Flycatcher: A Journal of Native Imagination of literature and art published online twice a year (winter and summer).

Editors Christopher Martin, Kathleen Brewin Lewis, Karen Pickell, Precious Williams, Jennifer Martin, Laurence Stacey, Jordan Thrasher, and Megan Gehring created Flycatcher to help bring together a place-based literary conversation in suburban Atlanta. Flycatcher does not necessarily aim to be a regional publication, though the editors “do think of the southeastern United States as our literary ground.” Readers of Flycatcher can expect to find “good, lyrical, sometimes gritty pieces of writing and art that are expressions of belonging to a place – or sometimes a lack of belonging.”

The first issue features poetry from Janisse Ray, John Lane, Thomas Rain Crowe, Marianne Worthington, Erik Reece, J. Drew Lanham, Rosemary Royston; fiction from Sharanya Manivannan, Raymond L. Atkins, and Beverly James; nonfiction from Susan Cerulean, Bobbi Buchanan, Casey Clabough, Linda Niemann, Holly Haworth; visual art from Brian Brown, Sarah McFalls, and an interview with Barbara Brown Taylor.

While Flycatcher is planning for two issues a year, Martin says they hope to put out three or maybe four issues a year as they gain experience. Additionally, he says, “down the road, we’d like to explore the possibility of putting out one or two print issues a year. And right now we’re figuring out ways to get Flycatcher out into the community through readings, workshops, and other events.”

Flycatcher editors will consider all genres via e-mail. Deadline to be considered for summer issue is May 1, though submissions are accepted year-round and on a rolling basis.

The Barefoot Review is an online/PDF publication of poetry and short prose (non-fiction) meant to “provide a venue for people who have dealt with hardship to express themselves and read other about others who have faced hardship.”

Specifically, this biannual edited by Amy King, Nicholas Gordon, Mel Glenn, and Jason Teeple “welcomes submissions of poetry or short prose from people who have or have had physical difficulties in their lives, from cancer to seizures, Alzheimer’s to Lupus. It is also a place for caretakers, families, significant others and friends to write about their experiences and relationships to the person. They are a vital part to being able to live with an illness.”

Why Barefoot? The editors give several meanings: “Baring your soul and expressing naked feelings. Bare feet ground you, give you balance, and connect you to the earth. The review is here from a desire to help others.”

The editors understand that “writing can be a tremendous source of healing and allow difficult feelings and ideas to be expressed.” And while they understand the unfortunate reality that they cannot publish every piece they receive, they note: “Writing, verbalizing feelings that may be subconscious or unexpressed is more important than the acknowledgment of being published here.”

Contributors to the first issue include Sonnet Alyse, Karen Alkalay-Gut, Michele Battiste, Ruth Bavetta, Laura D. Bellmay, Linda Benninghoff, Mike Berger, Rose Mary Boehm, Harry Calhoun, Joan Colby, Carol Dorf, Iris Jamahl Dunkle, Elizabeth Dunphey, J. Míchel Fleury, Meg Harris, Anne Higgins, Val Morehouse, David Mullen, B.Z. Niditch, Darlene M. Pagán, Natalie Parker-Lawrence, Jason Parsley, Amber Peckham, Lisa V. Proulx, Michael Rowe, Willa Schneberg, Doug Schroeder, Aftab Yusuf Shaikh, Anne Shigley, Shelby Stephenson, Marc Thompson, and Judith Williams.

The editors hope that each edition will continue to print pieces from target individuals and provide a venue for talk and expression of these difficult issues. In doing so, and in continued promotion of the publication, The Barefoot Review will increase awareness of the subjects it publishes.

The Barefoot Review is looking for e-mail submissions from two categories of people: 1) those who currently have or have survived a serious health issue and 2) those in their lives — caregivers, families, significant others, friends, doctors, nurses, social workers, therapists, anyone who has experiences to share. See the website for more specific details.

Crossed Out Magazine is an online bi-annual (summer/winter) edited by John Joseph Hill and Ana Zurawski, with the first issue is focused on fiction.

Motivating their efforts to start up a new publication, Hill and Zurawski were driven by a desire “to publish short fiction that is fast paced and socially aware to some degree. We also believe that independent, free, online magazines allow writers a flexible and accessible platform to show their work.” Which is what readers can expect to find in each issue.

