The Daily Beast has an article about the five best literary journals, but two of the journals — N+1 and The Believer — I’d describe more as book reviews.
One Story deserves its place on this list, but it’s interesting that Quick canadian pharmacy onhealthy Fiction gets a nod — as the name implies, it’s all fiction under 500 words. They have excerpts only available online for each story — no, I’m joking. (Remember the 6-word story craze? Try excerpting the Hemingway one: “For Sale: Baby . . . ” — Now pay to see the rest). But explore the Quick Fiction website, because it’s a nice design.
Lastly, there’s Subtropics, about which Lizzie Stark writes:
“Subtropics is the most traditional literary magazine on this list.”
If by traditional she means not publishing exclusively flash fiction and coming out twice a year instead of every three weeks, then yes, Subtropics could be considered traditional. But I wouldn’t call the aesthetic of Subtropics traditional. Consider John Brandon’s “Naples. Not Italy.” Or Chris Bachelder’s “Gatsby’s Hydroplane.”
