New Lit on the Block :: The Coffin Factory

Published & Edited by Laura Isaacman & Randy Rosenthal, with Managing Editors Brendan Kiely & Jessie Chaffee, and Editorial Assistants Darcey Glasser, Jessica Kagansky, and Leah Clancy, The Coffin Factory intends to serve as “a nexus between readers, writers, and the book publishing industry” and to “provide great literature and art to people who love books, including those who do not usually read literary magazines.” The Coffin Factory publishes fiction, essays, and art three times a year in print.

The inaugural issue features written works by Roberto Bola

New Lit on the Block :: Phantom Drift

Made possible by a grant of support from Wordcraft of Oregon comes Phantom Drift: A Journal of New Fabulism, an annual print publication “dedicated to building an understanding of and appreciation for New Fabulism and a Literature of the Fantastic.”

The publication editorial board is comprised of David Memmott, Managing Editor, Leslie What, Fiction Editor, and Matt Schumacher, Poetry Editor.

The first issue includes fiction by Brian Evenson, Eliot Fintushel, Stefanie Freele, Carolyn Ive Gilman, Daniel Grandbois, Peter Grandbois, Joe L. Murr, Nisi Shawl, Geronimo G. Tagatac, David Eric Tomlinson, and Ray Vukcevich, poetry by Aaron Anstett, Jonathan Ball, Richard Crow, Wade German, Joshua McKinney, Stephen McNally, Lawrence Raab, and Anita Sullivan, nonfiction by Thomas E. Kennedy and Matt Schumacher, and featured artist interviews with Jessica Plattner and Richard Schindler.

Phantom Drift accepts submissions from December 1 – March 31. Full guidelines are available on the magazine’s website.

[Issue One Cover Art by Jessica Plattner]

New Lit on the Block :: Efiction Notice

Edited by Saraline Grenier (contributing editor) and JP Savard, Efiction Notice is an online literary magazine specializing in serial novels. The editors write: “During the Victorian era many writers, including Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell, published their books one section at a time in journals. Efiction Notice revisits the past in a contemporary format. Novels, short stories, poems, and plays are available to read directly on the website or in e-book (epub and mobi) formats. We also hope to have essays and children’s stories in the future.”

The first two issues include works by David Bernans, Deepak Chaswal, Darlena Cunha, Howie Good, Kyle Hemmings, Terrence Kuch, Daniel Lavigne, Michael Little, Jacqueline Monck, Kat Patenaude, and John Patrick Tormey.

New deadlines for submissions are posted regularly, and submissions are accepted in French or English.

New Lit on the Block :: Scintilla

Scintilla is an independent literary arts journal published biannual online with an annual print volume. Founder and editor Tim Lepczyk writes, “While we are not walking away from traditional print publication, we are embracing digital publication in new formats. As we move forward in this domain, we may explore other types of publication such as novels, short story collections, and poetry collections.” To do so, Scintilla is “looking for new voices.”

The first issue features fiction by Rachel Hruza, and poetry by Lauren Eriks, Melissa Fondakowski, Eric Heyne, D.R. James, David James, Elizabeth McBride, Ben Moeller-Gaa, Linda, Nemec Foster, Pablo Peschiera, Jack Ridl, J. Sperry Steinorth, Alison Swan, and Holly Wren Spaulding.

Scintilla accepts fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual work via Submishmash.

New Art Publication :: Stone Voices

Stone Voices is “an exploration of the connections between visual arts and the spiritual journey.” Each print issue of Stone Voices contains extensive portfolios of notable artists along with feature articles, essays, regular columns, and poems.

Stone Voices is a trade-sized publication sparing no expense in heavyweight, full-color, semi-gloss paper throughout. As a publication, Stone Voices is exemplary in its treatment of art as equal to text, and more often as is due, primary.

Stone Voices also invites artists to share their art and their stories – exploring the connections between art and spirituality. Artists may create their own virtual gallery within Stone Voices larger virtual Art Gallery. Artists may show as many as ten images and may post information about themselves as well as an artist statement at no charge. Full guidelines are available on the publication website.

New Lit on the Block :: Buddhist Poetry Review

Edited by Jason Barber, Buddhist Poetry Review is a quarterly online poetry magazine “dedicated to publishing fresh and insightful Buddhist poetry.”

Issue One includes works by Alison Clayburn, Yvette Doss, Peter J. Greico, Paul Hostovsky, Becky Jaffe, Stephen Jones, Ed Krizek, Hal W. Lanse, J.D. Mitchell-Lumsden, Andrew K. Peterson, Ron Riekki, Stephen Rozwenc, J.R. Solonche, and Alex Stein.

Issue Two features poetry by Gary Gach, Allison Grayhurst, David Guterson, David Iasevoli, Leslie Ihde, James Mc Elroy, Mark J. Mitchell, Kaveri Patel, Emeniano Acain Somoza, Jr., and Lucien Zell.

Buddhist Poetry Review is open for submissions from October through November.

New Lit on the Block :: The Rusty Toque

Founding and Managing Editors Kathryn Mockler and Aaron Schneider, along with issue editors and advisors, introduce readers to The Rusty Toque, an online literary journal produced and edited by the faculty and students of the University of Western Ontario Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication Program. The Rusty Toque publishes students nominated from their writing program and also welcomes submissions from all writers – both new and established.

The first issue (Summer 2011)includes fiction by Josh Romphf, Marshall John Christie, Rhiannon Dickson, and Jamie Lively; screenplays by Jessica Kotzer and Lauren Wing; nonfiction by Ashley McCallan, G.P. Parhar, Cam Parkes, and Spencer Matheson; and poetry by Scott Beckett and Blair Swann.

The Rusty Toque accepts unpublished literary and experimental poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and unproduced drama (both short film and short play scripts). Artwork for the homepage is also accepted.

New Lit on the Block :: The Sandstar Review

Editors Lin Wang and Tyler Pratt bring readers The Sandstar Review, an online literary journal that “strives to publish polished, lyrical work that seeks an active connection between places and people.”

The first issue is poetry only, featuring works by William Doreski, Eva Eliav, Antoinette Forstall, Howie Good, Kenneth Gurney, Danielle Hurd, Steven Mayoff, Corey Mesler, Ananya Mishra, Rodney Nelson, Nathanael O’Reilly, Kenneth Pobo, Eric Rawson, Fiona Sinclair, Mark Stopforth, Persephonae Velasquez, Musing on Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire, Nicola Walls, and William Winfield Wright.

