The latest issue of The Fence, a quarterly magazine based in Soho, London, but focused on life in UK and Ireland, features a cracking cover from longtime cartoonist Davey Jones, perhaps best known for his many strips for VIZ.
The Fence has been described as “the illegitimate offspring of Private Eye and Evelyn Waugh, with a bloodline that stretches back to Gillray and Rowlandson.” Each issue offers 200 pages of facts, features and fiction for the low print subscription price of £30 and £19.99 digital, a mix of investigations, short stories and cultural essays, all threaded with a humourous and playful touch.
Issue 18 is a “Coming of Age Special”, featuring Davey Jones’ fantastic celebrity-studded cover, and includes a key inside to show who is who in a galaxy of stars. (We’re not going to tell you who they are, so you’ll have to buy a copy if you can’t recognise them).
“It’s the best we’ve ever done,” enthuses Séamas O’Reilly, “with an embarrassment of riches across all words and pictures, and a banging cover by the inimitable Davey Jones.”
The issue offers a huge range of features: Róisín Lanigan writes about divorce in “Chic Young Divorcee”, and Clive Martin about Camden, Eve Webster about Place in the Sun, and Jimmy McIntosh on KX, who describes the fence as “Truly the best publication out there – what better gift for a friend, or a lover, or an acquaintance, or your proctologist, or your dealer, or the person that comes round to your door selling feather dusters and those multi-packs of coloured cleaning cloths.”
Other contributors include author John Banville, writer Joe Bishop, comedy writer Madeline Brettingham, Daily Telegraph writer Ed Cumming, author Geoff Dyer, author of One Last Song and columnist Patrick Galbraith, investigative journalist and author Michael Gillard, podcaster H Kesvani, Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik, author Ian Martin, and author Fiona Mozley.
You can either buy individual issues of The Fence here, or take out a subscription here.
If you’re interested in pitching to The Fence, details are here. The magazine accepts pitches in all its sections except fiction. First-time writers are especially welcome. “We do try to reply to all pitches, but owing to the volume of submissions we receive, it might take us some time.”
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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