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Alaska Quarterly Review
Another Chicago Magazine
Arts & Letters
The Bellevue Review
The Bellingham Review
Black Gate
Blue Mesa Review
Boulevard
Calyx
Center
Cicada
Cimarron Review
Clackamas Literary Review
Colorado Review
Columbia
Conduit
Crab Orchard Review
Crescent Review
Crowd
Delmar
DoubleTake
Edgar
Elixir
Ellipsis
Faultline
Fence
the First Line
Five Fingers Review (5FR)
Five Points
Flak
The Florida Review
Fourteen Hills Review
Funny Times
The Gettysburg Review
Georgetown Review
The Georgia Review
Glimmer Train
Gorilla Magazine
Granta
Green Mountains Review
Greensboro Review
h2so4
Hobart
Ideomancer
Indiana Review
Inkwell
InTense
The Iowa Review
The Journal of Contemporary Culture
Kalliope: A journal of women's art and literature
The Kenyon Review
The Larcom Review
Lunch Hour Stories
Lurch Magazine
Timothy McSweeneys Windfall Republic
Mid-American Review
Mississippi Review
Missouri Review
The Modern Review
Modern Words
Montserrat Review
Natural Bridge
New Letters
New Millenium Writings
Nimrod International Journal
North American Review
North Dakota Quarterly
Ohio Review
Ontario Review
Orchid Review
Other Voices
Oxygen
Paperbox
Paris Review
Pearl
Pindeldyboz
Pleiades
Ploughshares
Portland Review
Press
Rambunctious Review
River Styx
Rosebud
Santa Clara Review
Seattle Review
Silent Voices
So to Speak
Speak Up
StoryQuarterly
The Sun
Swink
Sycamore Review
The Journal
Thema
Third Coast
13th Moon
Tin House Magazine
Transition
VerbSap
Watchword
Willow Springs
Wind
Witness
Links to other review
sites and information.
P.O. Box 9982
Oakland CA 94613-0982 www.mills.edu/580Split
Submit July 1 through fall (they read July 1 - November 1)
The editors seem to like up-to-date material and style with some
multicultural content. Many stories contain experimental, surreal, trans-real,
magical real, political, sexual and visceral elements. Few stories present long
blocks of text; most use bold heads or other formatting to break it up. The
issue reviewed included poems in Spanish, with translation. This is the Mills
Graduate Creative Writing Program magazine. About the title: Freeway 580 splits
(downtown/circumferential) near Mills.
Stories, poems, b/w artwork
Story length: 500 - 9,000 words
1 issue/year
128 pages, white bond paper, 2 color ink, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (2007):
Teen girls and suicide in the 70s
Jazzman looking for mother
Art and gender choices
Birth of the 17th century New Jersey Devil
Chainsaw murder story focused on victim's obesity
Parable of couple living in tornado - she likes it
Nightmare of war and marriage
Assassin in academia
Meditation on medical blood tests, metabolism and doctors
Doctor, his office manager/nurse/wife, and his son by a chance affair
Interview with Yiyun Li
Surreal barfight in Paris cafe
Meditation on letters and language, English and Chinese
A breakdown not quite described after a botanist and statistician break up
Meditation on a bomb
Martyrdom in a men's toilet
Chinese medicine, nightmares, TV, drugs and reality meltdown
Cannibalism, commerce and information technology in a bad sex bar (with
footnotes) Tourbook for 2nd-generation woman going back to forget child
abduction
Writers: 3 first time, 7 have published other poems or stories (1 has published books), 5 are writing instructors (3 have also won prizes, 2 have also published books)
University of Alaska Anchorage
3211 Providence Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99508
aqr.uaa.alaska.edu/index.htm
in new frame
Eclectic literary magazine stories ranging from realism to the experimental. The first issue reviewed (Fall/Winter 2004) contained 11 short stories, poetry, a novella, a one-act play, a photo essay entitled "AIDS in Guyana," and an essay on the craft of literary translators. In both issues reviewed, several stories dealt with family relationships and people coping with the deaths of loved ones; most feature middle-aged or older characters. Seven of eleven stories were first-person.
Submit August 15 to May 15
Length: 2,000-13,000 words
Two issues/year
280 pages, nonglossy paper, glossy cover
Topics covered in issues reviewed (most recent, Spring/Summer 2007):
Family car trip, dirty mouthed grandmom, drunk driver
Baby theft, breast envy, cross-cultural friendship
Italian fathers and sons in 1970s New England
How Dad cross-dressed and got the town company shut down
Talking with a poet's widow
Image sorters and the prisoner in their basement
I'm an old lady who smokes pot, let me tell you about my friend
Drama: Ex-lover's visit shames contented couple
Essays about Alaska
Non-affair in the graveyard of dead boyfriends' cars
Old man love and African elephant myth
Adultery, forgiveness, and snobbery
Racism and the universal alienation in an Indian orphanage
Old man full of piss and vinegar
Abandoned husband, fantasies of sex and companionship
Prodigal uncle, medical nephew, hereditary family disease
Clinician with husband who has multiple sclerosis, her family, her decisions
and a patients' family and decisions
Boys on an ostrich farm learn about death, life and family
A fishing pole, a sister, a young man and an old man
Stories and memories in the town of a man's childhood
Confusion and memory loss from the point of view of the victim
Adult children in Chicago deal with their father's death
Late-life romance and breakup, story framed as an interview
Interview with a dog who ate God in Darfur and became omniscient
Essay: my sainted mother
Essay: father's death in mining country, the railroads and the KKK
A father and his adult daughter make funeral arrangements for their
wife/mother, sort through the mother's dresses.
An adult brother and sister living in their family home watch modern condos
being built across the road by the sister's developer fiancé. Sister marries
and moves to a condo when the brother dies.
A man with acne scars reflects on growing up with bad skin, and concludes that
his mother's drug dealer was his real father.
A reckless aunt hooks up with a strange guy in the guy's apartment (while
babysitting her young niece and nephew) following her father's death.
An irreligious man is invited to his estranged daughter's orthodox Jewish
wedding.
A Japanese-Canadian man copes with the death of his wife.
A young girl and her mother live with her grandparents when the girl's father
tries to reconcile with the mother.
A woman who works at a children's shelter drinks vodka with the man who lives
downstairs from her apartment.
A woman and her son try to extinguish their dog, which has caught on fire.
A group of friends on a tugboat in a dense fog contemplate the reaction of
fellow passengers when a child falls overboard.
A 14-year-old whose mother has died collects jars of insects and other small
animals in his grandmother's house; has a violent confrontation with his older
brother.
Writers: 7 first time published; 26 note previous publications (13 have published books and 6 have won prizes); 2 note stories forthcoming in other publications.
3709 N. Kenmore
Chicago IL 60613
This magazine likes variety. It includes both new and internationally famous
writers, some of the latter in translation. Many stories are short. Some, but
not all, stories include unconventional characters, plots and techniques. Some
writers are identified by ethnicity in the contributors' credits.
Stories, essays, poems, reviews, b/w artwork
Story length: 100-7,500 words
Issues/year: varies
261 Pages, white nongloss paper, 5.5x8.5 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
White girl/black boy in the sixties
essay on rollerblading after 40
essay on race and childhood in Chicago
Lovers' dialog
Stranger encounter (short short)
Collection and affection
Chain letter by a pussy
Couples in conversations
Real love loses to ideal
Man left by wife, disappointed by friend, rethinks
Young love and ambiguous emotion among Asian Americans
Porn model seeks identity through industry and imagery
Gay love, friendship and mortality
Writing prof. turns 40
Freud's Dora, love, masochism and emotional repression
Book reviews
Writers: 5 first time, 16 have published other poems or stories (7 have also published books), 10 have won prizes (4 have also published books), 11 are also writing instructors (4 have also published books), 4 are editors/publishers (2 have also published books)
Campus Box 89
Georgia College & State University
Milledgeville GA 31061-0490
al.gcsu.edu
This magazine appears to like stories about complex emotions and changes of mind. International settings and references to history are frequent. The editors do not accept multiple submissions, that is, work submitted here may not be submitted elsewhere until returned.