The Sandstar Review seeks unpublished prose for its second issue. Poetry is also accepted, but will be deferred to the third issue. Prose deadline is November 15, 2011.

New Lit on the Block :: Stone Highway Review

Edited by Mary Stone Dockery and Amanda Hash, Stone Highway Review is a biannual publication featuring poetry, short prose, and artwork, available online via PDF as well as POD via Lulu. For writers, Stone Highway Review likes “work that haunts, electrifies, tingles. We like creativity. We believe the imagination contains as much truth as ‘truth.'” The editors also comment that they like prose that “slips into the surreal or plays with language in new and exciting ways,” and that “if your fiction is more poetry than prose, we want it.”

The first issue features works by Paul David Adkins, James W. Hritz, Michelle Reale, Ariana D. Den Bleyker, Kim Kin, Peter Schireson, Jenny Catlin, Maggie Koger, Caitlin Elizabeth Thomson, Christina Dubach, Len Kuntz, Christopher Woods, William Doreski, Devon Miller-Duggan, Dr. Ernest Williamson III, Tom Holmes Christina Murphy, Alex Yuschik, Ruth Holzer, and Jenny Ortiz.

Stone Highway Review accepts submissions online via Submishmash and has a Facebook page.

New Lit on the Block :: Journal of Renga & Renku

Editors Norman Darlington and Moira Richards are both active in the study and practice of renga and renku and have collaborated on various renku related projects since 2005. Journal of Renga & Renku is their newest project, and includes a periodical, renku contest, book publishing, and an online community – Haikai Talk – devoted to haikai and all poetic forms orginating in Japan and written in English.

JRR is devoted to all aspects of renga and renku, including scholarly articles, poems, discussions, contests, critiques and more that will interest Asian Studies scholars as well as teachers and students of English literature/poetry. The editors “believe it will also be of interest to poets experimenting with the writing of renku in a number of languages around the world today, and to practitioners exploring aspects of renku and its za as an educational/social/therapeutic tool.”

The inaugural issue, published on demand via Lulu.com, includes a great deal of content, including a report on “Four Sign Language Renga” by Donna West and Rachel Sutton-Spence. This unique article includes commentary and links to YouTube videos of these sign language poetry performances; I highly recommend the publication for this content alone! But, there’s so much more:

Shisan – four 12-verse poems
Ninjūin – six 20-verse poems
Jūnichō – four 12-verse poems
Kasen – eight 36-verse poems
Half-kasen – an 18-verse poem
Yotsumono – a four-verse poem
Live renku – one 12-verse and one 18-verse poem
Triparshva – fourteen 22-verse poems
Including the winner of the 2010 JRR renku contest, “The Tiniest Pebble,” a triparshva by William Sorlien, John Merryfield, Sandra Simpson, Linda Papanicolaou and Shinjuku Rollingstone.

Essays:
“Renku – A Baby Thrown Out with the Bath Water: A Start of Reappraising Shiki” by Susumu Takiguchi
“Gradus and Mount Tsukuba: An Introduction to the Culture of Japanese Linked Verse” by H. Mack Horton
“Longer Renku: The Hyakuin of 100 Stanzas” by William J. Higginson
“The Mechanics of White Space (or Basho Cranks-up the Action)” by John E. Carley
“The Alchemy of Live Renku” by Christopher Herold

JRR will publish again at the end of 2011 and is open for submissions until October 1, 2011. See JRR‘s website for full submission information.

New Lit on the Block :: West Marin Review

West Marin Review is a literary and art journal published by “a dedicated band of volunteers supported by two local literary interests – the Tomales Bay Library Association and Point Reyes Books – and friends and neighbors.” And while this grounds the review in local support, contributions are open to all writers and artists, newcomers as well as professionals.

A full table of contents for each issue is available online. Issue three offers excerpts of some content online. The print issue includes:

Prose by Catherine David, Reynold Junker, Jessica O’Dwyer, Agustina Martinez, Jan Harper Haines, Agnes Wolohan Smuda von Burkleo, Vivian Olds, Elia Haworth, Jonathan Rowe, Steve Heilig, Daniel Potts, Flor Jimenez, Jazmine Collazo, Cynthia A. Cady, Jody Farrell, Dave Mitchell, and Terry Nordbye;

Poetry by Jodie Appell, Prartho Sereno, Julia Bartlett, Gillian Wegener, Juan Avalos, Albert Flynn DeSilver, Lynne Knight, Apology, Randall Potts, Hal Ober, Roy Mash, and Nellie Hill;

Art + Artifact by Patti Trimble, Nell Melcher, Ryan Giammona, Andrzej Michael Karwacki, Amanda Tomlin, Kurt Lai, Jessica Baldwin, Willow Wallof, Sha Sha Higby, Marnie Spencer, Terrence Murphy, Christa Burgoyne, Wendy Goldberg, Dewey Livingston, Tom Killion, Richard Lindenberg, Lorna Stevens, Kevin Alvarado, Jacqueline Mallegni, Christa Coy, Kyla Pasternak, Mary Siedman, Zea Morvitz, Vi©kisa, Jon Langdon, Mark Ropers, Sevilla Granger, and Mardi Wood.

New Lit on the Block :: Poecology

The name Poecology is “the fusion of poetry and ecology brings two of my great passions together” writes editor Kristi Moos. Born from “a slip of the tongue,” Poecology is now an online literary magazine of ecology-focused poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Moos says, “I think there is much left to be said about the idea that poetry, and all writing for that matter, can influence physical ecology. When the idea for Poecology came about, I started seeking answers to long-held questions: How can literature shape the places and environments that inspire writing in the first place? What can I do to take part?” Issue 1 is just the beginning of the answer to these questions.

Contributors to the first issue include Anna L

New Lit on the Block :: Spittoon

Posted online and in a pdf version, Spittoon is an independent magazine of contemporary and experimental poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Editors for this quarterly publication are Matt VanderMeulen (fiction), Kristin Abraham (poetry), and Berly Fields (creative nonfiction).

