issue, you write that the short stories give, "… insight or meaning to a world that sorely lacks it." Can you talk a bit about this pronouncement? Rod Siino: This is close to my heart. I get emotional when I talk about this. I work for a living. My work is not real meaningful. It is a means to an end. Night Train is an outlet for Rusty and I to express ourselves. We can help others articulate a vision that is our very own. I worry that literary magazines like Night Train will get lost in the static of the world. I hope in some small way we offer a respite from a frenetic world. This is a way for the readers to learn a little bit, get lost a little bit, and hopefully learn something about themselves. Doug Holder: Is Somerville a good place to start a literary magazine? Rod Siino: I am a New Englander. I've been out West, and I moved back here for about a year and a half ago. I love Davis Square. There is something about Somerville …it is not Boston …it is not Cambridge. I like the feeling of being set apart from these communities. This is the creative world that I like. I think there is more to be tapped into for us. We haven't explored all the possibilities in Somerville with regard to the writing community. Doug Holder: Can you talk a bit about any of the local writers that have appeared in Night Train, or will appear? Rod Siino: Rose Gowen appears in the first issue, and she is from Somerville. her story is entitled, In The Garage. She has just written a play that she was told may appear in New York. She will be an associate editor for our second issue that is due out in March 2003. Rose has a dry wit that is persistent in her stories. There is also Pam Painter from Boston, who is in the first issue. She is a professor at Emerson. We've approached Somerville writers Steve Almond and Tim Gager. We also have a number of Rhode Island writers in the first issue. Doug Holder: What do you see as the future of the magazine? br> Rod Siino: We got so immersed in the first issue that funding was put on the back burner. We are attempting to get funding, but we may have to use our own money again. We can't continue to do this. We are getting some nice donations and we are a nonprofit. We would like to go from a biannual to a quarterly. If Rusty and I can figure a way of doing this as a career; than this is what we would want to do. * to find out more about Night Train go to www.nighttrainmagazine.com |