Featured in this issue of Colorado Review, find poetry by Jack Ridl, Amanda Gunn, and Yerra Sugarman; fiction by Alyssa Northrop; and nonfiction by David Schuman. Plus Raksha Vasudevan, Emily Van Kley, Leah Tieger, Gay Baines, Michael Homolka, Kazim Ali, Franco Paz, Laura Kolbe, Angie Macri, Benjamin Seanor, and many more. See other contributors at the Colorado Review website.
Each month, the editors will select one short-short story (under 1,000 words). The winning story will grace the front page of the website for the entire month and will be listed on the Stories of the Month Page, as well as the Fiction Page. The reading fee will be $10, and the winner will receive $50. Submit here: fictionsoutheast.submittable.com/submit/163713/story-of-the-month.
The newest issue of Cleaver features a visual narrative by Emily Steinberg; short stories by Catherine Parnell, Andrea Ellis-Perez, and others; flash by Uma Dwivedi, Kim Magowan, and more; and poetry by Marc Harshman, Jackie Craven, and more. Additional art by Serge Lecomte.
Storm Cellar, a journal of safety and danger since 2011, seeks amazing new writing and art for its summer issue. We especially encourage BIPOC, lgbtqia+, women and gender nonbinary, poor, neurodivergent, border-straddling, and other under-represented authors. Send secrets, treasures, evidence, and evocations: surprise us! Submission form at stormcellar.submittable.com.
The March 2020 issue is here with new flash by Cody Pease, Sue Mell, Amy L. Clark, Kara Bernard, Nick LeGrand, Mandira Pattnaik, Quin Yen, and more. Find out more at the Brilliant Flash Fiction website.
Extended Deadline: April 15, 2020
Submissions for The Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry and The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction, with prizes of $2,000 and $1,000 and publication, have been EXTENDED to April 15th. Finalists and selected semi-finalists will be published and paid at a rate of $10/page. For poetry, submit 3-10 pages (one long poem or several short poems); for fiction, one story, 7,500 words maximum. Manuscripts may be mailed or submitted online: nimrodjournal.submittable.com/submit. Each entry must be accompanied by a $20 entry fee, which includes a one-year subscription. For more information and the complete rules, email [email protected] or visit nimrod.utulsa.edu.
With all the craziness going on in the world, literary magazine Arts & Letters has extended the deadline to its Arts & Letters Prize. They are open to fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. $1,000 and publication awarded to a winner in each genre. The new submission deadline is April 15. $20 fee. Learn more…
Reaching out takes many forms. We seek short fiction, poetry, plays, screenplays, and nonfiction for our upcoming Issue 6. You might be isolated but the world is at your keyboard—let’s connect. No, this isn’t a cheeky call like our previous ones. We don’t think that’s appropriate given the pandemic. But our enthusiasm and love of GOOD WRITING is unchanged and yes, we are still the crazy Dude Sextet. We want your junk and we want it now. See fleasonthedog.com for guidelines. Runs April 2-30.
Carve Magazine‘s Raymond Carver Short Story Contest is open April 1 – May 15. Accepting submissions from all over the world, but story must be in English. Max 10,000 words. Prizes: $2,000, $500, $250, + 2 Editor’s Choice $125 each. All 5 winners published in Fall 2020 issue and reviewed by lit agencies. Entry fee $17 online/$15 mailed. Guest judge Pam Houston. www.carvezine.com/raymond-carver-contest/
Deadline: September 1, 2020
Biannual print journal Black Warrior Review seeks 2020 contest submissions. Winners will receive publication and cash prizes ($500 for flash and $1,000 for poetry, fiction, and CNF). Judges: Mayukh Sen (nonfiction), Paul Tran (poetry), C Pam Zhang (flash), and Lucy Corin (fiction). Open until 9/1. Submission fee: $20. Complete information available at bwr.ua.edu.
Good news, writers! You now have until April 30 to submit your flash fiction of 1,500 words or less to literary magazine Fiction Southeast. They have extended the deadline of their Hemingway Flash Fiction Prize from March 31. Winner receives $200 and publication in the journal. All finalists considered for publication. $10 entry fee. Check out their website for full guidelines.
