Hello! And welcome to the very first issue of Minus 9 Squared, where, though you might think the opposite, we know positively nothing about maths and even less about everything else. We do, evidently, like Cabaret though. Everything about M9S has come together ever so swimmingly over the past month. We have been inundated with submissions and have bought shares in Panadol for the headaches we suffered while trying to whittle them down to something manageable. To those whose work is published, congratulations, we hope this sets you on your merry way towards fame, fortune and the plugging our good selves whenever you get the chance. To those we haven't published, don't feel too badly about it, the standard of work we got was so high that it was almost impossible to leave work out but alas, we simply had to. The spacing fairy with the scissors and the dour demeanour was giving us the evils...
There’s a little bit of everything in this first issue. In addition to our short fiction, poetry and photography, we also have some stunning visual art and even a travel guide should any of us come into some money and decide to jet off somewhere warm. In a way, Place is a particularly good theme for this first Issue of Minus 9 Squared. Despite what our glorious front cover displays, Place is not just about the physical entity, it’s about our own place within that entity, and we have found that a number of our contributors are not sure about theirs. We hope that, if nothing else, this magazine gets people to think about these things. We hope you enjoy this first issue, add us to your download list and ensure that we aren't just a one hit wonder. Anna Hayes Editor
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CONTENTS . . . Photography Aran Bird
Orla McGovern
7
Bullock Harbour
Anthony Fortune
10
Devil In The Detail
Souljacker Ltd
19
Life In The Big City
Gerard Lough
18
South Korea
Paul Staunton
26
Plum
Ciara Burke
4
This Number Does Not Exist
Ben Gwalchmai
4
Delusions of Grandeur
Michael Fogarty
10
Chaos To Silence
Francis Reilly
11
The Space
Ed Harris
12
Concrete
Mark Lonergan
24
Negligence & Punishment
Steven Brennan
25
Battlefields Dead
Sarah Page
25
You Enter The Woods
Alexandra Watson
29
On Bridges
Michael Naghten Shanks
30
Poetry
1
Short Fiction The City Speaks
AJ Kirby
5
That Night at the Manos de Dios (An Extract)
Michael Wendling
22
Double Negatives
Anna Hayes
13
The Secret Tree
Rebecca Long
27
Sean Tyler
8
Persephone
Liela Peacock
3
No Place Like Home
Vicky Lennie
16
Lisboa
Pedro Rodrigues
20
Untitled Artwork
Gary Meynell
30
Theatre Waiting On The Z-Train
Visual Arts
2
Persephone
3
Plum
This Number Does Not Exist
4
The City Speaks By AJ Kirby Alan
5
6
If
Aran Bird -
7
Waiting On
Times Square, New York
8
-
Photograph by Sean Tyler
The
Z Train
Extracts from ‘Waiting on the Z Train’ a play by Sean Tyler
9
Bullock Harbour From "The Last Polaroids of Dublin" By Anthony Fortune
Delusions of Grandeur
10
Chaos To Silence
11
The Space
12
Double Negatives By Anna Hayes
It’s three o’clock in the morning. Leave me alone.
To dream of losing teeth is a sign that a marriage proposal will go awry. Goodnight.
13
14
15
16
17
Life In The Big City By Gerard Lough
18
Devil In The Detail
by The Ambience Affair
19
20
21
That Night at th By Mike Wendling
22
he Mano de Dios
An Extract
23
Concrete
24
Negligence and Punishment
Battlefields Dead
25
South Korea
26
The Secret Tree By Rebecca Long
27
28
You Enter The Woods
29
On Bridges
30
Contributors
Front Cover: Pedro Rodrigues
31