Good Story Checklist?

The Greensboro Review Editor Terry L. Kennedy writes in his introduction to issue #104 about trying to determine what makes "a good story" and the idea of creating a checklist for submissions:

"A checklist for 'a good story' might make my editorial deliberations easier, but it wouldn't be good for my staff or for the magazine. And I'm not so sure readers really want exact restrictions on a story, not anymore. What if a story has a memorable setting but there's no plot, nothing happens? A la Seinfeld. Where does that leave us? There are too many intangible aspects with which to blur the lines. . . I guess what I'm working my way around to is this: it's not that I'm incapable of creating a checklist as that I don't really believe, in my editorial heart of hearts, that I should. In the end, the best stories might just be the ones that do the things we thing a short story writer shouldn't attempt. But by doing them well, they win our hearts and make us shout, 'This one; this is the one!'"

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Defining Creative Nonfiction, Or Not

In her editorial to The Fiddlehead's Autumn 2018 issue, "Whatever We Need It To Be," Creative Nonfiction Editor Alicia Elliott opens the publication's first "all creative nonfiction issue" with a story about presenting on a panel with three other CNF writers. Asked the opening question: What is Creative Nonfiction?, "All four of us exchanged a look. I laughed nervously, as I tend to do when I’m not sure how to answer a question. The seconds passed."

It's not that they weren't prepared for the question, Elliott explains, or hadn't joked about the challenge of defining the form. "Unfortunately," she tells readers, "I still don’t have a very good definition."

But, like so many of us, she goes on to share, "Ever since I fell into Creative Nonfiction a few years ago, I’ve been enthralled by the genre’s possibility, its malleability, the way it requires you to push beyond what’s in front of you and see what’s hidden underneath."

This all-CNF issue, with works chosen from over 600 submissions should indeed provide us all with a broadened understanding of CNF, as Elliott hopes, but at the same time, "ironically, will probably make defining CNF as gloriously fuzzy for you as it is for me. That's okay, though. It's part of the genre's charm."

Read the full essay here.

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2018 Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction Winner

The Fall/Winter 2018 issue of Colorado Review features "Aisha and the Good for Nothing Cat" (also available to read online) by Shannon Sweetnam, winner of the 2018 Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction selected by Margot Livesey.

In addition to publication, the winner receives $2000. The prize opens annually on December 1 and closes on March 14, 2019. See full guidelines here.

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Men and Apparitions

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The Mission Song

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Past Tense (Jack Reacher, #23)

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Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

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Solstice Offers Diverse Voices

Primarily an online publication of fiction, poetry, nonfiction and photography, Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices also provides the community with unique essays on its SolLit Blog. Recent features include:

"A Writer-Photographer’s Poignant Essay about Smelter Town" by William Crawford

"Women Writers’ Roundtable: Judy Juanita, Melinda Luisa de Jesús, and Dr. Raina J. León on Life-Changing Art" by Rochelle Spencer

"Misogyny and the Acceptance of Violence Against Women" by Patricia Carrillo [pictured]

"The Immigrant Experience Then and Now — and Hope for the Future" by Diane O'Neill

"Neurodiverse Students Need Creative Arts" by Donnie Welch

"Protesting Police Brutality: From Taking a Knee in the U.S to Striking in Catalan" by Chetan Tiwari and Sandell Morse

"Writing, Meditation, and the Art of Looking" by Marilyn McCabe

Guest bloggers are invited to contribute: "We seek inspirational and informative content from diverse voices on writing craft, writing process, diversity (or lack thereof?) in the lit world, recent trends in writing and/or literature, brief author interviews, and more." See full submission guidelines here.

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Bellevue Literary Review Makeover & CFS

Bellevue Literary Review Editor-in-Chief Danielle Ofri welcome readers to the 35th issue with a newly redesigned journal, "a remarkable collaboration with students at the Parsons School of Design, under the direction of their teacher, the incomparable Minda Gralnek. The students were given free rein" to change the seventeen-year-old design that has been slowly morphing over the past few years: ". . . we moved from archival photos on the cover to contemporary art, in order to broaden our reach."

Ofri assures readers that "it's the literary content that really makes the journal, and we'd never conflate content with presentation. Cooks, though, know that food is always just that much tastier when you pull out the special-occasion china. So we offer up this first course to you, and hope that you find it savory - inside and out."

This issues theme , "Dis/Placement," brings together an introductory essay by Ha Jin, as well as new writing from Barron H. Lerner, Myra Shapiro, Hal Sirowitz, Sue Ellen Thompson, Eric Pankey, Dan Pope, Rachel Hadas, Prartho Sereno, and others, as well as cover art by Jonathan Allen.

BLR is looking for submission on the theme "A Good Life" - deadline January 1, 2019.