Something new: No theme for our summer contest! Subject matter is entirely up to you. Surprise us. But keep it short. Three categories: flash fiction, flash creative nonfiction, prose poem. We want to be amazed at how you abracadabra a sprinkling of words into magic. And maybe be a little jealous of how you do that. One writer in each category will be awarded a $300 prize and published in the summer issue. All entries considered for publication. Total word limit for each category is 1,000. See www.baltimorereview.org for complete details. Deadline: May 31, 2020. Fee: $5.
Registration Deadline: July 16, 2020
Event Dates: July 17 – July 31, 2020; Washington University in St. Louis
The Summer Writers Institute is excited to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2020. We are known for bringing together adult writers of all levels to work with published authors and exceptional teachers in a supportive, non-competitive format. Our intensive two-week program features workshops in fiction, micro-fiction, poetry, and personal narrative. Whether this is your first foray into the writing life or the next step in honing your craft, we look forward to welcoming you in St. Louis this summer! summerschool.wustl.edu/summer-writers-institute
The 2020 Orison Chapbook Prize is open for submissions of 20–45 pages in any literary genre (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid) from April 1–July 1. Orison Books founder and editor Luke Hankins will judge. The winner will receive $300 and publication by Orison Books. Entry fee: $12. For complete guidelines, see www.orisonbooks.submittable.com.
The 2020 Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference will take place August 20-23 in Nashville, Tennessee. This is a premier forum for all literature incorporating mystery, thriller, suspense, or true crime. Scholarships are available! Apply today. Killer Nashville is also seeking both published and unpublished works for its annual contests. The Claymore Award is an open competition for unpublished works open to entries through April 1. The Silver Falchion Award is an open competition for works published in 2019 open to entries through June 1. For complete details including prize information, visit www.KillerNashville.com.
Readers, did you know you get a bonus when you subscribe to The First Line? Each subscription comes with one free issue of The Last Line. For those unfamiliar with the journal, The First Line features stories that all start with the same opening sentence, and The Last Line features stories that end with the same closing sentence.
A subscription to The First Line gets you one free issue of The Last Line per subscribed year. It doesn’t matter if you go for the print or the digital subscription—both offer the free issue. The issues are already very affordably priced, but you should still take advantage of the offer and get yourself another source of great writing.
Online literary magazine Gemini has announced that they are extending the deadline of their Short Story Contest. You now have until April 8 to submit your fiction to the contest. Your stories can be on any subject in any style. $8 fee; first prize winner receives $1,000 and publication. Learn more…
Deadline: April 11, 2020
Many parts of the world have shut down under the threats of COVID-19. Schools are suspended, gatherings are discouraged. In this difficult period of time, BALLOONS Lit. Journal is seeking poetry, short stories, and artwork that brings warmth to our young readers. Works may praise the medical officers, mourn for the deceased, encourage the infected, cheer up the children staying home, show support to educators, reflect love and humanity or anything that brings out positive energy, the energy everybody needs now. Visit www.balloons-lit-journal.com for submission details. Stay healthy, stay happy!
“The Everyday” issue celebrates Ruminate‘s focus on finding the sacred within everyday moments and routines. This issue features work from our 2019 Broadside winner Meredith Stricker, as well as the winning pieces from our 2020 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize written by Jasmine V. Bailey, Kelly J. Beard, and Atash Yaghmaian chosen by judge Brianna Van Dyke. Also in this issue: Erin Malone, Chelsea Dingman, Sneha Subramanian Kanta, Nick Yingling, Alyse Bensel, Daniel Seth Kraus, Andrew Huot, Stacy Trautwein Burns, and more.
In this issue of New England Review you’ll find fiction by Maud Casey, David Allan Cates, Nandini Dhar, Elin Hawkinson, Christine Sneed, and Lindsay Starck; poetry by Su Cho, John Freeman, Rodney Gomez, Zach Linge, Vandana Khanna, Joanna Klink, Philip Metres,, Maura Stanton, Emily Jungmin Yoon, and more; nonfiction by Kazim Ali, Jennifer Chang, Ching-In Chen, Julia Cohen, and others; and Max Frisch in translations, translated by Linda Frazee Baker. Plus cover art by Brian Nash.
