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At the NewPages Blog readers and writers can catch up with their favorite literary and alternative magazines, independent and university presses, creative writing programs, and writing and literary events. Find new books, new issue announcements, contest winners, and so much more!

Holiday Shopping? An Easy Suggestion from NewPages

I am absolutely NOT a shopper, let alone a holiday shopper. Ugh! So, my suggestion to help save time and gas, avoid the crowds, and support independent publishing? The coolest, easiest, bestest gift you could possibly give this holiday season:

A MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION!

Visit the links on NewPages Guide to Literary Magazines and NewPages Guide to Alternative Magazines. Most mags are set up to take payments online, but there is also still time to print an order form and get it sent in. Some mags even offer a discount gift subscription if you get one for yourself as well. (Replies from mags offering this are welcome on this blog!)

Given the price of some of the mags, you could even mix and match a couple – maybe an annual with a quarterly, an alternative mag and a literary mag, one poetry and one fiction mag – the creative possibilities are endless!

Don’t think anyone on your list would “appreciate” this idea? (Well, first of all, get some new people on your list!) Then “gift” yourself a subscription or two, tell others it’s what you want if they insist on buying you something, send a subscription to your local high school creative writing teacher, library, senior center, shelter, teen center, prison, political official who could use (more) poetry, etc.

‘Tis always the season to support lit/alt mags!

The Zen of Chainsaws and Enormous Clippers

Inside the back cover of Drew Kalbach’s chapbook of prose poems is a section of text from the author, in which he writes one seemingly random sentence after another about the collection: “several children read the manuscript, but they started crying” and “it is a tribute to the ninja turtles disguised as a marilyn manson song disguised as real poetry” are two of the tamest examples. But among the chaos of this self-deprecating afterword, Kalbach has this thought about the chapbook: “it is so deep and layered that you can’t read it, you must climb through it.” Despite his immediately negating that idea by writing “there is no depth,” I could not help but grasp at the metaphor; it seemed to describe my own experience with the poems. These prose poems do have depth, and I didn’t so much read them as climb through them, over words and images, across sentences and line breaks. Continue reading “The Zen of Chainsaws and Enormous Clippers”

The Tsar’s Dwarf

The Tsar’s Dwarf is Danish author Peter H. Fogtdal’s first novel to be translated into English. Sørine Bentsdatter, Fogtdal’s unusual heroine, is brilliantly rendered. A deformed female dwarf living in the early 18th century, Sørine is wittily acerbic, angry, and indifferent. She’s also shrewd, sensitive, and fiercely intelligent. At times she’s compassionate and almost kind; at others, her actions are questionable, even deplorable. Always, Sørine is human. Continue reading “The Tsar’s Dwarf”

Dismantling the Hills

Don’t read the back cover; Dismantling the Hills is not a love song to forests alive with work crews. It is an elegy for the soul-crushing life in the logging countries of Oregon, highlighted and made ironic against the background of a majestic Nature that should not only have been benign, but inspirational. Continue reading “Dismantling the Hills”

Not a Speck of Light is Showing

“I pulled my mother’s head out of the cream of wheat and wiped off her face and neck with a well worn green and yellow sponge from the kitchen sink.” And so goes the first line of Barry Graham’s chapbook Not a Speck of Light is Showing, a violent, rough, oversexed collection of flash fiction that, despite its hard-edged nature, tends to welcome readers at the oddest moments with its surprising revelations of humor and tenderness. Take this quote from “Dishonorable,” for example: Continue reading “Not a Speck of Light is Showing”

Zone : Zero

In contemporary experimental poetry, we a have vast collection of schools: lang po, post-modernists, ultra-modernists, post lang-po writers, etc. Among this large pool of innovation, we find Stephanie Strickland and her fifth book of poetry, Zone : Zero, recently released from Ahsahta Press. Continue reading “Zone : Zero”

