This issue features new poems by Nada Gordon, Evelyn Reilly, Julianna Mundim, Emmy Catedral, Enid Bagnold, Richard Siken, Stephen Ratcliffe, Michael Gottlieb, Jodie Childers, Norman J. Olson, Brent Hendricks, Sean Kilpatrick, Tom McCarthy, Stacy Doris, Michael Rerick, Corrinne Clegg Hales, Mark Decarteret, Hadewijch of Antwerp, Darren Wershler-Henry, Letitia Trent, Debra Di Blasi, Laura Elrick, Bruna Mori, Popahna Brandes, Robert Sheppard, Diana Magallan, Kristine Danielson, Ed Higgins, Drew Gardner, Kyle Kaufman, Matthew Thorburn, Tiel Aisha Ansari, Christopher Wells, Vanessa Place, Simon Pettet, Grace Vajda, John Bennett, Ian Patterson, Joseph Hutchison, John Cotter, Cheryl Lawson Walker, Scott Esposito, Jason Nelson, Daniel Kane, Kimo Armitage, Alan May, J.D. Nelson, Bob Hershon, Jennifer Karmin, Kim Rosenfield, Nathan Austin, Pearl Pirie, Rosmarie Waldrop, Tara Betts, Donald Revell, Jim Ryals, Danuta Kean, Jeff VanderMeer, Alfredo Bonanno, Irene Latham, Michael Hennesy, Dick Higgins, John Hanson, Billy Merrell, Sam Ladkin, Jeff Ward, Debra Jenks, K. Lorraine Graham, Kenji Okuhira, Sean MacInnes, Adam Seelig, Steve Halle, David Mus, Monique Wittig, Joyelle McSweeney, Daniel E. Levenson, Luke Daly, Henry Thoreau, John Palattella, Abby Trenaman, Kristen Taylor, Vassily Kamensky, David Jhave Johnston, Gene Tanta, Cate Marvin, Alison Roth, Shad Marsh, Asher Ghaffar, Henry Gould, Justin Theroux, Susan Grimm…
for godot: Issue 1 Release, mhmm
Lame House Press new release
Last week, Lame House Press officially released Kate Greenstreet’s chapbook This is Why I Hurt You. I got my copy last week and it’s a good looking piece. The writing is killer. Lame House mastermind Gina Myers, a fellow Saginaw native who earned her MFA from The New School, consistently publishes interesting and intelligent chapbooks (each copy of which she handcrafts, of course). Lame House is grouped in my mind with other independent presses like Greying Ghost and Publishing Genius, each publishing high quality chapbooks at ridiculously reasonable prices.
Chapbooks have been around forever (apparently Neanderthal Man’s hunched back is due to carrying around so many stone chapbooks ), but the chapbook has become a sort of art object in itself. Yes, the writing is excellent, of course, but the chaps themselves feel like something more than string, paper, and staples, thanks to the ambitious work of the many indie presses like Lame House, Greying Ghost, Publishing Genius, et al. Nice work, everyone.
Eyeshot’s Tentacled Rejecting Appendage
The best thing about internet-published fiction writing a few years back was getting a rejection letter from Lee Klein at Eyeshot.
The best. Seriously.
“At first I thought you took some pages from a Frank McCourt memoir, copied them, then added a dash of Pac Man.”
Lee was funny. Lee was direct. Lee was fucking merciless.
(Lee is still all these things, by the way. Eyeshot remains. Eyeshot continues to publish and, as far as I know, continues to reject. But, now, on the submissions page, you read: “PLEASE REALIZE we used to try to respond very quickly, often in mere minutes, generally within 48 hours. And that we used to tend to have some fun with our rejection letters. Now we might just send a link to a beautiful form letter. But occasionally we may still respond personally and performatively and whatever, depending on time and energy.”)
His rejections sometimes felt like a prolonged, broken narrative, a story being sent out to the world, one person at a time. Luckily, he collected them for us. READ MORE >
October 3rd, 2008 / 4:43 pm
/nor 4 gives more
The 4th issue of New Ohio Review, or /nor, is out now, their site is also facelifted for it and looks really nice. The new issue includes a new story and interview with Frederick Barthelme, as well as a lot of new work by new and familiar names. My copy of /nor 3 is one of the ones I continually go back to read, the work is top notch and the design on the book and quality of the paper makes one of those kinds of book objects you feel good just touching.
In addition to free pdf previews of certain work on the site by Stephen Dunn, Claire Bateman, William Todd Seabrook, and others, /nor is currently running an incredible deal where if you subscribe for a year, they will throw in another free year. A one year subscription is $16 including shipping. The $4 per-issue price on that is sick, and for the quality I know is in the journal, mixed with the great design, you almost can’t turn that away. I love that they are doing this, it almost seems to say: we just really want you to read this. If more journals made it more financially lucrative to get in the door, as recently Hobart and Fence have, I think we’d see a lot more journal activity. The /nor deal is good through October.
I’m particularly interested to see how the aesthetic of the work in the journal shifted after the editor for the first 3 issues was hoisted for seemingly printing too much ‘experimental’ work. I don’t know how anyone could look at those first 3 issues and want to end it, but hopefully the experimentation level hasn’t been squashed too hard. From the previews on the site, it seems things are still on.
October 3rd, 2008 / 1:44 pm
THE NEW BLURRY PHOTOGRAPH
It may have started, as many internet-lit things seem to do, with Tao Lin. His drawings of weird animals rendered from Microsoft Paint are endearing and comical. That the Adobe platform (illustrator/photoshop/indesign) is not employed is what I call ‘guerrilla pixel-dom’—crude, design-unfriendly, kitschy in a Bill Gates kinda way. Such aesthetic seems to be propagating. Enter Mike Bushnell and our own Sam Pink.
