NewPages Blog :: Magazine Reviews

The fiction in this issue of the VQR offers “Superhero Stories.” But none of the protagonists of the short fiction that opens the magazine – a discharged sailor who suffered psychic and physical wounds in the 1946 Bikini Atoll atomic bomb test; a masked vigilante who comes across as “a slurring crackpot taking a momentary break from a barbiturate triathlon” in his only public appearance; and a homebody in boxer shorts who commandeers the voices of televangelists – are paragons of virtue. Instead, Scott Snyder, Tom Bissell, and George Singleton give us blackly comic portraits of the flawed and fallen. These are men forged and broken in violence, antiheroes for our own times. Continue reading “Virginia Quarterly Review – Spring 2008”

Rage and risk in writing is a powerful tool that can generate the most passionate work. In Blood Lotus, issue 8, the editors believe that if you write you should “Write like words are beautiful, powerful and dangerous…” In “katrina” by R.D. Coleman we are exposed to such risks and conviction head on: “my family up and / left me here, they knew / it called to me. / …could smell the gas out by / the road. / life was done, she said. / she surely meant to die.” Continue reading “Blood Lotus – March 2008”

Who could resist Glendy Chan’s dazzling cover design of this edition of The Cimarron Review? Luckily, the poems and fiction within the journal don’t disappoint. Though not a themed issue, the editors clearly chose pieces with the big picture in mind. This journal really hangs together, with each work speaking to the next. Continue reading “Cimarron Review – Winter 2008”

In my English class, I used this issue of this journal when I started our poetry section; I used it to show students the wide variety of poetry that’s out there. They think of poetry in traditional terms: rhyme, meter, regular looking stanzas. This issue shows what is possible in the poetry world. Continue reading “Columbia Poetry Review – Spring 2007”

Reading for review forces the consumption of entire publications in very short periods of time: not recommend for this particular journal. This is the kind of publication that would make a reader grateful for her own copy to read and linger over at intervals. Continue reading “Connecticut Review – Fall 2007”

The Dirty Goat, published by Host Publications of Austin, Texas, is dedicated primarily to featuring literature from around the globe. This issue includes original works in Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese among other languages with English translations. There is also unique work by U.S. writers, none of whom I have heard of before. There is no editorial, but visual artists and translators provide commentary. Continue reading “The Dirty Goat – 2007”

Earthshine does not just claim that poetry can save humanity, it believes in the beauty of poetry and its innate ability to bridge the gap of understanding between different minds. Its simple yet attractive crescent moon design will lure curious and not-so-curious readers to their side. Continue reading “Earthshine – November 2007”

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I slid Gargoyle into my CD player. The colorful, beat-inspired cover assured me that “Poetry is the bomb, baby,” and I hoped that I would agree. Of course, I immediately thought about my past experiences with making “mixed tapes” and how difficult it can be when you’re only sticking with one genre, let alone many. However, after listening to the CD in its entirety, I knew that the editors of Gargoyle had done far more than compose a simple “mixed tape.” Continue reading “Gargoyle – 2007”

Glimmer Train delivers a journal stock full of great stories. In this issue, the sometimes unusual jobs of characters seem as central to the stories as the characters themselves. The jobs both define the characters and the time periods as well as propel the plots forward. Continue reading “Glimmer Train Stories – Spring 2008”

Inside The Greensboro Review’s simple cover is complex fiction and poetry. The first poem and story – “The Voice Before” by Melody S. Gee and “The Glass Mountain” by Aimee Pokwatka are Robert Watson Prize winners. Pokwatka’s story weaves a thematic fairytale told by an aunt into a story about a young woman, her sister, and her lover. The language is delightful: “It was a stupid question, but we forgave him because his eyes were the color of a sandstorm, and he sat still as an injured bird.” Continue reading “The Greensboro Review – Spring 2008”

This volume of Manoa, edited by Frank Stewart and Barry Lopez, is dedicated to the theme Maps of Reconciliation: Literature and the Ethical Imagination. This journal includes many types of work: oratory, essays, poetry, fiction, photographic essays, an interview, and even a play. It’s uncommon to see a journal include all of these genres, and the Table of Contents divides them by genre, so it’s easy to navigate. Continue reading “Manoa – Winter 2007”