The inaugural issue of Crossed Out features short fiction by Sam Pink, Melissa Reddish, Benjamin Willems, James Hritz, Chris Castle, James Ford, Thomas Sullivan, and Robert Gerleman, as well as photography by Justin Purnell.

Hill says their future plans for Crossed Out include creating a downloadable and printable version of the magazine for upcoming issues. He also notes expanding consideration for content: “We also accept other types of submissions (photography, art, poetry, CNF, etc) for Issue 2 if queried first.”

Crossed Out is currently accepting short fiction and other content for Issue #2. Deadline: July 1, 2012; pay $20 USD per story.

drafthorse is a biannual (Feb/July) online publication of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, visual narrative, and other media art.

Editor Denton Loving, an emerging writer from East Tennessee, co-edits drafthorse along with Darnell Arnoult, prize-winning author of What Travels With Us: Poems (LSU Press) and the novel Sufficient Grace (Free Press). Liz Murphy Thomas is an artist, photographer and educator who serves as art editor.

Published by Lincoln Memorial University, located in the heart of the Appalachians, the theme of the drafthorse is “work and no work.” Denton Loving explains, “Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) was established as a work school in the heart of Appalachia, and work continues to be a driving force in our contemporary lives. Work has defined our region beginning with indigenous peoples, and later with settlers of European and African descent who extracted a living on steep hillsides amid a stunning but often treacherous landscape. Today, alongside a liberal arts education, LMU offers professional education in the areas of osteopathic medicine, law, education and business. The editors of drafthorse are interested in work, or the absence of work, as an avenue to explore how people both manifest and transcend their nature as physical and spiritual beings.”

drafthorse publishes content where “work, occupation, labor,” explains Loving, “or lack of the same, is in some way intrinsic to a narrative’s potential for epiphany. While we at drafthorse are just as eager to publish stories or poems about a grape grower from the Napa Valley or photographs of lobster fishermen in Maine, we originate from the mountain South, and we will most definitely look to publish a healthy dose of storytelling that reflects our own history in relationship to labor.”

Contributors in the first issue include Lisa Alther, Gloria Ballard, Joseph Bathanti, Gabriel Morley and Stephanie Whetstone with fiction; Matt Berman, Judy Goldman and Matt Martin with creative non-fiction; Michael Chitwood, Janet Kirchheimer, Maurice Manning, Chris Martin, Rosemary Royston, and Iris Tillman with poetry. Artwork by Jeff Whetstone and Robert Gipe.

Loving says the editors at drafthorse look forward to incorporating more music and film in the near future, and eventually hope to publish more than twice a year.

Submissions to drafthorse are accepted through email and on a rolling basis. The editors are particularly seeking original fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and visual art.

Northwind is a literary quarterly published by Chain Bridge Press available online and via Kindle and edited by Tom Howard (Managing Editor) and Abbe Steel (Editor).

Tom Howard commented on the motivation to start a new literary magazine: “I guess because a world full of stories is a richer kind of world. And there’s something exhilarating about not only finding stories and poems that deserve an audience, but finding that audience as well. It’s a challenge and a responsibility. We also happen to think that there’s still a great demand for affecting and provocative stories and poetry, maybe a greater demand than ever. With the advent of mobile devices and e-readers, literature is so much easier to discover, and somewhere out there, there is a vast untapped audience of casual, intelligent readers who wouldn’t have known how or where to buy a literary magazine even ten years ago. So we’re in the business of discovery, in every way.”

Readers who discover Northwind, as Howard says, can expect to find “A blend of realism, surrealism, humor, melancholy, the future and the past, great characters, sharp dialogue, unguarded and unsentimental poetry, and sustained, lyrical writing. And an occasional ghost or talking chimp.”

The first issue of Northwind includes fiction by Christie VanLaningham, Malcolm Dixon, Miles Klee, L.E. Sullivan, Tom Johns, Amanda Bales, Michael Trudeau, Stephen Baily, and Robert Cormack; poetry by Carl James Grindley, Kenneth Pobo, Marydale Stewart, Mark Jackley, Steve Klepetar, Laura Kathryn McRae, June Sylvester Saraceno, Andr

Hailing from the west coast, The Monarch Review is available online (publish 3 times a week, or so) and in print (publish every six months, available to purchase online and in Seattle bookstores).