Mr. Pink, sans Reservoir Dogs, is, um, an interesting character. He brings us an adolescent violence that, constrained in its virtual medium, is benign and somehow charming. Looking at this blog, I don’t know whether to become aroused or duct tape my penis to my perineum for safety.
Mr. Bushnell, of face warpaint fame, is, um, an interesting character. His drawings of anthropomorphic creatures, while not necessarily violent, are of vehement temperament. Yes, Jean-Michel Basquiat tread such ground in the 80’s, but in oils.
Just what are these guys saying? Tao Lin, a master of quick-witted sayings that evoke complex existential quandaries, brings us ‘sad pterodactyl living a life of fear and anxiety’ and ‘elderly obese frost bitten squirrel’, among many others.
Pink and Bushnell’s drawings seem reactionary, void of the deep—yet somehow self-effacing—sadness that is Tao Lin. Maybe they are on to something different, and the comparison is unfair. I’m humored by all three gentlemen, all whom make me want to duct tape my penis to my perineum for safety. (For Tao, I’d use organic hemp tape.)
When one saw a blurry black-and-white photograph, one knew poetry was coming. Every journal had some BW photo of some chick’s shoulder up close, or some tree’s shadow. Blurry photo meant poetry.
Now, for some, a fucked up MS paint drawing means poetry. Are we cruder? younger? of binary soul? or just bored?
While supplies last.
AWP Reader’s List
AWP Chicago edition has posted on their website a list of featured readers for the event which will be held in early February.
It’s a solid list. I wish there were more young up-and-coming type writers but still I hope to engage in a wild party with Nick Flynn and Valzhyna Mort (pictured) while Marilynne Robinson makes disgusted faces.
AWP will be a big scene for online writers who will no doubt stare at each other awkwardly after meeting in person. Then realize we are all best friends. Get tickets soon. Last year in NYC it sold out.
Smokelong 22
There’s a new issue of Smokelong Quarterly now live.
Issue Twenty-Two (October 2, 2008): Innocence, Briefly by Jenny Arnold «» Tapioca O’s by Natalie DeClerck «» How Anything Got Done by Paul Elwork «» Tenderoni by Kathy Fish «» Breathing Oysters by Stefanie Freele «» The Mime’s Dog by Steven Douglas Gullion «» Two Minute Silence by Sarah Hilary «» Constructing Birds by Jo Horsman «» Crazy Sun by Lauren Huckstadt «» One Night Out by Ashley Kaufman «» Asian Girl by W.P. Kinsella «» Fatback by Jeff Landon «» Bounty by Tricia Louvar «» Beautiful by Antonios Maltezos «» Private Room by M.E. Parker «» True Identity by Kevin Sampsell «» Campfire by Donna D. Vitucci «» Interviews: Jenny Arnold «» Paul Elwork «» Kathy Fish «» Stefanie Freele «» Steven Douglas Gullion «» Sarah Hilary «» Jo Horsman «» Ashley Kaufman «» Jeff Landon «» Tricia Louvar «» Antonios Maltezos «» M.E. Parker «» Kevin Sampsell «» Donna D. Vitucci «» Cover Art “November Leaves” by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editor
October 3rd, 2008 / 1:33 am
barry graham has grouped women together and will be selling their work for american dollar bills
barry graham of paperhero press has grouped together
SUZANNE BURNS
ELIZABETH ELLEN
ANDREA KNEELAND
& CHELSEA MARTIN
in a chapbook collective and will be trading american dollars for their writing at a future point.
according to me, “barry graham looks like kerry king from slayer.”
the book will have words in it.
and careful, because sources say “if you put this book in a fireplace, it will burn up and be gone”. word is, most of the writing was done on a computer.
says chelsea martin, “you made up this quote.”
i will probably try to fool barry into giving me a copy for free.
i will say, “barry, baby, i work for the motherfucking internet giant now. i own your ass.”
Duotrope is neat
Duotrope.com does a great service to writers, and for free. I don’t use the submission tracker they have as much as I used to, because it was too easy to obsess over, but I still at least a few times a week go to the ‘What’s New?’ tab on the front page and check out what markets have opened or reopened, as well as new journals that have been added to the digest. It’s a good way to figure out, among the gamut of journals out there, who is currently reading and who isn’t.
Here’s the list from today, with some new places to pay attention to:
Markets that have Opened/Re-Opened to submissions (last 7 days):
1. American Letters & Commentary: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
2. American Literary Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
3. Antigonish Review, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
4. Boulevard Magazine: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
5. CALYX: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
6. CutBank Literary Magazine: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
7. Glimmer Train Stories: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
8. Global City Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
9. Heroin Love Songs: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
10. Interfictions II: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
11. KNOCK: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
12. Ledge, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
13. Massachusetts Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
14. Metromania Magazine: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
15. Necrotic Tissue: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
16. Nemonymous: Re-opened to submissions.
17. New Letters: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
18. Normal School, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
19. Parlor: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
20. Red Mountain Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
21. Rose & Thorn, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
22. Salamander: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
23. Seattle Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
24. Superficial Flesh: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
25. Swill Magazine: Re-opened to submissions.
26. TriQuarterly: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
27. Vignette Press / Mini Shots: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
28. Warwick Review, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
That’s a lot of stuff. What is ‘Superficial Flesh’? What is ‘Nemonymous’? I feel scared. Internet.
October 2nd, 2008 / 8:08 pm