The inaugural issue of Spittoon features fiction by Wayne Lee Thomas, Ann Stewart, Sara Pritchard, Kyle Hemmings, William Haas, William J. Fedigan, Kirsten Beachy; poetry by Nate Pritts , Rich Murphy, Amanda McGuire, Kristi Maxwell, R.J. Ingram, Arpine Konyalian Grenier , Dana Curtis, Ryan Collins, Molly Brodak; and an interview with Arpine Konyalian Grenier.

Submissions are accepted year round with each piece published also automatically entered in the yearly “Best of Spittoon” awards.

New Lit on the Block :: Adventum Magazine

Adventum Magazine is a new online publication of, well, as Editor-in-Chief and Founder Naomi Mahala Farr muses in her philosophy – what could best be described as outdoor adventure writing. While other magazines exist that do honor the environment, the outdoors, and adventure, Naomi created Adventum to explore all of these in a more literary venue: creative nonfiction and haiku with photography and photo essays. The result is nothing short of breathtaking.

Produced in Issuu (print available on demand), the first installment of this biannual features essays by Adrianne Aron, Trevien Stanger, Manda Frederick, Kim Kircher, Kathleen Saville, Willard Manus, Cheryl Merrill, Tom Leskiw, Adrienne Ross Scanlan, Ed Gutierrez; photography by Shea Mack, Brandon Hauser, Jon Oliver-Hodges, Shaun Bevins, Tim Farr; and haiku by Dennis Maulsby, Sidney Bending, Julia Goodman, Wayne Lee, Wally Swist.

Submissions for the next issue are accepted until November 15. Adventum accepts “creative nonfiction, essays, and memoir pieces that explore some aspect of personal experience in the outdoors. This includes but is not limited to adventure in extreme wilderness landscapes as well as urban, whether it is about climbing trees, mountains or buildings, kayaking rivers or oceans, walking in pursuit of rare insects, pursuing the art of parkour, oceanic living, or mountain culture.” Photography and haiku (and haiku ONLY) are also accepted.

New Lit on the Block :: TINGE Magazine

TINGE Magazine is Temple University’s new online literary journal, published twice a year, in the Spring (April) and in the Fall (December). The journal is edited by the graduate students of Temple’s M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing and has an open submissions policy.

The first issue includes Fiction by Liam Callanan, Katherine Zlabek, Marc Schuster, Lauren Hopkins Karcz, V. Jo Hsu, and Mat Johnson; Poetry by Melissa Slayton, Michael S. Begnal, Christopher Schaeffer, George Eklund, Diana K. Lee, and Kristin Prevallet; Nonfiction by Michael Milburn; and Interviews with Kristin Prevallet and Mat Johnson.

Submissions for the next issue of TINGE Magazine will open September 1; submissions are accepted through Submishmash.

[Cover art by Brooke Lanier “Personal Best”]

New Lit on the Block :: EdgePiece

Founded by Sarah Lindsay to “give new writers and artists a place to start – an edge piece for their big-picture puzzle,” EdgePiece will publish online tri-annually. Joining in this effort are Developmental Editors Sarah Lucas, Max Pickering, Pamela S. Wall, Dakota Morgan and Copy Editor Pamela S. Wall. Together, the unique promise of this publication is to “never fully reject a manuscript; we work with you, editing your piece and suggesting improvements. This way, everyone gets experience and satisfaction from the process.”

Featured in Issue 1.1 is Fiction by George Masters, Elizabeth Dunphey, Tim Martin, Nana Adjei-Brenyah, and Bob Kalkreuter; Non-Fiction by Katie Liming, and Kendra Shirey; Poetry by, Catherine Batsios, Alana Aguilar, Thommie Gillow, Paige Webb, Nico Mara-McKay, and Amanda Montell; Photography by, Kendra Shirey, Vanessa Levin-Pompetzki, and Keith Moul.

EdgePiece is “hungry for fiction, non-fiction and poetry” but will also consider book/essay/poetry/film reviews, photography, and other graphic/visual art.

New Lit on the Block :: Amethyst Arsenic

Based out of Somerville, Mass, Amethyst Arsenic publishes “all forms of poetry from new and established voices” as well as art. Edited and published by Samantha Milowsky with copy editing by Kasandra Larson and design by Emily Crandall, Amethyst Arsenic will appear at least twice a year, regularly offering opportunities for guest editors.

Issue 1.1 (Summer 2011) with Guest Editors Lucie Monroe, Michael Gill includes works by Brandon Amico, Rusty Barnes, Gale Batchelder, Cassandra Clarke, Jim Cronin, Gregory Crosby, Judson Evans, Reinhard G

New Lit on the Block :: Specter Literary Magazine

The two founders of Specter Literary Magazine – husband & wife, mensah demary & Athena Dixon-DeMary, prose writer & poet respectively – take the Gen Y labels, embrace them, and consider them as the very complexity that writers regularly address: “Are we all frightened, passive, coddled? Are we all spoiled & flighty? Do we all dream? If Generation Y is so different from our parents and grandparents, then what does it mean to: love today; raise children today; keep religious faith today? The work some might consider ‘navel-gazing’ and ‘postmodern’ and ‘boring?’ We want that work. Writers who believe literature can reveal and–dare we say–save the world? We want those writers. We want dreamers.”

Published online, the first issue of Specter, launched at the end of July, features works by Mick Davidson, Lois Harrod, J. Bradley, Noriki Nakada, Bradley Warshauer, Jasmon Drain, Chris Castle, and Tom Sheehan.

Specter accepts poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and flash via Submishmash.

New Lit on the Block :: The Snake

Editors Marc & Morgane McAllister founded In The Snake Magazine “to provide quality short literature that is both meaningful as well as enjoyable to read.” Launched July 2011, the monthly publication thus far features the short stories of Rose Droll, Jennifer Moore, and Carmen Maldonado, Yarrow Paisley, Jesse Rubin, A. Kham and Shauna Brock.

In The Snake Magazine is currently holding a short story contest for their Summer 2011 Elephant Prize. Deadline for submissions is August 31.

In The Snake Magazine is also accepting submissions for upcoming issues, offering guidelines with detailed expectations of plot, theme, style, and existential conflict: “We look for stories that build strong, dynamic characters that reflect the nature of the human experience.” In addition to cash awards for their contest, In The Snake Magazine is a paying market.