The editorial staff includes an eclectic mix of background and expertise with Jacob Uitti (Managing Editor, Poetry and Fiction Editor), Caleb Thompson (Nonfiction, Music and Poetry Editor), Andrew Bartels (Visual Art and Poetry Editor), Nick Koveshnikov (Technical Editor), and Evan Flory-Barnes (Music Editor).

Jacob Uitti provided some background information on the publication: “The Monarch Review was started in the spirit of the Monarch Apartments in Seattle, home to a myriad of writers, musicians, visual artists, thinkers, pranksters, cranks and the curious. We wanted to create a community, a forum, for upcoming and established writers and to continue the vagabond culture of the Monarch Apartments.”

Both online and in print, readers can find “work that displays the inherent human conflict. Poetry and faith and doubt. Fiction that knows death but is not dead. Essays that illuminate the difficulty and yet the humor of life. Art and music a person can both lose and find oneself in.”

The first print issue features works by Rebecca Hoogs, Rebecca Bridge, Jason Whitmarsh, Jim Brantingham, Amy Gerstler, Jed Myers, Ed Ochester, Abigail Warren, Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingde (poetry); Chris Engman, Jesse Sugarmann (visual art); Jim Brantingham, Zac Hill, Valery Petrovsky, Caleb Powell (prose); and Julie Larios (interview).

Uitti says hopes the publication continues to put out high quality work, to maintain a community under the umbrella of the publication, and to reach more people in the coming months and years.

The editors encourage submissions of all work: “If it’s good, it’s good,” Uitti says. The Monarch Review accepts submissions year-round via Submishmash. Currently, there are no thematic issues planned.

Sucker Literary Magazine is an annual PDF and Kindle publication for young adults produced by Senior Editor/Founder Hannah Goodman, Art, Layout, and Design Executive Editor Alyssa Gaudreau, and Copy Editor Bouvier Servillas.

Goodman’s initial searches for exclusively young adult lit mags did not yield the kind of literature she was looking for, so she started Sucker to fill this void. In Sucker, she tells us, readers can find “edgy, compelling, new YA literature that both teens and adults can enjoy.” Goodman expands on their concept of edgy: “This means we do not avoid sex, drugs, complicated friendships and relationships with parents. It also means that we don’t want to preach to teens about those subjects. That being said, it’s not just about the subject. It’s also about language and voice: authentic sounding characters and a narrative voice that reflects the tone of the story.”

Sucker editors also hope that writers will see the publication as “something different” from other YA venues: “Not just ‘please no more vampires.’ If you love writing about vampires, then put him on a skateboard and have him crash into a human teenage guy. Maybe they fight and maybe the vampire loses. Maybe they become great friends. Maybe they fall in love.”

Sucker is also a different venue for writers in that the editors will be on the lookout for “raw talent that just needs a smidge of guidance.” Goodman explains: “Our staff readers fill out detailed feedback sheets to decide if the pieces should be accepted or rejected. Pieces that readers feel are close to being ‘there’ are critiqued and sent back to our senior editor.” From there, they will “invite the writer to be mentored for a draft or two.”

Contributors to the first issue of Sucker include: R F Brown, Claudia Classon, Shelli Cornelison, Candy Fite, Sarah Hannah Gómez, Hannah R. Goodman, Paul Heinz, Natalia Jaster, Josh Prokopy, James Silberstein, Mima Tipper, and Aida Zilelian.

Like so many new publications, Goodman’s plans for the future of the publication is simply to continue producing quality issues. She hopes to see the publication available as a print-on-demand version as well.

Sucker is currently open for submissions until May 1 via e-mail. Full guidelines on listed on the site.

Evental Aesthetics is an international, online, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to philosophical perspectives on art. Publishing three times per year, with one themed issue each year, the journal invites experimental and traditional philosophical ideas on all questions pertaining to art, music, and literature, as well as aesthetic issues in the non-artworld, such as everyday aesthetics and environmental aesthetics. The inaugural issue is “Aesthetics After Hegel.”