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Glimmer Train July/August Fiction Open Winners

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their July/August Fiction Open competition. This competition is held twice a year and is open to all writers. Stories generally range from 3000-6000 words, though up to 28,000 is fine. The next – and last! – Fiction Open will open on January 1. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Laura Roque [pictured] of Hialeah, Florida, wins $3000 for “Lady-Ghost Roles." Her story will be published in Issue 105 of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Ben Nadler, of Albany, New York, wins $1000 for “Shalom Bayit.” His story will also be published in an upcoming issue.

Third place: Clark Knowles, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, wins $600 for “In Dublin.” His story will also be published in an upcoming issue.

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadline soon approaching!
Short Story Award for New Writers: November 10
This competition is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5000. No theme restrictions. Most submissions to this category run 500-5000 word but can go up to 12,000. First place prize wins $2500 and publication in Glimmer Train Stories. Second/third: $500/$300 and consideration for publication. Click here for complete guidelines.

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Glimmer Train July/August Very Short Fiction Award Winners

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their July/August Very Short Fiction Award. This competition is held twice a year and is open to all writers for stories with a word count under 3000. The next – and last! – Very Short Fiction competition will open on January 1. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

1st place goes to Peter Sheehy, of Astoria, New York, who wins $2000 for “Things Frozen Then.” His story will be published in Issue 105 of Glimmer Train Stories. [Photo credit: Henry Porter]

2nd place goes to Ted Mathys, of St. Louis, Missouri, who wins $500 for “High Plains.”

3rd place goes to Cassandra Verhaegen, of Corvallis, Oregon, who wins $300 for “California Orange.”

Here’s a PDF of the Top 25.

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Driftwood Press Graphic Novels

Driftwood Press has recently announced that they will now accept submissions for graphic novel manuscripts to add to their catalog.

To better understand what they are looking for, the editors note that some of their favorite graphic artists are Jaime & Gilbert Hernandez, Joe Sacco, Brecht Evens, Taiyo Matsumoto, Anders Nilsen, Jillian Tamaki, Christophe Chaboute, Eleanor Davis, Gipi, Simon Hanselmann, Michael DeForge, David Lapham, and Inio Asano.

Interested writers/artists are asked to submit a sample, partial, or full manuscript. The publishers do not match up artists/storytellers. This is a traditional, paid publishing contract arrangement.

For more information, visit the Driftwood Press graphic novels submission page.

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ONU Scholarship & Publication for Young Poet

The English Department at Ohio Northern University has opened a new Single Poem Broadside contest for currently enrolled high school juniors and seniors.

Young writers may submit one original, self-authored poem of 30 lines or less by November 1, 2018 in any form, style or aesthetic approach.

ONU Associate Professor of Creative Writing Dr. Jennifer Moore [pictured] will judge the submissions.

The winning entry will receive $100, letterpress broadside publication of the poem, ten copies, and the ONU English Department Talent Award of $4000 per year for four years (upon application and acceptance to ONU).

For more contests open to young writers and publications for young writers and readers, visit the NewPages Young Writers Guide.

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New Lit on the Block :: The 4x2 Project

What do you do if you’re a lit mag that has been successfully publishing poets at all stages of their careers for two decades? Well, you start a NEW publication, of course, with an entirely NEW mission! The 4x2 Project is exactly that.

What do you do if you’re a lit mag that has been successfully publishing poets at all stages of their careers for two decades? Well, you start a NEW publication, of course, with an entirely NEW mission! The 4x2 Project is exactly that.

From the editors of The Barrow Street Journal, The 4x2 Project is an online poetry journal featuring new and emerging poets who have not yet published a chapbook or full-length collection.

The name says it all: Every two months, four new poets are featured, with previous contributors being archived at the site. “The object,” Managing Editor Michael Broek explains, “is to provide a brief, highly readable survey of the best emerging voices.”

Started in 1998, Barrow Street Journal has published hundreds of poets, and poems from the Journal have been honored in Best American Poetry twelve times. “The impetus to start 4x2,” Broek says, “was to move more fully into the online realm with a new vision, focused solely on writers who have not yet (but hopefully will soon!) published a book. There are very few venues that focus exclusively on new voices, and 4x2 is intended to highlight those new writers in a concise but powerful format.”

Publishing poetry exclusively online is not without its challenges, Broek notes, “mostly concerning the technology! We don’t have any restrictions on form, and one of our recent poems, ‘Man’s West Once,’ by Susan Kay Anderson, is terrific, but it is long and has really intriguing spacing and formatting that moves all over the page. Getting a poem like that to appear correctly on the screen isn’t easy, but it is a great poem, so we made it work! Considering its length, it’s also not a poem that could be easily accommodated in a print journal, so one of the joys of this is that we don’t have to worry about page count.”

It's this distinction that many editors, writers, and readers appreciate about the online environment, as well as just the convenience and accessibility of online journals. “We are all busy,” Broek laments, “and sometimes when a journal comes in the mail, there’s just no time to digest it all. In this concise format, only featuring four poets at a time, readers can expect to get a snapshot of what’s cutting edge and fresh.” From the first two issues, readers can experience works by Susan Kay Anderson, Miranda Beeson, Emily McKay, Pablo Medina, Doug Ramspeck, Mahtem Shiferraw, Sophia Starmack, and W. R. Weinstein.

