Chaikin, Joseph; and Shepard, Sam; Barker, Nicola; Jones, Thom; Thomson, David; Powers, Sara; et al.Coppola, Francis; Founding Editor; Brodeur, Adrienne; Editor-in-Chief. - Zoetrope Short Stories. Volume 1 Number 1. Winter 1997. [Zoetrope: All-Story].

New York: AZX Publications, 1997. 1997. - Small folio [14 inches high by 10-1/2 inches wide], unbound leaves laid into pictorial wrappers, as issued. The wraps are lightly rubbed & chipped with some rippling to the paper. There is a partially detached mailing label on the front wrap. 58 pages, unbound as issued. Full-page pictorial story titles in color. There is a small area of very light dampstaining to the bottom corners of the pages. Good.

Francis Coppola explains in his introductory Letter to the Reader that this new magazine will publish only short stories and one-act plays. He emphasizes that stories will not be chosen because they seem to lend themselves to film adaptation but solely on the strength of the writer's voice and the quality of the writing. Each issue will include a short story commissioned by Coppola and based on a idea provided to the writer, and also a classic short story which has been successfully adapted to film. The magazine was later renamed Zoetrope: All-Story and has received every major short-fiction award, including the National Magazine Award for Fiction.

Among the contents of this first issue are a commissioned story,"The Baker's Wife" by Sara Powers; an essay by David Thomson "What Happens Next? Hollywood and the short story"; and fiction by Nicola Barker, Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard, and Thom Jones.

Rare. Good .