January 18th, 2009 / 3:27 pm
Uncategorized

Is StoryQuarterly back?

new-hooray

the rutgers-camden mfa program celebrates acquiring storyquarterly

Cliff Garstang has done a bit of detective work and discovered some news about StoryQuarterly. He writes at his blog:

[T]oday I was browsing the exhibitors that are scheduled to appear at AWP 2009 in Chicago next month and I noticed that “MFA at Rutgers” is sharing a table with StoryQuarterly. I checked on the web and read all about the new MFA program at Rutgers that Jayne Anne Phillips is directing, but that didn’t answer my question. Then I Googled “MFA at Rutgers” AND “StoryQuarterly” and made a very interesting discovery.

According to this press release, Rutgers University-Camden acquired StoryQuarterly in October. They plan to continue the annual publication and also plan an online publication that was supposed to have begun in the fall. Following the links, I got to a new website for StoryQuarterly, although it doesn’t give much information about how the revived magazine will operate, other than to say that Marie Hayes will continue as a consultant.

This is interesting, considering all of the hype that came out of Narrative Magazine‘s announcement that they had taken over StoryQuarterly and would continue to publish it in print annually. Cliff Garstang wants to know what happened with all of that, and I’m curious as well.

I think it would be great to see StoryQuarterly back in action, if only to know that a magazine with that kind of history carries on. For example, looking through a few back issue tables of contents in the ’90s will give you a glimpse of the makings of NOON, a result of Diane Williams editorial hand, and you can see work from Christine Schutt, Gary Lutz, Lorrie Moore, Deb Olin Unferth, etc. Obviously, you can find their work in their full length books, I think, but it’s interesting to see it in some bigger context, I suppose, other than a story collection. Lorrie Moore’s story “How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)” appears in Self-Help, but was published in StoryQuarterly in the early ’80s – it was her second publication, if what I’ve read is correct. And this interview between Ben Marcus and Brian Evenson originally appeared in StoryQuarterly #31.

That is all for now – look for a hardcopy issue of StoryQuarterly to be published this summer. I know nothing else other than the webmaster at StoryQuarterly appears to have a sense of humor when it comes to posting submission guidelines – click on the Frequently Asked Questions link.

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18 Comments

  1. Cliff Garstang

      We’ll all have to stop by their table at AWP and ask them to explain themselves.

  2. Cliff Garstang

      We’ll all have to stop by their table at AWP and ask them to explain themselves.

  3. pr

      Like most journals of the universe, I briefly subscribed to storyquarterly. One thing- when they stopped being a quarterly (tehy became an annual?), they didn’t change their name, which irritated me because I have my uptight moments. That said, I thought they had a nice mix- and i do mean mix- of stuff. Or did. I discovered the writer- maybe, I do know they published her- Alyce Miller, a fantastic short story form practicioner.
      Here she is-
      http://mypage.iu.edu/~almiller/am2pub.html

      Anyway, she is who sticks in my mind when i think of my storyquarterly time.

  4. d'anthony smith

      I used to enjoy a subscription to the trade magazine QuarryStorily: The Journal of Creative Excavation. They ran fiction every other issue (it was a biweekly, which means they actually ran more short stories than The Atlantic Monthly!) Some of the work wasn’t so good, but I always liked it when they ran a story by Rick Bass (like his aptly titled “Rocks”) or Annie Proulx (“When I Say Lay It Flat You Lay It Smooth”) or Jonathan Lethem (“Drilling with Martians.”) One hopes an adventurous MFA program (Alabama, maybe, or Brown?) or a program known for their creative nonfiction (UNCG-Wilmington or Pittsburgh or Ohio?) will acquire the rights to QuarryStorily soon.

  5. d'anthony smith

      I used to enjoy a subscription to the trade magazine QuarryStorily: The Journal of Creative Excavation. They ran fiction every other issue (it was a biweekly, which means they actually ran more short stories than The Atlantic Monthly!) Some of the work wasn’t so good, but I always liked it when they ran a story by Rick Bass (like his aptly titled “Rocks”) or Annie Proulx (“When I Say Lay It Flat You Lay It Smooth”) or Jonathan Lethem (“Drilling with Martians.”) One hopes an adventurous MFA program (Alabama, maybe, or Brown?) or a program known for their creative nonfiction (UNCG-Wilmington or Pittsburgh or Ohio?) will acquire the rights to QuarryStorily soon.