Niche Magazine appears biannually online (Issuu) as well as in PDF format for purchase with plans to release a Amazon Kindle edition.

Editors Katya Cummins, Shannon Hewson,
 Matthew Atkinson,
 Beth Cohen, Katie Cantwell, Mary Keutelian,
 Rebecca Kaplan, and 
Rochelle Liu started Niche Magazine in response to the “many talented artists” looking for a way to break into the literary scene, and even more that merely want to be read, heard, or seen. “The idea in starting Niche Magazine,” says Cummins, “was to provide a place where, not one but multiple genres and tiers of communities and artistic ambitions, are satisfied.”

The first issue of Niche Magazine includes literary short stories, some experimental creative nonfiction, and “beautiful” poetry, some of which is traditional, some of which is experimental, and “thought-provoking” artwork from seasoned and emerging artists. There is also an interview from the science-fiction writer, Neil Gaiman, and music from the jazz band Comfort Food.

Also featured in the first issue: art from Pearl A. Hodges, Jessica Swenson, and Fabio Sassi; fiction by Bill D’Arezzo, Molly Koeneman, Robert Mundy, Sean Jackson, and Susan Land; non-fiction by Stephen Newton, Yinka Reed-Nolan, and Melissa Wiley; poetry by James Dunlap, Martina Reisz Newberry, Mercedes Lawry, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Scott Starbuck, and William Cordeiro.

Niche Magazine editors are currently reading through submissions for their second issue in which they hope will include some flash fiction, short-shorts, journalism, and literary criticism. “Through this,” say Cummins, “we hope to continue breaking down the tensions between genres. More importantly, we hope that readers will continue to find Niche an entertaining and relatable read.”

Niche Magazine accepts all genres (including “genre fiction”, journalism, “spoken word” poetry, and literary criticism.) with submissions year round through Submission Manager. The deadline for the next issue is April 1, 2012. For full guidelines, please visit the Niche Magazine website.

Niche Magazine’s website also includes columns by Natala Orobello, Lauryn Ash, and Christopher Smith. Reviews, author interviews, “MFA Spotlights,” and guest posts can be read on Niche’s blog. Niche is currently looking for reviewers, columnists, and current attendees or graduates of MFA programs to conduct interviews for our monthly MFA Spotlights.

burntdistrict is a semi-annual (Winter/Summer) journal of contemporary poetry published in print and e-book (Kindle) by editors Liz Kay and Jen Lambert.

When asked what motivated the start of this new venture, Kay responded, “When I think of the best venue for new and exciting poetry, I think of literary magazines. I can easily get absorbed in my favorite collections, but when I want diversity, when I want to see what new work is being created, I look to lit mags. When we decided to start a magazine, like many other editors, we were looking to create something that was magnetic from cover to cover. Naturally, aesthetic is involved, and not all magazines appeal to all audiences, but that is what is so fantastic about them. There is something out there for everyone.”

Kay believes burntdistrict fulfills this expectation: “I have read and reread Issue 1, and I am amazed at how every poem in there speaks to me, how when I finish, I am breathless and swooning, and how some of that is caused by the fact that the poets represented in its pages range from successful, widely published poets to students, desperately carving out their craft, from those who work full-time in academia to those who make their livings far outside of it, all of whom come back to the page time and again because something beautiful, something important, happens there.”

Readers of burntdistrict are promised “Beauty and diversity.” Kay expands on this: “Every poem we choose takes our breath away in some way or another. burntdistrict poets craft heartbreakingly lovely lines and are so intentional in what they want to pull out of their readers. They are smart with punctuation, enjambment, endings, imagery. They are generous with their talents, and in turn we try to be generous with space. We are happy to take long poems and work in series. We are drawn to poems that speak to one another. Often this represents the work of a single poet over a succession of pages, but at other times, it’s the juxtaposition of different voices that sparks the conversation.”