Editor Steve Schreiner opens this issue of  Natural Bridge with a reference to Poe’s explanation of human temptation, that our “spirit of the Perverse” pushes us to “perpetuate actions to our peril simply because we feel that we should not.” The “Temptation Issue” offers many representations of this concept, from the swarming guppies in the late Dale Denny’s “Big Aquarium,” to the breast milk in James Vescovi’s “La Leche is Good for You,” to sticking one’s tongue to a cold porch railing in Amy M. Clark’s “Dumb.” Continue reading “Natural Bridge – 2007”

Gulf Coast is published twice a year in October and April, and each issue is a work of art in itself. The journal includes fiction, poetry, nonfiction, interviews, reviews, as well as the work of artists – a blend that facilitates both a visual and textual experience. The full-color pages in the most recent issue include collages by both Donald Bathelme and Michael Miller, and each visual artist’s work is accompanied by a commentary on their pieces.

Continue reading “Gulf Coast – Winter 2007/Spring 2008”

Kaleidoscope magazine “(explores) the experience of disability through literature and the fine arts.” The articles, essays, stories, and poems in this issue do just that, giving the reader insight into life with many different conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, lupus, and multiple sclerosis, to name a few. Most importantly, the authors featured in this magazine present honestly and admirably, without asking for pity, without resorting to sentimentality. Continue reading “Kaleidoscope – Winter/Spring 2008”

Robert Stewart, the editor of New Letters, begins this issue with a note on the kind of writing the journal seeks. In his words, “We want writing….that comes out of something.” Writing that is real. That kind of intensity is felt in the opening work of fiction by Andrew Plattner, a short story entitled “A Marriage of Convenience,” where the reader is introduced to two brothers, Marian and Joe, who are bookmakers with, it turns out, enormous hearts. Marian, the older brother and supposedly the tough guy, wonders at one point, “why he was a bookmaker, why he spent so much time in the shadows, why he liked to keep the odds on his side.” Maybe, he wonders, “it wouldn’t find him, all that people lost.” What is so wonderful about this piece is Plattner’s narrative pacing, which makes the ending feel unexpected and exactly right. Continue reading “New Letters – 2007/2008”

The winter 2008 edition of the Antioch Review is titled “Breaking the Rules,” though, as Robert S. Fogarty explains in his editorial, this is “no grand theme but a series of fragments and broken rules.” The authors in this issue explore rule-breaking in many different ways, some through form, others through subject or theme. Continue reading “The Antioch Review – Winter 2008”

“We’re trying to take you somewhere.” Isn’t that every writer’s goal? To take the reader from their comfy couch or their little corner and place them into a scene to which they can relate. Or maybe it’s to put them in a situation they’ve never been in, but affects them in some way. Continue reading “Bateau – 2007”

The Bellingham Review celebrates its thirtieth anniversary in this issue with three essays from the journal’s editors, past and present. While interesting for their historical narrative, the pieces are also a testament to the inspired, beautiful madness one must possess to start a literary periodical. At the end of the volume is an index of the pieces from Bellingham’s run (so far). Continue reading “The Bellingham Review – Spring/Fall 2007”

Derek Walcott provides the centerpiece of the Winter/Spring issue of ep;phany with a selection from his new book of poems, White Egrets, and an excerpt from an essay called “Down the Coast.” The poems, most of which are about Spain, use dense natural imagery to transport the reader. The essay describes Walcott’s attempt to turn the Caribbean stories of his childhood into a film, which leads him to many fascinating ruminations about film-making and cultural identity. Continue reading “Epiphany – Winter/Spring 2007/2008”

Each year Event holds a creative nonfiction contest in which the winners’ manuscripts are published in a special Creative Non-Fiction Contest issue of the magazine. The winners, Kanina Dawson, Davis Swanson, and Ayelet Tsabari, each had pieces worthy of the $500 prize. Continue reading “Event – Winter 2008”