  6. jake kehoe

      i have a lot to say on this, but i will refrain since i may or may not have an mfa application into rutgers. and the alias too, really?

      i love rutgers and storyquarterly.

  7. jake kehoe

      i have a lot to say on this, but i will refrain since i may or may not have an mfa application into rutgers. and the alias too, really?

      i love rutgers and storyquarterly.

  8. pr

      Are those real story names?!! From which collection is that Proulx story if so? I like her short fiction a lot. Wamsutter Wolf, man.

      But. I don’t think I will actually get a straight answer out of you, D’Anthony. And yet, try anyway.

  9. pr

      Are those real story names?!! From which collection is that Proulx story if so? I like her short fiction a lot. Wamsutter Wolf, man.

      But. I don’t think I will actually get a straight answer out of you, D’Anthony. And yet, try anyway.

  10. Matt K

      I got a rejection from Narrative Magazine even though I never submitted anything to them – I think when they still were taking StoryQuarterly submissions and then StoryQuarterly dissapeared Narrative assumed all their submissions. Lame. I hope the new StoryQuarterly is awesome again.

  11. Matt K

      I got a rejection from Narrative Magazine even though I never submitted anything to them – I think when they still were taking StoryQuarterly submissions and then StoryQuarterly dissapeared Narrative assumed all their submissions. Lame. I hope the new StoryQuarterly is awesome again.

  12. d'anthony smith

      Yes, sort of. It’s from her forthcoming Dry Earth: Wyoming Stories 4.

      List of Stories:

      River, Carry Me Home
      When I Say Lay It Flat, You Lay It Smooth
      Seven Wolves and Seven Hills
      The Sheepherder’s Widow
      Cheyenne
      Autographs
      In the Valley of Snakes
      The Pillermesser Dam
      It’s Hard to Feel or See My Way Through
      Oh, Susannah
      There Are Roots and There Are Roots
      You Can’t Get to Heaven Wearing Leg Braces
      Work Wrought Wet with Hands
      Foothold

  13. d'anthony smith

      Yes, sort of. It’s from her forthcoming Dry Earth: Wyoming Stories 4.

      List of Stories:

      River, Carry Me Home
      When I Say Lay It Flat, You Lay It Smooth
      Seven Wolves and Seven Hills
      The Sheepherder’s Widow
      Cheyenne
      Autographs
      In the Valley of Snakes
      The Pillermesser Dam
      It’s Hard to Feel or See My Way Through
      Oh, Susannah
      There Are Roots and There Are Roots
      You Can’t Get to Heaven Wearing Leg Braces
      Work Wrought Wet with Hands
      Foothold

  14. pr

      Wow. Insider info from a 300 pound linebacker. I’ll be getting that book. Let’s arm wrestle!

  15. KevinS

      Jayne Anne Phillips was just at Powell’s and she was really cool. She was interested in the small press stuff at the store and I showed her a bunch of stuff which she happily bought. Among them were Lutz’s Partial List and Stories in the Worst Way, the Great zine by Chelsea Martin and Brandon Gorell, Matthew Rohrer’s new Octopus Press book, and a few Portlandy things. Apparently, they have a cool library at their MFA headquarters.

  16. KevinS

      Jayne Anne Phillips was just at Powell’s and she was really cool. She was interested in the small press stuff at the store and I showed her a bunch of stuff which she happily bought. Among them were Lutz’s Partial List and Stories in the Worst Way, the Great zine by Chelsea Martin and Brandon Gorell, Matthew Rohrer’s new Octopus Press book, and a few Portlandy things. Apparently, they have a cool library at their MFA headquarters.

  17. Igori

      Ну а что еще писать шоб не потерли? :)

  18. Igori

      Ну а что еще писать шоб не потерли? :)