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Posted 4 June 2012
Shot Glass Journal
Issue 6, January 2012
In sixteen lines or less, these writers serve up a shot of poetry each. Some of them are sweet and some burn on the way down, but all of them prove the ability to convey meaning and emotion in a small amount of space. Just take a look at Burt Kimmelman's piece which accomplishes this with only 23 words or Dan
Sklar's three shots of reflection. I certainly can't get over my sinking gut after reading Neil
Banks's cinquain poem "Lost Words" that offers up a different view of
Titanic in only 14 words. I also enjoyed Juweel Soleana's "Broken
Compass" and appreciate her last line: "You are never loved twice the
same." This issue features new and established writers from the U.S. and international locals. Take as many as you like because these shots likely
won't leave you hung over in the morning when you need to go to work (though, who knows, maybe the poetry is that powerful).
[www.musepiepress.com/shotglass]
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The Molotov Cocktail
Volume 3 Issue 5
The Molotov Cocktail is interested in, as the submissions page indicates,
"volatile flash fiction, the kind you cook up in a bathtub and handle with rubber
gloves." They also want "your rotten characters," and this issue is filled with those rotten characters. In Rich
Larson's "Patron Saint of Lost Causes" we meet four seemingly unhappy characters and see a connection between a son and an uncle that seems to come from emptiness. L.A.
Craig's "Fake Ocelet" is a brief display of a woman who has lost a son and wanders around town collecting garbage and scaring away the neighbors. And Ian Hilgendorf shows us a horse owner that is less than pleased with his life and what he has to do. These issues of
The Molotov Cocktail are hand grenades; handle with care.
[themolotovcocktail.com]
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Short, Fast, and Deadly
April 2012 [Place Marks]
Browsing Short, Fast, and Deadly is like walking into an old house, one where the floors creak and you expect things to pop out of you. Each time you turn the corner into a new room, you discover something new, some treasure. This
mag, posted every month on the 19th, is doing a lot of great and interesting things. Every piece in it is short and snappy with all of the prose under 420 characters (no, not words) and the poetry under 140 characters. There are several sections, including a themed section (this
issue's is [Place Marks]), a featured writer, prose, poetry, views, and a nifty section called BlackMarket that includes mash-up pieces of
"found" prose. There is a link one the page to rigormort.us that compiles published writing that authors allow others to use to mash up into something new (which they can then submit to the BlackMarket section or use for other projects). The whole issue can be read in one sitting. As Editor Joseph A.W. Quintela says on the site,
"just brew a cup of coffee. Sit back. Enjoy the carnage. You won't have to pay attention for
long."
[www.shortfastanddeadly.com]
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