Writers looking to submit can expect that all works are read by editors of Barrow Street Journal — Melissa Hotchkiss, Lorna Blake, and Patricia Carlin — as well as the Managing Editor, Michael Broek. Each editor has years of experience editing Barrow Street Journal and are all poets themselves with full-length collections. Submissions are online, and each submission is read by at least two editors. The turnaround time is usually less than one month.

“While we have decades of rewarding experience publishing the print journal,” Broek adds, “the 4x2 is still developing. Eventually, we’d like to add additional features, such as audio of the poets reading their work.”

Keeping it new, fresh, and cutting edge is what helps to create a strong publication with a long history. Here’s to just that for The 4x2 Project.

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New Lit on the Block :: Okay Donkey

If the idea of snuggling up to a stack of submissions sounds like the most romantic way to spend your evening with the one you love, then you can pretty much imagine the lives of Genevieve Kersten and Eric Andrew Newman, editors of the newest online venue for poetry and flash fiction: Okay Donkey.

If the idea of snuggling up to a stack of submissions sounds like the most romantic way to spend your evening with the one you love, then you can pretty much imagine the lives of Genevieve Kersten and Eric Andrew Newman, editors of the newest online venue for poetry and flash fiction: Okay Donkey.

Publishing one new poem every Wednesday and one new flash fiction every Friday, Okay Donkey readers can enjoy a mix the eclectic and weird, as Kersten says. “We also strive to include diverse voices in our magazine, whether it's writers looking for their first publication, self-taught writers without an MFA, queer writers, or POC writers.”

Some of this openness stems from the editors’ own backgrounds. Poetry Editor Genevieve Kersten has a B.A. in Studies in Cinema and Media Culture from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and an M.A. from North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. Flash Fiction Editor Eric Andrew Newman has a B.A. in English from University of San Diego with an emphasis in Creative Writing and an M.S. in Library Science from Dominican University.

Kersten explains their motivation to start a lit mag: “We’re both writers ourselves, and we've always loved to engage in the literary community as readers and supporters of lit mags. We've been on literary Twitter for a while now and love interacting with other writers and lit mags. Starting our own lit mag just seemed like the next step in the natural progression of our literary journey.”

Since starting the publication, Kersten comments and the ups and downs: “They’re really the same thing. We get so many amazing submissions and can only publish a few on the site. Since it's just the two of us, sometimes the sheer amount of submissions we get can overwhelm us, but there really is nothing more exciting than finding a true gem from a writer we haven't heard of in the inbox.”

The editorial process, and the site itself, Kersten explains as “low-fi”: “We’re partners in life, as well as at the magazine, so most of the work gets done at home in the evenings and on weekends. Since it's just the two of us, each editor gives every submission in their genre the first read. If they really like a piece, they'll hand it off to the other editor. Then we decide which pieces to publish. We don't always agree and ultimately each of us has autonomy over our own genre. We prioritize a quick turnaround time.”

In recognizing some of the contributors to the publication, Kersten wanted to give a special shout out to friends who entrusted the editors with their work early on in the process, “when Okay Donkey was just an idea and not yet a full-fledged magazine. They didn't know what it was about or if it would be any good but were still willing to hand over their best stuff. This is Michael Alessi, Chelsea Harris and Dan Sanders for flash fiction, and Ted Mico, Erin Rice and Brian Dau for poetry. Without their excellent work, we don't know if our launch would have been as successful as it was.”

As that success continues, Kersten says they’re looking to organize an Okay Donkey reading in Los Angeles, and possibly Chicago (“our long-time home”) as well as an annual Okay Donkey Flash Fiction Contest and Okay Donkey Poetry Contest. This may take a bit more tech and financial resources, but Kersten adds, “We want our writers to know that we strongly believe in the accessibility of submitting to literary magazines, so even though we might start a tip jar submission system in the future, or charge a small fee for contest entries, we'll always have free submission options available.”

As for the name – one of our core questions with new lit mags is getting to that etymology – Kersten reveals, “It's really too stupid and embarrassing to mention. If we ever meet some of our readers in person, maybe we'll tell them the story over drinks sometime.” I’m looking forward to having that drink with you! In the meantime, we can all enjoy reading Okay Donkey.

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Carolyn Kuebler on "Service"

"Literature is not efficient," writes New England Review Editor Carolyn Kuebler in the Editor's Note to V39 N3. "Reading it, writing it, and publishing it all require a seemingly unreasonable investment in time. Journals like ours take part in this economy of inefficiency by keeping our doors open to writing from everyone, everywhere." She goes on to discuss the weight placed on editors to make selections from thousands of unsolicited submissions, which open publications with good reputations face.

