There are a couple of new literary magazines which have come out recently. First, because we got it first and have been perusing it, Bravado: still a new kid on the block at issue three, it doesn’t have a website yet and is printed in black and white.

The other is sleek Sport, issue 32, Fergus Barrowman’s baby from VUP. Groaning with heavyweight authors, it’s been around twice a year since 1988, but according to an endearingly careless (perhaps annoyingly cocky, depending on one’s mood) note on the website it’s now ‘published when it is ready.’ Fergus reckons it ‘might be annually, who knows?’ Right now, with the Christmas pressure cooker at dangerous-wobble point, I’m lovin’ that.

Now, Bravado are hoping to up the ante on the design and marketing front in the near future with a bit of help from their new marketing and PR person and new designer, the – I’m sorry – unbelievably, horrifyingly named ‘eRiQ (sic) Quaadgras’. eRiQ – why? No, really, why? The new design is clean and readable enough though, I’ll give him that, even if some of the typography is a little touch and go.

Moving swiftly on, however, there’s some great stuff in here. The editorial team of Jenny Argante, Owen Bullock (poetry) and Sue Emms (fiction) is working well it seems. A scary six-pack of poems entitled The Shadows Respond by Andrianne Marcus caught my eye – ghost talk, made me remember, with a delicious shiver, The Lovely Bones… also a good chat from Isa Moynihan comparing the short story form to the novel or rather, urging us not to try to compare it. Bernard Gadd, in his now-regular column, takes apart the in-phrase ‘bi-culturalism’ when applied to Kiwi literature, and Mansfield-award winner Tracy Slaughter puts out a powerful and dark short story.

There’s a haiku workshop from guru Cyril Childs and lots of other poetry. They’ve also scored Harvey McQueen as their resident reviewer from issue 4 onwards. That issue, the Bravado team promises, will be a ‘keepsake’ edition, packed with goodies from or about the Bay of Plenty, which Jenny reckons is a kind of literary microclimate harbouring huge amounts of lurking talent. More about that later… Bravado are seeking contributions, email the office at info.bravado@xtra.co.nz. At $9.95 it’s not cheap but is definitely worthy of support … who knows where it may lead.

Maybe towards another Sport in a few years time? This handsome tome (we don’t have a copy to hand, alas) now has an equally slick website which was put together by Andrew Johnston in Paris. (LeafSalon has covered Andrew’s own site previously, it’s going from strength to strength.)

The Sport site has a full listing of what’s in the mag, and also has the full texts of some items, including Bill Manhire’s poem in memory of Michael King, James Brown (yum, fantastic), C K Stead, Kate Camp and the Annas Livesey and Jackson. There’s also a great excerpt from Charles Juliet, an autobiographical piece entitled ‘As the twig is bent …’. If you want to know about any of these people, there’s a bio listing which is handy.

Sport had a pretty good start in life however. This courtesy of the Book Council website (where would we be without you):

The first issue featured early work by Barbara Anderson, Jenny Bornholdt, Anne Kennedy, Elizabeth Knox, Virginia Were, Damian Wilkins and Forbes Williams, as well as established writers such as Nigel Cox, Keri Hulme, Manhire and Vincent O’Sullivan … It was the first publisher of Emily Perkins and Catherine Chidgey, and an early publisher of Kate Flannery, Annamarie Jagose, Chris Orsman and Peter Wells.

How glittering? How fab? How much? How do we get a copy? It’ll be on the shelves next week at $13.50 we think, but don’t quote us. And go on, ask about Bravado while you’re in there.