THE ELECTRIC REVIEW is an on-line book and music broadside dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts and academia. The magazine will offer monthly critiques of recent book and music releases, offering readers a broad sampling of material while presenting writers and musicians of all genres a more equitable chance for publicity.

In pursuit of this, reviews are written not so much in a formula style, but rather in a manner meant to stress the underlying themes of the material: our goal is simply to make the reader excited about the possibilities these books and records hold.

The need for The Electric Review is obvious and long over-due.

Artists, no matter how big the name, are at the mercy of the devious corporate politics that drive our mainstream media. Those writers with small publishers, or those whose work bears a "non-commercial" label, often receive no attention at all -- their efforts wholly undiscovered, their books wallowing in waste in putrid obscurity.

But the immorality of this system pierces still deeper: An artist held back from public view has, in reality, been intentionally silenced. His tongue's been cut out. It's a crime levied against our collective soul against our collective conscience. And this, then, brings us to the relevant mission of The Electric Review - to allow writers and musicians a platform through which to reclaim their voices, presenting them with the opportunity to be heard.

The Electric Review focuses on all aspects of book publishing, and each "issue" of the Review contains critical analysis on books from various subject areas (including textbooks in all academic fields). In addition, new authors and works of fiction are given special consideration as a means to promote books and writers who otherwise would be ignored by the conventional print media. The same approach is taken when reviewing music, as we attempt to expand the things you see and hear.

The goal of The Electric Review is, simply, to further literacy and compel the world at large to read - encouraging you to immerse the echoes of your breath in the salty beauty of language in her ripe sweet ever-changing essence. And going a step further, The Electric Review strives to resuscitate the mind, spotlighting the best in academic and general trade titles, pointing you to worthwhile books in your area of interest. What you'll find here are honest and probing assessments addressing myriad subjects of deep social importance, the pages devoid of slap-in-the face graphics and flash imagery; instead, the intent is to forego the flash so that the writing might command your complete attention. The magazine is designed this way (without commercial motive) so that the review-capsules exist as mere moments in time: This single pebble of thought this intellectual pool of knives meant to enlighten all true sides of heart & soul.

In sum, this is a non-commercial site: Existing like the poetry of Kenneth Patchen or Robert Duncan, its sole objective to scale the naked mountains of pure intellectual enlightenment (my sole and complete purpose to inspire the bloom of eternal imagination while helping to shed light on the sacred paths of both Nation and Self).

BIOGRAPHY: John Aiello has been a practicing journalist for over 25 years, with an abiding interest/expertise in the Beat Generation and post-20th century poetics. In the course of his career, he has published material on the fine arts (books, music, film and popular culture), in addition to science, psychology, biology, medicine, religion, business, law, government, the social sciences, the Constitution, civil rights, abuse of power by police, and corruption in the insurance industry (as a consultant). Educated at College of The Siskiyous, Southern Oregon State University and San Francisco State University, Aiello has published his work in the San Francisco Chronicle, (as well as the San Francisco Examiner /Chronicle - Sunday Edition), Jack Magazine (with links to Big Bridge), McClure-Manzarek.com, Larry Keenan's Dead Beat Picture Gallery (introducing Keenan's photo feature), the San Francisco Daily Journal, the American Muse, the Siskiyou Pioneer, the San Jose Mercury News, Consumer Health Interactive, the Beat Page, Mule Deer Foundation Magazine, the Auburn Journal, Auburn Journal Extra, the Mount Shasta Herald, the North Bay Bohemian, The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center's international website (for the complete article, see the link: www.ucsfhealth.org/adult/profiles/h.html ), California Wine and Food, BookZen, North American Precis Syndicate, Taste California Travel, TNT's Drama Lounge, Chico News & Review, Reno News & Review, the Redding Record Searchlight, Wavelength Magazine, Griots.net, the Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He was also the National Correspondent for the American Muse and contributed significantly to both the magazine's genesis and evolution before it ceased operations in 2002. Additionally, countless reviews written by Aiello have been excerpted and used by publishers, authors and record labels in the course of marketing their products. Aiello's work is known among writers, publishers, literary agents and publicists who trust that his critiques will be fair-minded and thorough and his knowledge of the subject matter complete. Many well-established and award-winning authors have championed his work, including Michael McClure, Michael Baughman and Peter Sussman, as well as the late Herb Caen, the late Richard Hemp, the late Arthur Hoppe, the late Allan Temko and the late Allen Ginsberg. In the summer of 2001, Aiello retired from his position at the San Francisco Chronicle, having spent over 14 years working in the newsroom there. Presently, Aiello continues to publish The Electric Review (having launched the magazine in 2003), further showcasing some of his journalism in various print-based newspapers and on-line magazines throughout the country. In addition, Aiello is preparing a book-length manuscript of his own poetry for commercial publication.

FROM RAT'S NOTEBOOK is a column from the desk of the Editor, and content here will evolve naturally, according to the natural progression of the mind. In some issues, subject matter will parallel a general interest topic of the day: news items, music, literature, art; in other issues, perhaps a poem or a story whereby upon conclusion you rise up stark from your numb bed -- thinking.

More from Rat's Notebook...

NOTICE TO PUBLISHERS, RECORD LABELS AND WRITERS:

The Electric Review makes every effort to offer a balanced and fair representation of books and music available to the public. Our goal is to offer a broad sampling of material from myriad sources in an attempt to broaden the scope of the reader's interest. However, due to the sheer number of queries the magazine receives, we are not able to feature every single title that is submitted for review consideration, nor will we ever promise or guarantee coverage for an author or performer or publishing house.

Our policy is to review material based on The Editor's discretion, without consideration of the size of the publisher or the purported scope of an author's influence. Instead, our reviews are written based on merit as we seek to bring notice of the best books being published to our readers. The same system is in place for our coverage of music-related products.

ALL READERS will note that in many instances we have linked to Amazon.com as a means to direct readers who want to order an item or who desire to learn further information about a book. Even though we have linked to Amazon.com for these specific purposes, it should be expressly understood that The Electric Review is not affiliated to Amazon in any way, nor do we derive commissions from this or any other such link exchange.

~The Editor