Stories, interviews, poems, reviews, b/w artwork
Submit September - April
Story length: 2,000 - 7,000 words
2 issues/year
179 pages, white paper, 7x10 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Spring 2002):
Catholic girl meditates on chain gang worker
Play script: Ex-spouses empty the cellar
New York Jewish Orthodox women's college girls
Wedding party remembers Kent State (Vietnam War)
Daughter of small town acrobat family gets out
Chinese woman bicyclist and murder victim
Childhood time in North Korea
Actor soldier in Passion play forgets self in role
Writers: 2 first time, 2 have published other poems or stories ( have also published books), 2 have won prizes (1 also teaches writing, 1 also published a book)
Department of Medicine
NYU School of Medicine
500 First Ave
New York NY 10016
www.BLReview.org
This magazine is devoted to literary writing about illness, coping with illness, death, and relationships among patients and clinicians. The first issue was largely directed toward medical students and interns encountering people very different from themselves in a context of intense professional pressure; more recently stories involve patients of varied ages. Doctors are not necessarily heroes. The first issue reviewed contained no first-person accounts of struggle with a disease, but the most recent contained many literary stories and essays on the topic. Many but not all contributors in the inaugural issue mentioned medical training; more recently there are more teachers of writing. Contributors mention medical conditions of their own if relevant.
Stories, essays, poems, reviews
Story length: 1,200 - 8,500 words - typical story is about 5,000 words
2 Issues/year
160 pages, ivory bond paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issues reviewed (most recent, Spring 2007):
Thoughts of a Chinese American daughter with leukemia as her father dies
Couple waiting for a lung transplant
Man with prostate cancer and arsonist son
Prostate cancer victim returns to Mexico to consider snake cure, moral choices
Father and son hitchhike, fight in uptate New York
Widower realizes his daughter has anorexia
Man with Downs, his family, sex, the Internet
South Africa, sister's murder, childhood in apartheid
Non-clinical research, teaching, cancer, love Euthanasia of/and doctor's father
Alienated intern gets chance in Nepal via forgotten ex-patient (nonfiction)
Girl in a body cast dances
Whether to bury mother in family plot over mine fire
Mother raises son at Bellevue cafeteria
How much to risk as a physician in wartime
Family at ICU after bad-boy son's traffic accident
Review: books for writing
Cardiologist nears death
Suicide wish cured by near plane crash
Crash victim's perspective on multiple surgeries
Elevator operator follows intern's first ethical crisis
Italian-American widower remembers
Loves and accidental death
Prison suicide
Mom goes
Miscarriage
Miscarriage/abortion in 1920s
Taiwanese class bad boy
The spots on the X-ray
Visiting demented father
Multiple sclerosis, mentally ill neighbor, and dogs
Patients seek woman’Äôs blood for healing
Cancer patients become clinic buddies
Hodgkins and soap opera
Athlete hides cancer from lover
ALS (Lou Gehrig’Äôs disease)
Abused wife sews wedding dress for abused fiancee
Mentally ill brother
Living with obsessive compulsive disorder
Writers: 10 first time, 19 have published other poems or stories (8 have also
published books), another 5 have published nonfiction (including 1 book), 8
have won writing prizes (4 have also published books), 12 are also writing
instructors (4 have also published books)
MS-9053 Western
Washington University
Bellingham WA 98225
http://www.wwu.edu/~bhreview
This magazine appears to lean toward academic topics and writers, though protagonists are not necessarily young and settings are not all on campus. Writers come from all parts of the US.
submit November 1 - April 30
Stories, essays, poems, reviews
Length: 1,500-9,500 words
2 issues/year
128 pages, bond paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (most recent, fall 2006):
Young love, self, family and art
Older love, art, culture and romanticism
Young love and assimilation into culture through language
Essays on ethics in fiction
Stuffed birds and curator
Father of boy killed in accident and the girl who killed him
Injured daughter on family accidents, hospitals, getting hurt and hurting
Meeting one's fear and racism in the hospital
Dissapointment of a musical girl by her family, pelican symbolism
Writers: 0 first time, 4 have published other poems or stories (3 have published books), 3 are also writing instructors (1 has published books), 11 have won prizes (9 have published books), 9 are also writing instructors (3 have published books), 1 is also an editor/publisher, 2 are editors of this magazine
815 Oak St.
St. Charles IL 60174
www.BlackGate.com
Stories are mostly fantasy, with some science fiction. All contain a strong macabre element, either treated seriously or humorously. The magazine also has several columns of reviews. Several stories run with sidebar ads for the author's books. Contributors mention affiliations with fantasy, science fiction, or horror lit associations, membership on con panels etc.
Stories, essays, reviews, b/w artwork
email submissions OK
Story length: 3,000 - 20,000 words
4 issues/year
224 pages, white paper, 7x10 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
"Iron Joan" Set in an unspecified medieval celtic village. A woman
uses magic to win her independence.
"The Knight of the Lake" Oberon teaches the boy Lancelot about the
connection between song, dance, magic, and fighting.
"The Chinese Sandman" A private eye in a Manhattan with magic; mixes
hardboiled detective genre with fantasy.
"Another Man's Burden" Set in a medieval middle eastern fantasy city,
story has a grimly ironic, Twilight Zone quality.
"A Taste of Summer" Evocative story set in the fifties or early
sixties, the fantasy elements are very subtle; would qualify as realist
fiction.
"A Dark Miracle" Horror story set in Puritan New England.
"Tav-Ru's Troth" Science fiction (or science fantasy- set on an alien
planet with no magic) ends with a grim plot twist.
"Three Nights in Big Rock City" Combines hardboiled detective genre
with fantasy.
"The Haunting of Cold Harbor" A detective story set in a Gothic
horror virtual reality game, alternating with scenes in the real-world dot.com
business operating the game. Complex but credible plot and engaging characters.
"Ringard and Dendra" unspecified midieval setting; ironic, macabre
tone.
"For the Love of Katie" A somewhat sentimental story about a girl and
her (genetically engineered) dragon.
Writers: 2 first time, 9 have published other poems or stories (6 have also published books), 3 have won prizes in addition to publishing books
Department of
English
Humanities Building #217
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131-1106
Most, but not all, stories and poems are by writers in or from the
Southwest. Each issue has a theme; this issue was The Mythic Southwest. Most of
the stories raise cultural or moral questions or teach about characters and
cultures.
Stories, essays, poems, artwork, book reviews
Submit May-September
Length: 1,500-7,000 words
1 issue/year
220 pages, heavy nongloss paper, 9x6 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (1999):
coping with death in families, communities
kids in communities
sexual abuse and revenge
friendship between children and elderly
family humor
reflections by Anglo working with Hopi and Navajo communities
intercultural friendship and betrayal
urban poverty and moral response
Writers: 11 first time (most UNM); 18 have published other stories/poems, 14 have published books, 6 writing instructors, 8 editors/publishers of other magazines
6614 Clayton Rd
Box 325
Richmond Heights, MO 63117
boulevard.slu.edu
This magazine tries to keep readers up to date on the academic literary
scene. Contributors mention being in writing programs, etc.
Short (7500 w) fiction contest for emerging writers (no books with major
presses), deadline December 1.
submit October 1 - April 1
Stories, essays, poems, photographs
Length: 500-14,000
3 issues/year
298 pages, nongloss paper, 5.5x8.5 in.
Topics covered in issues reviewed (2000):
old man remembers love at Columbia U
letting go of tots and Kafka
Queens boy stuck with relatives in Chile
Missouri class divisions
white youth on black construction crew
Christmas, adultery, losing custody
Puritan indian-killer
combat soldier's experience
literary essay on Moby Dick and Lolita
fall/political awakening of an affluent white male
Eastern Europe: surreal
college graduate disilusionment
late-life romance
literary essay on film
musicians and cancer
living with fear
adolescence of a gay composer
adolescence of a straight musician
Writers: 2 first time, 20 have published other stories/poems (14 have published books), 18 have won prizes (15 have published books), 15 are writing instructors (10 have published books), 6 are publishers/editors (5 have published books, 1 is the editor of Boulevard)
www.calyxpress.org/journal.html
Submit poetry and prose: October 1-December 31 Art and book reviews: all year
A journal by and for women, with a strong feminist flavor. Earlier stories featured an ptimistic tone and were more dramatic than literary. More recent stories feature clear, if not elaborately described settings and characters struggling to understand others' motivations.
