He got up and sat on the edge of the bedstead with his back to the window. “It’s better not to sleep at all,” he decided. There was a cold damp draught from the window, however; without getting up he drew the blanket over him and wrapped himself in it. He was not thinking of anything and did not want to think. But one image rose after another, incoherent scraps of thought without beginning or end passed through his mind. He sank into drowsiness. Perhaps the cold, or the dampness, or the dark, or the wind that howled under the window and tossed the trees roused a sort of persistent craving for the fantastic. He kept dwelling on images of flowers, he fancied a charming flower garden, a bright, warm, almost hot day, a holiday—Trinity day. A fine, sumptuous country cottage in the English taste overgrown with fragrant flowers, with flower beds going round the house; the porch, wreathed in climbers, was surrounded with beds of roses. A light, cool staircase, carpeted with rich rugs, was decorated with rare plants in china pots. He noticed particularly in the windows nosegays of tender, white, heavily fragrant narcissus bending over their bright, green, thick long stalks. He was reluctant to move away from them, but he went up the stairs and came into a large, high drawing-room and again everywhere—at the windows, the doors on to the balcony, and on the balcony itself—were flowers. The floors were strewn with freshly-cut fragrant hay, the windows were open, a fresh, cool, light air came into the room. The birds were chirruping under the window, and in the middle of the room, on a table covered with a white satin shroud, stood a coffin. The coffin was covered with white silk and edged with a thick white frill; wreaths of flowers surrounded it on all sides. Among the flowers lay a girl in a white muslin dress, with her arms crossed and pressed on her bosom, as though carved out of marble. But her loose fair hair was wet; there was a wreath of roses on her head. The stern and already rigid profile of her face looked as though chiselled of marble too, and the smile on her pale lips was full of an immense unchildish misery and sorrowful appeal. Svidrigaïlov knew that girl; there was no holy image, no burning candle beside the coffin; no sound of prayers: the girl had drowned herself. She was only fourteen, but her heart was broken. And she had destroyed herself, crushed by an insult that had appalled and amazed that childish soul, had smirched that angel purity with unmerited disgrace and torn from her a last scream of despair, unheeded and brutally disregarded, on a dark night in the cold and wet while the wind howled

Ranking of Literary Journals

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I’ve become disenchanted with the whole notion of ranking literary journals, but I don’t want to delete this page entirely and disappoint the many readers who come here daily to discover new literary journals to read and submit to. So instead, I’m radically changing the system. The list below arranges literary journals in order of how many times they’ve had a story or special mention in the last five years (2007 – 2011) in the Best American Short Stories (BASS).

My hope is that this list will complement Cliff Garstand’s excellent list at Perpetual Folly which ranks journals according to Pushcart Prizes over the last decade. To some extent, I’m borrowing his methodology which gives a certain number of points to wins and a lesser number for special mentions (in BASS, these are the 100 best stories listed at the end of each volume).

This list differs from Marc Watkins list, both in terms of years covered (his covers 2000 – 2007) and also the point system (the same number of points is awarded for special mentions as for appearing in the anthology).

On statistics: statistics is a epistemic methodology prized by our modernistic, science-obsessed world as the primary way to Know Things. The cold hard facts trumps subjective knowledge, right? But I would argue that statistics gives us only a very limited view of the world, and one which necessarily skews “proper” knowledge.

Let me be less philosophical and more practical: Please don’t overestimate the important of the list below. The list below does not tell you whether a journal is good or not, it only tells you whether the BASS editors happened to like the flavor of stories in a journal. That, necessarily, is entirely subjective, and I encourage you to discover for yourself the type of fiction each journal publishes, as well as explore the many excellent journals that don’t appear on this list.

I dislike some “high” level journals and really love “low” level journals. So while my tastes are not necessarily reflected by the list below, that’s good, because it will force you all, my lovely, devoted readers, to form your own judgments. For those of you already deep in the literary journal world, I hope that this list is one aid among many to help you figure out where to submit and subscribe.