Check out the new issue of Gargoyle. Contributors include: Laura Arciniega, Paula Bonnell, Sarah Browning, Michael Casey, Grace Cavalieri, Patrick Chapman, Bonnie Chau, Katie Cortese, celeste doaks, Gabriel Don, Cornelius Eady, Blair Ewing, Abby Frucht, Patricia Henley, George Kalamaras, Louise Wareham Leonard, Trish MacEnulty, Franetta McMillian, Tony Medina, Nancy Mercado, Susan Neville, A.L. Nielsen, Josip Novakovich, James J. Patterson, bart plantenga, Bern Porter, Doug Rice, Jane Satterfield, Davis Schneiderman, Claire Scott, Gregg Shapiro, Rose Solari, Maya Sonenberg, Marilyn Stablein, Susan Tepper, Michael Waters, and many more.
Discover a new issue of The MacGuffin. Volume 36 Number 1 spotlights the winners of our 2019 Poet Hunt Contest as selected by guest judge Richard Tillinghast. Jane Craven’s first place “The Sketchbooks of Hiroshige,” begins on p. 74, followed by our two honorable mention poets, Jill Reid and John Blair. This issue’s prose selections include Lucy Mihajlich’s “When I Infiltrated IKEA, They Greeted Me at the Door” and Teresa Milbrodt’s “Playing Krampus.” Featured artist Alison Devine graces the book’s inside and outside with a stroll through the Hamilton, Ontario countryside.
Deadline: Rolling
Founded in July of 2019, The Revolution (Relaunch) is a creative resurgence of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s 1868 publication, The Revolution, which was the official newspaper of the National Women’s Suffrage Association. Like any good 19th century newspaper (or any good 21st century zine), we publish a range of styles—memoir, poetry, cultural criticism, interviews, and profiles featuring activists and grassroots organizations. Our focus is feminism in the broadest sense—in other words, we’re interested in “creative activism” that voices the marginalized and/or criticizes corrupt authority. Submit one piece of prose under 750 words, three poems, or 5 images to [email protected].
The Spring 2020 issue of Black Warrior Review is out. In this issue: Aliza Ali Khan, Sébastien Bernard, Agata Izabela Brewer, Naomi Day, Meg E. Griffitts, Katherine Indermaur, Sara Kachelman, Jasmine Khaliq, Jessica Lanay, M.L. Martin, Cherise Morris, Mónica Ramón Ríos (translated by Robin Myers), Monica Rico, Angie Sijun Lou, Molli Spalter, Qianqian Ye, and more. Chapbook by Seo-Young Chu. Cover art by Dominic Chambers.
Event Location: Online Only
Application Deadline: April 30, 2020
Applications are now open for the “Editors & Writers: The Path to Publication” seminar. This is offered entirely online. The “Editors & Writers: The Path to Publication” seminar is perfect for short fiction writers who are submitting to magazines; come see the process and the craft from an editor’s point of view. Deadline to join the class is April 30th, and all students will be admitted on a first come, first served basis.
Find the newest issue of The Adroit Journal is out. Readers can check out poetry by Bryan Byrdlong, Steven Duong, Garous Abdolmalekian, Emily Lee Luan, John Freeman, Erin Adair-Hodges, Peter Streckfus, Ae Hee Lee, Matthew Gellman, Sara Elkamel, Seth Simons, Imani Davis, Kim Addonizio, Sahar Romani, Zach Linge, Matthew Rohrer, Joanna Klink, and more; prose by Cathy Ulrich, K-Ming Chang, Connor Oswald, and others; plus conversations with Natalie Diaz, Matthew Rohrer, Brian Teare, Deb Olin Unferth, and Matthew Zapruder.
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
Each issue of THEMA invites writers to explore a given theme. The Spring 2020 issue’s theme is “Six Before Eighty,” which Editor Virginia Howard explains in her Editor’s Note, gave writers a run for their money. It “tended to puzzle more authors than usual.”