New Lit on the Block :: Trans-portal

“Written for an intelligent reader,” Trans-portal: The Hub of Trans-Formation Studies features contributions that “exhibit the highest qualities of scholarship while also being accessible by a wide audience.”

Trans-portal’s Founding Editor/Curator Michael Broek is joined by Contributing Editors Patrick Donnelly, Stephen D. Miller, Susan Castillo, Matthew Carter and Tarfia Faizullah, and Editor-At-Large Laura McCullough in producing an online biannual, appearing summer and winter.

The first issue (Summer 2011) features lyrical essays by Amanda Abel, Elizabeth Howort, and Steve Newton; scholarly essays by Camille Alexander, Danielle Mortimer, Margaret R. Borders, Bryce Christensen; an audio essay by Paul Lisicky, a photo essay by Tarfia Faizullah, and a review of Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and and Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom by Judy Chen-Cooper.

Trans-portal also includes individual resource pages for essays an articles on a variety of “trans” concepts: Trans-Personal, Trans-Cultural, and Trans-National. I hope to see this become a wealth of resources that continue to grow with the longevity of the publication.

Trans-portal is seeking creative non-fiction lyric essays and scholarly articles pertaining to any of our themes, with an emphasis on synthesis and contemporary relevance.

New Lit on the Block :: Mixed Fruit

Mixed Fruit is a bi-monthly online publication co-founded by editors Lindsay Shields and Abby Norwood. Mixed Fruit has an varied and energetic editorial staff reading poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations, and reviewing art submissions.

Editors include Kat Lewin (fiction), Jessica Plante (poetry), Matthew Burnside (fiction/poetry), Kea Wilson (fiction/Spanish/Greek translation), Courtney Thomas Vance (fiction), Summer Greer (poetry/Thai/German translation) and contributing editors Peter Alan Herbert (fiction/copy), Bethany Sarah Startin (poetry reader/French/Ancient Greek/Latin translation), Donna Vorreyer (poetry reader), Olga Mexina (Russian translation), Elisa Fernandez-Arias (Spanish/French translation), and Paula Bertr

New Lit on the Block :: The Muse (India)

The Muse: An International Journal of poetry is a new biannual online publication with Chief Editor Pradeep Chaswal and Editors Dr. Mohammad Arif and Deepak Chaswal.

The first issue includes poetry by A. D. Winans, Adam Bogar, Adrienne Wolfert, Alan Lindsay, Anca Vlasopolos, April Avalon, Benjamin Myers, Boghos L. Artinian, Carl Scharwath, Carrie Allison, Chris Tanasescu, Christina Murphy Dalel Sarnou, Devreaux Baker, Gale Acuff, Hal O’Leary, Hugh Fox, Jennifer C. Wolfe, Judith Prest, Kathleen Specter, Kenneth Pobo, Linda Appleby, Michael D. Sollars, Michael Lee Johnson, Mike J Gallagher, Paul Lobo Portuges, Phillip A. Ellis, Raj Vatsya, Richard Oko Ajah, Rebeca Sara, SamEisenstein, ShradhaKamra, ThomasZimmerman, Valentina Cano, Victor W. Pearn, and William John Watkins.

Also featured in this issue are research papers and essays “Pet Trees & Dancing Bay Ponies” by Joseph Powell, “How Dangerous Is Digital Literature?” by Felix Nicolau, and “A Tribute to Raymond Garlick (1926 – 2011)” by Byron Beynon, as well as interviews with Hugh Fox and Al Beck and book reviews.

The Muse is open for submissions of poetry, research papers, essays, and reviews. The deadline for the December issue is November 10.

New Lit on the Block :: Anobium

Based in Chicago, but with “values that extend beyond borders,” Anobium aims to “print literature in a digital world” and do so with quality and brevity, keeping the volume small (5″x&’, 84pp), portable, durable (laminated matte cover with 55lb stock), and accessible ($10).

Anobium‘s masthead is: Senior Editor Mary J. Levine, MFA; Managing Editor Benjamin D. van Loon, BA; Assistant Editors Jon-Erik Means, BA, Michael Zielinski, BA, Lauren Monokian, BA; Illustrator & Assistant Designer Jacob van Loon, BFA; and Executive Administrator Sarah E. Docherty, BM.

Anobium: Volume 1 (Summer 2011) features new writing from Laura Carter, Jennifer Collins, William Doreski, Eric Evans, Ricky Garni, Jonathan Greenhause, Luke Irwin, Rich Ives, Eddie Jones, J.S. MacLean, Claire McCurdy, Bethany Minton, Thomas Mundy, Ben Nardolilli, James Payne, Stephanie Plenner, Graham Tugwell, Meredith Turits and Susan Yount. Also included is a feature story and interview with “Chicago favorite,” Joe Meno.

Submissions for volume 2 are now open for poetry and prose. Specific guidelines are available on the Anobium website.

New Lit on the Block :: The Washington Pastime

The Washington Pastime is an online journal edited by founder Paul Karaffa and Laura Bolt. Karaffa’s motivation for starting the journal was a 2010 study from Central Connecticut State University in which Washington DC Metropolitan area was found to be the most well read urban area in the United States. “But Washington, DC.” Karaffa writes, “did not have a professional literary magazine representing its stake in contemporary American literature. The Washington Pastime was founded as an electronic and print publication based in Washington, DC committed to publishing the best in literary and genre fiction.”

The first issue, available on The Washington Pastime website and also as a PDF download, includes literary fiction by Matthew Ward, science fiction by Michael Anthony, horror fiction by Matt Walker, crime/mystery fiction by Jeanette Samuels, and experimental fiction by Keith Laufenberg.

The Washington Pastime website also includes a section called “Author’s Resource,” offering a developing library of information on publishing, writing fiction, the future of publishing, and “words of caution” for writers entering publishing.

The Washington Pastime is open for submissions for its next issue. Writers may submit adventure, fantasy, horror, science fiction, mystery, romance, thriller, western, and general literary fiction. Submissions for articles about the writing industry are also considered for the “Author’s Resource” page as well as topics of interest and controversy for an upcoming feature called “Expanding Scope.” The Washington Pastime offers a nominal payment for works published.

The Washington Pastime is also holding a contest for fiction and a Promising Young Author Prize for Fiction. See website for contest guidelines. The deadline for both contests is December 31.