Stories, essays, poems, artwork, photography, book reviews
6 Issues/year
Slick color cover, 119 pages, 8x5 inches, heavy cream paper for prose, slick
paper for black and white images.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (most recent, Spring 2007):
The Romany past that Mum denies
Dreaming of Yoga, remembering car crashes
Brooklyn Jewish veterans flash back to Israeli wars
Twins' elder brother dies and they fear parents will kill them
Woman's fiance proposes and then regresses to infancy
Living with grandparents, drowning in love for mother
Two elderly sisters, used to living off the land, consider their lives-to-date
and their mortality
During the Depression a little girl learns lessons about family love and
husbandry of the earth
A woman goes to meet the grandfather she never knew and remembers the family
lore A woman panhandles at a rest stop with her child and finds the will to
leave her useless boyfriend
A new grandmother remembers relinquishing child custody to her ex to escape a
second, abusive, marriage
Writers: Of the 36 writers featured in issues reviewed, 17 live on the West Coast
and 5 appear to be first time authors. The majority report publications in
other journal and/magazines, 16 have novels or collections, and 10 are writing
instructors. 4 report work as editors and/or publishers and 9 list
advanced writing degrees (given the number of writing instructors, that is
probably an underestimate).
This is the magazaine of the U MO English department. Stories in the issue
reviewed present the point of view of a character in unusual circumstances, and
focus on development of this point of view to a greater degree than on plot,
though a twist or two may be noted. Contributors notes in the issue reviewed
had no information on most of the prose writers (there were only four, so this
could be accidental).
Stories, interviews, poems, reviews, b/w artwork
Submit September - April
Story length: words
1 issue/year
207 pages, white paper, in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (2002):
Death row and reading physics
Love and loss in upstate New York during World War II
Becoming the Other Woman
Interviews: Agha Shahid Ali, Mary Gaitskill
Contest: Dana Award winners are published here. Check www.danaawards.home.pipeline.com
P.O. Box 300
Peru IL 61354
This magazine is produced by a publishing company and directed toward young
adults aged 14-19. Protagonists in all the stories reviewed were young. Most
stories did not teach a simple life lesson. Some, though not all, contributors
are young. Some are high-school teachers.
Stories, essays, poems, reviews, b/w artwork
Story length: 1,000 - 7,000 words
6 issues/year
128 pages, white paper,5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (November/December 2001):
Arab-American girl's old and young friends (reprinted)
young man in post-World War II Germany
girl's encounter with prophetess: surreal (reprinted)
meddling in inter-alien conflict brings disaster: science fiction (reprinted)
friends and window-smashing by the railroad tracks
parodically happy family bribes taxman with daughter (reprinted)
Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (reprinted)
nonfiction: essay on having a weird name
Writers: 4 first time, 6 have published other poems or stories (3 have also
published books, 2 are teachers)
This magazine appears to like stories with interesting voice and tone that
explore mood through language and events, rather than focusing on innovative
plot or unusual setting. Characters face challenges to their self-images and
perspectives. Most writers in the issue reviewed were MFA program graduates.
Stories, essays, poems, b/w artwork
Story length: 4,000 - 7,000 words
4 issues/year
110 pages, white bond paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Summer 2003):
Alzheimer's Disease, love, beer, getting some
story of two creeks (nonfiction)
love, loss, foghorns, family, Spanish
laid off in midlife
apartment manager realizes he's a dull guy
Writers: 1 first time, 2 have published other poems or stories (1 has also
published books), 2 are also writing instructors (1 has also published books)
This magazine appears to prefer stories about the effect of situations,
particularly family conflict, on character. Most though not all writers live in
the western U.S. Writers cite writing degrees in their biographies.
Submit Sept. 1 - June 1
Stories, essays, poems, reviews
Story length: 2,000-12,000 words
2 Issues/year
234 pages, white paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (2001):
Nogales altar boy life (nonfiction)
Anglo dude's wife meets native American spirituality
Pastoral look back on tragedy
Man befriends woman abused by boyfriend
Guns and gun control (essay)
Excuses, lies, faith and disillusionment
Mosh fan finds control in pregnancy
How Dad got stuck with Mom
Boy caught between Mom and the clod she can't resist
Spanish sheep herders in American West
Memories of Mom and mysterious uncle
Obsession victim fights off help
Gay friends fear their daughter has AIDS
Writing instructor trapped in student fictions
Adolescent girl cares alone for sick alcoholic mother
Writers: 2 first time, 11 have published other poems or stories (3 in this
magazine; 6 have also published books), 11 have won prizes (5 have also published
books), 22 are also writing instructors (5 are included among the prize
winners; 9 have also published books), 3 are editors/publishers ( 1 has also
published books)
This magazine features stories about unconventional characters struggling with
universal dilemmas.
Stories, essays, poems, reviews
Story length: 3,500 5,500 words
2 issues/year
Submit September 1 - May 1
175 pages, white nongloss paper,6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (latest Spring 2002):
High school, shopping and spectacle
Ska life and loneliness
Social worker and bicyclist find love
Ex-wife and new flame
Vietnamese foster girl between gang pal and mother figure
Accounting, anxiety, masculinity and love
Nonfiction essay: high school and segregation
Nonfiction essay: Sylvia Plath
Nonfiction essay: Cuban boyhood
Grieving father bodypierces
Gay youth, lesbian mother, ambivalence about divorce
Fear and avoidance in a utopian community raising abused children
Intellectual Jewish father, athletic multicultural daughter, love and worry
Bidong Island, boat people, relief work, guilt (nonfiction)
Book reviews
Writers: no information listed. Of writers mentioned in editor's introduction,
1 (fiction) is first time, 3 (fiction) are new to this magazine, 8 (poetry, of
24 poets published) are not new to this magazine
This is the magazine of the Graduate Writing Division at Columbia University,
so editorship changes frequently. Many stories in the issue reviewed feature
sardonic humor and/about vexed romantic relationships, both straight and gay.
Some contributors are prominent in the New York literary academic community.
Stories, essays, poems, b/w and color artwork
Submit August 1 - December 1
Story length: 1,000 - 7,000 words
1 Issue/year
243 Pages, white bond paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (2001):
dis/enchantment in Hollywood
cross-dressing for charity and mourning in small US town: historical fiction
prose/haiku/meditation on lover's quarrel
sex biography
son of dying parents harrasses girlfriend
woman torn between lovers with grandma closing in: surreal
interview: George Saunders
nonfiction: adoptee finds birth mother
3-page present-progressive paragraph with incest anxiety
memoir of childhood
old befriends young in acting class
friend comes out, goes glitz, cuts pal
the messy side of a marriage
parody of small town wedding story; cold feet, class prejudice
fable about advertising mascots (Jolly Green Giant et al.)
Writers: 4 first time, 11 have published other poems or stories (7 have also
published books), 12 have won prizes (10 have also published books), 10 are
also writing instructors (6 have also published books and 2 are also
editors/publishers), 3 are editors/publishers (2 have also published books, 1
won a prize)
The two issues reviewed contained an abundance of interviews, experimental
poetry, free-verse poetry, images and artwork, and only a smidgen of prose.
Issues have a theme; Spring 2004 was Words & Visions for Minds on Fire -
Dumb Luck, fate-fortune-grace, and Fall 2004 was Words & Visions for Minds
on Fire - Gray Matters, the light and shadow of doubt. Self-proclaimed as
"direct, playful, inventive, irreverent and darkly beautiful."
Stories, interviews, poems, essays, artwork
Story length: no count available
2 Issues/year
88 pages, 4 7/8" x 10 3/4", Matte white paper
Topics covered in issues reviewed (latest, Fall 2004):
Faith and Reason vs. Doubt, Science vs. Skepticism, Government vs. Religion
A toilet turns 50, sounds like an older brother.