Best American Short Story Rankings:

15 comments

Jack says:
November 30, 2010 at 7:12 am
i like your other list way better. not sure exactly why, yet.
all and all this website has been a huge help to me.
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popsicledeath says:
November 30, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Still disappointed.
I loved the competitiveness rating and found it very relevant.
I know there’s a lot of overlap between the old rankings and new listing, but I can pretty easily open up a Best American and see which journals are getting mentioned (and do), but it was much harder–thus a far more valuable resource–having someone to put in the work to gauge competitiveness. And far more interesting, in my opinion.
I enjoy and appreciate the resource and effort, but no longer have a reason to visit this page anymore.
Thanks for your attention and efforts both past and future.
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BookFox says:
December 5, 2010 at 2:32 pm
@popsicledeath I think that by triangulating the information from this BASS list, Perpetual Folly’s Pushcart list, and Duotrope submission information, you can get a pretty decent idea of the competitiveness of a market. Of course, the best evaluation comes from reading the journals.
@Jack I hope it becomes more helpful as I add information from past years, expanding the number of markets listed. New Pages is also an excellent place to visit for additional lit journal markets.
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Chidelia E. says:
January 17, 2011 at 7:23 am
Love the work you’re doing, John, but I actually greatly prefer the old rankings. Could you at least link to the old post? This would also give people who are new to your website better perspective on the significance of these “overhauled” rankings if they could compare them to the old ones. Thank you!
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BookFox says:
January 17, 2011 at 7:25 pm
Had to erase the old one for reasons larger than this blog. Sorry to disappoint, Chidelia.
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TwoMillion says:
January 20, 2011 at 7:27 pm
The old version can still be found on the Wayback Machine if people look for it there.
Thanks for the great work, Mr. Fox! Keep at it.
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Jack says:
February 1, 2011 at 10:50 am
i think i figured out why i don’t like this list and did like the other. this one reminds me of that other guys list. they both feel greedy to me. your old list was practical and longer. it introduced new journals to me. you say you “had to erase the old one”. i don’t get it? this list feels a lot more like “ranking” than the old one.
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Willard Cook Editor in Chief Epiphany says:
March 5, 2011 at 4:52 pm
I am surprised Epiphany is not on this list. Robert Atwan of Best American called one of the best. Rob Spillman of Tin House told me the other day that he was impressed by the work we are doing. We don’t published so many name writers – if you don’t count Derek Walcott, Ed Hirsch, Roxana Robinson, John Wideman, Elena Ferrante (trans by Nyer Ann Goldstein) and Siri Huseveldt, etc – but we are well edited due to the fact we have had Jeffrey Gustavson of the New Yorker editing us for the last four years. So why we are on the list is a puzzler, not to mention ranked.
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BookFox says:
March 7, 2011 at 10:18 am
Willard Cook:
This ranking is judged by how many special mentions/appearances journals have had in BASS. This is not subjective.
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Max Delray says:
March 7, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Great list. I do have an issue with Narrative’s inclusion, however. I have no prejudice against online journals, but I question Narrative. Did I read correctly that the submission fee is $20? If so, are they kidding? I realize the journal has a wide readership, but that’s a racket. Do they at least offer a free Scientology stress test?
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BookFox says:
March 14, 2011 at 9:17 am
@Max Yes, many people seem to have an issue with Narrative, especially with the reading fees and assertions of impropriety in contests.
If you’re opposed to their model, check out Electric Literature, which offers a model for an high-level digital-based lit journal that funnels monies toward the writer rather than away.
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Our_Stories says:
March 18, 2011 at 10:52 am
You should consider Our Stories, we’re a literary journal that ensures that if a writer doesn’t get published that they receive a personalized review from one of our staff members helping them with a next draft. Sort of a journal and a writer’s studio smashed into one. And the money for all of our contests… 70% goes to the staff members (for the most part all MFA trained) so they can support themselves.
https://www.ourstories.us is our address.
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San Bruno Personal Trainer says:
January 27, 2012 at 1:28 am
Hey…
just awesome.. you have nice job i really like your work in creating nice list… carry on it biddy.. thanks for sharing it with us…
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David says:
February 3, 2012 at 1:47 am
Ahhhh is there anywhere that lists literary journal submissions by theme? Or even the overall theme of the journal? (EG. Social Justice or Literature for its own sake etc etc?)
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BookFox says:
February 3, 2012 at 2:49 pm
The weekly duotrope email lists what journals are soliciting for a particular theme. But I’m not aware of a list that organizes by theme. Duotrope might be your best bet.
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