The July/August issue of Poets and Writers highlights Ploughshares’ recent move to online submission, but neglects to mention that they started charging $3 for this submission type. I would think that would be pertinent information, especially considering that Ploughshares waives the fee for subscribers, which is an excellent addendum that I haven’t seen in the Lit Journal community.
Also, in the Bullseye section of Poets and Writers, they highlight Glimmer Train, claiming that it runs 4 contests a year. Huh? Last I checked they’re running a solid 16 a year.
In other news, I recently got my hands on a copy of Versal, a european lit mag out of Amsterdam. It’s a beautiful nearly square journal with color reproductions and a good dose of short short fiction. Check out the beginning of a story by Colleen Hollister called “Here is a Photograph”:
“Here, the buildings are made of paper and string. There is wind, and sudden thunderstorms. I imagine you have trouble picturing the way the people are awake at night, every night, and on the radio the music starts at three a.m. The news that inhabits the station before the music begins is made up of no words, only a rush of noise like bombs, like streets collapsing. And how then there are parades, the stretch of dying, the drying grapefruit juice in all the glasses, the littering of streets with awful birds.”
Lastly, check out The Drum, a new audio literary journal, and this one looks more literary than its forebearers. There’s free content and premium content — a subscriptions costs $25 annually. Recent readers have included BookFox favorite Benjamin Percy and Celeste Ng. Other audio reviews include The Cortland Review and Bound Off. And honestly, don’t you all need some good short fiction for the commute?