Father dies and leaves profane parrot to daughter who throws him into the
freezer.
Slovenian immigrant faces the homeless in New York City.
Man has sex every 7 years, sort of like visiting a Planetarium.
Editor's fascination with maps as a child.
Coleridge and Wordsworth discuss poetry.
Description of Hell.
Writers: no information available
This magazine appears to be directed toward the academic/literary community.
Protagonists, usually young, face family and political concerns in stories that
often depart a bit from conventional realism.
"COR accepts no responsibility for unsolicited submissions and will not
enter into correspondence about their loss or delay."
Annual contest: Fiction, NonFiction, fee $10/entry (includes subscription),
6,000 words maximum (6500 for nonfiction)
submit January through April and September through November
Stories, essays, poems, reviews
Length: 258 p
2 issues/year
pages, paper, in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (2001):
Rural mother rejects literary academic romantico-sexism
Interview with Stuart Dybek and 1 Dybek short-short
Homeless Vietnamese orphan at US war memorial
College town childhood, first gay encounter (Fiction prize winner)
Experimental fiction: language and memories of sister
Son's relationship with Southern mother, memories, prejudice
Auto/biography of father's illness, divorce, rejecting mother (NonFiction
contest winner)
Evolution of a sister's depression
Memories of boyhood
Essay on IU football team (Illini), its "chief," Native American
history
Book reviews
Writers: 1 first time, 15 have published other stories/poems (6 have published
books), 4 list only books as publication credits, 9 have won prizes (6 have published
books), 23 are also writing instructors (18 have published books), 2 are
editors/publishers (both have published books)
These stories vary greatly in complexity. Many, though not all, have rural
settings, and most follow the development of a central character. Contributors
mention affiliation with writing programs, workshops, and writing-associated
fields like copy editing.
Stories, b/w artwork (solicited)
Story length: 1,000 - 9,500 words
3 Issues/year
204 pages, white paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (2001):
son regains direction after father's death
scamming scriptwriter gets just deserts
failure to love
grieving father, withdrawn son, model airplanes
social worker baffled by silent client
political oppression, love and betrayal
painting, teaching, burnout and illusion
physical illness, crime and memory
love and romance in a retarded worker's life
blocked writer bemused in Paris
worrier has brief encounter with love at deli
therapy at gunpoint
Irish-American widow lets go of obsessive mourning
writer makes bigtime, dumps hubby, gets comeuppance
old murder, race and mothers in a small town
suburban men in empty nests
teen athlete
office drudge surpassed by people-person who can write
writing-conference instructors craft drama
mother of a dying child
parable on charity
drugged-out late night emergency room love
teen pals, pregnancy, infanticide
crafting a story of an alluring scary dad
Writers: 2 first time, 8 have published other poems or stories (6 have also
published books), 2 have published nonfiction, 7 have won prizes (4 of these
have also published books and 1 also teaches writing), 2 are also writing
instructors, 3 are editors/publishers (2 of these are also writing teachers and
1 has also published books)
This magazine seems to like college-literary work. Stories deal with
intergenerational issues, often using surrealism or magical realism.
Stories, poems, essays, b/w artwork
Story length: 500-5,000 words
2 issues/year
103 pages, white paper, 6.75 x 9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Fall/Winter 2004):
Not-nice daughter given to monsters
Old writer meets young documentary-maker
Fiance's parents and the world are very strange
Essay: miniaturization and magnification in literature
Writers: 1 has published other poems or stories, 1 is a writing instructor and
has published books, 2 are editors/publishers (1 has also published books)
This magazine appears to like variety, experimentation, and writing that deals
with current cultural issues. About 1/3 of the writers live in St. Louis.
Several writers are designated "frequent contributors."
Stories, essays, poems, reviews, artwork
Length: 500-5,000 words
2 issues/year
128 pages, nongloss paper, 6.5x8 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (2000):
Musings on literature
Mentally ill lesbian and family response
Meditation on angels and family (no dialog)
Midlife lesbian marriage
Mysterious ex-girlfriend (all dialog, no tags)
Book reviews: art, social issues, memory, poetry
Aesop's fables and sexist socialization (drama)
Writers: 3 first time, 10 have published other stories/poems (3 have published
books), 2 have won prizes, 3 are also writing instructors (2 have published
books), 4 are editors/publishers (3 are editors of Delmar)
Good pictures, good words. Originality. Social issues. DoubleTake combines the
best documentary photography and modern art with interesting, engaging, topical
fiction, essays, and commentary, all in powerful touch with real life. For
nonfiction, they prefer a completed manuscript to a query letter.
Stories, articles, color photographs
Story length: up to 5,000 words
4 Issues/year
144 pages, recycled matte paper, 9.5x11 inches
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Fiction profile of inventor of a transportation system that runs on gravity
alone
Non fiction feature: circus whose performers are all kids
Short nonfiction on Bosnian refugees in America's heartland
Photo essays: neighborhood basketball, a farm, men's clubs
Writers: Most writers are established, e.g. professors, and/or extensively
published in literary journals. Current issue has work by Nobel Prize-winner
plus 2 first-timers.
Named for Edgar Allan Poe, this magazine features short stories, essays,
poetry, and black and white photography multi-racial, multi-cultural themes.
The issue reviewed (Summer 2005) focused on life and death, love and loss,
despair and hope. It contained 3 short stories, 8 poems, and 12 black/white
photographs, and numerous advertisements from local businesses.
Stories, poems, b/w artwork
Story length: 750 - 4,000 words
4 Issues/year
Issued quarterly.
21 pages, 8 x 11 80 lb. Matte enamel paper, matte cover, booklet.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Summer 2005):
Elderly couple still in love
Tourist in modern-day Cambodia spends day with an opportunist criminal and his family,
experiences hope and happiness amid poverty and lawlessness
Indian women grieve at the gravesides of husbands and children
Young person receives devastating news from doctor, then sits in a park trying
to comprehend
Young white woman has car accident with Hispanic male, assumes he is uninsured,
causes anger
Medical student deals with diminishing life forms on planet Earth
Young girl examines fleeting moments of happiness through metaphor
Wayward son returns to hold dying father in his arms
Woman vents anger at violent military boyfriend
Description of homeless man on sidewalk eating junk food
Woman describes marriage as a chiseled stone with two sculptors
Contributors:
9 female - 10 male, from the US and Canada.
Bios include: 7 published poets, 3 published writers, 7 freelance
photographers, 4 English/Writing teachers, 1 MA student, 1 artist
(wood/jewelry/metal), 1 "computer guy", 1 Environmental Consultant, 1
Aerospace Engineer, 1 Florist/Garden Sculptor, and 1 member of the Army. Many are
literary/photography award winners or nominees. Most are highly educated.
This magazine appears to like clear writing that explores difficult emotions
and relationships. The stories in the issue reviewed were not plot-driven; the
plot is that the reader finds out more about the characters as the story goes
on.
Stories, poems
Story length: 5,000 - 7,000 words
2 Issues/year
97 Pages, ivory paper, 5 1/2 x 9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Fall 2004):
Lonely seaside artist in a crowd of mooching friends
Stepdad and stepdaughter fight and talk and remember
Prof fired for sexual abuse meets his old abuser at his new college
Writers: 1 published other poems or stories, 2 have won prizes
This magazine seems to like stories from striking perspectives, and humor. Most
contributors mention academic affiliations including writing programs. 15% of
writers in the first issue reviewed were Westminster College students. The 2003
issue had only one Westminster College student.
Stories, poems, color artwork
Submit August 1 - November 1
Story length: 500-78,000 words
1 Issue/year
100 pages, glossy white paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (latest, 2003):
Black careworker, white patient, old age
Halloween years after sister's kidnapping in NY
Modern hermit
Undergraduate love, stalking, Mozart requiem
Costume, shame and sexual fantasy
Widow and granddaughter, farming, rape
Animal liberation raid follies
Remembering a gay high school pal, deciding to divorce
Trying to build friendship with a dog by getting on dog's level
Squirrel fight/ barfight
Rooster disrupts wedding (epistlary)
Writers: 12 first time, 7 have published other poems or stories (1 also
published books), 1 teaches writing, 16 have won prizes including this
magazine's prizes (3 have also published books, 4 also teach and are
editors/publishers)
This magazine, published by UC-Irvine, appears supportive of writing students
and student writing. About 30% of the writers published here are associated
with the UC-Irvine MFA program.
