Issue 62
Welcome!
Salutes and salutations, Scribblers! Must be Tuesday again because Spilled Ink is already here. We’ve made it to week eight, so hopefully you enjoyed a short break after all the assignments because everything is about to start ramping up again. The team over at ScratchThat are working tirelessly to get our next magazine ready, with initial designs being put together. While that’s in the works, Vanity was a huge hit, so head over to the website to check out all the amazing work!
Submissions are open again for our weekly themed callout, Pride! Pride means a lot of different things to a lot of people, so don’t let yourself feel constrained. However you choose to interpret the theme is exactly what we’re looking for, so submit a piece you’re working on, or check out the writing prompt below to help set the creativity free.
In case you missed it last week, we have announced that the ScratchThat Launch Party for the Emotion Spring 2024 Zine will be on Wednesday 23rd October at the La Boite Forecourt! Put the date in your calendar—tickets will be on sale before you know it! Submissions are still open if you’d like to see your work featured in this magazine. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok for all the latest information.
As usual, we have the wrap up of all the fun things happening at QUT and around Brisbane, and a recap of everything published on the website last week. Spilled Ink is always looking at ways we can improve, so we’ve included a feedback form at the bottom of this week’s newsletter. We would love to hear from you!
We finish up this week, as always, with a catch up on the things that we’ve been enjoying at Spilled Ink. In “Devour Weekly”, Dylan rewatched the first season of Manifest on Netflix and has some thoughts. Karma talks about the artist on everyone’s mind: Chappel Roan. For fans of horror, Sean talks about his experience reading The Fisherman by John Langan.
Writing Prompt
Pride
Have you been feeling proud lately? This week, ScratchThat’s weekly callout theme is Pride. If you’ve got previously unpublished work that you think suits the theme, we’d love to see it. If you love the theme but want to write something new, check out the writing prompt below. Submissions for Pride close Friday, 13th September at 11:59pm. If your work doesn’t quite suit the theme, send it through to us anyway. Who knows? It might be perfect for our print magazine!
You watch as your son grows up; he is exactly the same as you.
Submit here.
Devour Weekly
Karma’s Review: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess by Chappell Roan
You know what guys, I’m gonna say it: I knew Chappell Roan first! Is there anything more annoying than secretly loving something and then it gets big and then you seem like you’re just jumping on the bandwagon? This is how I feel about Chappell. I was listening to My Kink Is Karma back in 2022! It really is a double-edged sword — I wanted Chappell to stay mine forever, but I can’t help but swell with pride when I think of how well-deserved her huge success is.
Which brings me to this album, which I first listened to back in 2023 when it dropped (let me have that brag). And what a ride it is. We have some majorly fun bops, such as Femininominon and Naked in Manhattan, which contrast with some of the slower ballads, such as the beautiful longing California. I think what really gets me with this album is that it doesn’t lose anything fun in order to be profound. We seem to think that profound meaning can only be found in overt sadness. That for the experience to be meaningful you need to almost cry. But Roan’s sadder, more reflective moments are only lifted and enhanced by her unapologetic happiness, horniness, and downright euphoria.
I think this whole concept is shown best in my personal favourite track, Pink Pony Club. This song has it all, it’s fun and poppy and dancy. But it also tells the story of a girl moving away from her more conservative home to truly be herself, and how it comes with missing a family and the life she used to have, while knowing she will never be the same. I have never wanted to dance and cry more at the same time.
Dylan’s Review: Manifest Season One
Imagine you board a plane, headed home from a holiday, or just going to visit some family. The flight starts off smooth, but a storm appears completely out of nowhere, throwing the plane around in the sky like paper in the wind. You think you’re going to die but just as quickly as it starts, it’s gone. You’re safe. The pilot announces you’re in the clear and you’ll be starting your descent. When you land, there are police and emergency personnel by the hundreds waiting for you. When you step off the plane, you learn that five and a half years have passed since you boarded the flight. Your life is changed forever.
This is the premise of Manifest. The show centres around the question of whether everything that happens is by design or by random chance, and about how our choices impact the world around us. After they’ve returned, the passengers of Flight 828 begin to receive weird messages—Callings—which some believe are asking them to help those around them. Others, though, believe that by blindly following the Callings, they may one day be asked to do a great evil. Who is right, who is wrong, and is it possible that both could be true?
I often find I’m drawn to media that responds to things I’m dealing with in my life. The idea of destiny – of how a small decision today can have a significant impact tomorrow, feels important. Manifest has prompted me to look back at all the choices I made that seemed so insignificant and evaluate how they’ve impacted me thus far. The characters all feel like they’re real people dealing with an unfortunate situation, the story constantly forcing you to question where the line is drawn between good and evil. Over the show’s run, the mystery of Flight 828 only gets bigger, with every question answered asking another two questions, leaving you on the edge of your seat every episode. For TV lovers, the entire show is easily bingeable. Better yet, the story is finished, so you won’t need to worry about whether the show will get cancelled halfway through or wait years between seasons.
Sean’s Review: The Fisherman by John Langan
Recently I have been in a bit of a reading slump. A reset was needed so I have been revisiting novels I have enjoyed in the past. It’s not that nothing has interested me, my reading list continues to grow but that has just made choosing a new book even harder. It also doesn’t help that delving into Gothic horror lately got me thinking about a personal favourite within the cosmic horror genre, The Fisherman by John Langan. So naturally, I had to read it again.
The Fisherman follows Abe and Dan, two widowers who found some semblance of comfort in taking fishing trips together in the local rivers and creeks of Woodstock, located in upstate New York. On one trip, when they stop for a meal at a diner, the men are told of the local folklore surrounding a particular fishing spot and its dark history. Despite their dismissal of the tale, the two men are drawn to this creek and its promise of a remedy for their grief.
This novel is not only an exploration of the dark depths that grief can drag a person down into, but also an exploration of male friendships and the unhealthy ways that males cope with loss. The author has a fantastic way of exploiting these elements to create a truly unsettling horror tale that admittedly, will probably only appeal to those who are already fans of this particular genre. Still, it would also be suitable for anyone looking for a spooky read next month as Halloween approaches. Simply put, The Fisherman is a fresh and modern take on the cosmic horror genre that I couldn’t recommend more for the horror lovers out there.
Author: Karma O’Reilly is a writer, creator, and dancer currently finishing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She has held a passion for all things bookish since childhood and has a particular love for high fantasy. As well as working on ScratchThat Magazine, Karma has also worked as a choreographer, treasurer, and dancer with QUT Burlesque Society.
Author: Dylan Oliver is a Meanjin-based writer. He’s had his work published in ScratchThat Magazine and is currently working towards his Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing at QUT. Dylan enjoys writing authentic queer stories that speak to his own experience as a queer person. He is hard at work on what he hopes will be his debut novel.
Author: Sean Sutcliffe is a writer who is currently in the final year of his Creative Writing degree. He has a deep love for all forms of creative media, particularly horror or horror-inspired work, and selfishly plans to indulge this love while broadening his knowledge and sharing his thoughts on current and past media with the readers of this newsletter.
Artist: Phoenix Sunrider (they/she) is an aspiring author with several works in the making. They love all kinds of animals, and add as many as possible into all their works whether that be high fantasy, magical realism, or even fan fiction. They currently have no social media platforms, but hope to develop some when more work is completed.
Edited by: Ricky Jade and Mia Paton