"Because of this openness to new writing, we have to say 'no' far more often than we say 'yes,' which can give writers a kind of 'who do they think they are' feeling of resentment. It also sets literary editors up as gatekeepers, as if reading and evaluating manuscripts were in some way equivalent to being a bouncer at an exclusive nightclub or a troll under the bridge. To me, the problem with the image of a gatekeeper is that it implies that the lit mag is some steadfast entity that simply exists, and that editors are only blocking the way to it. But without the efforts of those same people who are reading the manuscripts, there would be no there there."

Instead, Kuebler entreats readers (and writers) to consider "lit mags and their staff of editors and readers in terms of service," with many of those working behind the scenes doing so for little or no pay, and putting "aside their own agendas and literary preferences, and often their own writing, in service of another’s."

I get it. I hope others do, too. Thanks Carolyn - and countless other editors, readers, and all of those who give selflessly in the service of literature to make these publications 'there.'

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Books :: Kakalak 2018

Main Street Rag accepts submissions to the Kakalak anthology each year, publishing poetry and art by or about the Carolinas. Submissions are selected through an annual contest, opening in January and running through May.

The 2018 edition will be released this upcoming December, featuring the poetry and art award winners and honorable mentions.

2018 Poetry Award Winners:

1st place: Derek Berry
2nd place: Betsy Thorne
3rd place: Anne Waters Green
Honorable mentions include Jane Seitel, Beverly C. Finney, Suzanna L. Cockerille, and Kathy Nelson.

2108 Art Award Winners:

1st place: Jeanette Brossart
2nd place: Cheryl Boyer
3rd place: Ashley Jolicoeur
Honorable mentions include Jack McGregor and Joyce Compton Brown.

If you pre-order now, you can save a few dollars (to spend on some of the other great Main Street Rag titles perhaps).

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2018 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize Winners

Ruminate Fall 2018 (#48) features the 2018 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize recipients, as selected by judge Susan Woodring:

First Place
"Coda" by Jason Villemez [pictured]

Second Place
"Terra Incognita" by Laura O'Gorman Schwartz

Honorable Mention
"The Pistachio Farmer's Daughter" by Heather M. Surls

The next submission deadline for the short story contest is February 15, 2019. The contest is open to stories 5500 words or less with no limit on the number of entries (one per fee).  The winner receives $1500 and publication; $200 and publication for the runner-up.

 

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Resources for Young Readers and Writers

Teachers and mentors to young readers and writers, check out the NewPages Young Writers Guide, a listing of publications written for and accepting submissions by young writers as well as contests for young writers. This is an ad-free space and all listings are vetted for ethical treatment of minors submitting writing for publication and contests and using the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act guidelines. If you know of a publication or contest we could list here, please contact us. Encourage young writers to read and submit their writing!

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Edify Fiction Seeks Themed Submissions

Edify Fiction is seeking submissions for two upcoming themed issues. For the December 2018 issue, they are accepting pieces surrounding the topics of Christmas, holiday, and winter. Their January 2019 issue looks at all things teen - from teen writers to bullying, peer pressure, emotions, first love, best friends - and more.

When I asked Edify Fiction Editor Angela Meek [pictured] about the teen-themed CFS, she replied, “I was inspired recently to make a themed issue about teen concerns because of a story we recently accepted that incorporated the author's own experiences as a teen and how those challenges shaped him. As a mom with a teen who is starting to stretch those wings and find her way in the world, I thought it would be a good time to have a dedicated issue.”

The call is a broad one, and Meek says they want it that way: “We're pretty open as long as it is has a teen flavor to it - growing up, relationships, bullying, sports, siblings, dealing with parents, dealing with living in a divorced family, acceptance, school - you name it. As long as it is related to teens in some manner, any topic is welcomed. We also would love to feature as many teen writers as possible - from never-been-published to those writers who know their way around the writing world.”

For more information, check out Edify Fiction on Facebook and Twitter. Their general submissions guidelines can be found here, which apply for the themed issues as well. Deadline for both these themed issues is October 31, 2018.

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Grabbing Pussy

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The Book of Dog

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The Incendiaries

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Let Me Lie

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X (Kinsey Millhone, #24)

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Wordrunner eChapbooks

Wordrunner eChapbooks publishes an annual themed anthology, taking submissions just prior to publication, but also then publishes two e-chapbooks of fiction each year. While they have a submission fee, they are also a paying market (with a better return than I've been getting for playing the lottery lately). "Our aim is to make high quality writing available free or at very low cost, much like the original chapbooks that were hawked in the streets of 18th and 19th century London for pennies," the editors note. Yet web publishing opens up all kinds of new options for digital-aged readers: "In many issues, hyperlinks to photos, videos, background articles, maps, poetry, and artwork add new dimensions to the online reading experience."

The current chapbook is Ovenbirds and Other Stories by Dorene O'Brien, with a full archive of previous e-chapbooks and anthologies going back to 2008. Submissions for the spring anthology will open January 1 with submissions for the e-chapbook fiction series running from May 1 - June 30. Lots of time to get your manuscripts ready!

