Offal’s third issue is a magazine of fragments – odd, experimental, and generally dark bits of writing, scooped up and stuffed into a pink paper casing. L’appel du vide” is “the call of the void”; the sudden, self-destructive urge that quickly passes, leaving just a dreadful frisson of what could have been. It’s the weird temptation to swerve into oncoming traffic while driving down the road, and in this issue Offal is tapping into the literary equivalent of that disquieting feeling.

In this issue:

• Alice-Louise Macgillivray sends a decidedly unglamorous missive from the frontlines of glamour modelling
• David Turner’s boxing gym ruminations turn a physical workout into a mental ordeal
• Editor Mark Blacklock concocts a body horror with bookworms
• Editor Gavin Weale tells the story of a disastrous New Year’s Eve party via Venn diagrams
• Editor Rod Stanley reveals the infernal power of a forum for guitar nerds