Stories, poems, reviews, bw artwork
Length: 1,500-5,500 words
1 issue/year
105 pages, nongloss paper, 6x8.75 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Young people dealing with family and relationship problems, often involving
mental illness
Interview with a poet
Writers: 12 first time, 9 have published other stories/poems (4 have published
books), 1 won prizes for book, 5 are also writing instructors (3 have published
books), 1 editor
This magazine features a variety of unusual literary work. Stories include
elements like philosophy, second person, surrealism, history, literary science
fiction and horror. Most have elements of humor and the unexpected.
Contributors list recommended reading with or in place of biography (the
reviewer recognized a few famous names among those listing no biography).
Stories, essays, poems, comics, drama
Length: 2,000-9,000 words
2 issues/year
196 pages, nongloss paper, 7x9 in.
Topics covered in issues reviewed (most recent: Fall/Winter 2002/3):
photographer loses self in art and love
not not not gay man in not-great relationship
comic: Korean folk tale
novel exerpt: high school surreal (reprint)
essay: self, DNA, poetry
solicited essays on poetry
boy's first quickie elicits unbridled intimacy
drama: research, language, oppression
mad dad manifesto
postapocalyptic adolescence
horror on the verge of a story
essays on ghost stories
essay on sleep
pomo urban surreal grade school
love and transgression
primal self-interrogation
an honest post-high school update
letters to self/the President
sea, statues, life and death
dreams dreamt by Parisians
commercial proposal for the universal game
women's global struggle
Writers: 74 list no credits, 34 have published books, 13 are also writing
instructors (7 have published books), 5 are editor/publishers, 4 list prizes
Each story begins with the same sentence, announced in the preceding issue.
Stories in the issue reviewed began "The incident on the island is the
stuff of legend, but let me tell you the real story." Most of the stories
in the issue were set on islands and dealt with variation in memory and
interpretation of dramatic events; one decried the sentence as a piece of
exceptionally bad writing.
Stories, essays
email submissions OK
Story length: 1,200-2,500 words
4 issues/year
54 pages, white paper, 5 1/4 x 8 1/2 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (summer 2002):
10 stories about the incident on the island
1 guest essay on the first line to Anna Karenina
Writers: no information
This magazine has gone from biennial to annual. Stories in the most recent
issue reviewed tended toward the moral or spiritual. Experimental forms
published here include blends of poetry, prose, fiction and nonfiction. Many
but not all poets are Bay Area residents and mention writing-program
affiliations. Several poems are translations. They would like to publish
reviews. Some issues have themes; the theme is announced in the previous issue.
Poems, prose poems, short shorts, drama, artwork
Length: 900-15,000 words
1 issue/year
186 pages, heavy white paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (latest 2002):
Death of a difficult mother
Christ figure in Urgent Care
Garden weeding and imperialism
Young logger meets old tree spirit
Love and fire in a beautiful house
Recluse murders wanderer
Neglected mother suicides
Contemporary issues
Sex and love and work and drugs
Death and afterlife of a poet
The narative form
Writers: 7 first time; 9 have published other poems/stories (1 is also a
writing instructor), 36 have published books (including 6 editor/publishers, 4
prize winners, 3 writing instructors)
This magazine tries to present the best in contemporary literature. Authors are
generally known in their field; some cite impressive academic credentials,
Pulitzers, etc. The latest issue reviewed (vol. 7, no. 2) had a guest editor,
whose name took up half the title page, as well as a Guest Fiction Editor.
Stories, essays, poems, interviews, artwork (latest issue b/w only)
Submit August 31 - May 1
Story length: 1,000 - 12,000 words
3 Issues/year
176 Pages, ivory nongloss paper, 6.5x9 in.
Topics covered in issues reviewed (latest: Winter 2003)
mother's death and her adult children (first chapter of a novel)
memories of father and strikebreaking in midwest winter
Alzheimer's Diseases, cake baking, postmodern single daughter's life
mother meditates on daughter's eyes and fate
boy and mother's evil lover in 1950's Malibu
Interview with Paul Bowles
Interview with Elizabeth Stuckey-French
Selfishness and necessary boundaries
Declasse grad, neglected boy, family tensions
Interview with Edward Hirsch
Language, knowledge and telepathy, set in backwoods U.S.
Teen disillusionment, parental secrecy
Writers: 6 have published other poems or stories (all have also published
books), 2 have won prizes (also published books), 8 are also writing
instructors (5 have also published books)
The issue reviewed below is this magazine's first in print after 5 years on the
web. This magazine loves mindgames. Stories and essays can be illuminating,
subversive, offensive, silly, and/or all of the above. Some issues have themes.
The theme of the issue reviewed was chewing gum, gum bubbles being a metaphor
for the collapse of American culture. Lots of comics (not reviewed).
Stories, interviews, poems, essays, b/w artwork
Story length: 150-2,500 words
Issues/year: see summary
104 pages, white paper, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
the candy biz
childhood and chewing gum in the US
Essay: Reality TV
India-Pakistan conflict and youth culture
Essay: Women's pro basketball
Braces and the pressure to conform
Review: Skafish
Essay: Privacy and alienation in urban culture
Essay: Children's entertainment and socialization to conform
Essay: Mass culture, low culture, popular culture and democracy
Fictional interview critique of charitable celebrity organizations
Fictional interview critique of popularized news
Cookie monster and the morality of scarcity
Essay: Baseball cards
Review:The Big Lebowski
Essay: Iraq
Essay: Candy, Medicine, and bilking worried parents
Writers: No information
All the stories in the issue reviewed featured a single intense relationship,
usually romantic, against a backdrop of family, work and social problems. Most
were realistic, without much literary reference or overt philosophizing by
narrators. Humor tended to be deadpan. Some contributors mention
writing-program credentials.
Stories, memoirs, poems
Story length: 3,000 - 10,000 words
2 issues/year
138 Pages, white bond paper, 9x6 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (spring 2002):
English professor's romances
Midlife road trip, suicide gestures, urine retention, marriage
Composite short-lived romance
Woman breaks up with thief overseas, home to brother and vicious dogs
Conning the landlord and landlady like mom and dad
A job in a shop at a mall
Loss of a girlfriend who saw heroine through many boyfriends
Harlem girl's role model
Is therapist crazy and does it matter
Writers:1 first time, 4 have published other poems or stories ( 1 also
published a book), 2 have won prizes (1 is also a writing instructor and has
published a book)
This is the SFSU MFA program literary magazine. Editorial staff changes
annually, so be sure to get a sample issue. All stories in the issues reviewed
feature young protagonists, most dealing with social evils expressed through
family or sexual relationships. Not all writers live in the San Francisco area.
Many, though not all, mention writing-program connections.
submit August-February
Stories, poems, drama, interviews
Length: 1,000-4,500 words
2 issues/year
170 pages, nongloss paper, 9x6 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (most recent: Winter/Spring 02/03)
daughter's relationship with chronically ill parents
agoraphobic Rapunzel the week after
girlhood friends try to help misguided parents
girls' socialization and rape
girl internalizing sexism and racism
failed gay first love
meeting with old ex
post-Peace Corps comedown
transsexual scene, mother-child rejection
Chicano student lovers
Pakistani soldier's loves, politics, tragedy
expatriate ex-lovers collide in london (no capitals used in story)
selling out at the corporate touchy-feelie
growing away from teenage
hip and lost in imperialist culture
overweight, cow farming, getting pregnant
Writers: 9 first time, 16 have published other poems or stories (7 have
published books), 2 have won prizes (1 has published books), 4 are also writing
instructors (3 have published books),4 are editors/publishers (3have published
books), about 80% of writers are not SFSU students
This paper features left-leaning satire for educated middle Americans. Most
articles connect larger issues with the everyday.