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Glimmer Train New Writers Winners

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their May/June Short Story Award for New Writers. This competition is held three times a year and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5000. The next Short Story Award competition will start on September 1: Short Story Award for New Writers. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

1st place goes to Victoria Alejandra Garayalde of San Juan, Puerto Rico, who wins $2500 for “American Dream.” Her story will be published in Issue 104 of Glimmer Train Stories. This will be her first print publication. [Photo credit: Rebecca Titus]

2nd place goes to Jenzo DuQue of Brooklyn, NY, who wins $500 for “How to Harbor an Illegal.” His story will also be published in an upcoming issue, increasing his prize to $700. This will be his first print publication.

3rd place goes to Sena Moon of Ann Arbor, Michigan, who wins $300 for “Sugar.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadlines soon approaching!

Fiction Open: August 31 (grace period extends through September 10)
Glimmer Train hosts this competition twice a year, and first place wins $3000 plus publication in the journal, and 10 copies of that issue. Second/third: $1000/$600 and consideration for publication. This category has been won by both beginning and veteran writers - all are welcome! There are no theme restrictions. Word count generally ranges from 3000 – 6000, though up to 28,000 is fine. Stories may have previously appeared online but not in print. Click here for complete guidelines.

Very Short Fiction Award: August 31 (grace period extends through September 10)
This competition is also held twice a year, with first place winning $2000 plus publication in the journal, and 10 copies of that issue. Second/third: $500/$300 and consideration for publication. It’s open to all writers, with no theme restrictions, and the word count range is 300 – 3000. Stories may have previously appeared online but not in print. Click here for complete guidelines.

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Filters Not Working - Sorry!

Saturday, August 25: Currently our filters are not working on the magazine and calls for submissions pages. Using them results in an error message. We are aware of the issue and are working to resolve it. We apologize for any inconvenience! Please check back with us soon; we hope to have them up and running. Thank you!

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New Lit on the Block :: Thriller Magazine

With a name like Thriller Magazine, there’s little room for mistaking the genre of this new online biannual publishing short stories and flash fiction under the umbrella of thriller/suspense/mystery. And with Editor in Chief Ammar Habib’s background, readers of this publication can expect to experience quality genre literature, while writers can expect that their work will be respectfully considered.

With a name like Thriller Magazine, there’s little room for mistaking the genre of this new online biannual publishing short stories and flash fiction under the umbrella of thriller/suspense/mystery. And with Editor in Chief Ammar Habib’s background, readers of this publication can expect to experience quality genre literature, while writers can expect that their work will be respectfully considered.

Habib himself is a bestselling and national award-winning author based out of Texas. He has several years of experience both editing for magazines/journals and as a freelance editor. Outside of his own published short stories, his novels include The Dark Guardian Trilogy, Memories of My Future, and Ana Rocha: Shadows of Justice. Habib also maintains professional membership in International Thriller Writers.

Habib’s interest in starting a literary magazine came from his own experiences trying to find homes for his writing. “The goal of Thriller Magazine,” he says, “is to showcase established and rising voices of the thriller genre. As a bestselling/award-winning author myself, I had a lot of difficulty publishing my earlier works when I started my writing career a few years ago. Therefore, I wanted to create a publication that gave newer authors a fair shot, and I think that is the biggest difference maker with Thriller Magazine. Our hope is to be a publication that gives new authors a place to show their work alongside more well-known names.”

Readers of Thriller Magazine can expect to find a variety of stories that fall into the thriller genre short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and the occasional review/interview. “From action thrillers to westerns to horror thrillers and to noir detective stories,” Habib adds, “we try to really showcase the thriller genre at its best!” The first issue, published July 2018, includes works by Andrew Bourelle, Amy Grech, Kaitlyn Johnson, Paul Michaels, and Gage Garza, as well as Habib contributing a work.

Writers interested in submitting to Thriller Magazine can do so via email; there is no reading fee. “As an author myself,” Habib comments, “I know how much courage it takes to submit your work to editors, so we aim to treat each submission with respect. Each submission goes through two rounds of review before a decision is made, and we hope to get a response to the author within a month if possible.”

Habib hopes in the future that the publication will be able to create enough revenue to pay writers, having overcome the greatest hurdle so far: “just getting our name out there in the hopes of attracting readers and writers to check out our site.” With the publication of the first issue came “a huge spike in traffic . . . so it looks like we have overcome that first hurdle!” And for that, Habib adds, “We are really thankful for the warm reception our publication has received since its launch last March, and we hope to continue showcasing amazing work!”

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New Lit on the Block :: Months To Years

Death. Dying. Terminal illness. Words – and experiences – we tend to avoid, not want to talk about and, most certainly, not want to experience. Yet, as Founding Editor Renata Khoshroo Louwers says, these are topics that touch everyone’s life at some point. Which is why she and her husband began Months To Years, the online quarterly of creative nonfiction, poetry, photography, and art, as a response to their own experiences with loss as well as a way to support others.

