EBay, Half.com - but never have I known anyone to offer a virtual Yard Sale - now, that's creative!

Creative Nonfiction
First-Ever Yard Sale
July 21 - 28
Save up to 80% on back issues, books, merchandise, subscriptions, and more!

From Kenyon Review Editor David Lynn:

Kenyon Review Online will be a lively and innovative bridge between the world of the very best print literature and the emerging potential of the electronic universe. We’ll be offering innovative and delightful stories, poems, essays, memoirs, and reviews online. They will be renewed and refreshed regularly and then collected into electronic “issues” over time.

By and large, pieces appearing electronically will be distinct from work in the printed version of The Kenyon Review. I like to think of those pages as timeless. After all, readers turn to them for pleasure and enlightenment years and even decades after they first appear.

KR Online, however, will definitely be more timely, published more quickly than we’re able to do with print. And the pieces here will also be a little more experimental, a little more “out there.” Who knows?—maybe a little sassier too.

Of course, despite a new flavor, all the great writing on KRO will be held to the same high standards and expectations as The Kenyon Review. They’ll be considered as carefully, copyedited to our exacting standards. This will truly be the best writing from around the world, brought to you in this exciting new medium. After all, it’s our name, our tradition, our reputation on the line as well.

Online now: Read Bonnie Jo Campbell's "Boar Taint" and Kevin Young's "I Shall be Released" from the Summer 2008 issue of KR. Read new poetry from Christian Ward, an essay on poet Thom Gunn by Alfred Corn, a review of Daniel Hall's Under Sleep by Janet Chalmers, and a review of Sarah Manguso's The Two Kinds of Decay: A Memoir by Daniel Torday.

Susan of Rock and Sling recently wrote to inform me that they will be suspending publication of the magazine due to funding issues. As an independent non-profit, Rock and Sling is not alone in this struggle.

Susan writes: "Over the last few months we have been trying not to make the hard decision to suspend publication of Rock & Sling — pending procurement of long-term sustainable funding (tell me there is such a thing!). The problem of finances for independent presses runs deep. Without university backing to absorb some of the costs, the independent press must put an inordinate amount of time and energy into finding funding. We have found ourselves without sufficient partners and subscriptions alone haven't proved to be enough. Suspending publication will allow our (all volunteer) staff to spend their time in the donations, grants, and endowments world more effectively.

"It seems a shame to have gotten this far and feel like we have established a niche for ourselves, only to have to stop production and turn all attention to finding support. I suppose any business major would have seen it coming from the get-go. Perhaps on your blog you can throw out the question of how independent presses can maintain financial stability. Where they can find funding—is govt. funding the answer? How does a journal like Rock & Sling (with a Christian bent to its content) get past the hyper vigilance of separation of church and state? Clearly we don’t want to be under any denomination—so church monies are not to be had."

Susan also humorously added that it should be the law that writers who submit to lit mags should have to subscribe to at least one (another ongoing issue...). But, are subscriptions even enough in this day of increased postal rates and overall higher costs?

Any comments/advice? I'm sure this is an issue of concern for many. And, I already know what some will say - that even publications with university affiliation are not guarnteed funding. So, where does the money come from?

After a couple weeks of "host issues," I am finally able to update the site!

Stop by NewPages Magazine Stand to find publisher descriptions and cover art from our sponsor magazines, and a list of all new issues of other literary magazines received here at NewPages World Headquarters.

Trying something new once again, this page will combine print and online lit mags.

The alternative magazines page has also been recently updated, but as we aren't getting a lot of these coming through NPWHQ, and visitor traffic to this page is discouraging low, this may be the last time this page is updated. (Unless there's some huge public outcry opposed to its elimination...)

If you'd like to be listed, as well as considered for review, be sure we get a copy of your publication (see our FAQ page for more information). For online lit mags, you only need to e-mail notification of when you have a new issue posted online: denisehill-at-newpages.com

To celebrate Indiana Review 30.1 (summer 2008) - The Funk Feature - Associate Editor Nina Mamikunian let me know about the "Five Hump Days of Funk" going on at Under the Blue Light, IR's blog.

"Here's how it's going to work: on Wednesday, we'll ask a question, you'll answer it an an e-mail to us, and we'll select a winner based on response accuracy first, and then on response speed. The following Monday, we'll announce who gets the copy of the issue."

Click quickly, and get your free issue - it's a dandy!

The Oval is a brand new literary magazine from the University of Montana published by undergraduate students.

Oval's website says they are "devoted to the publishing of writing and artwork from the University of Montana," and the first issue features UofM students exclusively. However, future issues are open to submissions from undergraduate college and university students in the U.S. Their mission: "to provide a fresh outlet for new and young artists to express themselves, their ideas and passions to the world through the medium of print."

Oval accepts e-mail submissions year-round: poetry (translations welcome), short stories, creative nonfiction, short plays, interviews, and visual art (such as photography, paintings, drawings, prints, cartoons, and graphic literature).

