Reasons to Never Return: The Paper Plane Pilots Anthology (2014)

The Paper Plane Pilots is an online group of creative writers from across the world, with a large-ish cluster located in the Los Angeles area.  Predominantly poets, with a sizable batch of fiction nonetheless, they've recently released their first anthology, Reasons to Never Return.  

     In the interest of journalistic integrity, I should point out that I'm friends with one of the founders of the Paper Plane Pilots, who also appears in and edited this volume.  However, she knows well enough that if I didn't like it, I would say so.  Fortunately for both of us, I did like the anthology.    

    That's not to say there are no rough spots.  There are, and any anthology, especially one of up and coming young writers, will have them.  But they are more than offset by the high points, of which there are many.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm a terrible judge of poetry, largely falling into a mere 'I dis/like this, and I don't know why' approach. Overall, the anthology has a heavy Beat vibe, a reactionary pathos easy to get swept up in, which is a good thing, if that's your kind of thing.  

   The first piece, "Winter Tapes," is by far the most avant-garde, and I'm still honestly not sure what to make of it, to be quite honest.  The rest of the anthology is mostly poetry, the majority in verse, with some prose poems, and a handful of stories.  To get a better idea of the tone and variety of the anthology, check out their Best of 2013 page.      

   If you like poetry and want to check out some new writers, visit thepaperplanepilots.com, and if you like what you see, consider buying their anthology.