Death. Dying. Terminal illness. Words – and experiences – we tend to avoid, not want to talk about and, most certainly, not want to experience. Yet, as Founding Editor Renata Khoshroo Louwers says, these are topics that touch everyone’s life at some point. Which is why she and her husband began Months To Years, the online quarterly of creative nonfiction, poetry, photography, and art, as a response to their own experiences with loss as well as a way to support others.

Even the name, Months To Years, Renata explains, refers to the expression doctors often use to communicate regarding terminally ill patients. “When asked to estimate a patient’s lifespan, they will (because no one knows for sure and they prefer not to be too precise) typically say ‘months to years,’ ‘weeks to months,’ ‘days to weeks,’ or ‘hours to days.’ Ours is a literary journal about mortality, death, and dying. In a sense, whether sick or well, we all have ‘months to years.’ The name is meant to capture this aspect of diagnosis and also to remind us that we are all terminal.”

As editor, Renata holds a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Boston University and is pursuing a certificate in Creative Nonfiction from the UCLA Extension Writer’s Studio. She is a former newspaper reporter and lifelong writer. Both she and my husband/co-founder, Tim Louwers, are writing memoirs about their experiences related to their first spouses’ illnesses.

“Months To Years is truly a labor of love and purpose,” Renata tells me. “Tim and I are a husband and wife team [and JMU Dukes fans!], and we co-founded the magazine (and the associated nonprofit) in 2017. We were in our late 40s/early 50s when we both lost our first spouses in 2014. My first husband, Ahmad Khoshroo, had bladder cancer. Tim’s first wife, Barbara, died from early-onset Alzheimer’s at age 50. We experienced ‘until death do us part’ at a much younger age than any of us could have ever expected.”

It was after Ahmad Khoshroo was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer that Renata began writing personal essays. “It was a means of processing the experience,” she shares. “The experience of losing a spouse inspired us to want to create a space for meaningful and thoughtful writing about death and dying. It is such a taboo subject in our culture . . . the idea of using writing and art to process the experience and share it with others appealed to us.”

The greatest joy Renata says she experiences in creating this new publication “comes from the notes of appreciation we have received from readers and contributors.” While the greatest hurdle has been simply wrangling the technical aspects of the website. “I did it by myself (with some ‘for Dummies’ books!). I am a writer, not a techie, so it was a very arduous process.” [Editor’s note: The site and publication look great!]

Renata also credits their “fantastically talented team that includes Design Director Barbara LaBounta and Editorial Assistant/Storytelling Coach Renusha Indralingam. Both have volunteered in hospices previously. They are also volunteering their time for us and donating their talent.”

Readers of Months To Years will find compelling essays and poems about mortality, death, and dying. “Some are dark, some are funny, all are poignant. The lovely photos and design further highlight the power of the written works.” And Renata shared that they are excited to have recently started a collaboration with the Stanford Medicine SCOPE blog. SCOPE re-publishes one excerpt per month from a Months To Years essay.

Months To Years is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and in the future Renata anticipates expanding their mission to include support resources for younger spouses of the terminally ill. “We are a self-funded organization (but will soon establish a donation button for those who wish to support our mission)! We do not sell advertising in the magazine because we want to keep the focus on compelling storytelling about death and dying. Both Tim and I are active in patient/caregiver advocacy work related to cancer and Alzheimer’s. We also both served as fellows (and continue to support) at the annual End Well Symposium in San Francisco in 2017.”

The most current issue of Months To Years can be read online as well as published via the Joomag platform. Readers can also download and/or print a PDF. Joomag also offers the option to purchase magazine hard copies on-demand.

For writers, Months to Years has rolling submission deadlines of March 1 (spring issue), June 1 (summer issue), September 1 (fall issue), and December 1 (winter issue).

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Glimmerglass Girl

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Goodbye Glimmer Train

After nearly 30 years of continuous publication, Glimmer Train has announced that they will be closing shop after this next year of publication. Submissions are still being accepted to finish out with issue #106, but after that, sisters Linda Swanson-Davies and Susan Burmeister-Brown – or as we call them, The Glimmer Train Sisters – plan to retire the publication entirely.

While they have received many offers and inquiries to let others take over the renowned journal, The Sisters had already decided against this option. In a form letter response to such inquiries, The Sisters. . . 

After nearly 30 years of continuous publication, Glimmer Train has announced that they will be closing shop after this next year of publication. Submissions are still being accepted to finish out with issue #106, but after that, sisters Linda Swanson-Davies (pictured left) and Susan Burmeister-Brown (pictured right) – or as we call them, The Glimmer Train Sisters – plan to retire the publication entirely.

While they have received many offers and inquiries to let others take over the renowned journal, The Sisters had already decided against this option. In a form letter response to such inquiries, The Sisters recount a story of their parents starting up a wallpaper shop back in the 1960s, and how, in an effort to encourage every homeowner – no matter their finances – to make their homes beautiful, The Sisters’ father gave free lessons on putting up wallpaper and even loaned out tools so it could be done properly. When the time came for the parents to move on from this business, they sold it to new owners who did not follow the same business ethics and turned the business inside out. So much for the reputation the family had meticulously and genuinely built up over the years.

