Some Other Top Mags
Super cool mag that's both visually stimulating and pure entertainment.
"We collect found stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, doodles—anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. Anything goes. We certainly didn't invent the idea of found stuff being cool. Every time we visit our friends in other towns, someone's always got some kind of unbelievable discovered note or photo on their fridge. We decided to make a bunch of projects so that everyone can check out all the strange, hilarious, and heartbreaking things people have picked up and passed our way."
So, if you've got a note that you think other's might like to read—scan away—and visit their magazine for guidelines.
"400 Words is (a) a project; (b) a magazine; (c) a website; (d) an experiment.
We collect true stories by ordinary people on assigned themes. We're about
the documentation of everyday life, saying a lot by saying a little. Right now
we're
printing stories about work. You can send one in."
See their page for
guidelines and upcoming themes.
BluePrintReview
A collection of interconnected pieces of prose and poetry based on themes.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Dorothee Lang the editor and creator in 34TH PARALLEL ISSUE 2.
About their current issue the editor says, "If the blueprintreview was a hotel, this issue numbered 13 wouldn't exist. We would skip it, together with [all] the potentially irritating themes."
Randolph Pfaff is Editor of apt and says, "Without Carissa... would
not
get any of this done." Carissa Halston is the Contributing Editor, "She
contributes to and edits each issue." They founded Aforementioned Productions
in April of 2005 and launched apt in October of 2005.
A little note from the editors: "Nous avons deux ans. Two years and twelve issues in...this time, we're focusing on prose and verse. We thank you, as always, for returning to our favorite corner of the vast literary 'scene'. That's hipster speak for 'world'. You crazy kids."
HECALE came into existence as a resource for its founder, the aspiring
author, Tim Kenny. Equipped with a section that displays an alphabetical
selection of
literary sites, Hecale acts as "a gateway to the many and varied publications".
The portal also has links to art, music, books, blogs, software, and comics. We talked to Kenny in depth about his goals for HECALE in 34THPARALLEL ISSUE 2—check it out.
"Pindeldyboz is an operation run by a small but valiant group of people.
We publish creative works both here on our website and in the pages of a
print volume released once a year. We have been known to publish much fiction,
some
nonfiction, and artwork makes an irregular appearance. We released our first
and only poetry collection in 2007. Our final print edition will be released
this fall."
So you should check their site to see if you still have
time to submit to the print version.
The Web Edition of Pindeldyboz has published over 1000 stories by more
than 600 authors over the last seven years. "We were named
the Best Online Publication of 2003 in the StorySouth Million Writers
competition. That was cool.
Recently, stories from Pboz online were featured in the Best American Fantasy
collection. It's fun when web things magically turn themselves into paper."
Since its inception in 1994, Fourteen Hills has held an impressive
reputation among international literary magazines for publishing
the highest-quality innovative
poetry, fiction, short plays, and literary nonfiction. The semiannual journal
is committed to presenting a great diversity of experimental and progressive
work by emerging and cross-genre writers, as well as by award-winning and
established authors. In the past four years, pieces first published
in Fourteen Hills have
racked up some prestigious literary awards—including 2000 Flannery O'Connor
Award for Fiction, 1998 O'Henry Prize Anthology, 100 Distinguished Stories
of 1997, 1997 Best American Gay Fiction Prize Anthology, 1997 O'Henry
Prize Anthology,
and more.
Not bad for a University literary magazine. See their site for guidelines.
Mud Luscious is "a literary review of grueling fuel-burning short
fiction
by the new & the established."
See 34THPARALLEL ISSUE 2 for a discussion with the editor about publishing grueling fiction.
"storySouth is interested in all types of fiction, creative nonfiction,
and poetry by writers from the new South. The exact definition of "new
South" varies
from person to person—if you can make a case for why you consider yourself
part of the new South, then submit your work. storySouth seeks works representing
the entire range of southern experience—including all races, genders,
and views on life."
The bottom line of what they want: "excellence in writing is the only criteria used in choosing works to publish on storySouth."
No stereotypes, the editors are looking for fresh interpretations of the South. "Bring something new to your writings about the South and we will be interested."
Swivel: The Nexus of Women and Wit is a biannual print literary magazine "devoted
to smart, funny writing by smart, funny women." Based in Seattle, "where
the notoriously moist climate makes an ironic sensibility mandatory, their
mission...is to showcase fiction, essays, poems, comix, and artwork reflecting
the raucous beauty pageant of contemporary women's humor."