Bear

Karen Chase’s second collection of poetry is not only about the significance of bears in terms of humanity’s barbaric need to destroy them through poaching, it is also a metaphorical and allegorical device that permits the author to impart tremendously beautiful narratives, often centered on the most painful and burdensome subjects in her own life. Her poems are emotional songs that dig their claws into your flesh until you simply respond or comprehend what is at stake. These poems of remembrance bridge the gap between the world of the beast, the bear, and the not-so-dissimilar world of human beings often overcome with the same primal tendencies. Continue reading “Bear”

The House of Your Dream

In his introduction to The House of Your Dream, Peter Johnson, founding editor of the influential and now defunct magazine The Prose Poem: An International Journal, writes, “About twenty years ago we prose poets lived in relative obscurity, lucky if we could get editors to read, much less publish, our work.” He goes on to recount briefly a history of the genre: its beginnings during the late 60’s and early 70’s in Michael Benedikt’s anthology of prose poems, the several international renaissances it has undergone over the decades, and the current generation of prose poets writing now. He offers the White Pine anthology as a sort of recent history of the prose poem, and with him Alexander and Maloney agree. They write in a short editors’ note in the frontspace of the book, “given the predilection we both feel for the magical form that is the prose poem, it didn’t take long for us to conceive of a prose poem anthology drawn from all the books that White Pine has published (or will soon publish) in its variegated career.” Continue reading “The House of Your Dream”

Crazy Love

Leslie What, an author whose publication credits include numerous short stories in journals and anthologies as well as a novel and short story collection, is a Nebula Award Winner whose creativity and imagination are boundless. Crazy Love is a collection of 17 short stories that stop at nothing to convey the limitless possibilities of love and its tremendous potential for both honesty and hilarity. Continue reading “Crazy Love”

Being in the Writing Moment

The November 2008 issue of Shambhala Sun has an article written by Anne Donovan called “Through the Looking Glass,” which explores the practice of “finding clarity through story.” Donovan discusses the ability to be “intensely in the moment” that we tend to lose as adults, but can rediscover through not only reading fiction, but writing it. It was refreshing to read her take on the act of what I so often hear referred to as ‘losing oneself’ in writing. If anything, what may appear on the outside as my being lost in writing, on the inside feels like the exact opposite – I feel more that I ‘find myself’ in writing.

I felt a strong connection with Donovan’s reflection on the practice of being in the moment: “As a writer I regularly experience the strange paradox of being in the moment, fully aware, utterly engaged, yet dealing with people and situations that are not real. In fact there are few occasions in my life when I am more mindful than when I am writing. I find it hard to reconcile this with most of the teachings I have read or heard about mindfulness but I venture to propose that what makes it work is the consciousness of stepping into that other world, of accepting it in the way that one can mindfully accept stepping out into rain or sun without judgment. When I look up from my computer and see the trees outside my window, I know I am in two worlds, the ne outside nd the one inside. I step between them as I step between my own life and that of my character. I am not daydreaming in order to escape reality but to experience a different form of reality.”

In Memoriam :: Tom Gish

Tom Gish, Legendary Kentucky Publisher, Dies
Editor & Publisher
November 24, 2008

Tom Gish, who shined the spotlight on corruption and environmental degradation in his corner of southeastern Kentucky as an award-winning publisher of The Mountain Eagle of Whitesburg for a half-century, died Friday [Nov. 21]. He was 82.

His son, Ben Gish, said he died at Pikeville Medical Center.

Tom Gish and his wife, Pat, overcame floods, threats, arson and attempted suppression to deliver news in the weekly publication with the slogan: “It Screams!”

“He was the inspiration for several generations of journalists, mainly because of his moral authority about how he ran his paper,” said longtime journalist Bill Bishop, who worked at the newspaper from 1975 to 1977.

The Gishes took on previously untouched issues, from strip mining to police corruption.

They endured advertising boycotts, faced violent threats and had their newspaper offices firebombed in 1974. Showing their grit, the Gishes churned out another issue a week after the incident, with the masthead stating “It Still Screams!”

Dee Davis, head of the Whitesburg-based advocacy group Center for Rural Strategies, said Gish “took the side of the little guy” and “wasn’t afraid to take on the well-heeled.”