Contributors in the first issue include Lindsey Baker, Becca Barniskis, Francesca Bell, Candace Black, Sheila Black, Lori Brack, Allison Campbell, Nancy Devine, Gary Dop, Kelly Fordon, Meg Gannon, Teri Grimm, Amy Hassinger, Paul Hostovsky, Michael Hurley, Natasha Kessler, James Henry Knippen, Steve Langan, Christopher Leibow, Alex Lemon, Matt Mason, Vikas Menon, Joanna Pearson, Jim Peterson, Adrian Potter, Nate Pritts, Rick Robbins, Jane Rosenberg LaForge, Marge Saiser, Erika Sanchez, Joseph Somoza, John Stanizzi, Alex Stolis, Ira Sukrungruang, Benjamin Sutton, Carine Topal, Natalia Trevino, William Trowbridge, Benjamin Walker, and Natalie Young

The future of burntdistrict looks good given the positive energy of its editors, who hope to “keep producing fantastic issues, full of quality writing and a diverse population of writers.”

“We are not in this to create a venue to promote our friends,” Kay emphasizes, “or to develop a magazine based on swollen bios. Instead, the thing we love most about this endeavor is getting excited by a poem. I hope we continue to maintain our goals of publishing the best poems we can find, and making sure that page after page retains that goal. In terms of future plans, we would love to offer special edition issues (we already have some in mind) and maybe pulling in some guest editors. We are so passionate about this magazine; we can’t wait to watch it grow up.”

burntdistrict is always open to submissions of original, unpublished poems via Submittable.

Ithaca Lit: Lit with Art is an end-of-summer print annual with quarterly online issues. Editors include Michele Lesko, founding editor; Sherry O’Keefe, poetry editor; and Madeleine Beckman, nonfiction editor.

Lesko comments on the start-up and focus of the magazine: “Living in Ithaca, I noticed a void in the lit/arts journal world for writers & artists from around the world and in Ithaca. The journals already in place are connected with the colleges. We also intended to represent visual art more vividly within the field of poetry and non-fiction essays that deal with writing and art process. The visual and poetic join together to bring a more stimulating experience to our readers.”

Given the intent of the publication, readers can expect to “enjoy discovering a new visual artist featured in each issue with a gallery of images, an interview and a biographic/personal page that gives readers a real sense of the artist in his/her studio. With the same treatment, we feature a well-established poet: a writer with two or more books published and a career in place. The poet contributes new poems, an interview, and a bio page. We publish new poetry from emerging and established poets in each issue and feature interviews with writers and/or artists as well as craft/process non-fiction pieces.” [Pictured: Featured Artist Colleen McCall]

Contributors in the first issue include Poets: Renee Ashley, Alex Grant, Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingde, Uchi Ogbuji, Diane Lockward, Susan Johnson, Rose Hunter, Kathryn Howd Machan, Kathleen Kirk, Risa Denenberg, and Artist: Lin Price.

As for the future of Ithaca Lit, Lesko says, “We want to nurture the journal’s longevity by expanding slowly. The important aspect for us is presenting good writing and visual art to readers. We will eventually establish a poetry contest, where the winner will be featured in the annual print edition. We plan to extend to the local community poetry & short fiction writing workshops along with local readings. We will highlight ‘best of’ images from the artists in the annual print edition and may include artist interviews.” Future formats for the publication may also include Kindle/Nook.

Ithaca Lit accepts poetry and non-fiction re: craft process of writing and visual art as well as interviews with writers or artists. Submission is through Submittable.

The Ocean State Review is a new annual print publication from the University of Rhode Island English Department.

Editors include Peter Covino (advisory), Mary Cappello (advisory), Ryan Trimm (advisory), Jay Peters (managing), Don Rodrigues (managing), Nicki Toler (senior), Max Winter (senior), Jacob Nelson (associate), and David O’Connell (associate).

Managing Editor Jay Peters writes that “by producing a high-quality publication of contemporary literature, The Ocean State Review provides an annual record of URI’s continued engagement with regional, national and international literary communities. Central to this engagement is the journal’s affiliation with URI’s annual Ocean State Summer Writing Conference.”

Readers of The Ocean State Review can expect to find “two hundred eclectic pages by well-established and newly emerging writers and artists.” OSR publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, interviews, and artwork.

The inaugural issue features works by Tomaz Salamun, Denise Duhamel, Richard Hoffman, Louise DeSalvo, Robin Hemley, Julia Glass, and many others. The second volume will be released in June with plans for the journal to develop the capacity to accept online submissions.

Submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, our currently being accepted until February 15; submission by post only at this time.