I can understand why Susan and Linda are opting to shut down instead of handing it over. From the NewPage’s perspective, while we see a lot of turnover among editors in publications, it’s rare to see entire publications handed over to others. In some of those cases, the publication has a transition period and seems to move along quite well, but in others – often – we’ve witnessed the not-so-pleasant transitions which have resulted in damaged relationships and ultimately the demise of the publication. Unless Susan and Linda would be willing to walk away and say, “We don’t care a lick about what happens,” then shutting it down seems most logical.

I have known Glimmer Train nearly my whole reading life. It was one of the first literary magazines I can remember seeing in my hometown bookstore (now called an “indie” bookstore), and then later, in the libraries, and then in the chain bookstores that cropped up. Over the decades, Glimmer Train became ubiquitous. You couldn’t walk into a bookstore, library or coffee shop in the US that didn’t have the uniquely stylized cover somewhere on a shelf or table. And this speaks to the business sense of The Sisters. A sense that wasn’t always appreciated by others.

Why is that?

I liken it to Starbucks, which started out as three students living in Seattle who wanted to sell decent coffee. Everybody loved them, and they grew, and everybody loved them more, and they grew some more, and so on, until they got so big that people started to hate them, blame them for ruining small town businesses, and for becoming a behemoth corporate machine. But hey, guess what? When people love you and they keep giving you an outrageous amount of money for a cup of coffee, you can’t help but grow. I think it’s called “The American Dream,” that doing something you love could actually make you a decent living, maybe even make you rich. But then that’s when I guess we’re supposed to start hating people – for succeeding.

Glimmer Train, too, was a small start-up publication – like the (literally) dozens of start-ups we see each year. And how many of those start-ups persist after a year? Two years? Five years? At NewPages, we are continually curating our lists to keep up with the new publications, as well as those that have folded. And why is that? Because it takes a HUGE amount of energy to run a good publication. It requires dedication, commitment, time, and money, even online publications that are “free” to publish. While some editors have a great deal of motivation at their start-up, this dwindles with each passing year that the same editor has to pay to maintain the web presence, has to be the only one sometimes reading through the slush pile, has to be the only one trying to get enough submissions to publish a full issue, has to get enough QUALITY submissions that haven’t just been spammed out through some submission service to publish a DECENT full issue. And the resentments piles up.

The Glimmer Train Sisters figured out two things: How to manage the work load and how to make enough money to make it worthwhile for them to manage the work load.

The biggest criticism I heard about Glimmer Train over the years was that they were just a “contest machine.” And my response to that is: Yes. Yes, in part, they are, and a damn good one at that. They ran numerous contests throughout the year. They developed a consistent calendar, a submissions process, and a generous awards payout for winners. They were one of the best business models of a literary magazine I have ever seen. And this is exactly what has kept them going for three decades: They were good at it. They made money and they gave a ton of money away.

Unlike Starbucks, to my knowledge, Linda and Susan have not become multi-millionaire literary moguls. At best, I hope they made enough money to support themselves through each year and sock away some for retirement. What is so wrong about that? I think it’s genius that anyone could figure out a way to make money from publishing literature and not just make enough to scrape by or go into debt, and they did so supported by a community of readers and writers who genuinely appreciated their publication.

Glimmer Train has been an icon in the literary landscape. One of the most oft-used lines in their contributors’ bios has been, “This is so-and-so’s first publication.” Never in any other publication I have thumbed through over this past decade (and then some) have I seen this phrase to the extent that I have in Glimmer Train. Which means there are literally hundreds of writers out there who received their first publication because Gimmer Train gave them that opportunity, either through general submissions or through one of the contests.

Often, I hear this is what motivates editors to start a publication: To recognize those whose writing is overlooked. To give new writers a chance. To break away from the tradition of publishing already-famous writers or schools of writers.

That’s exactly what Glimmer Train did, and not just at its start, but year after year, and decade after decade. There is no other publication like it. None. None that have upheld this credo for so long and so abundantly.

After first hearing that Glimmer Train would cease publication, I was seriously disappointed, as I’m sure many others were and will be. But then, I thought of all The Sisters have done through the years, what a wonderfully continuous contribution they have made to our literary community, and my sorrow shifted to acceptance and then joy. What an amazing accomplishment they achieved, creating this existence, this stalwart, this rich history for us all. I’m happy for them. Happy they have come to the decision to let Glimmer Train finish out this final year with style and with grace, and then let it just be done. Like any fine story that comes to its resolve, we are all enriched for having shared in the experience of it, and even though it is over, it is a part of us. Forever.

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Space Opera

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Aquifer Now Accepting Film Submissions

The Aquifer, the online journal of The Florida Review, is now accepting film and video work as they expand their visual arts and new media offerings for readers. 

"We are looking for experimental works of film or video that are 15 minutes or less and utilize moving images as a means to poetic expression, formal exploration, or abstract and open-ended narratives. Compelling, personal works that push the boundaries of cinematic convention will also be considered for publication."