Despite the challenge, sixteen on-theme pieces made it into the issue. H.B. Salzer in “Her Number Six” writes of a woman’s bucket list—six things to do before she turns eighty. James “Jack” Penha in “Eulogy for My Elder Brother,” writes fondly of his brother who passed away at age seventy-four—six years before turning eighty. In “Written in Gold,” Larry Lefkowitz’s characters try their own hand at translating the theme finding it in a Mayan inscription in a temple. But my two favorite pieces in the issue each interpret the theme as different roads.
In “Mantra” by Lisa Timpf, the numbers are a reminder for a man’s fading memory. Regional Road 6 comes before Sideroad 80 and then he’s home. Readers can feel the anxiety in the piece as he repeats his mantra, trying to get home while admitting he “hasn’t told his wife / how much has slipped away.” But his mantra always gets him back home.
Cherie Bowers’s “Off-Ramp” is a short poem conjuring up Exit 6 as it merges onto 1-80. Here, a memorial with “fading words” reads, “We love you, Jason.” “To see it clearly,” the speaker says, “you must slow down,” a reminder for readers it’s necessary to slow down to truly see everything around us and to give thought to these fading signs we see beside the road.
I’m sure it was a lot of run writing for this issue of THEMA, and it was a lot of run reading what everyone was able to come up with.
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
The writers in Volume 6 of Runestone Journal have questions. In poetry, Lex Chilson asks, “Why Am I Always Sadder During the Summer?” and in fiction, Gabraella Wescott narrator wants to know “Would God Have a Beach House?” while Holley Ziemba’s character wonders “Do I Miss Myself?” Continue reading “Runestone Journal Has Questions”
Book Review by Ken Brosky
Galaxy “Alex” Stern has been given a free ride to Yale, despite a shady past and nonexistent high school grades. Why? Because she can see ghosts, and one of Yale’s secret societies has use of her unique gift. If that’s not enough to get you interested, how about this: in the first 20 pages, the society Skull and Bones has already opened up a living man’s body to perform a ritual designed to pick winning stocks. That’s just a taste of the incredible creativity that awaits readers as Alex investigates the strange goings-on of the secret societies, searching for answers to a suspicious murder.
Leigh Bardugo’s writing style shifts perspective with ease, moving between two main characters whose fates are intertwined. But what sets this book apart is the incredible creativity. Each secret society in Yale practices a form of magic, with consequences that go beyond the campus. It’s difficult to come up with something new in the fantasy genre, but Bardugo’s twisted imagination succeeds so well that this book is impossible to put down.
The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. Flatiron Books, October 2019.
About the reviewer: Ken Brosky teaches English, plays guitar, and works in his woodshop when he’s not busy writing. He is short stories have been published in The Portland Review, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, among others. He’s currently represented by agent Sandra Sawicka, and they’re working on a mystery novel.
Southeast Missouri State University Press may have their orders closed at the moment, but you can still learn about their forthcoming titles. In October 2020, they’ll publish Weird Pig by Robert Long Foreman, winner of the 2018 Nilsen Prize for a First Novel.
Although it’s his first novel, Foreman has made his mark by winning Pleiades Press’s Robert C. Jones Prize for Short Prize with his collection of essays Among Other Things and by winning a Pushcart Prize for fiction.
Find out more about the 2018 competition at SEMO Press’s website. And if you’re interested at trying your own luck at entering the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel, you have plenty of time—submissions close in November.
The Spring 2020 of Leaping Clear is out. This issue encourages readers to find balance in troubling times. Essays by Amy Sugeno, Dorian Rolston, and more; fiction by Anita Feng; mixed media by Barbara Parmet and Deborah Kennedy; music by Jon Tho; poetry by Ben Gallagher, Kathleen Hellen, Stephen Fulder, Yasmin Kloth, and more; video by Zangmo Alexander; and visual art by Denise Susanne Townsend, Michele Giulvezan-Tanner, and Stephanie Peek.
A beautiful new issue of Jewish Fiction .net is out. We’re sharing our journal with you earlier than usual in the hope that the power of great literature will provide you with comfort and pleasure now. Find 16 excellent stories, originally written in English, Hungarian, and Hebrew. And in honour of the upcoming holiday, two stories are about Passover: The Trade” by Mendele Mokher Seforim and “The Guest” by Remy Maisel. Enjoy this fabulous new issue and we wish you and yours continued good health.
