New Lit on the Block :: Thriller Magazine
With a name like Thriller Magazine, there’s little room for mistaking the genre of this new online biannual publishing short stories and flash fiction under the umbrella of thriller/suspense/mystery. And with Editor in Chief Ammar Habib’s background, readers of this publication can expect to experience quality genre literature, while writers can expect that their work will be respectfully considered. With a name like Thriller Magazine, there’s little room for mistaking the genre of this new online biannual publishing short stories and flash fiction under the umbrella of thriller/suspense/mystery. And with Editor in Chief Ammar Habib’s background, readers of this publication can expect to experience quality genre literature, while writers can expect that their work will be respectfully considered.
Habib himself is a bestselling and national award-winning author based out of Texas. He has several years of experience both editing for magazines/journals and as a freelance editor. Outside of his own published short stories, his novels include The Dark Guardian Trilogy, Memories of My Future, and Ana Rocha: Shadows of Justice. Habib also maintains professional membership in International Thriller Writers.
Habib’s interest in starting a literary magazine came from his own experiences trying to find homes for his writing. “The goal of Thriller Magazine,” he says, “is to showcase established and rising voices of the thriller genre. As a bestselling/award-winning author myself, I had a lot of difficulty publishing my earlier works when I started my writing career a few years ago. Therefore, I wanted to create a publication that gave newer authors a fair shot, and I think that is the biggest difference maker with Thriller Magazine. Our hope is to be a publication that gives new authors a place to show their work alongside more well-known names.”
Readers of Thriller Magazine can expect to find a variety of stories that fall into the thriller genre short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and the occasional review/interview. “From action thrillers to westerns to horror thrillers and to noir detective stories,” Habib adds, “we try to really showcase the thriller genre at its best!” The first issue, published July 2018, includes works by Andrew Bourelle, Amy Grech, Kaitlyn Johnson, Paul Michaels, and Gage Garza, as well as Habib contributing a work.
Writers interested in submitting to Thriller Magazine can do so via email; there is no reading fee. “As an author myself,” Habib comments, “I know how much courage it takes to submit your work to editors, so we aim to treat each submission with respect. Each submission goes through two rounds of review before a decision is made, and we hope to get a response to the author within a month if possible.”
Habib hopes in the future that the publication will be able to create enough revenue to pay writers, having overcome the greatest hurdle so far: “just getting our name out there in the hopes of attracting readers and writers to check out our site.” With the publication of the first issue came “a huge spike in traffic . . . so it looks like we have overcome that first hurdle!” And for that, Habib adds, “We are really thankful for the warm reception our publication has received since its launch last March, and we hope to continue showcasing amazing work!”