I was curious to see how Ecotone would implement its motto “Reimagining Place.” To be honest, I was worried I’d get to read dutiful reports along the lines of “what we did on our holidays,” or “the weird customs in country X.” But no, Ecotone turned out to offer surprising and entertaining reimaginings of place – of all kinds of places: The world of corporate sharks (“Broadax Inc” by Bill Roorbach); a Swiss cottage where the narrator and her best friend, a marijuana plant named “Shrubbie,” explore the intricacies of human-plant if not human-squirrel communication, with bittersweet consequences (“My Shrub of Emotion” by Trinie Dalton); a world like ours which is invaded by sudden periods of complete silence (“The Year of Silence” by Kevin Brockmeier); and so many more. All stories go beyond the somewhat bland type of travel/nature writing I was expecting (skeptic that I am). Continue reading “Ecotone – Fall 2007”

In the first issue of Fifth Wednesday Journal, publisher and editor Vern Miller provides a brief explanation for the origin and purpose of creating this new literary magazine. Established as an extension of a group of “literary pilgrims,” known as the Fifth Wednesday Writers, Fifth Wednesday Journal’s primary purpose is to reflect “a wide spectrum of styles,” and will therefore institute a rotating series of guest editors who will have “maximum latitude” in their editorial choices. The journal hopes to encourage both well established and new writers by reading submissions “blind.” Continue reading “Fifth Wednesday Journal – Fall 2007”

Trés chic. I liked Grain Magazine the moment I saw this issue’s elegant black/white/blood-red cover. Luckily, the content didn’t force me to revise my opinion. This issue is split in two parts: a regular part with fiction and poetry, and a section celebrating the winners of the “Short Grain” micro-fiction and nonfiction contest. Continue reading “Grain – Autumn 2007”

The cover of the Winter 2007 edition of the Indiana Review, painted by Sally Harless, features a moose and a boy in a moose suit staring at each other. This artwork captures two of the themes that are shrewdly explored in this issue: childhood and identity. Continue reading “Indiana Review – Winter 2007”

Although the New England Review contains mainly poetry and prose, I thought the highlight of this issue were the nonfiction pieces. Continue reading “The New England Review – 2007”

This issue of Phoebe is a thin volume, weighing in at 110 pages, but it more than compensates with a huge variety of genre, style, and subject matter. Charles Bernstein’s poem, “The 100 Most Frequent Words in My Way: Speeches and Poems,” is fairly self-explanatory: simply a column of the most frequently used words in alphabetical order. Many of the words chain together and webs of meaning form and expand so that upon reaching the end, one has a distilled sense of Bernstein’s book. Also included is work by Joe Hall, Miriam Stewart, Brandon Lewis, and more. Continue reading “Phoebe – Spring 2008”

This issue of Prairie Schooner contains poetry, short stories, reviews, and great cover art by Chris Ware which made me want to read his graphic novels. Continue reading “Prairie Schooner – Winter 2007”

This issue of Redivider is a finely-woven fabric of flash fiction, short stories, poetry, nonfiction, visual art, book reviews, and one solid interview. Continue reading “Redivider – 2007”

Short Story is a sleek and slim publication containing three short stories, one interview, and one photo essay in its total of 81 pages. The front cover is plain black with the publication name and contents subtly centered in sophisticated lime green type. It is the perfect size to hold in the palm of your hand, the perfect weight and density to carry in your purse, backpack, or back pocket. From the outset I was impressed by Short Story’s exterior style and was relieved to discover that its interior was equally satisfying. Continue reading “Short Story – Fall 2007”

Before my obsession with literary magazines began, Brett Lott – The Southern Review’s editor – spoke to my writing group. At the end of his talk, he put a plug in for the literary journal. If I would have known then what I do now, I would have ordered The Southern Review immediately. But I did not. Now I know it’s one of the country’s oldest reviews, consistently publishing some of the best writing. The current issue is no exception. Continue reading “The Southern Review – Winter 2008”

Gorgeousness. This magazine looks beautiful with its elegant matte cover and the generously laid-out pages. I found the reading experience luxurious, too. Usually I read literary magazines during the day and my private books in the evening, for pleasure. When I picked up TriQuarterly in the evening, I knew I had found a treat. Continue reading “TriQuarterly – Winter 2008”

Alimentum publishes “the literature of food.” When I first opened this magazine, I thought I knew what that meant. Poems about sandwiches, maybe, sentimental stories about grandma’s cherry pie. I thought that, at best, this magazine would succeed in making me hungry. Boy was I wrong. Almost from the first page, reading this magazine was an educational experience. I learned all kinds of interesting things about food, but more importantly, I learned something about the power of good writing. Continue reading “Alimentum – Winter 2008”

The Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies is a large, thin, easy-to-read magazine. According to the Guidelines for Contributors, this publication prints academic articles in addition to poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction, but the December 2007 edition focuses on literary contributions. This issue features a long, fascinating interview with author Scott Ely, covering his time in Vietnam, his writing and research methods, and his screen writing experiences. This interview is followed by “The Poisoned Arrow,” a short story by Ely, which is full of vivid South Carolina flavor. Continue reading “Arkansas Review – December 2007”

When I think of this volume as a whole, poignancy and humor are powerfully juxtaposed. Grouped together under the conflict theme are Korkut Onaran’s “War,” Fred Voss’ “Machinist Wanted,” Jamaal May’s “Triage,” and Vuong Quoc Vu’s “Flower Bomb.” This last poem won the review’s 2007 International Poetry Competition with lines like these: Continue reading “Atlanta Review – Fall/Winter 2007”

An issue of Conjunctions would be a double or triple issue for almost any other literary magazine. Even the word “magazine” doesn’t seem quite accurate. An issue of Conjunctions is a book. That said, this one actually is a double issue. The first half is titled “A Writers’ Aviary: Reflections on Birds” and the latter half is a “Special Portfolio: John Ashbery Tribute.” Continue reading “Conjunctions – Fall 2007”

Siblinghood – an intriguing theme. In this issue of Cream City Review, I liked how the theme of siblinghood was always present, but not necessarily the focus. Often, the sibling relation adds a dimension to the main story (such as in the wonderful “Flashlights” by Zach Bean, which is a love story first and a brothers story second) or is observed from afar by an “outsider” (e.g. “Skin,” by Theresa Milbrodt, where a mother observes her daughters, one struggling with the same skin condition as her mom, the other healthy). In Yannick Murphy’s delightful “Unreal Blue,” the issue of siblinghood is almost coincidental: this is a family story. But other stories put the focus right on the narrator’s feeling for a brother or sister. Perhaps not surprisingly, these stories are often raw and painful, e.g. Kelly Spitzer’s “Inside Out Of You,” which is both accusation and praise of the narrator’s unstable sister, or Benjamin Percy’s sinister, almost gothic “The Whisper.” Continue reading “Cream City Review – Fall 2007”

“American Apocalypse” – the theme of the twentieth anniversary double issue of Green Mountains Review. The editor discusses the differences between “dread” and “apocalypse”: “‘dread’ implies profound fear, even terror of some impending event” while “apocalyptic thinkers are more actively engaged…and sometimes actively embracing the apocalyptic event.” The editor wants to add “imaginative perspective” to reflecting on the end of the world. Continue reading “Green Mountains Review – 2007”

This handsome inaugural issue of Knockout Literary Magazine starts with a poem by Marvin Bell that could serve as a mission statement. “Knockout Poem” is a lament for the state of contemporary poetry: “I was like them. Even before the appetite for self-promotion / and glamour overtook our literature, back when books were books.” It is also a call to arms: “Poetry should have punch.” (A knockout, one assumes.) Continue reading “Knockout Literary Magazine – Spring 2008”

This issue of The Laurel Review contains mainly poetry but also has a few selections of fiction, essays, and book reviews. Continue reading “The Laurel Review – 2007”

My most vivid memory of Chicago is talking to an old, toothless bag lady near a bus station toting her shopping cart, about 1980. She looked at me with great conviction, and said, “The lord is coming!” She seemed intelligent, most striking, and was definitely listening to a different drummer, predicting the end of all things. Other Voices has come to its end, and is equally striking, colorful, even mesmerizing. The last issue is a special “all-Chicago issue,” consisting of twenty-two short stories by both established and new Chicago writers, plus two interviews and a splash of reviews. Continue reading “Other Voices – Fall/Winter 2007”

A sparkling array of African American writers is featured in this issue of Pembroke Magazine. The editors chose to feature the Caroline African American Writers Collective (CAAWC), plus more African American prose and poetry. Continue reading “Pembroke Magazine – 2007”