Stories, essays, b/w cartoons
Length: 350-1,600 words
12 issues/year
26 pages, newsprint, 11x17 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Consumerism
Office culture
Aging into midlife
Gender issues
Politics
Media
Religion
Writers: no information; about 25% of articles are reprints
This magazine likes classical references and young protagonists. The issue has
several literary reviews. Three writers are designated "regular
contributors," many but not all live in the southeast.
submit Sept. 1 - May 31
Stories, essays, poems, reviews, color artwork
Length:
4 issues/year
178 pages, heavy rag paper, 6.5x10in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
nuclear waste
growing up, love and loss in a small town
youth, alientation and friendship
life, politics and myth in Greece
youth, love and friendship
essay reviews about books
Writers: 2 first time (2 of the 3 stories in issue), 8 have published other
stories/poems (7 have published books), 2 have won prizes (1 has published
books), 2 are also writing instructors (1 has published books), 4 are
editors/publishers (all have published books)
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
adolescence
historical fiction: woman's life
surreal small town, humor
coping with death, family relationships
family life
grandson and grandfather
evolution of a stalker
artist's family
Writers: 3 first time, 3 have published other stories/poems, 5 have published
books, 11 have won prizes
The above information was taken from a Prize Issue. One of 2 issues per year is
derived from the magazine's fiction/poetry contest. Winning stories are
relatively long and deal with ordinary life events and family issues from a
variety of perspectives.
This magazine appears to like stories about violence happens. The lead story in
the issue reviewed was by a famous author (Joyce Carol Oates).
Stories, essays, poems, comics, artwork
Length: 3,000-10,000 words
4 issues/year
167 pages, ivory paper, 6.75 x 10 in.
Topics covered in issues reviewed (latest, spring 2003):
Child prostitute/murderer and her daddy
Sex violence in the rural South (US)
The ex-con you owe favors takes your girl
In a Sao Paulo writing colony on September 11
Essay: Yates and Kennedy
Loss of self at a writers' retreat
Rural work and authority
Living with severe cluster headaches
Homeless and panhandling people
Writers: 3 list no publications, 6 have published books (2 are also writing
instructors, are editor/publishers
This magazine appears to focus on psychological stories about family (including
nonmarried lovers and family friends). Characters face health and other life
problems that concern educated Americans. The latest issue reviewed featured an
ethnic diversity of authors (with photos and short personal essays) writing
largely about family.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (latest, fall 2003):
Family and cancer
Regular PEN column on oppressed writers around the world
Family
Family and AIDs
Families rising and falling in class
Interview with literary figure
Supernatural
Family and loss
Old Chinese professor re-reads Lord Jim
Interview: Carol Roh-Spalding
Korean war refugee mother
Chinese-American parents, son's death at college
Cooking with Jamaican mother
Tourist death in Malaysia
Touring Germany, fearing terrorism
September 11
Spaniards and Cubans in Los Angeles
Art historians, miscarriage
Death by landmine
Culinary love story
Grief
Ugandan woman in Los Angeles
Writers: 4 first time, 4 have published other stories (1 in Glimmer Train), 8
have published books (6 are also writing instructors, 1 is an
editor/publisher), 6 have won prizes (2 have also published books)
Contest: Short Story Awards for New Writers open to writers whose fiction has
not appeared in a nationally distributed publication with circulation over
5,000. $12 entry fee. Annual. Entries August 1-Sept. 30.
This online magazine likes quirky ideas, travesties of conventions we take for
granted and other types of humor, and humorous use of web technology. The issue
posted as of Feb. 2006 is labeled July, so this magazine may be out of print.
Stories
Story length: 200 - 7,000 words
Submit online
12 Issues/year
Topics covered in issue reviewed (July issue - most recent posted as of
February 2006):
Short-short: love in college
Post-college proofreader feels the burden of possessions
Cad in terror of the girlfriend's mother
Short-short: Satan cuts an album
Janitor obsessed with death
Crime and writing about crime and what happens when the characters hit back
Husband and wife fall out over his contempt for the homeless
How you'd like to reply to those annual Christmas letters
Powerpoint: English 1 lesson in writing a note to tell spouse you're leaving
Text game (like a video game w/o pictures) parodies
Short-short: The composite Wrong Guy
Kidnapped scientist dumps husband
How to write by ignoring reality
What the captions in the photo album really ought to say
Ex-wife's Girl Scout troop vs Ex-husband's Boy Scouts
Parody of Personal ads (laid out like a personals page)
How a lawyer gets revenge on gym class bullies
Writers: No information
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Tibet
Grandparent-grandchild relationships
Rejected woman causes random car accidents for revenge
Stigmata and need to believe
Essay on adult who posed as teen to better academic record
Circus ringmaster (autobiography)
Timid schoolboy
London life (autobiography)
Money-making schemes
Tibet (nonfiction)
Maori culture (nonfiction)
Writers: all fiction writers are prominent
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Old age and family
Love (story in reverse chronological order)
Relationship between young and old woman relatives
Immigration to US
Encounter with mortality
Writers: 4 first time (1 JSC student);12 have published other poems/stories, 21
have published books (4 are also writing instructors)
Some of the poets featured are internationally prominent. This magazine likes
structurally complex, challenging stories.
This magazine appears to be interested in voice. Most characters are working
people trying to cope with ordinary problems. The MFA program runs this
magazine, so publishing decisions are made once a semester and manuscripts
returned before vacation. Rules state "no simultaneous submissions"
i.e. submissions here may not be submitted elsewhere until returned. Most,
though not all, contributors mention an association with writing programs.
Stories, poems Submit by September 15 for Spring, by February 15 for Fall
Story length: 1,500-7,500 words
2 issues/year
130 pages, white paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed
(Fall 2002):
Stories were all about loss of a parent (7 fathers, 1 mother), mostly through divorce.
One was about loss of mother. In most, the narrator was the father, son or
mother. Most stories were realistic and sad or funny or a combination of the
two.
(Spring 2003)
Losing the cattle, the farm, the husband in north of Scotland
Sister rivalry and the lynch mob in rural Tennessee
Pro divers, lung disorders, depression and fighting through in Texas
Life and love in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Family of a sick and self-destructive brother
Writer and teacher/ writer and student
Real and humiliating home life of a critic
Hunting-ranch owner self-deconstructs
Writers: 3 first time (1 is a program graduate), 4 have published other poems
or stories, 8 are also writing instructors (2 have also published books), 2 are
editors/publishers (1 also teaches), 14 have won prizes (6 have also published
books, 7 also teach, and 1 is also an editor/publisher)
This durable little zine is not exactly a litmag, but clearly directed toward
people who read, write, and hang around bookstores too much.
Essays, poems, reviews, artwork, stories, letters
Length: 400-25,000 words
2 issues/year
46 pages, lightweightpaper, 8.5x11 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Descartes spoof
Donuts and pleasure
Friendship, morality, and representation
Sexualized politics
Cultural tradition and liberty
Reviews of books, films, TV, fads, current ideas
Writers: no information
This magazine seems to have a fondness for alienation: unsympathetic narrators,
hopeless situations, plots that show up characters' self-delusion, animal sex,
hilarity in despair. Most, though not all, characters are in the 18-35 age
group.
Stories, essays, b/w artwork
Story length: 1,000 - 6,000 words
Website: monthly, Print: about 1/year
111 pages, white paper, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Winter, 2003):
Jobless rainy-day breakup in San Francisco
Can't find love since my sheep died
My prostitutes don't love me
Suicide of the greatest story author
Outreach to mentally ill homeless, fear of alienation, assimilation
Couple drifts apart with dead animal in woodwork
After a roommate's suicide
Angelenos stuck in traffic
Phone mail messages to Batman
Younger self versus older self
Reviews of reviews of nothing, with footnotes
Revenge and Viagra in Dole's Kansas
Boyfriend's pet gorilla, girlfriend bares teeth
Spotting Ms. Right in lobby as your plane boards
Writers: 4 first time or no information, 6 have published other poems or
stories, 1 is a writing instructor who has published books, 1 is an
editors/publisher
Horror, fantasy, magic realism, and science fiction. The editors prefer short
cross-genre fiction with a hard edge. Emphasis is on blurry boundaries and
darkly modern perspectives. More analysis below.
