Home » Newpages Blog » Blink-Ink

Magazine Stand :: Blink-Ink – #58

Blink-Ink Issue #58 is themed “UFO” – just at a time when we think we’ve seen it all. But have we? Jimmy Carter saw one. So did Ronald Reagan. Harry Truman never saw one but worried about them. Bill Clinton never saw one but always wanted to. Gerald Ford wasn’t sure if he’d seen one or not. Former Israeli security chief, Haim Eshed, says they are here and world leaders know it. How about you?

Answering the question – and the call for submissions – two dozen contributors offer their ‘visions’ in “approximately 50 words,” including Ewen Glass, Carolyn R. Russell, Jacqueline A. Seaberg, Tanya Azarenko-Schram, Frederick Melancon, Birdie, Catfish McDaris, Giulietta Nardone, Sarah Meade, Ujjwala Kaushik, Daryl Scroggins, and Richie Narvaez. Cover art by Anne Anthony.

Magazine Stand :: Blink-Ink – #57

“Summer Nights” is the them of Blink-Ink #57, apropos for this seasonal quarterly installment of the tiny, independent journal that always packs a big punch for readers. Submitting stories of “approximately 50 words,” writers in this issue help readers capture those beautiful and mysterious moments of summer: the stars, fireflies, sparks from campfires, a thousand points of light against the velvet dark, air as soft and warm as breath – both from long ago memories, recent encounters, or just creations from a writer’s mindscape of impossible dreams, or maybe yet to come to fruition.

Writers featured in this issue include Jennifer Mack, Angela James, Kendra Cardin, Katheryn Kulpa, Eileen M. Hector, Daryl Scroggins, Sarah Shum, Kathryn Silver-Harjo, Susan Israel, Cameron Vanderwerf, E.C. Traganas, Carolyn R. Russel, Emery Caroline Little, and many more, with cover art by Gemma Mathewson.

Note: Blink-Ink has announced that subscriptions rates will be increasing as of December 1, “so now is the time to save a few dollars and sign up or renew.” Who doesn’t love a bargain? And subscriptions are great for holiday gift giving!

Magazine Stand :: Blink-Ink – #54

Blink-Ink Issue #54 is themed “Family” and features 28 works of “approximately 50 words” each, including “When Baba Flew in from Florida” by Lois Villemarie, “When Relatives from the Cool Temperate Zone Visit” by Julie Dron, “The Corn is Angry” by Karen Walker, “Sisters” by Paul Beckman, “The Green Sofa” by Sarah Shum, “Hawk Logic” by Meg Pokrass, “LEGO City” by Caiti Quatmann, “Home for the Holiday” by Jeff Harvey, “My Family Jewels” by Catfish McDaris, “Blended Family” by Kathy Lynn Carroll, and “Gothic America” by Gay Degani. See the Blink-Ink website for subscription information as well as their 2023 Pushcart Prize Nominations.

Discover loads more great lit mags with our Guide to Literary Magazines, Big List of Literary Magazines, and Big List of Alternative Magazines. If you are a publication looking to be listed in our monthly roundup or featured on our blog and social media, please contact us.

Magazine Stand :: Blink-Ink – #53

Blink Ink #53 cover image

The newest issue of Blink-Ink is themed “Secrets” and features twenty-five stories of “approximately 50 words” each. This ‘mini’ print quarterly (with occasional “goodies and surprises” thrown in for subscribers) includes stories like “A Puppy to Call My Own” by Lita Weekley, “Two Teachers” by Paul Germano, “Cosmic Dissonance” by Ada W. Vowell, “Risk of Expsure” by Kathy Lynn Carroll, “The Burial Plot” by Anna Mintz Brooks, ” Graffitti” by Ken Ross, and “The Barbie Motel” and “Checkpoint Barbie” by Nancy Stohlman. Cover art by Sarah Hussin.

Discover loads more great lit mags with our Guide to Literary Magazines, Big List of Literary Magazines, and Big List of Alternative Magazines. If you are a publication looking to be listed in our monthly roundup or featured on our blog and social media, please contact us.

Magazine Stand :: Blink-Ink – #52

Blink Ink #52 cover image

Blink-Ink is the definition of “small but mighty” – at 5 1/2 X 4 1/4 print format, each issue is packed with stories of “approximately” 50 words. The newest issue features 26 stories on the theme “Waiting on a Friend.” Each issue is themed, and the editors provide guidelines and deadlines on their website. Subscribers receive four issues per year, and it’s a real delight to see these arrive in the mail. Easy to carry along anywhere, a subscription is the perfect gift idea for those readers and writers in your life (including yourself!).

