NewPages Blog

Based out of Portland, Oregon, The Conium Review is a biannual print journal of fiction and poetry published by Conium Press.

Editors James R. Gapinski, Uma Sankaram, Tristan Beach, and Susan Lynch shared their view of the publication: “The Conium Review publishes fringe literature, both in subject and style. Issues of The Conium Review vary in length, because we don’t use quotas — we simply select the best writing from the submission queue, and we find a place for it. We try to avoid preconceived ideas of genre, contemporary style, or publishable word count. We are a highly selective journal, but our final choices are based on literary craft. In other words, our goal is to publish a high-quality journal with an eclectic range of authorial voices.”

Readers of The Conium Review can expect a well-balanced publication. “We try to include a wide range of well-crafted literary pieces from unique perspectives. Published works represent a variety of styles, holding reader interest and defying expectations from one story to the next.”

The contributing poets and writers are Jeffrey Alfier, Jeremy Behreandt, Thor Benson, Isaac Coleman, Ross Concillo, Daniel Davis, Mason Brown DeHoog, Matthew Denvir, Ivo Drury, Howie Good, Jack Granath, Lauren Hall, Shane L. Harms, Julie Heckman, Jason L. Huskey, Paul Kavanagh, Jen Knox, Margarita Meklina, Ben Nardolilli, Edwin R. Perry, Nick Sanford, Benjamin Schachtman, Parker Tettleton, Caitlin Elizabeth Thomson, Steven Wineman, and Kirby Wright. The cover art is by Emma Cook.

Looking into the future, the editors hope “to extend our reach into the Portland community and elsewhere. Our podcast and online reviews help us stay connected with the broader literary community, but we want to expand these efforts with readings, workshops, and other special events.”

Submission information can be found here.

From the Depths is a quarterly (March, June, September, December) of fiction, poetry, prose poetry, creative nonfiction published by Haunted Waters Press. The magazine is available as an online digital, PDF download, and in print.

Editors Susan Warren Utley and Savannah Ren

Straight Forward publishes poetry and photography quarterly (March, June, September, December) digitally using Issuu and essays and reviews on their website.

Lindsey Lewis Smithson is the Founder and Editor, with Martha Borjon Kubota work “tirelessly” as the Assistant Editor.

“In the most basic sense,” Smithson says, “Straight Forward started to simply publish clear, concise poetry. On more than one occasion I have been told that poems that were too clear were boring, or, horrifyingly, not poetic. Poetry does not have to be Avant-garde, or confusing, or a puzzle to be beautiful and poetic and valid. I also wanted the tone of the website, and our social media presence, to be positive and welcoming; we are not a magazine to publish you and dump you. I email our authors frequently, sending them proofing galleys and running author photos along with bios in each issue. We will share your blog/website info if you want us to, and will do what we can to make you proud of being published with us. Like our website says, we aim to be a home for writing, not just another journal.”

In addition to this perspective, Straight Forward is unique in another way: “As the idea grew, I also wanted to wrap in charity work. Our 2012 campaign, Read Books. Buy Indie. Help Animals. is done to support the ASPCA. We will feature a different charitable cause every year, with ways to provide direct donations and indirect donations. It is my belief that artists are typically compassionate people, and that poetry and charity go together well. To be able to provide writers with ways to participate in the literary community and to help others is important to me.”

Readers of Straight Forward will, on first look, find at least two interviews, ten poems or more, photos from submitters, author bios and photos, and news about the publication. “We run everything in full color, but keep the layout simple. Everything published, from the photography to the interviews, should be clear and enjoyable on the surface; more depth and meaning can be found, if you want to take the time to look for it. Nothing is a riddle, nothing is meant to be confusing.”

Issue One features the poets L. Ward Abel, Jessica Barksdale, Sam Bernhofer, Warren Buchholz, Meghan Cadwallader, Matt Galletta, Peter Goodwin, David Hernquist, Ed Higgins, Brian Hood, Heather Holliger, Paul Hostovsky, Margaret S. Mullins, Aline Soules, and Adrienne Wallner.

In addition to the poetry are interviews with Larry Handy, the lead poet of the group Totem Maples, and Rachel Kann, a poet and prose writer, professor, and artist. Straight Forward also features photography from Ron Pavellas, Genevieve Kules, Adrienne Wallner, Emily Strauss and Shubhankar Verma.

As for the future of the publication, Smithson says, “Aside from getting out three issues that are successful this year, I would also like to publish an ebook anthology in December. I also hope to raise $1000 for charity through our contest fees and (future) ebook sales. We are running our first contests right now, with Jill Alexander Essbaum as poetry judge. If all goes well, and the literary community warmly receives us, I can foresee us developing a chapbook series. That kind of move would have to be an organic decision that is right for the journal first, since we are not in this for the money.”

Straight Forward only takes submissions through their Submittable submission manager, considering general submissions, including poetry, essays and photography, year round.

Straight Forward is also active on Twitter (@straight_poetry), Facebook, and Pinterest, in addition to blogging on their website about the publication process. Smithson adds, “We are fairly open about our process and love sharing it with others.”

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.