“I think his life was a testament to what journalism in a small town could do,” Davis said. “It was an advocate’s voice for improving education and health care, and it was a vigilant eye against corruption and malfeasance.”

Read more about Tom Gish on Editor & Publisher.

[via Dawn Potter]

Awards :: Bad Sex in Literature

The fourteenth annual Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Awards took place last week. The awards were set up by Auberon Waugh with the aim of gently dissuading authors and publishers from including unconvincing, perfunctory, embarrassing or redundant passages of a sexual nature in otherwise sound literary novels. Previous winners include Tom Wolfe, AA Gill, Sebastian Faulks, and Melvyn Bragg. Read the winner as well as shortlisted passages here.

Film :: Revolutionary Road

Paramount Vantage will be releasing Revolutionary Road, adapted from the novel by Richard Yates. It opens in theaters December 26, 2008.

“Revolutionary Road is an incisive portrait of an American marriage seen through the eyes of Frank (three-time Academy Award nominee Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (five-time Academy Award nominee Kate Winslet) Wheeler. Yates’ story of 1950’s America poses a question that has been reverberating through modern relationships ever since: can two people break away from the ordinary without breaking apart?”

New Lit on the Block :: aslongasittakes

a s l o n g a s i t t a k e s, is a sound poetry magazine published by the Atlanta Poets Group. They publish sound poetry, scores for sound poetry and essays on sound poetry.

“What is ‘sound poetry’? It’s one of those know it when you see (hear) it kind of things. It’s probably not music (thanks Dick Higgins). It might be noise. If you think about a spectrum of possible noise made by the human body (or simulations thereof or substitutions therefor), and at one end of the spectrum is a person reading her poem and at the other end is abstract noise…”

a s l o n g a s i t t a k e s prefers works that fall towards the latter end.

Just posted, issue two includes work by Adachi Tomomi, the Atlanta Poets Group (performing a piece by Michael Basinski and some Love Songs by Bruce Andrews), Gary Barwin (alone and with Gregory Betts), Michael Basinski, David Braden, Craig Dongoski, Brian Howe, Maja Jantar (alone and with Vincent Tholome), e k rzepka, Larissa Shmailo, and Mathew Timmons (performing a Hugo Ball poem).

Iowa City Named “City of Literature”

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated Iowa City, Iowa, the world’s third City of Literature, making the community part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

“This is at once a celebration of the literary riches and resources of Iowa City and a spur to action,” said University of Iowa International Writing Program Director Christopher Merrill, who led the UI Writing University committee that submitted the city’s proposal. “We look forward to working with our new partners in the Creative Cities network — to forging dynamic relationships with writers, artists and others committed to the life of discovery. This is a great day for Iowa City.”

Iowa City joins Edinburgh, Scotland, and Melbourne, Australia, as UNESCO Cities of Literature. Other cities in the Creative Cities Network – honoring and connecting cultural centers for cinema, music, crafts and folk arts, design, media arts and gastronomy, as well as literature – include Aswan, Egypt; Santa Fe, N.M.; Berlin, Germany; Montreal, Canada; Popayan, Colombia; Bologna, Italy; Shenzhen, China; and Seville, Spain.

Read more here.

Postal Poetry

Dana Guthrie Martin and Dave Bonta are behind the ambitious Postal Poetry, “a fantabulous showcase for collaboratively and individually created poetry postcards.” Check out the gallery (aka archive) on the site and find full submission guidelines, including their hope to have traveling shows of postcards in their area. Pictured: “tricky” by Carolee Sherwood.

Postal Poetry is also running a no-fee contest with the best rules I’ve yet to see, which include putting on a feather boa, getting drunk, looking at pictures and writing. Hmmm, now that’s a new one! (Deadline: Dec 15)

Out of Town Closing Down

Out of Town News, the newsstand that has offered a cornucopia of newspapers and magazines as a Harvard Square landmark for more than 50 years, could close.