An all-poetry issue. No short fiction, excerpts, or memoirs to help shake off the feeling of confusion or understanding that follows a two-page long poem. That is why this magazine should be taken in doses, not inhaled nonstop from beginning to end. The formats are adventurous, and the language is crisp and new. The topics range from playful to thought provoking, yet it all seems to melt together perfectly. Continue reading “Pindeldyboz – Spring 2007”

This edition of Rattle includes a tribute to nurses that makes this issue worthwhile on its own. The nursing section has personal essays from poet-nurses, such as Courtney Davis, T.S. Davis, Anne Webster and Christine Wideman, describing how they became both writers and nurses, which role was dominate at what point in their lives, and how nursing feeds into their writing. They talk of the sensuousness of nursing, the essential selflessness and empathy nurses experience, and how that “otherness” affects their poetry. Courtney Davis wrote movingly about her favorite patient: “A few weeks after my patient died, not knowing what else to do, I dug out my old poetry notebook…” “Writing about her death, I felt a sudden, inexplicable joy…” “I had also, in the writing, let her go.” Continue reading “Rattle – Winter 2007”

The debut of a journal brings tentative excitement to the entrenched literary scene. Can a newbie survive a crowded marketplace funded largely by ego? What distinctive editorial vision will buoy the perils of distribution, promotion, and un(der)appreciation? Some sink, some sail, but the masthead of the second issue of Thereby Hangs a Tale includes the crew’s superpowers, which can only help. Based out of Portland, Oregon, the slender, black-and-white journal runs regular sections, like Tales Told (nonfiction), Tall Tales (fiction), Rants, a closing We ♥ Libraries, and a journal-entry-like sprinkling of revelations. The editors call it an art project; the content, like the contributors who range from novelists to retirees, is free of literary pretensions and silly snobbery. Continue reading “Thereby Hangs a Tale – Summer 2007”

Tuesday; An Art Project may technically be a literary journal; however, ‘art project’ describes it so much better. It arrives as a series of postcard-like cards, printed on one or both sides, with poems, photographs or prints, well wrapped in sturdy, folded, thick, almost cardboard-like paper. The title and subtitle are neatly printed on one side of the wrapper, the names of the authors and artists on the other, plus the subscription price. It unfolds to display a table of contents inside, plus a list of editors, advisory board, detailed background description of the artists and authors, a featured poem, and, the cards themselves. There are eighteen sturdy, pure-white, five-by-seven-inch cards; fourteen contain poems, four display photographs. Continue reading “Tuesday; An Art Project – Fall 2007”

When a literary journal opens by recognizing the greatness of Dostoevsky and The Brothers Karamazov, it aims not just to entertain but to endure. Issue 80 of Toronto-based Brick embraces the world of words with arms more expansive than most literary journals. The giants of Russian literature are further celebrated in two memoir/biographies: the acrimony of Chekov’s wife and his beloved sister is recalled by Gregory Altschuller, the deceased (1983) son of Chekov’s doctor; Viktor Nekrasov journeys through post-Bulgakov Kiev to the house of Bulgakov’s youth and place of his characters. Continue reading “Brick – Winter 2007”

Devoted to the theme “Silence Kills: Speaking Out and Saving Lives,” this issue proves editor Lee Gutkind’s premise that “less literary” topics also lend themselves to artful writing as well as the detailed reporting associated with journalism. I agree wholeheartedly. In these essays, the authors recount their often frustrating – sometimes edifying – experiences with the health care system using a variety of narrative styles and tones, but all of a very high caliber. The authors treat such varied topics as blindness, overmedication, kidney dialysis, hepatitis, a gastrointestinal disorder; and all of the authors slip in enough medical information so that non-specialists can easily understand. Yet the overarching topic is communication – or lack thereof – and the implications this process has on the quality of patient care. Continue reading “Creative Nonfiction – 2007”

The editors of Drash wanted their first issue to contain poetry, pictures and essays that “reflect joy, to find one’s way to it and to acknowledge its absence.” They succeeded. While the writing reflects all cultures, it heavily represents the Jewish culture in a very positive way, displaying the kindness, the depth and soul that made it continue for centuries with no homeland. Continue reading “Drash – Spring/Summer 2007”