For more information, see the Aquifer announcement.

[The Florida Review 42.1 2018 cover art: Dengke Chen, "Tank Man," digital illustration]

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The Blackbird Season

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Latinx Latina Latino Writers Wanted

The Florida Review is seeking submissions from Latinx / Latina / Latino writers for a special feature. Work submitted to this category will be considered for both the digital and print editions of this feature. Fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, graphic narrative (color or black-and-white), hybrid writing, visual art, and digital media are all welcome. Edited by Nicole Oquendo [pictured]. Submissions accepted through September 1, 2018. For more information, click here.

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Calling All Crones!

Gyroscope Review: Fine Poetry to Turn Your World Around has announced a call for submissions for The Crone Issue to feature contemporary poetry from poets who identify as women and are over the age of 50.

"Women over 50 are often underrepresented in poetry publications, so we are choosing to offer a space and a voice to the wise women out there. We want work that celebrates the ideas of crone, wise woman, matriarch, post-menopause, grandmother, elder, strength, experience," the editors write in their CFS. They challenge: "Shake up our ideas of the female over-50 demographic. Show us something fierce, something powerful, something that cannot be ignored. Cast off the restrictions around what you have been told you can talk about. Break your silence."

Submissions are open until September 15 or until the editors have accepted enough content to fill the issue - whichever comes first. So - don't delay! Send your best work today!

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2018 Dogwood Literary Award Winners

Volume 17 of Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose features the winning entries of their 2018 Literary Awards. In addition to publication, Dogwood doubled their cash prizes to $1000 for each winning author. Each author's name is linked to a page with more information about them.

Fiction Prize
Judge Nicholas Montemarano
“There You Are” by Landon Houle

Poetry Prize
Judge Gillian Conoley
“Early Marriage, 1982, Endless Rain” by Kim Garcia

Nonfiction Prize
Judge Patrick Phillips
“To Learn About Smoke One Must First Light a Fire” by Misha Rai [pictured[

The 2019 Dogwood Literary Awards are open for submission until September 5, 2018.

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Sommelier of Deformity

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The Secret History of Wonder Woman

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The Last Black Unicorn

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Still Point Arts Celebrates Ten Years

Celebrating ten years and thirty issues of Still Point Arts Quarterly, Founding Editor Christine Brooks Cote's introduction to the Summer 2018 issue reads like an advice article for anyone with the idea to start up a journal.

Among the things she figured out along the way was what made for publishable submissions. She came up with these three criteria: "1) they have to be so interesting that I can't stop reading until I get all the way to the end; 2) they have to be well written - I shouldn't have to reread a paragraph or a sentence several times, or even twice, to figure out what is being said; and 3) they have to strike just the right chord inside me and make me feel that what I just read should be read by everyone."

Over this years, she notes, this search for quality submissions has not changed, nor her "aim to present them as respectfully and tastefully as possible. Each journal is a creation, a work of art."

Cote admits one thing that has changed over the years: "my respect, admiration, and gratitude for the artists and writers whose work we publish has grown exponentially. I never imagined when I started this work that I would have the pleasure of connecting with so many thoughtful and inspiring individuals who produce work that regularly stops me in my tracks. Truly, connecting with the people who contribute to this publication has been immensely joyful and fulfilling, and I've learned so much from them. That part I didn't expect - indeed, unexpected gifts are the best."

May Still Point Arts Quarterly enjoy another ten years - and more - of giving such beauty and joy to readers as well as receiving!

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Lit Mag Covers :: Picks of the Week

This week's covers are from some of the many Alternative Magazines we have listed at NewPages as a reminder of this useful resource for both reading and submitting writing.

Earth Island Journal combines investigative journalism and thought-provoking essays that make the subtle but profound connections between the environment and other contemporary issues. Writers guidelines here.

The focus of Feminist Studies 44.1 (2018) is life writing and new approaches to studying women’s autobiographies, including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Gertrude Stein, Kamal Das, Gayle Rubin and Judith Butler, as well as works by Estelle Carol, Alexandra Ketchum, Olga Zilberbourg, Corey Hickner-Johnson, Hiliary Chute, and Ashwini Tambe. Submissions guidelines here.

The Progressive is a journalistic voice for peace and social justice at home and abroad, steadfastly opposing militarism, the concentration of power in corporate hands, the disenfranchisement of the citizenry, poverty, and prejudice in all its guises. Writers guidelines here.

One of my favorites, Parabola is published quarterly by the Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition, a non-profit, non-denominational, educational organization. Each issue devotes 128 highly illustrated pages to a universal theme. Submission guidelines here.

The Humanist magazine applies humanism — a natural and democratic outlook informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion — to broad areas of social and personal concern in pursuit of alternative ideas. Writers guidelines here.

And we all need to retain our ability to laugh and bring humor into our days. The Funny Times helps us fulfill this need as America's longest-running ad-free monthly humor publication in a newspaper format. 

 

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