Additionally, The Washington Pastime has an editor position open. If you are interested, see the “About” page on the site for more information.

New Lit on the Block :: Urban Confustions

Urban Confustions is a biannual print and PDF (Lulu) publication, featuring “urban tales, poetry, non-fiction, and art from women writers and artists living in urban cities of the world.” Staffing the publication are Editors Rheea Mukherjee and Shilpa Kameswaran, Art Editor Tulika Ladsariya, and Rabia Mehta, Publicity and Marketing. Urban Confustions also holds public readings in various cities twice each year.

Each month, Urban Confustions “spotlights” an author or artists with a bio and a link to specific works by each. Featured thus far: Patricia Lee Martinovic, Teresa Chuc Dowell, Anna Saini and Emily Rutledge.

The first issue of Urban Confustions features works by Amelia Whitcomb, Sarah Rosenberg, Anna Saini, Jenny Fan, Rohini Sahni, Rachel Noelani Bovee, Shilpa Kameswaran, Tulika Ladsariya, Anna Cherednikova, Diane Ponder, Suzanne Hilal, Emily Rutledge, Archana Prasad, Jasmine Kwong, Susan Redekar, Teresa Chuc Dowell, Rabia Mehta, Jina Joan D’cruz, Shelly Bhiol Sood, Sonia Sarkar, Bo Melissa Schwabacher, Tishani Doshi, Janice Sapigao, Srividya Suryanarayanan, Prasanna Surakanti, Gathima Asghar, Ambika Ananth, Sampada Chavan, Patricia Lee Martinovic, and an interview with author Brinda Charry.

Urban Confustions invites women living in the urban centers of the world to submit fiction, non-fiction, poetry and art for their winter issue. Deadline for submissions is November 10.

New Lit on the Block :: The Found Poetry Review

The Found Poetry Review is a quarterly online poetry journal “celebrating the poetry in the existing and the everyday.” FPR publishes “found poems, centos, erasure poems and other forms that incorporate elements of existing texts.”

To clarify this to both their readers and writers itnerested in submitting works, FPR includes content with links on the definition of found poetry, examples of found poetry, and found poetry and fair use standards.

The Summer 2011 inaugural issue includes works by Christine Pacyk, Howie Good, Jill Crammond, Johnny Chinnici, Christina Burress, Jeanne Shannon, Mark Blaeuer, Clare Kirwan, Andrea J. Dickens, Claire Ferris, Jennifer Saunders, Guy Torrey, and Ed Higgins.

FPR is accepting submissions via Submishmash for the Fall 2011 issue, deadline September 30, 2011.

FPR is also holding their first contest, in which all contest submissions must be found poems derived from “How to Analyze People on Sight” by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict, available as a free e-text through Project Gutenberg. The contest deadline is August 31, 2011.

New Lit on the Block :: Manor House Quarterly

Organized by Dane Cardiel, contributing editor, Manor House Quarterly is “a collaborative effort of individuals whose diverse interests range from mixed-media to poetry, photography to music composition, story-telling to illustration, and more. The quarterly publication is simply the blending of these interests speaking toward a given concept.”

The first issue of MHQ is available online using Issuu and includes writing from Chloe Sparacio, Ethan Linstrom, Jeff Murray, Kohn Ashmore, Justin Wright, Andrew Gumm, Gaelan Gilbert, Sean Sand, Jared Callahan, Theron Allen Gregory, Vanessa Nelson, and Blake Nelson, and visual art from Casey Galanter, Frank Scott Krueger, Elisha Medina, Garrett Richardson, Jeff Allen, Kalika Kastein, Megan Gilbert, Scott Linger, Aubrey Perkins, Lauren Whisnant, and Emily Spencer.

Submissions of written content are being accepted for the next issue of MHQ, themed “1877.” The deadline is August 12.

New Lit on the Block :: Country Music

Country Music is an online biannual journal of poetry edited by Scott Abels. In addition to the poetry, each of the two issues now available include special features, such as “The Darkness and the Popcorn: Tyler McMahon’s Correspondence with Denis Johnson” (Volume 1), a selection of poems with an introduction (explanation) of the very quirky Barcelona Poetry Machine (Volume 2), and “Contributors Respond to Art and Economics” (Volume 2).

Issues #1 and #2 include works by Dan Chelotti, Sally Molini, Jennifer H. Fortin, Nate Pritts, Angela Veronica Wong, Alen Hamza, Donald Illich, Jon Thrower, Ron Riekki, Matt Ryan, Tyler Gobble, Peter Jay Shippy, Brandi Homan, Rob MacDonald, Rich Murphy, Kyle Thompson, Katie Condon, Andrew Morgan, Philip Byron Oakes, Francis Raven, Michael Schiavo, Clay Matthews, Lucy Biederman, Matt Hart, Samuel Day Wharton, Peter Davis, Amber Nelson, Jim Goar, and Jackie Clark.

Submissions are currently open “with no firm guidelines.”

[Issue #2 Art by Vince Hazen]

New Lit on the Block :: 100 Word Story

100 Word Story is a new online literary publication edited by Grant Faulkner and Lynn Mundell, with the goal to publish monthly issues of stories and an annual anthology of 100 100-word stories. The publication features prose, prose poems, and interviews.

100 Word Story currently includes works by Paul Strohm, Barbara Goldberg, David Cotrone, Karen Benke, Janice Lynch Schuster, Kate Hill Cantrill, Kermit Moyer, and an interview with Paul Strohm on “the art of the 100 word story.”

100 Word Story offers a monthly theme as well as a monthly photo prompt. Submissions are open and accepted through Submishmash.

New Lit on the Block :: Catfish Creek

Catfish Creek is a national undergraduate literary journal from Loras College intended as a showcase for undergraduate writers both nationally and internationally. Catfish Creek is currently accepting submissions of fiction, poetry, and literary nonfiction. Any student currently registered in an undergraduate program is eligible to submit. The reading period for Catfish Creek is Septermber 1 – November 15.

The staff of Catfish Creek currently includes Editor-in-Chief Brigette Yanes, Fiction Editor Sarah Riesberg, Nonfiction Editor Maria Rauen, Poetry Editor Annie Newberry, and Faculty Advisor William Jablonsky.

