OMEGA 7 Online Now

OMEGA 7
“from hive this mind”

Happy Holidays, here is your link to the Web’s premiere literary production
ONLINE NOW.

250 dynamic pages … and it’s FREE for one and all!
(but you can DONATE if you so choose, and empower INDEPENDENT alternative literature and art)

http://issuu.com/howlingdogpress/docs/omega7fromhivethismind

[If the link doesn't work, simply copy and paste it into your browser. That's almost guaranteed to bring it up.]

OMEGA 7 “from hive this mind” is designed, edited, and created by Michael Annis, senior editor and founder of Howling Dog Press. The Featured Artist for OMEGA 7 is Henry Avignon.

OMEGA 7 is comprised of dynamic and visionary work by 45 writers whose poetry, stories and Hinge applications cover progressive politics, global warming, governmental corruption, revolutionary language theory /linguistics, anti-war works, social and economic stratification, human alienation, imprisonment, abstracted reality, dreams and the subconscious, quantum mechanics, poverty, and pieces dedicated to world unity and peace. A special section by the late Charles Bukowski is central to OMEGA 7. Other literary contributors are Michael Annis, Henry Avignon, Benjamin Balthaser, Tom Bradley, Ginnetta Correli, Jane Crown, Nabina Das, Tatjana Debeljacki, Jared Demick, DubbleX, Renee Dwyer, Stevie Lee Edwards, AnnMarie Eldon, Victoria Ganim, Joe Giglio, Gregory Greyhawk, Leigh Herrick, Sandra Hunter, Molly Kat, Jillian Rose Krupp, Sun Yung Lee, Joy Leftow, Heller Levinson, Oswald Le Winter, Elenor “Ele-Beth” Little, Adrian C. Louis, Michael D. Main, Stacy Muszynski, Edward Mycue, Mary Newell, Valery Oisteanu, John Olson, Laura Orem, David Ray, Paul Corman-Roberts, Kenneth Rosen, Adam Roufberg, Albert Salinas, Lilvia Soto, Thomas [Wordwulf] Sterner, Ross Vassilev, Jack Wiler, Frank Winters, and Jeffrey Cyphers Wright.

A testimonial:

I just saw the preview of Michael Annis'/Howling Dog Press' new Omega 7 online journal publication "From Hive This Mind" featuring a slew of amazing poets including Michael Annis, David Ray, Heller Levinson, Leigh Herrick, Oswald LeWinter, Paul Corman-Roberts, and others (not to mention myself…) and I have to say that this man (Michael Annis) is a creative/intellectual genius - a truly divine spark.

"From Hive This Mind" is a labor of love blending together a most magnificent compilation of poetry, photography, spirit, and graphic design capable of being produced only by a true visionary -- one who sees through, and beyond, the corporeal constraints imposed on us physically, culturally, emotionally, etc .And, as an added bonus, this masterful work is published online for FREE.

Stay focused for soon the publication will go public and a link will be posted (but join the group instead so you don't have to rely on me for your information) Join “Omega Online Literary Magazine” on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=a47e5b01bcef29cfde73d883f03d0aad&#/group.php?v=wall&ref=ts&gid=48599887203

OMEGA 7 is mind blowing! What Michael has put together is such a masterful craft projecting such force... from the layout/design to the word on page to the people he’s brought together, man, this is one amazing publication. Seriously, I felt like I was standing in front of an ancient shrine, or those sacred Buddhas that the Taliban blasted out of existence, or the monolith in 2001...wtf... love's labours found. Wow!

~Adam Roufberg, “RadioActiveLunch” radio host



OMEGA 7’s theme is derived from an excerpt from Conducting Bodies by Nobel Prize winner Claude Simon. OMEGA 7's subtitle "from hive this mind" is taken from a Hinge Application of the same title composed by Michael Annis and “hinges” back to Claude Simon. Hinge Theory was created by Heller Levinson, and is evolving through the work of Levinson, Annis, Newell, Giglio, Main, Avignon, Roufberg, and others; Hinge represents, quite possibly, the most significant revolutionary poetic form to have been originated in the last 20 years, and can be explored further in Levinson’s latest book “Smelling Mary” (Howling Dog Press). A practioner’s guide to Hinge Theory, “The Hinge Manual” by Michael Annis, can be received free of charge in PDF format by request to WritingDangerously@HowlingDogPress.com.