The Spring 2008 inagural issue is available online (pdf) and includes "Buss, Buss" by poet Laura Anne Nicole Foster, "Just Fine" by author Crystal Corrigan, and "Wolverine and Rabbitt" by artist Eli Suzukovich III.

The Summer 2008 issue of Thema is the second of this quarterly's celebration of 20 years in print. With the ongoing cycle of lit mags folding and new ones beginning, such anniversaries as this are indeed cause for celebration. It is also cause for curiosity: What does it take for a lit mag to survive?

One of the features in Thema are letters to the editor run at the end of the publication. I was particularly drawn to these, the first from Tina M. Klimas, whose work was actually rejected, but her letter is in praise of Thema's process: "Although you were writing to decline my piece, I appreciated knowing that my work came close... I wanted you to know that your encouragement is valued...getting the poem back gave me an opportunity to improve it... So, thank you for giving me the chance to make a better poem."

The second letter is from Matthew Petti, who writes about leaving his job as a clinical psychologist to pursue his writing: "I gave myself five years to get something published; if I didn't get a bite in five years, I told myself, I'd give up."

It was Thema that published Petti's first short story back in 2000 ("Toby Came Today"). This encouraged his pursuit, leading to an MFA, an Assistant Professorship teaching writing and literature, and more publishing. He sums up the whole of this experience: "I've loved this part of my life's journey, and your thumbs-up was the encouragement I needed to begin."

Looking back on the question of how lit mags survive, it would seem one way would be in treating prospective writers and their submissions with respect, whether accepted or rejected, and offering the opportunity for new and developing writers to be given the chance with a poem or a story - whether it be their only one or the first of many. When we talk about the "community" of writers and publications, there are many facets involved. Reading these letters and taking a look at the long history of Thema, community seems apt to describe what they have built, and a viable one at that.

Low Rent is an independent journal from New York (though distributed beyond), published six times a year. The frequency of publication sounds ambitious for a New Lit on the Block, but the format is modest - including (so far) two stories and eight poems every issue*. I'm not sure if there are plans to increase the content, but as a bimonthly, lower quantity and higher quality would seem to be the ideal balance to keep both writers and readers coming back. For the low-rent cover price - $4.95 - it is likely to keep attracting new and repeat readers.

Edited by W.P Hughes, Jeff Bernard, Robert Liddell, and Jason Koo, Issue 1 features stories by Trevor J. Houser and Tracy Jo Barnwell, poetry by Marc McKee (winner of the 2008 DIAGRAM Chapbook Contest) and Ciaran Berry, and design by Hiroko Mizuno. Issue 2 includes stories by Murray Farish and Robert Taylor Brewer, and poetry by Sasha West and Jason Bredle, cover design by Hiroko Mizuno, inspired by EMIGRE. Excerpts of pieces from both issues are available online* (click on covers).

Low Rent is accepting submissions via e-mail of stories under 6k and poetry. Small stipends are paid to writers as it becomes available*. It's worth reading their creatively smarmy FAQs to get to know them better, and just to put a smile on your face.

*Updated information via Bill Hughes at Low Rent (7/11).

I liked this comment from the Editor's Notes of the latest issue of Tin House:

"We are frequently asked what we look for in a story or poem. The answer is simple: To see things anew, to be reminded of what it is to be alive. To miss our subway stop because we are so consumed with what we are reading. That's all we ask for. And we hope that you will find the same."

They make it sound so simple, don't they? I know exactly the kind of writing they're talking about, and I imagine it is neither simple to write, nor as an editor, easy to select. But, as a reader, greatly appreciated.

"Menendez Publishing introduces Oranges & Sardines, the new print magazine dedicated to spanning the two genres of poetry and art in an effort to fuse both communities in a fresh and exciting way. The staff of Oranges & Sardines are poets and artists who are dedicated not only to publishing the best content submitted in both genres, but also to the aesthetic appearance of our magazine. We welcome submissions from the established as well as the emerging and unknown." (No sim/subs.) The 8x10 format is extremely well styled in this quarterly publication, and the editors ask that writers consider this format when submitting works.

The Summer 2008 issue (1.1) is edited by David Krump, Andy Nicholson, Meghan Punschke, Didi Menendez, and features:

Artists Ethan Diehl, Marcia Molnar, Holly Picano, Cheryl Kelley, Jennifer Wildermuth, L.D. Grant, Niel Hollingsworth, Steph Chard, Jeremy Baum, Jeff Filipski and E.B. Goodale.

Poems by Blake Butler, Dana King, J.P. Dancing Bear, Josh Olsen, Steffi Drewes, Matthew Hittinger, Patrick Leonard, Diana Adams and Graeme Mullen.

Short story by Kirk Curnutt. Reviews by Miguel Murphy, Michael Parker, Cheryl Townsend, Courtney Campbell and Jim Knowles.

Columns by Talia Reed and Caridad McCormick.

Grace Cavalieri interviews Mark Doty.