New Lit on the Block :: bioStories

bioStories is a new online literary web publication edited by Mark Leichliter, writer and freelance editor who publishes fiction, poetry, and essays under the pseudonym Mark Hummel.

bioStories features a blog-post publication of biographies, with some of the portraits featured on the main web site. bioStories does not look to feature the already overly-featured celebs and well-knowns; instead, Leichliter notes, “We particularly look for work that offers slices of a life that help the reader imagine the whole of that life, work that demonstrates that ordinary people’s experiences often contain extraordinary moments, visionary ideas, inspirational acts, and examples of success and failure that prove instructive. In short, we believe every life displays moments of grace.”

Currently, the site includes works by Murray Edwards, Kimberly Hamilton, Jona Jacobson, Hank Merrell, Peter Derk, and Wilmer Frey

Additionally, the site includes Noteworthy Bios that highlight inspiring stories of ordinary people’s lives that make it into the news as a “little reminder that there are people around us practicing life-changing and inpirational acts if only we pay attention.”

bioStories is open for submission or original, nonfiction work.

New Lit on the Block :: Plume Poetry

Daniel Lawless is the editorial effort behind the newly launched Plume, an online publication of poetry. Plume, Lawless writes, “is a magazine dedicated to publishing the very best of contemporary poetry,” and though the first issue is “expanded” to include 16 works, the monthly issues will be limited to 12 poems each.

The Plume home page features a slideshow of quotes, short poems, aphorism, snippets, and excerpts of 50 words or fewer. Submissions of this content are accept as well as original poetry submissions for each issue. While Plume will be presented in English, international contributions are welcome, with plans for bilingual editions.

Issue one features poems by Stuart Dybek, Amy Gerstler, Mark Jarman, Kimberly Johnson, Christopher Kennedy, Nin Andrews, Maureen McLane, Rae Armantrout, Jean-Michel Maulpoix, Charles Bernstein, Alicia Ostriker, Carl Dennis, Terese Svoboda, Denise Duhamel, and G.C. Waldrep.

Issue 2 will include works by from Jay Parini, John Kinsella, Lawrence Raab, Linda Pastan, Paol Keineg, Stephen Dunn, Elaine Equi, David Huddle, Cornelius Eady, and others.

[Cover Art by Al Gorman]

New Lit on the Block :: Aldus

Aldus is Brown University’s new Undergraduate Journal of Works in Translation edited by Timothy Nassau and Matthew Weiss, who discuss the role of contemporary literature and literature in translation in their Letter from the Editors. “A translated work,” they write, “is always already finished to us; it presents itself as an emissary from a completed world, removed from the pettiness of one’s own language, literature, and culture–and no matter how it is perceived in its own land, it always appears unified in another language. As such, it stands above contemporary controversies, like a manuscript from antiquity or a message from the future. It brings into view the following: that a different kind of whole is possible.”

Aldus, then, is itself a different kind of whole, presenting works in translation in this first issue from Greek, Slovenian, Latin, Cambodian, Russian, Arabic, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Old English. The original work is sometimes provided, more than not, and the works vary from poetry to prose, an original essay in English by Dore J. Levy, and a translation of the People’s Statement from the protesters of Midan Tahrir, which was circulated on the internet and the streets of Egypt during the recent revolution.

Aldus – all 170+ pages of it – is available full-text online using Issuu. Print copies can also be acquired by contacting the journal.

Aldus will publish translations into English from any language, in any genre, from any time, and from any place, as well as essays on the art of translation.

Submissions for the fall issue are due by October 15, 2011. Proposals are also welcome.

New Lit on the Block :: The Jet Fuel Review

The first issue of Lewis University’s The Jet Fuel Review is now online. This student-run literary journal showcases poetry, prose, visual art, and other creative compositions from Lewis students to award-winning authors of books. The second issue of the review will publish in the fall and is open for submissions through September.

The inaugural issue includes:

Fiction by Lucile Barker, Mark Jacobs, Jane Lebak, George Miller, William Sullivan;

Poetry by William Allegrezza, Salvatore Attardo, Hadara Bar-Nadav, Mary Biddinger, Jaswinder Bolina, Jason Bredle, Marcel Brouwers, Meriwether Clarke, Patrick Culliton, Brandon Downing, Gail Eisenhart, Rich Furman, John Gallaher, Howard Good, Sheila Hageman, Brandi Homan, Audrey Keiffer, Alan King, Becca Klaver, Karyna McGlynn, Laura Merleau, George Miller, Jacob Oet, Emmanuel Pendola, Tonya Peterson, Diana Raab, Dean Rader, Michael Robins, Kathleen Rooney & Elisa Gabbert, Michael San Filippo, Patricia Seyburn, Fiona Sinclair, Sean Singer, Lawrence Sisk, Joseph Somoza, Jennifer Sweeney, Truth Thomas, Lina Ramona Vitkauskas;

Art by Kim Ambriz, Melissa Chicola, Julie Clack, Audrey Heiberger, William Hicks, Eric Lee, Grant Palmer, Tonya Peterson, Michael San Filippo;

And an exclusive interview with author Brigid Pasulka.

New Lit on the Block :: Still Point Arts Quarterly

Still Point Art Gallery is a virtually art gallery that opened its first show on April 14, 2009. The Gallery presents several group exhibitions each year “organized around a topic or theme as a way to attract a wide range of artists and as a way to creatively curate the exhibitions to the online public.” The Gallery also presents work from a number of “Gallery Artists” whose submissions for exhibitions “were so skillful and engaging that they were invited to show more of their art for a longer period of time.”

Still Point Arts Quarterly is The Gallery’s print publication. Along with extensive art portfolios, Still Point Arts Quarterly prints short articles and essays (approximately 400-1500 words) about art. These are not articles about art methods, techniques, art supplies, equipment, art marketing, building a website, etc., but rather The Quarterly seeks “provocative and original material that is about art, the idea of art, the making of art, being an artist, creativity, inspiration, the artist’s subject, the artist’s relation to his or her medium.”

The second issue includes art portfolios by Michal Barkai, Jeanne Bessette, Stephen and Tomasko; articles: “A Confession in Clay” by Amanda Wolfe, “A Terrible Lucidity” by Joyce Glasner, “Learning to Draw” by Peter Steinhart, and “The Art of Noise” by Riley Passmore; and poetry by Charlotte F. Otten, and Michelle Ward-Kantor.