The owners have informed Cambridge officials that they have no plans to renew their lease after it expires Jan. 31. City officials say they are hoping to find another newsstand to take its place, but acknowledge that the business climate is grim as more customers get their news online rather than in print.

“It could be that we’re chasing moonbeams, and we’ll have to look at our re-use options,” said Robert W. Healey, the city manager.

The newsstand occupies the center of Harvard Square and is on the National Register of Historic Places. No matter what happens to the business, city officials say they will keep the building, which is used as much as a meeting place as a place to buy news.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff
The Boston Globe

Fellowship :: Fine Arts Work Center

The Fine Arts Work Center offers a unique residency for writers and visual artists in the crucial early stages of their careers. Located in Provincetown, an area with a long history as an arts colony, the Work Center provides seven-month fellowships to twenty fellows each year in the form of living/work space and a modest monthly stipend. Residencies run from October 1 through May 1. Fellows have the opportunity to pursue their work independently in a diverse and supportive community. An historic fishing port, Provincetown is situated at the tip of Cape Cod in an area of spectacular natural beauty, surrounded by miles of dunes and National Seashore beaches.

Each year, the deadline for Creative Writing Fellowship applications is December 1, and the deadline for Visual Arts Fellowship applications is February 1.

New Lit on the Block :: Black & White Journal for the Arts

Black & White Journal for the Arts is produced by students of Western Connecticut State University. It was founded in the Fall of 2007 with the primary goal of creating a high quality print magazine for the arts. Since publishing their first issue in the Spring of 2008, they have expanded into a weekly newsprint format and an electronic format; and they have hosted a theatrical audio production over the University’s radio station.

The annual and electronic editions are open to contributors outside of the university. The deadline for the 2009 issue is November 30. There are no restrictions on format or subject matter for artwork or verbal arts. See website for submission information.

Note: The Spring 2008 issue has not yet been made available to the public, but the Spring 2009 issue will be made available for sale on the website upon its printing.

Mississippi Review Must Have

The newest issue of Mississippi Review is a stunner for those of us who love our literary magazines, and a must have, must keep issue for its importance of historical literary record. No need to wait until later to say how integral this issue is; it’s clear from the moment you hold it in your hands. The issue is themed “Literary Magazines” and includes four parts:

Part One: The Literary Magazine Today
An Interview with Antioch Review Editor Robert Fogarty by Gary Percesepe
Reasons for Creating a New Literary Magazine by Jill Allyn Rosser, Editor of New Ohio Review
A Roundtable on the Contemporary Literary Magazine with Jill Allyn Rosser, New Ohio Review; Speer Morgan, The Missouri Review; Marco Roth, N+1; Raymond Hammond, The New York Quarterly; Todd Zuniga, Opium Magazine; Eli Horowiz, McSweeney’s; Aaron Burch, Hobart
Some Comments by Herbert Leibowitz
The Changing Shape of Literary Magazines; or “What the Hell is This Thing?” by Jodee Stanley, Editor of Ninth Letter
Comments on the Literary Magazine by Richard Burgin

Part Two: The Editors Introduce
“MR asked the editors contributing to this issue to introduce a writer they have published that they found particularly exciting, working in new and interesting ways, or otherwise deserving of more attention.” In this, you’ll find works by Claire Bateman, John Brandon, Daniel Grandbois, Rene Houtrides, John Leary, Maureen McCoy, B. R. Smith, and Catherine Zeidler.

Part Three: Writers on Lit Mags
Explanatory enough. Contributors include: Jane Armstrong, T.C. Boyle, Mary Grimm, Victoria Lancelotta, Rick Moody, Benjamin Percy, Stacey Richter, Jim Shepard, and James Whorton, Jr.

Part Four: Lit Mag Miscellany
Includes quotes about lit mags, a perspective and history on the contributor bio, and notes on the history of lit mags.

All I can say is I can’t remember when I was ever disappointed about an upcoming holiday because I felt as though spending time with family would take away from my reading time. . . but it is a long car ride north, so I might just be able to fit it all in.