Toward the end of this email, you will find navigation tips. When you forward the link, please also forward the navigation tips, which come in handy for those who are not familiar with ISSUU (the software OMEGA rides on). Working with ISSUU format takes a little practice, but the more you experience, the easier and more entertaining it becomes as you maneuver through the pages. As you distribute this email and link, please encourage your lists to do the same, and if they are on Facebook to join the Facebook group “OMEGA online literary magazine”. Help us increase our readership.

When you open the OMEGA link, take it slow; it's a 13 mb file and it takes a little time to download. Please don't skip ahead; allow it to completely download. Start at the beginning of OMEGA and view it a page-spread at a time; that will ensure that it downloads accurately. If you skip through it while it’s downloading, it causes the program to insert blank pages and missing links--it's happened to me, and it was because of my impatience.

During the course of designing and building OMEGA 7, four people very dear to me passed away. In the order of their transitioning are:

David Sisneros, musician (June 2009)
Mark Stryker, artist and writer (August 2009)
Will Inman, poet and activist (early October 2009)
Jack Wiler, poet and OMEGA 7 contributor (late October 2009)

There are memorials to each of them in OMEGA 7; each was dearly loved and all will be heartbreakingly grieved and missed by many.

Periodically, I will be posting/dispatching comments by contributors and readers. You are invited to post your own comments about OMEGA 7 on the Facebook OMEGA group homepage or on ISSUU in the Comments window that you will find when you open OMEGA 7.

Also, OMEGA 7 includes a very special offer:

The Works of Henry Avignon, OMEGA 7’s artist are now available for purchase!

SUPERB, LIMITED EDITION PRINTS of all the artwork by HENRY AVIGNON featured in OMEGA 7 are now available through a joint collaboration between the Artist and Howling Dog Press. Details: page 247 in OMEGA 7.


--from OMEGA 7, by Henry Avignon (50+ more images in OMEGA 7

If you are unfamiliar with ISSUU, here are a few navigation tips:

1. Patience will serve you well; your ability to manipulate and stabilize the pages will evolve as you use it.

2. I’ve found that it’s best to use FULLSCREEN mode; the button is found in the upper left corner of the ISSUU screen after OMEGA loads.

3. In Fullscreen mode, you have more control and can adjust the size of the pages with the slide bar that appears at the top. It also gives you a “page bar” at the bottom that loads 20 pages at a time. The greatest advantage with Fullscreen mode is its stability compared to the “page turning” mode that first loads. The disadvantage is that it doesn’t look as cool when the pages turn, and it doesn’t give you the full aesthetic beauty of movement (those pages flying like silky black ravens’ wings).

4. When you click on any page, it will enlarge. Click again and it returns to original size, and the two-page spread. After you click on the page, take your finger off the mouse or mousepad. It will stabilize the page. ISSUU is very sensitive and responsive, so it’s easy to send the image flying around the screen if you keep your finger on the mouse.

5. At the outer edge of each page there are faint “arrow” buttons. Clicking on those will take you either forwards or backwards through the publication, one page at a time. If you click the double arrow, it will take you to the end or beginning of the publication.

6. The PAGE BAR at the bottom of the screen: you can click on any set of two pages and immediately go there. If you want to go forwards or backwards through the pages, click on the arrows at either end of the page bar and it will load 20 previous pages (left side arrow) or the next 20 pages (right side arrow). You can enlarge the image of any set of two pages by placing your cursor on it. It also gives you the page numbers above the image and relevant to it.

7. You can completely change the presentation of the publication from what originally loaded (in OMEGA’s case, “magazine”) to two other options: “Presentation” view and “Paper” view. Paper view presents each page as if it were a PDF, and you scroll up or down to change pages, rather than horizontally. The BUTTON that controls the view options is located next to the Fullscreen button at the top. Experiment, you might like another view better than what I’ve chosen. I chose “magazine” for its aesthetics-- the effect of movement, and the dramatic sheen of the pages.

8. There is also a “dot bar” under the page bar. You can move more rapidly forward or backward by clicking on the dots; each dot represents twenty pages, and you can click any dot—they don’t have to be clicked in order.