An overview of this content is available on the publication’s website, as well as full submission guidelines for The Gallery as well as The Quarterly.

New Lit on the Block :: Printer’s Devil Review

Editor & Fiction Editor Thomas Dodson introduces the first issue of Printer’s Devil Review by presenting two stories on the origin of the term “printer’s devil” and likening the efforts of this new journal to that of the apprentice version of the story: “We are not publishing industry professionals, but rather practicing writers and artists who volunteer our time to bring work we admire to a wider audience. Because we’ve never published a journal before, we accept that we’re bound to botch pages, spill ink everywhere, and occasionally step on some toes. At the same time, we want to indicate our desire to encourage writers and artists who are, like us, in the journeyman stage of their creative careers. The magazine exists specifically to provide new and emerging writers and artists with access to publication.”

The first issue, available in full online as a pdf download, features fiction by Norah Piehl, Cat Ennis Sears, Christine Gentry, and Kate Racculia, photographs by Jarrod McCabe and paintings by Sean Flood, and poetry by Franz Wright, Kendra DeColo, Laura Cherry, Chris Hall, Mary Beth O’Connor, and Suzanne Frischkorn.

You can also get Printer’s Devil Review for your iPad, iPhone, or Ipod Touch from Apple’s iBookstore for $1 download.

Additional staff members working on the publication include Fiction Editor Kate Estrop, Nonfiction Editor Chris Willard, Poetry Editors Ian Poole and Bonnie Rubrecht, Visual Arts Editors Jess Barnett and Joshi Radin, and Editorial Consultant Timothy Gager.

Printer’s Devil Review is open for submissions for their second issue until August 1.

New Lit on the Block :: Trigger

Christopher Lowe is the editor and Carli Castellani the artistic director of Trigger, a new bi-annual publication from Status Hat Productions that showcases fiction, poetry, and visual art. Available online, each edition of Trigger will focus exclusively on a different topic relating to the exploration of narrative’s role in the arts. The first edition, released on July 1, is a collaborative project, pairing visual artists with writers – eight artists and eight writers shared works to create 16 new creations. Each of the contributors was also asked to share notes about their process and approach to the response pieces they created as part of the project.

Contributors to this first issue include Meagan Dye, J. Bruce Fuller, Russie Wight-Waltman, Erica McCreedy, Marjorie Maddox, Hillary Joubert, Mojie Crigler, Gabrielle Grace, John Peterson, Howie Good, Emily Alford, Liam Daly, Ryan De La Hoz, Joshua Canipe, Steven Brown, and Tim Bruehl.

New Lit on the Block :: Menacing Hedge (& Scary Bush)

Menacing Hedge premiers from the efforts of Managing Editor Kelly Boyker, Technical Editor and Proofreader Martha Vallely, and Webmaster and Paperwork Dealer-Wither Gio Guillemette. Menacing Hedge is an online quarterly journal of poetry, fiction and artwork, that is “committed to fostering access to emerging and experimental poetry and prose.” Ongoing publication is scheduled for the first weeks of July, October, January, and April with a yearly “best of” print edition.

Additionally (and on the even more fun side of life), MH offers authors whose works are accepted to submit one of their “most cringeworthy efforts from the misty past to Menacing Hedge’s evil twin, Scary Bush.” Currently on Scary Bush is the poem, “The Poet” by Juliet Cook, written in high school with teacher comments in the margins.

The first issue of Menacing Hedge includes works by P. Hurshell, Nancy Ibsen, Chenelle Milford, Nathan Moore, Paul Nelson, Meg Pokrass, Julene Tripp Weaver, Lucile Barker, Leo Briones, Juliet Cook, Beth Coyote, Christine Hamm, Jeremy Halinen, and Lauren India Henley.

[Cover Image: “Larva Live” by Scott Summers]

New Lit on the Block :: Loaded Bicycle

Editor-in-Chief Martin Rock, along with Editors-at-Large Traci Brimhall and Phillip D. Ischy, bring readers and writers Loaded Bicycle, an online journal of poetry, art, and translation by emerging and established writers, translators, and artists, with a special interest in collaborative projects that include comic artists.

The first and second issue include works & translations by Esao Andrews, Alejandro de Acosta, Jorge Carrera Andrade, Johsua Beckman, Ana Božičević, Melissa Broder, Anne Carson, Mrb Chelko, Alan Daniels, Claire Devoogd, Karen Emmerich, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Matthea Harvey, Madra Hill, Melinda Kosztaczky, F.T. Marinetti, Kate MccGwire, Idra Novey, Elsbeth Pancrazi, Susanne Petermann, Rainer Maria Rilke, Matthew Rohrer, Craig Rubadoux, Glenn Shaheen, Michael Shapcott, Egor Shopavolov, Bianca Stone, Tricia Taaca, Micah Towery, Paul Tunis, Eleni Vakalo, M.A. Vizsolyi, and Jean Zapata.

Though Loaded Bicycle does not accept fiction or non-fiction, the editors are open to short cross-genre work. Loaded Bicycle will publish three issues per year with an on-site archive.

New Lit on the Block :: Algebra

Scotland’s Tramway writer-in-residence Beatrice Colin is editor of the new online quarterly journal Algebra.

From the publishers website: “Based on the model that A+B = X, Algebra features a range of local and international writers responding, questioning and expanding on specific themes explored in Tramway’s programme. Their contributions range from fiction and memoir to poetry and photography.

“The first issue, inspired by Keith Farquhar show, More Nudes in Colour, Glasgow looked at the nude and nudity and featured writers including novelist, Ellis Avery, playwright, Oliver Emmanuel and short-story writer, Linda Cracknell. The second takes the theme, In the Days of the Comet, from the British Art show as its starting point and will include contributions from Ronald Frame, Nicola White and Helen Sedgewick.”

New Lit on the Block :: The Ides of March

Poets Samuel T. Franklin and K. Lemon are the editorial effort behind The Ides of March Journal, an online monthly blog journal that “specializes in historical/mythological/legend​ ary/folklore-ish poetry.” Their goal is to publish 15 poems of no more than 15 lines each monthly on the 15th of each month.