The Spring 2020 issue of Witness features the winners of their latest Witness Literary Awards.
Poetry Winner:
“Future Ruins” by Andrew Collard
Poetry Runner-up:
“You Will See It Coming & You Won’t Run” by Emmy Newman
Fiction Winner:
“Delivery” by Emily Greenberg
Poetry Runner-up:
“The Dramatic Haircut” by Kristina Ten
Nonfiction Winner:
“When a Child Offends” by Michele Sharpe
Nonfiction Runner-up:
“Ani-la and Anne-la: On Everything I Knew and Didn’t Know” by Anne Liu Kellor
Poetry was selected by Heather Lang-Cassera, fiction was selected by Kristen Arnett, and nonfiction was selected by José Roach-Orduña. The rest of the issue is “magic” themed, so grab a copy and discover the magic inside.
Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, publisher of online lit mag Sheila-Na-Gig online, is not just celebrating the release of two new titles Robert DeMott’s collection of prose poems, Up Late Reading Birds of America, and Barbara Sabol’s Imagine a Town) but also two new titles in the hopper.
First they have their first-ever fiction title. This will be a re-release of John Bullock’s novel Mark Small: This is Your Life. It was previously titled Making Faces. This is a coming-of-age story set at the British seaside.
The winner of their Spring Poetry Contest, Kari Gunter-Seymour, has agreed to let them publish her forthcoming chapbook A Place So Deep Inside America It Can’t Be Seen. Stay tuned for more information on these titles and grab a copy of their current releases.
Oh, and don’t forget their Poetry Manuscript Contest is open through July 1 annually.
Did you know Zizzle Literary has a blog known as “The Zizzling Pan”? There you can find some great articles about writing and reading…for adults and children.
Melissa Ostrom contributed “One Measure at a Time” to this last June and this would be something great to do to help channel your children’s energy into something creative and possibly fun. Flash fiction is a genre that has definitely seen a rise in recent years. I think the shortest pieces I ever read or studied in school were honest short stories. It was more so after college that I came around myself to see flash fiction.
This is something Ostrom also recalls in her article: “Though I write flash fiction regularly these days, a decade ago, I didn’t even know the form existed. I regret this. Had I been familiar with flash when I was still teaching high school English, I would have incorporated the reading and writing of it into my instruction.” I especially like how Ostrom says she used to believe more was better in terms of writing, but how flash could have suited her teaching purposes just as well.
Ostrom talks about 500 words being an average length for flash fiction. How about setting that as a challenge for your child? Read some great flash pieces for inspiration and have them try their own hand at writing and editing their own attempt down. A fun exercise to do over time to help them learn and grow “measure by measure.”
Looking for something to do with the kids while you are stuck at home? Literary magazine Zizzle has a discounted bundle of their first 3 issues. These hardcover volumes are illustrated and feature fiction both parents and children can enjoy together. These are great keepsakes for families and meant to help bring parents and children together.
You can also subscribe to their newsletter to get free access to their new audio editions.
Zizzle is also transitioning into a press and hopes to be offering fiction for teens soon, too.
Mark your calendars! The Best Microfiction 2020 anthology is slated for release this April from Pelekinesis Press. The series is edited by Meg Pokrass and Gary Fincke. The guest editor this year was Michael Martone.
Featured in this edition is work originally published in Cherry Tree, E. Kristin Anderson’s “Ted Cruz Attends a Goldfish Funeral” and Catherine Edmunds’ “Her Wing”; Apple Valley Review, “Teeth” by Tim Fitts; Kenyon Review Online, “Thaddeus Gunn’s “An inventory of the possessions of William Kevin Thompson, Jr., age 19, upon his expulsion from the family residence on October 20, 1971”; Anomaly, “This Is A Comb” by Leila Ortiz; Into the Void, JJ Peña’s “the summer heat feels just like love”; The Sonder Review, CC Russell’s “Caught”; and much more.
Pre-order yourcopy today and support the awesome journals these pieces were originally published in.