Jobs :: Various

Associate/Full Professor/John Cranford Adams Chair (nonfiction), Hofstra University (New York). Jan 1

Tenure-track in Creative Writing (fiction/cnf), Nebraska Wesleyan University. Dec 1

Assistant Professor in Creative Writing (fiction), University of Washington-Tacoma

Assistant Professor Creative Nonfiction Writing, State University of New York at Oswego. Jan 5

Assistant Professor of Writing (comp/CW), Oklahoma City University Petree College of Arts and Sciences

Assistant Professor in Creative Writing (poetry), Loyola University Chicago

Assistant Professor of English (popular fiction), Seton Hill University (Pennsylvania)

One-year visiting position in creative writing (fiction or poetry), Northwestern College (Iowa)

Creative writing position: Point Park University

Tenure-track position in American Literature and Poetry Writing, Bethany College (West Virginia). Dec 8

Awards :: Narrative 30 Below

Narrative has announced the 30 Below Contest Winners and Finalists:

First Prize: Alita Putnam “Fisherman’s Daughter”
Second Prize: Kara Levy “Ready”
Third Prize: Alison Yin “The West Oakland Project”

Finalists
Gavin Broady
Xuan Chen
Leigh Gallagher
Maggie Gerrity
Chris D. Harvey
Jason Perez
Rebecca Rasmussin
Douglas Silver
Jackie Thomas-Kennedy
Emily Watson

The 2008 Fall Fiction Contest, with a First Prize of $3,000, a Second Prize of $1,500, a Third Prize of $750, and ten finalists receiving $100 each, is open to all writers. Entry deadline: November 30. Enter Now.

Awards :: Glimmer Train Fiction Open :: November 2008

Glimmer Train has chosen the three winning stories of their September Fiction Open competition.

First place: Abby Geni of Washington, DC, wins $2000 for “Captivity”. Her story will be published in the Winter 2010 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in November 2009.

Second place: Maggie Shipstead of Coronado, CA, wins $1000 for “Via Serenidad”. Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Third place: Gregg Cusick of Durham, NC, wins $600 for “Throwing Furniture”.

Also: Short Story Award for New Writers contest (deadline soon approaching! November 30). Glimmer Train hosts this contest twice a year, and first place is $1200 plus publication in the journal. It’s open to any writer whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5000. Word count range 500-12,000.

The Spinter Generation Now Online

The Splinter Generation

**Nov 23 Update: The Splinter Generation is now available in print.**

Six young people, unsatisfied with being called Generation Y, Generation 9-11, and countless other ill-fitting monikers, launched a one-time online compilation of written work “by and for those of us under 35.” The Splinter Generation is a name that the editors felt most appropriate, “even if just temporarily, until we start hearing each others’ voices and perhaps think of something better.”

Online now are poems, fiction, nonfiction, and an interview with Lance Corporal Jason Poole (“Get Your Head Out of that Oven”).

Yes We Can :: The Book

After almost two years of following Barack Obama, Scout Tufankjian’s photographs will be collected in a book: YES WE CAN: Barack Obama’s History Making Campaign.

Scout Tufankjian is a photojournalist based in Brooklyn, New York, with clients including Newsweek, Essence, US News & World Report, Le Monde, Newsday, and The New York Times. She was not employed by or affiliated with the Obama campaign in any manner, shape, or form, but was a journalist covering the campaign.

The website itself has over 500 images from the campaign trail as well as information about ordering the book.

Film :: Pray the Devil Back to Hell

“The inspiring new documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the African story we know too well: a bloody civil war devastates the nation. Women and girls are brutally raped, children’s limbs hacked off, ethnic violence by gangs of drug-fueled boys, one against the other, rips across the country. But this time, with a remarkable ending we could not have predicted. Women band together, across religions and ethnicities, to form a peace movement. Peace, they insist. Peace, they demand, with mothers’ firmness against errant boys. With nothing but white ‘Peace’ T-shirts and gritty courage, they stare down the guns and the threats, and transform Liberia. It is shameful that the American press, of which I am a member, did not report this important story as it happened. I guess we were too busy covering Britney Spears.” The Daily Beast

New Lit on the Block :: Literary Bohemian

From Editors Carolyn & Colin: “It is the mission of The Literary Bohemian to provide writers with that breath of fresh air. Featuring travel-inspired poetry, postcard prose and travelogue, we make timely connections to worldwide writer-friendly accommodations and links, books on the craft and jaunty jotting supplies. We are not interested in travel writing; we are interested in pieces that move us. We are the final destination for first-class, travel-inspired writing that transports the reader, non-stop, to Elsewhere.”