Stories, poems, interviews, reviews
December-January
Story length: 500-7000 words
12 issues/year
online
Topics covered in issues reviewed (no dates provided): War, sex, creation, and
destruction blend in sex ed class. Sanity and insanity blur in London after the
fall of civilization. A man joins his wife in death. A tarot-reading weatherman
makes love to a hurricane. Greek gods as soap opera stars. Riff on Boys From
Brazil, where multiple baby Jesus are cloned from relic DNA, and one surrogate
father kills his "son" to find out if he'll rise in three days.
Writers: tend to be established, Year's Best Fantasy selected and the like.
This magazine appears to like portrayals of complex protagonists struggling
with tough situations, losses, and decisions.
Stories, essays, poems, reviews
Story length: 4,000-13,000 words
2 Issues/year
161 pages, white nongloss paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Wild uncle, first rodeo and sexual initiation all fall a bit short
Adolescent boy hesitates to pursue women
Prize fighter wants out of fighting
Friendships and tragedy among boys
Arctic explorers and alienation
2 Interviews with poets (nonfiction)
Book reviews
Writers: 4 first time, 11 have published other poems or stories (5 have also
published books), 2 have won prizes (both have also published books), 7 are
also writing instructors (3 have also published books), 2 are
editors/publishers (1 has also published books)
This magazine is produced by the MA in Writing program at Manhattanville. It
features stories that have strong plots involving sympathetic protagonists with
clear motives.
Stories, essays, poems, reviews, artwork
Length: 2,500-5,000 words
2 issues/year
94 pages, white nongloss paper, 6.75x10 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Galactic emissary recruits human boy (science fiction)
Elderly repressed son confronts mother's death
Boy learns neighborhood eccentric's woes
Girl conquers grief and depression
Plant lover deals with wife's blindness, injustice through nurturing
Musician's artistic and family relationships
Hasidic girl goes AWOL
Writers: 10 first time (2 associated with MC), 6 have published other poems or
stories (1 associated with MC, 2 have also published books), 4 have won prizes
(2 have also published books), 4 are also writing instructors (2 associated
with MC, 2 have published books), 1 is an editor/publisher
This is the graduate literary magazine of the St. Mary's College in California.
Most authors are not affiliated with St.M, but contributors' notes mention
academic affiliations. Stories are modern, secular, usually first person, with
sympathetic narrators confronting family and health issues, mortality, social
injustice, or alienation.
Stories, interviews, poems, reviews
Submit when
Story length: 1,000-6,000 words
1 Issue/year
85-100 Pages, white bond paper, 5.5 x 8.5 in.
Topics covered in issues reviewed:
Daughter visits failing mom
Peoplewatching, viewing social change
Wives of art profs; artistic identity, mistress
Mom retires to casino haven
Ice sculpture, morbidity and escape
Dealing with auditory hallucinations
Aging dancer home with dying mom
Hospital corporate discovers healthcare inequities
Book reviews
Interviews: poet Claudia Keelan, novelist Carole Maso, poet Carolyn Forche,
novelist Susan Straight
Writers: 6 list no other publications, 11 have published other poems or stories
(2 have also published books), 3 have won prizes, 6 are also writing
instructors (2 have also published books, 1 also won a prize), 1 is an
editors/publisher, 4 are affiliated with St. Mary's
Contests: Fiction, Poetry; deadline Dec. 31, $5 fee, not open to St. Mary MFA
students/alumni or writers who have published a book in the genre, length:
5,000 word max
This magazine, produced by the prestigious UI, seeks to support and present the
best new and current writers. Stories that instruct and enlighten are
preferred; most include scientific or historical information. Characters
undergo internal change but usually return to or remain in the same life as
before.
submissions read Sept.1 - Jan. 31 (or next year's issues are full)
Stories, essays, poems, reviews
Length: 900-6,000 words
3 issues/year
195 pages, white nongloss paper, 5.75x9 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
3 nonfiction essays on Paris
Biology, jealousy, fear of fatherhood
Agriculture, money strains on family, rescue
Marriage, long life, old age (wry humor)
Father and adult son
Child disrupts the temple
3 stories about symbolic childhood experiences
Group written linked narrative and poetry
Tourism, international business, and questing in Benares
5 critical reviews
Writers: 4 first time, 4 have published other poems or stories (2 have also
published books), 4 list only book credits, 7 have won prizes (4 have published
books), 11 are also writing instructors (6 have also published books), 5 are
editors/publishers (2 are associated with IR)
This magazine appears to like stories about complex emotions and changes of
mind. International settings and references to history are frequent. The
editors do not accept multiple submissions, that is, work submitted here may
not be submitted elsewhere until returned.
Stories, interviews, poems, reviews, b/w artwork
Submit September - April
Story length: 2,000 - 7,000 words
2 issues/year
179 pages, white paper, 7x10 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Spring 2002):
Catholic girl meditates on chain gang worker
Play script: Ex-spouses empty the cellar
New York Jewish Orthodox women's college girls
Wedding party remembers Kent State (Vietnam War)
Daughter of small town acrobat family gets out
Chinese woman bicyclist and murder victim
Childhood time in North Korea
Actor soldier in Passion play forgets self in role
Writers: 2 first time, 2 have published other poems or stories ( have also
published books), 2 have won prizes (1 also teaches writing, 1 also published a
book)
Submit September - May
This magazine, published by the Florida Community College at Jacksonville,
appears to like stories about complex emotions. Some, though not all, feature
surreal touches and subtle or ambiguous plots.
Stories, essays, poems, interviews, b/w artwork
Story length:1,000 - 8,000 words
2 issues/year
120 pages, white semigloss paper, 7x8 1/2 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Fall 2002):
Widow finds potential new love in one-night stand
The invitation to the ex's wedding
Depression and infertility
Jewish archeologist unearths family Holocaust relics
Midlife Thanksgiving
Sex, risk and privilege
Controlling mother directs her own funeral
Woman and daughter and mother dying of Alzheimer's Disease
Intellectual pleasure and love
Writers:8 first time, 11 have published other poems or stories (2 have also
published books), 7 have won prizes (2 have also published books), 6 are also
writing instructors (1 has also published books and 1 also won a prize), 5 are
editors/publishers (3 have also won prizes and 1 of them also published books,
1 is editor of Kalliope)
This magazine tends to prefer working-class protagonists and are typically set in the rural United States. Many stories are about family and loss. An editor told the reviewer that she often finds contributors at writing conferences.
Submit via the magazine's website only. Best chance September-January.
Story length:1,500 - 10,000 words
4 issues/year
207 pages, 7 X 10 in., ivory paper
Topics covered in issue reviewed (summer 2007)
Son helping father with the body of a man father killed
Seducing the cosmetic dermatologist
Lynching and memory in Memphis
Postcards as brothers fight about dead mom
Brother tries to love dying sister who forgave him all the time
Mother of kidnapped son and a neighbor mother
Girl's first sex with fatherly older man
Architect and student resist adultery the hard way
Writers: 2 have published stories, 2 are writing teachers, 2 have won prizes (1 also published books)
New England residents/settings (ME, VT, NH, CT, RI, MA)
This magazine seeks to publicize the work of the
New England literary community, professional, semiprofessional and amateur.
Most writers have lived or live (PT or FT) in New England, or write on regional
topics. Winter and mental illness are major motifs.
Stories, essays, poems, reviews, artwork
Length: 2,400-7,000 words
2 issues/year
276 pages, nongloss paper, 5.5x8.5 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
2 nonfiction essays on the writer's life
Sex, class and mores
Class, abortion and depression
Puritan murder
Alcoholism in marriage
Family breakup and depression
Puritan and contemporary sexism vs. young love
Father and son relationship struggle
Nonfiction: New England life
Biography of New England poet
Travel and self-discovery
Travel and communication
Obsession in marriage (surreal)
Book review
Writers: 8 first time, 19 have published other poems or stories (5 have
published books), 11 have won prizes (3 have published books), 9 are also
writing instructors (4 have published books), 2 are editors/publishers (1 has
published books).