What sort of humor do they look for?: "In Swivel, you'll find both funny ha-ha and funny strange, but mostly you'll find that we take funny women seriously."
"Our general aesthetic is that we are looking for stories that we will
love, as readers ourselves. We've said in the past that we tend to like quirky
stories with subjects like truck driving and mathematics and vagabonding
but not really stories that rely too heavily on their quirkiness. We like stories
with humor but are not looking for humor pieces. At one point a reader summed
up a couple of our stories as "humorous but engaging" and we like
how that sounds. Another reader said "literary but not stuffy".
We realize no one is trying to do stuffy but, still, we think it was a good
assessment.
Mostly, we just want to get excited about your story as a reader and hope
you will send your best work."
For more interesting and insightful tid-bits from HOBART's founding editor see 34THPARALLEL ISSUE 2.
First things first: the name...say what? "On the first syllable: ziz-i-va," or
ZYZZ-Y-VA. Apparently, according to their editors, "the last word in the
American Heritage Dictionary: "any of various tropical American weevils,
often destructive to plants."
All that not withstanding, "ZYZZYVA attacks the new smugness by asserting classical values: the possibilities of individual vision; the enduring magic of words; the delight of variety; absolute freedom from commercial constraint."
It's a West Coast mag, so contributors have to live in the region—so, if your State backs up to the Pacific, you've met the first qualification.
Short and to the point, these miniature tales pack lots of punch and
meaning. Started by Rosemary Mosco the online magazine is updated
monthly. Anca Szilagyi
and Jessica C. Adams act as curators and editors of the project.
To read and submit visit their site. And to look at our interview with the founding editor see 34TH PARALLEL ISSUE 2.
Their Manifesto: "We founded Fringe to fight against the homogenization
of culture and the loss of revolutionary literature at the high-literary and
popular levels. This loss of variety stems from the politics of market capitalism
and mass media. Because larger retailers market to mainstream perspectives, magazines
that cater to specific groups (feminist, Afrofuturist, environmental) find themselves
going the way of the eight-track. Such journals provide the natural mechanism
by which fringe writers mix into the mainstream. Without them, corporate media
rules unopposed, eliminating competing voices, or worse, co-opting their style
while stripping these voices of their content. To combat this trend, we founded
a free and readily available magazine to disseminate progressive voices to everyone."
Power to the independent publisher! For more see their website.
"At EditRed, you upload your work, workshop it with your trusted reader
group and get it out there. We don't care how many times a story gets read
on EditRed. We care about our writers developing their craft to the point where
they're getting their writing published in reputable zines and journals.
Our
process is simple: upload your writing, build your network, build your publishing
credits. Ultimately, that's what's going to interest publishers."
An online community worth joining—and it's free. See our interview with Alan Emmins in 34TH PARALLEL PREMIERE ISSUE.
"Quick Fiction is a literary journal featuring stories and narrative prose
poems under 500 words. It was founded in 2001 by Adam Pieroni, Publisher,
and Jennifer Pieroni, Editor in Chief. The journal is published twice per year,
with issues
appearing each spring and fall."
Word Riot publishes the forceful voices of up-and-coming writers and
poets. "We
like edgy. We like challenging. We like unique voices."
An interesting bit of trivia: "Word Riot first opened shop in March 2002 as the literary section of a now defunct on-line music magazine, Communication Breakdown. Each month we provide readers with book reviews, author interviews, and, most importantly, writing from some of the best and brightest making waves on the literary scene."
They accept submissions via email and don't mind simultaneous subs.
identitytheory.com is a regularly updated, socially conscious web magazine
that covers literature, music, film, and art. The project was founded
in 2000 by Matt
Borondy, who still publishes the site with the help of nearly twenty volunteer
editors.
"Caketrain is a literary journal and press based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Our interest is in bringing you, reader, the very best in contemporary creative writing, full stop. Our goals are for each issue of our journal to submerge you in a birthing tank for gelatinous language monsters, young masses of tentacular foci undulating as directed (in all, at once) by our eclectic stable of contributors."
SKIVE (now at the end of its fourth year) is perfect-bound,
printed with a laminated, color cover. This issue contains a bumper
43 short
stories from
some of the world's most exciting authors. In addition to being able to purchase
and get submissions guidelines, SKIVE now features a free creative writing
forum—all the more reason to take a look. We interviewed Matt Ward,
the founding editor,
in 34THPARALLEL ISSUE 2.