§00. Editor’s note: links affixed to author/publisher’s name will redirect to author/publisher social media, links affixed to story/article titles will redirect to the site whereupon the named piece is archived. The ‘authors’ section focuses on lone individuals who publish their own literary work, ‘organizations’ section focuses upon independent presses, lit-mags, e-zines and other literary organizations who publish fictive work of multiple authors and ‘literary ephemera’ focuses on non-prose non-fiction literature, such as certain poems, news and art theory articles, reviews, interviews and critiques. All author/publication names arranged by alphabetical order (including ‘the’).
§01. Editor’s note on criteria for inclusion: a publication is considered ‘independent’ if it is self-contained and sustaining, that is to say, if it does not rely upon the staff, organizational prowess or financial backing of large corporations, academies, governments or other large entrenched organizations. For example, Sink Hollow Litmag will not be included on the list, not due to the quality or lack thereof of their work, but rather, because they are supported by Utah State University (and thus, are not independent).
§. AUTHORS
From Shreya Vikram, Faith. Vikram’s characteristic passionate, murky poetic stylings find a excellent match in the topic of religion and the difficulties entailed in its practice.
These secrets of the human race, those tantalizing tidbits that lie forever undiscovered.
These beliefs for which there can never be enough witnesses, never enough stories.
I heard it, they’ll say. I saw it with my own eyes.
But the what-ifs are always stronger.
— Faith
From the talented Steve Hart, another installment of The Promise of Shaconage: Act 177: The Long Sharp Spear.
Timpoochee was haunted by the vision of that ghost-like figure he saw on the shore.
He was so distant, thought Timpoochee, but so close, so familiar.
A kingfisher suddenly darted across the bows of Timpoochee’s trading boat and dove starkly into the water just ahead, re-emerging with a tiny fish gored on its beak.
The kingfisher, he thought, spearing fish. The best hunter.
— Act 177: The Long Sharp Spear
From, Wicked Fables, who published, Immortalitus. A gripping tale of a asteroid miners indebted to a life-extension corporation. It would have been nice to have more “show” and less “tell” but the telling was done so well and with such noir clarity that I didn’t really mind in the end.
-the only afterlife you get is in the memories of those that knew you.
— Immortalitus
§. LITERARY EPHEMERA
From Lunarian Press, Connie Willis: One of My Favorite Science Fiction Authors, a brisk rumination on the works of the prolific American science fiction writer, Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis.
“Willis excels at the slow reveal–the surface of her stories can seem ordinary, but powerful currents move in their depths.”
— Connie Willis: One of My Favorite Science Fiction Authors
New Pop Lit continues their investigation into the need (or superfluousness) of new literary forms, in a series of interviews with various literary personalities in The Answers! The question: “Does the contemporary short story need to be radically revamped in order to reach a broader audience?” Answers markedly varied.
Whatever happens in terms of form, the mediums through which new literature is made, saved and disseminated must be given equal attention. The medium is the message.
Meakin Armstrong, magazine editor: The market for short fiction is already broad; it’s just that the market is fragmented, thanks to technology. Incredible short fiction is being published right now, and probably more of it is being published than ever before. One unintended consequence of technology, however, is that this avalanche of short fiction has tended to fragment the market. Nearly every day, I hear of a new small press or a new journal—and that’s great. But nonetheless, it’s still one more new journal; one more new press—with presumably only a static number of readers out there. Arguably, the lack of money is freeing, though. At Guernica, I don’t give a rat’s ass about our market, because there’s no money in it, anyway. But writers still need money. Publishers still need money. So if you’ve got money, SEND MONEY. That means actually subscribing to those journals you pretend to read and supporting those presses you say you love. With money, short fiction will figure out its own shit. Just don’t expect to be your friend: all good fiction prefers to bite the hand that feeds it.
— The Answers!
From Terror House Magazine, Three Poems by Glahn; Mysteries, The Devil In Me and The Sun Was There.
But it is coming out now
the truth
And it is a goddamn thing, isn’t it
I try to hold it back
— Mysteries
Thomas E. Staples releases his new book, The Case of the Giant Carnivorous Worm, the cover of which is really quite spectacular (it also sounds rather conceptually amusing).
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