Currently accepting submissions of poetry, postcard prose, and travelogue.

NewPages Welcomes Nicole Foor

We hope our readers will welcome NewPages new book review editor, Nicole Foor. Our previous editor was apparently eaten alive by his MFA program (a common occurance, I’m told), and Nicole, who has actually been working behind the scenes here at NewPages for the past six months or so, neatly stepped up into the role. Nicole is one of the new, hybrid generation, in that she earned a degree in computer science while at the same time editing her school’s literary magazine and working on her own writing. What a perfect fit for NewPages! We’re pleased to have her join us – and do even more work! Anyone interested in writing book reviews for NewPages is welcome to drop a note to new.pages[at]live.com. All others, enjoy the reviews!

Submissions :: We Love Books

We Love Your Books is a collaboration between Melanie Bush of theUniversity of Northampton, Emma Powell of De Montfort University (Leicester), and Louise Bird of the University of Northampton.

As well as teaching bookmaking and making their own experimental books, they collaboratively curate a yearly international and experimental artists’ book exhibition. This is a not-for-profit venture, open to all.

Books to be sent in by June 1st 2009 and exhibition will take place August–September 2009 (tbc).

“The theme for our 2009 creative book-arts open exhibition is CLOSURE. This is in honour of Emma’s anticipated completion in 2009 of her PhD, which has dominated the last 8 years of her life. Right now, the idea of closure seems to her impossible – yet longed for. She has done amazingly to stick at it all this time, as challenging as it has been. She looks forward to the freedom she will have after closure…”

They are planning an exhibition of Poets’ and Artists’ hand-made books for August-September of 2009.

There is a June 1, 2009 deadline for submissions.

Shenandoah – Fall 2008

“All I can say is what I do myself, and that is that I don’t think about theory at all. I have no theory of poetry. If something works for a particular poem, it works.” Brendan Galvin in this interview with Thomas Reiter, is honest, approachable, serious, sincere, much like this issue of Shenandoah and like his poems, several of which are included here. Reiter’s own poem, “Signaling,” which appears later in the issue, is a fine example, quiet, deftly composed, sure of itself, but in a vulnerable, human way. These poets are joined by more than a dozen others this issue, along with five short stories, two essays, a portfolio of beautifully composed color photographs by Larry Stene, the journal’s typically superb reviews of new poetry and fiction, and brief remarks in memory of the late George Garrett. Continue reading “Shenandoah – Fall 2008”

Tin House – Fall 2008

This is the “political issue,” which I am reading just prior to the election, and I am, paradoxically, glad, almost relieved to find the sad ironies (The title page quotes John F. Kennedy, “The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war”), popular truths (the Editor’s Note begins with the old bumper sticker adage, “If you’re not pissed off, you’re not paying attention.”), and delighted to find that Tin House is as provocative as ever, especially when we need it most. Continue reading “Tin House – Fall 2008”

Barrelhouse – 2008

The “pop flotsam” and “cultural jetsam” captured between the covers of Barrelhouse offers the best of both worlds. The material is literary and meaningful while simultaneously maintaining broad appeal. The “Barrelhouse Editorial Squadron” consists of self-proclaimed “misfits,” and they have found a number of beautiful red-haired stepchildren for this issue. Continue reading “Barrelhouse – 2008”