The Golden Triangle is published three times per year and is available online, and via iPad and iPhone Apps. Readers can expect to find “fresh, risk-taking, original poetry, fiction, and non-fiction coupled with intelligent design.”

Editors Jessica Schulte and Sasha VanHoven tell me that “The Golden Triangle was created by struggling writers and literary nerds trying to make it in ‘the real world’ of writing. With the decrease in printed publications, competition to get in became harder, and yet while digital journals were taking off, they severely lacked legitimate design. We decided to become the solution ourselves, offering a digital space for the under-exposed voices of our peers that cared for aesthetics as well as the community behind it.”

Contributors in the first issue include Howie Good, Corinna Ricard-Farzan, Jon Gingerich, Brittany Shutts, Lauren Chimento, William VanDenBerg, Corina Bardoff, Justin Mantell, Joanna C. Valente, Devan Boyle, Ansley Moon, and Taylor Saldarriaga.

With ambitious plans for the future, Schulte and VanHoven are looking to become a fully functioning small press within the next five years, in both digital and print media.

The Golden Triangle is open to all genre forms within poetry, fiction, and non-fiction; work that “blurs genre lines and takes risks,” is welcome, but editors “warn against ‘post-post-post modernism’ type work.” Only previously unpublished works considered; simultaneous submissions are “a-okay,” as long as editors are notified immediately. The next deadline is March 3rd, 2012.

Beecher’s Magazine is the graduate student-run literary journal at the University of Kansas (KU) MFA program. The print annual has an editorial board, which for 2011-2012 includes Iris Moulton and Ben Pfeiffer (co-editors); Mark Petterson (fiction); Amy Ash (poetry); and Stefanie Torres (nonfiction).

The impetus for Beecher‘s served to expand the options and offerings in the KU MFA program. Pfeiffer writes, “Our program was geared almost exclusively to teaching, not to publishing or to editing; in order to give the students a chance to try out this vocation, we thought having some kind of graduate student-run literary journal was important. So a bunch of students rolled up their sleeves and set to work. The administration supported us with money, but all the heavy lifting was done by students. Beecher’s One is the result.”

The publication features stories, poems, essays, and interviews. The inaugural issue includes works by Alec Niedenthal, Rebecca Wadlinger, Joshua Cohen, Rhoads Stevens, John Dermot Woods, Phil Estes, Creed J. Shepard, Lincoln Michel, Adam Robinson, Stephen Elliott, Yelena Akhtiorskaya, John Coletti, Colin Winnette, Dana Ward & Stephanie Young, James Yeh, Alexis Orgera, Rozalia Jovanovic, Ricky Garni, and Justin Runge.

Beecher’s Magazine has just selected the winners of their first contest, and editors and staff are preparing for AWP 2012 in Chicago. Issue #1 of Beecher’s Magazine was a limited run and has sold out, but the second issue is underway.

Beecher‘s accepts poetry, fiction, and nonfiction via Submishmash for both print and online (forthcoming) consideration.

Executive Editor and Founder Sara R. Rajan and Assistant Editors Dinesh Rajan P and Andrea O’Connor are the force behind Literary Juice, an online bimonthly publication of works in a wide variety of genres, including comedy, romance, and fantasy. A unique feature in Literary Juice is “pulp fiction”: stories written in just 25 words – no more, no less – with one-word titles.

Rajan founded Literary Juice as “a creative outlet for both established and emerging poets and writers, as well as an avenue for readers looking to indulge their imaginations in a world of absolutely remarkable and unforgettable talent.” As such, audiences will read works by “authors who are bold and not afraid to cross into unconventional territory. Literary Juice showcases poetry and works of fiction that are dramatic, playful, and even outright weird!”

Contributors to the first issue include Craig M. Workman, Joel Bonner, Jennifer McIntosh, Amy Agrawal, Storm J. Shaw, Pamela Evitt-Hill, Jessie Duthrie, Angela Huston, Sarah Helen Bates, Amanda Little Rose, W. Walker Wood, E. Drape, Michelle L. Hill, Vita Duva, Matthew L. Wagner, Sydney Rayl, Jerry Judge, Helen Stamas, John Grey, George Freek, Liz Minette, Aur