To find more great reading, visit the NewPages Guide to Literary Magazines, the NewPages Big List of Literary Magazines, the NewPages Big List of Alternative Magazines, and the NewPages Guide to Publications for Young Writers. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

Magazine Stand :: Blink-Ink – 50

Blink-Ink print literary magazine issue number 50 cover image

Persisting in print despite the rising costs, Blink-Ink continues to delight readers with its zine-style 4×5 format filled with works of no more than 50 words each. The newest issue is themed “Country Roads” and includes 25 works. Additionally, Blink-Ink offers subscribers a bonus publication along with other “goodies and surprises.” With this issue, readers get the “goody” publication Songbirds of North America that features 8 bird-related works. Visit their website for subscription information – and consider gifting this unique journal to arrive throughout the new year!

Magazine Stand :: Blink Ink – #49

Blink Ink print literary magazine issue #49 cover image

Publishing stories “of approximately 50 words” in print since 2009, Blink-Ink has persevered through the pandemic – thanks to continued subscriber support – and plans to forge ahead despite the rising costs of print. The publication offers four “seasonal” issues per year, but also provides bonus joy to subscribers by including publications from their sister imprint, The Mambo Academy of Kitty Wang at least twice a year, as well as other “goodies and surprises.” The newest edition of Blink-Ink is themed “Storm” and features works from thirty contributors in a nifty 4.25″x5.5″ package. “Country Roads” is the newest theme, with submissions open until October 15.

Magazine Stand :: Blink-Ink – #48

Blink Ink literary magazine issue 48 cover image

Blink-Ink is an adorable little lit mag, but don’t let its 4×5 zine-style format or 50-words or less per submission fool you – this is a powerhouse fiction publication – as previously reviewed on NewPages. Thematic by issue, the theme for #48 is “Rumors” and includes works by Beret Olsen, Nancy Stohlman, Jon Fain, Judith Shapiro, Lou Storey, Jennifer Mills Kerr, Mark Budman, Karen Lillis, Crystal Bonano, Daryl Scroggins, Mike Yunxuan Li, Liz Mayers, Catfish McDaris, Renuka Raghavan, Karen Lillis, Lindsey-Loon Ricker, Patricia Woods, Bryan Jansing, Gay Degani, Micahel Fagan, and Saif Sidari with photography by Alix Rhone Fancher. Visit their website for submission guidelines and upcoming themes.

Call :: Blink-Ink “Mercy”

“Mercy, mercy, mercy me. / Where did all the blue skies go? / Poison is the wind that blows…”—”Mercy, mercy, me” by Marvin Gaye
Mercy will be the theme of Blink-Ink’s December issue. We are quite serious about this one. Humor or satire will certainly be considered, but it must be relevant. Send us your best, unpublished work of approximately 50 words in the body of an email to: [email protected]. Submissions are open September 1st, through Oct. 15th. No poetry, attachments, or bios please. “What we want, what we need, is civic grace and mercy.”—Senator Cory Gardner

Call :: Blink Ink Seeks Home Cooking

Mom’s mac and cheese with cocktail wieners or a favorite meal you like to make. Tasty fare or a hard slog through a dismally over-done Sunday dinner. Dining delights dreamed of when there is little to hand. What else can we “cook up at home”, a plan, a scheme intertwined with adventure. Sure smells good, so tell us in fifty words or so what’s cooking be it real, imagined, or impossible. Submissions are open June 1st through July 15th. Send submissions in the body of an email to [email protected]. No poetry, bios, or attachments please. www.blink-ink.org/submissions/

Call :: Blink-Ink Road Trip Issue

Those same old four walls getting you down? Nothing going on, and not likely to? A road trip is the only cure. Time to get out of Dodge! So where to go, or does it matter? The time to pack up and go is now. Tell us your tails of the trails, your songs of the highway, be they real, imagined, or seemingly impossible in stories approximately 50 words in length. Send your submissions in the body of an email to: [email protected]. No poetry, attachments, or bios please. Submissions are open now through April 15th, 2020. www.blink-ink.org

Blink-Ink – True Crime Issue

Blink Ink - Issue 38

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

True crime seems to be all the rage lately, from books on famous cold cases to Netflix documentaries to hit podcasts. Blink-Ink tries its hand at covering this theme in Issue 38 wherein 16 writers use micro-fiction to explore true crime.

JR Walsh writes about a B&E at an ex’s house where the criminals’ “fingerprints never moved out.” Katie Yates writes of a husband who steals a puppy for his wife. In Craig Fishbane’s “Weapon of Choice,” one weapon is social media, the other is a gun. Leah Rogin-Roper provides four related pieces on a juvenile detention center. The stories in this issue cover a wide array of crimes in creative ways, and it’s fun to see a fictional take on truth.

Blink-Ink publishes stories that are 50 words or less. This makes for short, snappy stories that toss readers headfirst into the drama. In this issue, we never have to wait long to find out who did it in these whodunnits.