Not only wasn’t Of Manywhere-at-Once helping me up to whatever the next level of literary visibility in the BigWorld was, my literary career started downhill in 1991. As readers of volume one of Manywhere-at-once will know, I began, in may 1987, to write a regular column about otherstream literature, mainly visual poetry, for Factsheet Five, a nationally distributed periodical whose goal was to review the micro-press in its entirety. I actually got paid. In my diary entry of Thursday, 14 February 1991, I reported, “I got a check, my biggest yet ($54.64!!), from Mike Gunderloy. A note accompanying it said it was definitely not the right time just now for my column to become an every-issue feature. It turns out that Mike is so strapped for space that he is considering having all his columnists appear only every other issue. Phooey. But I understand. F5’s reviews of the micro-press encourage the foundation of new micro-presses which F5 then reviews, which encourages the foundation of new micro-presses which F5 then reviews, which . . . “ That probably was the last payment I got from Mike. Abruptly, in August of 1991, his magazine began to fold. Other excerpts from my diary tell the story:
Saturday 24 August 1991 A rather disconcerting form letter arrived in the mail from Mike Gunderloy: he’s sold Factsheet Five–and dumped his columnists, or so it sounds. We columnists are to submit “samples” of our columns to the new editors. Since I got no personal letter from either Gunderloy or the new editors, it doesn’t look good for my column. I’m sad about it–it looked like Factsheet Five would be y only potential avenue into knownness. I plan to go ahead and write my next column as planned and send it in. If it is accepted, fine; if not, I no longer have any deadlines to worry about (and I have a good piece to try elsewhere); and I have interesting material for volume two of Manywhere-at-Once. I’m disappointed with Gunderloy, though; up to this point, he’d seemed the most considerate of bosses. I feel he ought to have sold the magazine with the proviso that all his employees are kept on. Why not? Surely the columnists aren’t holding the magazine back.
3 September 1991 A letter from Len Fulton turning down my offer to do columns for his magazine, Small Press Review, but saying he’d like to run an slightly extended version of the sample column I’d sent him as a guest editorial. Sounds okay to me. I also got a short form letter from some editor wanting a response to Mike Gunderloy’s getting rid of Factsheet Five.
Tuesday 10 September 1991 I had a Very Important Phone Call: Hudson Luce, the new proprietor of Factsheet Five called at around five, just as I was finishing a nap of about a half an hour. He said that he’d been reading my columns, was very interested in mail art, and wanted to continue the column. I liked that, needless to say. I made sure he understood that the column wasn’t just about mail art, though, and he said he was also interested in experimental art, and thought it was important that Factsheet Five continue covering it. Somewhere along the line, fairly early in the conversation, I mentioned that I’d been doing the column in every other issue; how often would he like it in–every issue he said without hesitation. And he wants it the same length it has been.
So, onward and upward. We talked about several other things, too, and I voiced a few opinions, even disagreeing with him mildly here and there. I hope I didn’t go too far. Looks like I and Joe Lane, who will be writing on the technical aspects of publishing fanzines, are the only columnists he’ll keep on the staff, so it’s a fair-sized compliment. I was pleased that I’ll stay and Mark Bloch won’t but was a little disappointed that Annie Ackner will be dropped–though, as I told Hudson, I don’t think her column really is appropriate for F5. (He had asked, “I suppose you’ll be disappointed that I won’t be keeping Annie Ackner’s column,” or something close to that. I said I liked her writing and felt a kind of solidarity with my fellow columnists but that . . . Felt a bit of a schmuck about that.) He plans more interior color but isn’t too eager to cover poetry, and is against comic books entirely. (Turns out he has a Ph.D. in chemistry, of all things.) Interesting situation. The analogy to corporate changes, and anxiety among department heads, and reactions to firings and non-firings struck me. I felt pretty good about it, though–and hope to get cranking on my upcoming column tomorrow.
Tags: Bob Grumman, Factsheet Five