Sensations Magazine Issue 1:  Released on
December 10, 1987 (Click cover for larger version)

1987

"I want to run a literary magazine one more time."

(Above) The fifth anniversary reunion for Alternative Motifs, on September 26, 1986.  The sense of rapport and community at this event spurred the Publisher to launch Sensations Magazine in mid-1987.  Pictured above, L-R:  Dan McLaughlin, Dorian Tenore-Bartilucci, Liz Miller, E. Vivienne Anderson, Beth Dinice, Angelo Mazza, David Messineo, Carolyn Howard, and John Rudy

Sensations Magazine began with a desire to recreate the sense of camaraderie and "pulling together for the cause of art" that was the hallmark of David Messineo's previous literary magazine, Alternative Motifs at Fordham University, which he founded in 1981 and ran for two years, through May 1983.

Three years out of college, the Publisher landed a position as Executive Editor of Office of the Future in 1987, which introduced him to the then cutting-edge desktop publishing technology of a Macintosh SE. 

With a cover that he had hand-traced in 1984 (for use in an Alternative Motifs issue that was never published), combined with a successful solicitation to writers he had previously read or published at Fordham University (plus contact from a writer in Canada), he and his hand-picked staff (Fiction Editor Maggie Reilly, and Print Production Coordinators Marilyn Hartl, Rena Shapiro, and Denise Woodring-Schoch) printed, hand-collated, and hand-bound Sensations Magazine Issue 1:  a small, stapled, 30-page magazine.  The cost of the issue was $3 (plus 50 cents postage).  Released on December 10, 1987, the 200-copy print run eventually made its way to all seven continents (yes, including Antarctica).

With Sensations Magazine Issue 1 going to English speaking individuals in such countries as Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Grenada, Guam, Korea, Kuwait, Liberia, New Zealand, Sweden, and West Germany, our initial goal was to create a literary magazine with an international audience. 

However, after three issues (and ongoing difficulty absoring the cost of international postage rates, even then), we narrowed our focus to serve American and Canadian writers, yet to this day welcome individuals from all countries who write in English and wish to submit poetry or fiction for our consideration.

Some highlights from Issue 1:

Due to the primarily favorable reception Issue 1 had received, a second Sensations Magazine issue was planned for 1988.

Poetry reading, circa 1986, with (L-R) poet David Messineo joined by Eileen Tronolone, Rena Shapiro, Jackie Pirro, and John Pirro, in front of Wood-Ridge Memorial Library.  (Eileen created  the logo for the Alternative Motifs Spring 1982 issue held in David's hands; Rena would assist with typesetting the first issue of Sensations Magazine in the autumn of 1987.)   "Winter Celebration:  16 Years of Creative Writing" would be the first Sensations Magazine event, held at Wood-Ridge Memorial Library, Wood-Ridge, NJ, on January 7, 1988

Issue 1, 1987 concluded with a song lyric by openly gay singer-songwriter Joe Bracco (pictured above, in performance).  At a time when AIDS was polarizing the nation against homosexuals (now it's same-sex marriage - how little things change), Sensations Magazine established itself as a publication advocating acceptance and equality for all:  and published sensational writing by all, regardless of sexual orientation.  Joe Bracco died in 1990 from complications from AIDS, and was eulogized in Sensations Magazine Issue 5, 1991.