Pembroke Magazine is a literary journal from the University of North Carolina Pembroke. They publish new issues annually. Grab a copy of their 2019 issue featuring poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction by writers living in eighteen states and abroad while you still can. You can also subscribe today to get your hands on the 2020 issue when it is officially released.
Muhammad Ali’s greatness dances across the page, witnessed from multiple perspectives; a frustrated writer begins receiving mysterious bars of chocolate that may or may not be driving him crazy; a long-separated couple makes love as the Twin Towers fall on TV; a vulture does its terrible and necessary work; a young man and woman enjoy the romantic machinations of fate—or something else—in Venice; a man considers the many useless skills he’s accumulated in life; a college student risks her safety by hitchhiking back to campus with a mysterious trucker; and much more. Cover art by Alexander Grigoriev.
They are currently open to submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry through April 30. You even have the option of purchasing their latest issue when you submit.
Online literary magazine Blood Orange Review hosts an annual literary contest. The winners for the 2019 contest were Benjamin Bartu for his poem “Do You Love Her”; Austin Maas for his nonfiction piece “Trigger Finger”; and Joel Streicker for his story “For the Bounty Provided Us.” Read these and more in their latest issue.
Submissions are currently open through April 30 for the 2020 contest.
Calling poets & fiction writers from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (and all those who have links to these areas), The Washington Writers’ Publishing House’s first anthology in 25 years is open for submissions—This is What America Looks Like—and we want your poetry and short fiction. We are a 47-year old nonprofit, cooperative, all-volunteer press. We are looking for new and established writers, a cross-section of diverse voices, to write on America today. Be provocative, be personal or political (or both), we are looking for writing that helps us see and reflect on this moment we are living in. More information at www.washingtonwriters.org. Submit at wwph.submittable.com/submit. Deadline: June 1.
Deadline: April 15, 2020
What is this thing, hope, the tenacious part of us that makes us rise not only to the occasion, but out of bed? Dickinson acknowledges its perseverance (“never stops at all”), but sees it as a separate entity (“Yet, never, in extremity/ it asked a crumb of me”) exempt from the human element, perhaps divine. For the spring edition of The Compassion Anthology, we are looking for work that inspires this universal and at the same time intensely personal attribute without being sentimental or cliché. Hope and the Human Spirit Deadline: April 15. Details at www.compassionanthology.com/submission-guidelines.html.
The “Magic” issue of Witness features new work by: Eric Tran, Mary Lane Potter, Pamela Yenser, Alex Berge, Nina Sudhakar, Andrea Eberly, Miranda Dennis, and more. Plus, the second annual Witness Literary Awards: Andrew Collard (poetry winner), Emmy Newman (poetry runner-up), Emily Greenberg (fiction winner), Kristina Ten (fiction runner-up), Michele Sharpe (nonfiction winner), and Anne Liu Kellor (nonfiction runner-up).
Here is the latest issue of Willow Springs. This issue features Roy Bentley, Michael Hettich, Andrea Jurjević, Michael McGriff, D. Nurkse who is interviewed this issue, Ira Sukrungruang, Jackson Burgess, Dante Di Stefano, Allison Hraban, Michael Hurley, Amy Seifried, Ojo Taiye, Fritz Ward, Ryan Cannon, William Walker, and more.
The latest issue of THEMA explores the theme “Six Before Eighty.” Find stories, short-shorts, poems, and photographs by Matthew J. Spireng, J. J. Steinfeld, Cherie Bowers, H.B. Salzer, James “Jack” Penha, Margo Peterson, Alison Arntz, Lisa Timpf, Lynda Fox, Yuan Changming, Georgia A. Hubley, Annie Percik, Robert Wooten, Larry Lefkowitz, and Virginia Howard.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, The Writer’s Hotel has decided to postpone its annual summer NYC All-Fiction Writers Conference. The event was originally going to take place June 3-9, but is now slated for October 14-20. The application deadline is now August 9. Follow The Writer’s Hotel on social media for updates on their events.