TriQuarterly – 2008

Guest editor Henry S. Bienen’s theme is “the other,” the “real or presumed differences” between us, which he categorizes, by way of partial example, as: race religion, language, country of origin or birth, region, geography, clan, tribe, caste, family, class, social status, income, occupation, age, gender, sexual preference, style of dress, or hairstyle. He has selected nine essays, four stories, the work of three poets, a powerful portfolio of photos by Fazal Sheikh, and additional photos by Jeremiah Ostriker, all of whom convert these categories of identity into work that reflects these definitions’ inadequacy when it comes to knowing the real people and circumstances of which our diverse world is comprised. Continue reading “TriQuarterly – 2008”

The Bloomsbury Review – July/August 2008

The theme for this issue of The Bloomsbury Review is “Writing the Land,” and its book reviews primarily dwell on nature or regional writers across the United States. The lead review describes two Wallace Stegner biographies – Wallace Stegner and the American West and Wallace Stegner’s Salt Lake City – as well as The Collected Letters of William Stegner. Reviewer Tom Wylie compares Stegner’s work to that of Twain, Faulkner, and Steinbeck, and calls him “one of our great American writers.” Wylie blends Stegner’s biography with the review of these new books, resulting in a survey of Stegner both as a man and as a writer. Continue reading “The Bloomsbury Review – July/August 2008”

Burnside Review – 2008

The Burnside Review’s CD-case size fits snugly in my purse, a place from where I’ve pulled and read it the last couple weeks, despite the fact the issue is all about LA, and I’m a snobby Portlander. Sid Miller, Burnside Review’s editor, acknowledges the Portlander’s aversion to LA, then shows it’s unfounded – at least literary-wise – by including excellent LA writers and writing. Continue reading “Burnside Review – 2008”

Dogzplot – Fall 2008

Dogzplot is an amalgam of eclectic and varying styles of literary excellence publishing fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, artwork, opinion pieces, poetry and even photos (which are requested to be works that are not necessarily “good” or polished as polished can be, but works that will “blow our fucking minds”). When you read this journal, you will quickly realize that it is an energetic environment where the humorous and the serious artwork, writing and photography can coexist with the ironic, sardonic and satirical pieces that dominate this daring journal. And you may not know where the bones are buried in this unique universe, but rest assured you are one happy dog. Continue reading “Dogzplot – Fall 2008”

Ducts – Summer 2008

Ducts, a self-proclaimed “webzine of personal stories,” lives up to its hype in that the narratives that inhabit its confines smell of truth in one way or the other, especially when it comes to the lives and relationships of its central figures. Whether it is in essay, memoir, fiction, through the lens of its art gallery or in a poem, there is an emotional component that grips and excites. Continue reading “Ducts – Summer 2008”

Review :: Fourth Genre – Fall 2008

“I was looking for hope. I was trying to find a durable kind of hope to direct myself toward in order to pull together that broken piece of my life,” says environmental activist and essayist William DeBuys in his interview with Fourth Genre editor Robert Root. I read, always, looking for that durable hope, and I suspect I am not alone, but I am not sure I have ever encountered a more concise or precise description of this yearning. DeBuys is equally astute and humble in efforts here to define the forms and meaning of his own work and of the larger task of documenting the natural world about which he writes.

Continue reading “Review :: Fourth Genre – Fall 2008”

The Iowa Review – Fall 2008

The best way to describe this issue is rich – there is a simply a lot here to take in: a short play, a graphic short story/essay, a portfolio of poems by international poets (Writers in Residence in the writing program at Iowa), short fiction, poems, reviews, and several short prose pieces that might straddle the literary space between fiction and nonfiction (they are not labeled and might easily be construed as one or the other). Lyn Lifshin’s “April, Paris,” is representative, at least in terms of tone, of much of the work in this issue: “Nothing would be less shall we call it what it is, a cliché / than April in Paris. But this poem got started with some / thing I don’t think I could do but it reminded me of / Aprils and then three magazines came with Paris / on the cover.” The “message,” here too, is not a bad summary of the issue’s overall impact: things probably look more like April in Paris than they actually are, just keep reading and you’ll see what I mean. Continue reading “The Iowa Review – Fall 2008”