This online and print magazine has theme issues. The theme for the issue
reviewed was "girls and cars."
Stories, poems, interviews, drama, essays, b/w artwork
Story length: 1,000 - 3,000 words
Only the online issue was reviewed
Topics covered in issue reviewed (December 2005):
Midlife professor consumed by jealousy for wife
New York carless tough gal's rap
The night my pals went to whores but I didn't want to
Meditation on sex and/in cars
My girl swallowed the ring but I found it where you'd expect
Fighters, spies, unions, communists, Nazis in 1930's South Africa
Writers: No information online
This magazine contains one story per issue. Stories are intended to be read
within one lunch hour. Many feature a distinctive narrative voice and/or
setting.
Stories
Story length: 4,000 - 8,000
15 issues/year
20-35 pages, 5.5 X 8.5 in., ivory paper
Topics covered in issues reviewed (most recent, September 2007):
Bratty students and landlord
Belfast man bullied into terrorist act kills self instead
Mysterious death of abusive father in Oregon lumber community
Single mom and her son in Arizona
Wounded hero gets girl robot after wife dumps him
Baseball fantasy camp turns real
Eleven year old Hindu widow
Kids confuse concentration camp survivors with Nazis
Writers: 2 first time, 3 have won prizes (1 has also published books)
This magazine seems to want to pack every inch of every page with words or
images that make readers think. Rule-bending, esoteric information,
philosophical and literary in-jokes, and stylistic experiments appear welcome.
Submission guidelines included on copyright page opposite table of contents.
Stories, essays, reviews, color and bw artwork, letters, drama
Length: up to 10,000 words
4 issues/year
288 pages, nongloss paper, 6.5x9.25 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
short-shorts presented as Letters to the Editor
urban contemporary surreal
surreal biography of fictional artist
whimsical surreal short-shorts
nonfiction correspondence with the Unabomber
comparison of Gingrich and Milosevic
surreal story with footnote critique
nonfiction interview with physicist
fictive lists
family dealing with illness
biotech science fiction
surreal wedding drama
typography play
family story with time warps
urban multicultural Christmas stories
Writers: 16 list no writing credits, 15 list other stories (12 also list books),
5 list only nonfiction (2 books), 1 lists prizes and books, 1 is a writing
instructor
This magazine appears to like stories that touch on spiritual (not necessarily
religious) concerns, with characters seeking guidance from diverse
philosophical traditions, people, and experiences. Characters and settings vary
from rural Ohio to international. Contributors mention writing program degrees;
most have some connection with the academic writing community.
Stories, essays, poems, reviews
Story length: 850-10,000 words
2 Issues/year
143 pages, ivory bond paper, 5.8 x 8.75 in.
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Faith healing, death in Colombian sauna
Love and weeds
Arson, smells, and the fire of God
Lost glasses
Child learns cruelty
Back to the farm
Fighting spirit, yoga, love loss
Translation: House of art (surreal)
Deaf girl on reservation, orphanage/love/incest
Literary essay on poet Javier Campos, with poems in Spanish and translation
Literary essay: autobiography and poetry
Writers: 7 first time, 10 have published other poems or stories (6 have also
published books), 6 have won prizes (4 have also published books and teach), 16
are also writing instructors (11 have also published books, including the 4 prizewinners),
2 are editors/publishers (1 also published books), 4 have published previously
in MAR, 2 are BGSU MFA graduates
Fiction contest: deadline June $5/ submission (3 for $10); 1,000-word limit
Material dealing with issues of today, told in the style and motifs of the day.
Literary magazine of the University of Southern Mississippi, published twice
yearly in print form. Unsolicited manuscripts acceptable only under the rules
and guidelines of the MR Prize; Winners are published in yearly prize issue.
Work published in the second issue is solicited by guest editor.
Occasionally an editor will issue a call for papers, posted on the website for
specific topics.
Poems, stories, essays
Submit April 1 to October 1
Story length: up to 3.000 words; 1,000 to 5,000 words for MR Prize (see
guidelines on web)
2 Issues/year; Only 1 issue unsolicited through MR Prize submission;
150 Pages, white bond paper with slick cover.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Volume 33 Numbers 1&2: 2005 Prize Issue)
At end of marital road, a disconnected couple connects over cocktails
In a trial of realism and memoir, a writer fails to tell story
Reflections of things that pass for Heaven
Poetry teacher learns the raw power of the poem
In search of the Dalai Lama in search of love
Mother grieves as child disconnects from life
Writers: 2 first time, 17 have published other poems or stories (6 have also
published books), 7 have won prizes (with 2 fellowships), and 7 are also
writing instructors; 3 MFAs, 3 MFA candidates, 1 has a weekly poetry program on
public radio.
This magazine tries to foster the growth of writers whose work the editors
like. Realism and US settings predominate. Literary explicit sex OK. Each issue
has a theme, "usually derived from material selected." Their web site
has advice for writers. Contributors do not mention being teachers, academic
credentials, etc.
Stories, essays, poems, reviews, b/w artwork
Length: 1,400-11,000 words
3 issues/year
198 pages, nongloss paper, 6x9 in.
Topics covered in issues reviewed [the theme of one issue was History As
Literature US, about 1850-1948) another was Exiles (expatriates, the mentally
ill)]:
German-American becomes a refugee
Family, duty, eugenics, and euthanasia
Chekov story (reprint)
Comradeship and terror among soldiers
New bride in foreign society
Rape and family relationships
Green mountain sexuality
Social breakdown among fortune seekers
Cartoons: rejection slip jokes
Manic-depressive novelist flees treatment and US
US teacher adjusting to rural China
Lawyers work out sexual contract
Maternal rejection, nicotine addiction, therapy
Divorced mother, teen son, love and loss in Australia
Village relationships in Spain
Sexual confusion, tragedy, on the Moroccan border
Chekov story
Essay on living with dementia
Essay on waste
Book reviews
Nonfiction interview with Daniel Woodrell
Letters by Djuna Barnes and E.H. Coleman
Nonfiction interview with Annie Proulx, written by staff
Book excerpt: Jack Kerouac's letters, edited by staff
Writers: 2 first time, 6 have published other poems or stories (4 have
published in this magazine before), 5 have won prizes (2 have also published
books), 11 have published books
Annual Contests: Fiction, Poetry, Essay
Entry fee $15 (includes subscription)
Maximum length: 25 pages (10 pages poetry)
This magazine appears to like stories that present an intellectual challenge.
Some stories are tongue in cheek.
Stories, poems, reviews, drama
Story length: 2,000 - 4,500 words
4 Issues/year
170 pages, 8.25 X 5.25 in., ivory paper.
Topics covered in issue reviewed (Winter 2006):
Poetry class, relationships, and the life of a poet at U California San Diego
Teenager and mother in Spain deal with death and breakups
Artsy academic party-goer's manic breakdown
Dramatic monologue about childhood, family, drugs, accidents - no punctuation
Article about little magazines, interviews with editors of: Beloit Poetry Journal,
Boston Review, the Canary, Conjunctions, Fulcrum, Poetry, the Poker
Essay on democracy and literature
Book reviews
Writers: 0 first time, 1 has published other poems or stories (and also
published books), 1 has won a prize (and also published books), 2 are writing
instructors, 2 are editors/publishers (1 has also published books)
Topics covered in issue reviewed:
Widower meets friend in grief
Non-innocent writer meets capitalist intrigue
Meditation and pickups
Growing relationship
Near encounter
Seemingly fiscal relationship
Writers: 4 list no prior publications, 5 have published other poems or stories
(3 have published books, 1 published in this magazine before), 1 won a prize, 2
are also writing instructors (1 has published books), 3 are editors/publishers
(1 is editor of this magazine)
This magazine features gay protagonists and events and relationships of openly
gay lifestyles. Stories are varied and literary in tone.
This magazine is edited by UMO writing faculty. Stories feature realistic
protagonists facing challenging situations, often involving family
relationships. A section is devoted to poetry in translation. Writers mention
writers' programs, M.A.s or MFAs in their credits.
Stories, poems
Story length: 4,500-7,000 words
2 Issues/year
142 Pages, recycled! paper, 9x6 in.