In 2020 Driftwood Press will offer two courses in its Seminar Series. The first is an Erasure Poetry Seminar instructed by Jerrod Schwarz. He is an instructor of creative writing at the University of Tampa and his own erasure poetry has appeared in PANK, Entropy, Poets Reading the News, and the Plath Project. Applications open through April 30. This course will run five weeks from June 1 through July 3. The course is entirely online.
The next course is the Editors & Writers Seminar. This is a five week online class designed for writers submitting to magazines, for writers who want to be editors of short fiction or literary magazines, and writers who want to become better editors of their own work and others’. The course will be limited to 20 students. Applications are open through April 30. Managing fiction editor of Driftwood Press, James McNulty is the instructor. The course will run from June 1 through July 3.
The Winter/Spring 2020 issue of Alaska Quarterly Review ends with a special feature—”Carrying the Fire: Celebrating Indigenous Voices of Canada.” This literary anthology is co-edited by Sophie McCall, Deanna Reder, Sarah Henzi, Sam McKegney, and Warren Cariou, who are interviewed as an introduction to their selections.
The selected winners and finalists of the Indigenous Voices Awards featured in this issue are: Mika Lafond, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Elaine McArthur, Treena Chambers, Joshua Whitehead, Nazbah Tom, Amanda Peters, Marie-Andrée Gill, Smokii Sumac, Tenille K. Campbell, Francine Merasty, J.D. Kurtness, Naomi Fontaine, Aviaq Johnston, Brandi Bird, David Agecoutay, Dawawn Dumont, and Carleigh Baker. Their work includes both poetry and prose.
Grab a copy of the latest issue of AQR to listen to the varied indigenous voices of Canada.
Deadline: November 15, 2020
Science is among the most creative of human endeavors. From ancient depictions of scientists and scientific phenomena to contemporary graphic novel formats, from Frankenstein to recent best-selling novels dealing with such themes as pharmacology and climate change, and from memoirs on scientific discovery to essays on “life in the lab,” the people and ideas of science continue to capture our imaginations. We seek work that incorporates ideas, language, characters, main or sub-themes, images, and artwork related to STEM expansively imagined and rendered. Full call: halmagazine.wordpress.com/submit/submit-to-hal-magazine. Send submissions or queries to [email protected].
Deadline: Tuesday, March 31st
The Absurdist Fiction Magazine is an online publication of strange and surreal fiction, featuring a new story every week. We are looking for short fiction (750-1,250 words) that is as engaging as it is bizarre. It can be farcical, unsettling, or just a little off-center—check out previously published work to get a sense of what fits. If you are interested in submitting, please review the guidelines at absurdistmag.com/submissions and show us what goes on in there.
Book Review by Katy Haas
Christopher Locke’s 25 Trumbulls Road, 2018 Black River Chapbook Competition Winner, is twenty-two pages of eerie enjoyment. The chapbook reads like five short horror films. Each story is called a “case” and is labeled with a date, which makes them feel a little more real despite remaining firmly planted in the surreal and fantastic. The cases are then broken up into numbered “exhibits,” some of which have been redacted. These redacted sections further steep the stories in mystery—what has been removed and why?
Each story, except one, starts similarly: a family moves into a new home and begins to experience unexplainable events. A woman comes to the newcomer in a dream and leads her into the woods, characters hear source-less voices, objects thrown away return as if tethered to the homeowners. Sure, these are tropes we’ve seen in horror movies for years, but there’s something fresh and poetic about Locke’s little stories. There’s no reliance on special effects or visual jump scares. The horror is all in our imaginations, brought to life by Locke’s straight forward prose. With the short length of the stories, we’re immediately plunged into the darkness with little room to catch our breaths before another tale is introduced.
I read the chapbook while in public, during the middle of the day, sure that if I saved it for my bedtime reading, I’d be too creeped out to sleep soundly. And this is exactly what I want out of a book like this: to be both creeped out and impressed. Locke manages to do both in limited space. 25 Trumbulls Road is a perfectly bite-sized bit of literary horror.
25 Trumbulls Road by Christopher Locke. Black Lawrence Press, February 2020.
About the reviewer: Katy Haas is Assistant Editor at NewPages. Recent poetry can be found in Taco Bell Quarterly, petrichor, and other journals. She regularly blogs at: https://www.newpages.com/.