Lumina – 2008

Under the direction of faculty members Matthea Harvey and Martha Rhodes, talented poets in their own right, students at Sarah Lawrence College produce this terrific journal, now in its seventh year. Current and former Sarah Lawrence teachers, undergraduate and MFA students (Gery Albarelli, Lucy Cottrell, Gillian Cummings, Kathy Curto, Todd Dillard, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Robert Perry Ivey, Marie-Elizabeth Mali, Stuart Spencer, Alexis Sullivan, Tricia Taaca, and Chris Wiley) are joined by an impressive group of poets, nonfiction and fiction writers, and photographers unaffiliated with the college, including Nick Carbó, Denise Duhamel, Eamon Grennan, and Paul Muldoon, among others. Nonfiction contest winner, Seth Raab, whose piece, “Heart Failures” was selected by Mark Singer, makes his first ever appearance in print here. His essay is tender, lovingly constructed, and expertly paced, so let’s hope this is the first of many successes. Continue reading “Lumina – 2008”

The Malahat Review – Fall 2008

Journalist and filmmaker Tadzio Richards won the magazine’s 2008 Far Horizons Award with “Travels in Beringia,” selected from more than 500 entries and featured in this issue. It’s an odd time, to be sure, to be reading about the “sea frozen with chipped ice” that lies between Siberia and Alaska (which mentioned more in the news media in the US in 2008 than it likely was in the entire century before the last presidential election). Continue reading “The Malahat Review – Fall 2008”

Poetry – October 2008

Often one of the best things about Poetry is the prose, which is the case this month in which letters, essays, and reviews comprise nearly half the issue. Prose contributions include an excerpt from Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence of Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, an essay on reviewing Hart Crane by William Logan, and reviews of new books by Jason Guriel. Logan’s essay is a thoughtful, if mildly self-serving, “response” to critics of a controversial review he wrote for the New York Times last year. Continue reading “Poetry – October 2008”

The Prague Revue – 2008

After a seven-year break, The Prague Revue is back. The journal, which categorizes itself as “Bohemia’s Journal of International Literature,” is a compact little tome, just right for a bohemian life of travel. And if you’re about to set out on a trip, I certainly recommend you take this issue with you. No matter how long the lines at the airport, you’ll never be bored. Produced under the auspices of the Prague Cultural Foundation in the Czech Republic, the journal presents fiction, essays, poetry, drama, and reviews in English (some written in English, others translated from their original languages) from around the world. This issue features work, including a short play and photographs by writers from the US, China, the Czech Republic, Scotland, Belgium, Ireland, England, and Germany. Continue reading “The Prague Revue – 2008”

Rock & Sling – Summer 2008

In her introductory note, the editor says she hopes the reader will “find both the wretchedness that makes us human and the grace that will ring.” This “Journal of Literature, Art, and Faith,” the final issue of Rock & Sling, fulfills the editor’s vision through stories and poems of both cruelty and assistance. Some of the pieces are blatantly Christian; other pieces indirectly display the Christian themes of suffering, grace, justice and redemption. Continue reading “Rock & Sling – Summer 2008”

New Lit on the Block :: SIR!

Brian Foley [also a NewPages review writer] has announced the debut of SIR!, a new online literary journal of poetry and prose.

Foley says, “The flagship issue is jammed with 23 contributors of varying temperaments and styles.” It includes – Chad Reynolds, Noah Falck, Blake Butler, Ryan Walsh (of the band Hallelujah the Hills), Scott Garson, Mike Young, Juliet Cook, Brooklyn Copeland, Rauan Klassnik, Peter Berghoef, Elisa Gabbert, Carl Annarummo, Peter Schwartz, Zachary Schomburg & Emily Kendal Frey, Sean Kilpatrick, Julia Cohen, Charles Lennox, Shane Jones, Spencer Troxell, Brandon Hobson, Nicolle Elizabeth, Nathan Logan, and William Walsh.

SIR! will be accepting submissions for for Issue 2 beginning December 1st.