The publication’s mission is truly unique among literary publications: “At The Ides of March, we think history is anything but boring. It’s fun. It’s interesting. And, depending on the subject, it can be dramatic, barbarous, beautiful, gross, bloody, smutty – pretty much anything . . our shared experiences as a people, as a species, as living creatures . . is something that should be celebrated, studied, and never forgotten. Not that we have such noble purposes here. We just think historical poetry is pretty sweet.”

The table of contents for the first issue is enough to prove they have succeeded in their efforts:

Zann Carter – “The Night John Lennon Died”
Clarence Dearborn – “Vlad Tepes of Wallachia” and “William Howard Taft”
Jenna Kelly – “Apocalypse Now, or Maybe Later: Rapture 2011″
Julie Laws – “Caligula ‘Invades’ England: 40CE” and “Salad for Hilter”
Mike Miller – “Isambard Kingdom Brunel. 1806-1859″
Amit Parmessur – “Lord Shiva”
Annie Perconti – “Uroboros” and “Xochiquetzal”
Megan Peterson – “Henry VIII,” “Socrates, Dear Friend” and “Catherine the Great of Russia (Who am I?)”
Mark Young – “Enola Gay” and “The Wright Brothers, December 17, 1903”

The Ides of March is open for submissions.

New Lit on the Block :: Penduline

Started by Art Director Sarah Horner and Editor Bonnie Ditlevsen, Penduline (pronounced PEN-joo-lyne) is a Portland-based literary and art magazine that seeks to create a presence for emerging as well as established graphic artists and writers of sudden fiction, flash fiction, prose poetry and short stories.

The first issue features writing by Margaret Elysia Garcia, Celeste Auge, Kenna Lee, Mai’a Williams, Jenny Hayes, Jenny Forrester, David Rynne, Rebeca Dunn-Krahn, and art by Verone Flood, Christopher Bibby, and Richard Lishner.

Penduline is accepting online submissions for Issue 2 through September 1, 2011. The theme is “Angst.”

New Lit on the Block :: trans lit mag

Founding Editor Christina Phelps and Poetry Editor Elana Seplow bring us trans lit mag: a continually-expanding quarterly name-changing online literary magazine. Issue #1, “transmission” was published in Sept 2010, followed by Issue #2 – “transience” and Issue #3 – “Transform.” Issue #4, “Transport,” is still underway.

trans lit mag publishes fiction, poetry, artwork (including cover art), and literary nonfiction, with “special attention given to pieces that play with form in some way, but this should be very loosely translated. Transform comes from the Latin word meaning to change in form, and characters often do undergo a change in appearance or character, but we can also be changed by what we experience – as readers and as artists.”

Contributors to past issues include Eric Sasson, Elana Seplow, Douglas Silver, Denny E. Marshall, Jaime Karnes, Shannon Anthony, Sergio Antonio Ortiz, Mitchell Waldman, Parker Tettleton, Jane Hardwidge, Donal Mahoney, Jim Fuess, Andrew McLinden, Jim Fuess, Anna North, Katherine Don, Edwina Attlee, Elizabeth Tenenbaum, Edwina Attlee, Jacqueline Simonovich, Howie Good, Hubert O’Hearn, Hillary Walker, Chizuco Shophia Yw, Jane Elias, Rigby Bendele, and Hubert O’Hearn.

New Lit on the Block :: Middle School Beat

Middle School Beat online is the collective effort of six classes of Riverside Preparatory School Middle School Language Arts in Oro Grande, California. Middle School Beat publishes fictional stories, non-fictional writing, poetry, and artwork from middle and high school writers (ages 11-15) and is edited by students and their teachers. Volume 1 Issue 1 is currently available online (pdf) with future issues planned five times per year.

New Lit on the Block :: Dublin Poetry Review

Dublin Poetry Review publishes Heroes Congress, an annual online collection of poems with a print anthology every four years showcasing “the vitality and range of current writing.” Once every year, poetry magazines and press editors may nominate from their publications, a poet who has made a significant contribution to poetry for inclusion in an upcoming Heroes Congress. Annual deadline: May 15.

Poets who write in languages other than Irish or English are welcome as are translations of their work into English or other International languages. The review first issue contains the work of sixty-seven poets who have contributed work from the five continents. The poets have contributed work in a range of languages including English, Finnish, French, German, Irish, Japanese, Malay and Spanish.

The review contains work by well-known poets, such as Niyi Osundare one of Africa’s best poets, Kimiko Hahn from Japan, Lorna Goodison from Jamaica, Biddy Jenkinson from Ireland, Regina Derieva from Russia, Gerardo Gambolini from Argentina, Rae Armantrout, 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winner from the US with Paul Muldoon, Andrew Motion from the UK, National Literary Laureate Muhammad Haji Salleh from Malaysia, Tom Dawe from Newfoundland and Jennifer Maiden from Australia.

New writers are also included, such as Liz Bachinsky from Canada and D

New Lit on the Block :: Inlandia

In an effort to spotlight the Inland Southern California region’s rich literary heritage, Inlandia: A Literary Journey features regionally-focused poems, stories, essays, memoir, novel excerpts, book reviews, interviews, and a rotating feature of work produced by participants from the Inlandia Creative Writing Workshops series.

The editorial staff is made up of: Cati Porter, Editor-in-Chief; Maureen Alsop, Associate Editor, Poetry; Jo Scott-Coe, Associate Editor, Nonfiction; Gayle Brandeis, Associate Editor, Fiction; and Ruth Nolan, Associate Editor, Fiction.

The first issues available online include fiction by Kate Anger, Rebecca K. O’Connor, Samantha Lamph, Rayme Waters, E.J. Jones, and Valerie Henderson; poetry by Nicelle Davis, Karen Greenbaum-Maya, Stephanie Barbé Hammer, Gregory Liffick, Louise Mathias, Jeff Mays, Shin Yu Pai, Jean Waggoner, Cynthia Anderson, Nancy Scott Campbell, Marcyn Clements, Mike Cluff, Rachelle Cruz, Sheela Free, Karen Greenbaum-Maya, Cindy Rinne, and Ash Russell; nonfiction by Judy Kronenfeld, as well as Inlandia Creative Writing Workshop Features.

Inlandia reads submissions year-round.

New Lit on the Block :: Adanna

Adanna: A Journal for Women, about Women was created by Editor Christine Redman-Waldeyer as a way that she, a mother of three with a teaching career, could “pursue the writing life without traveling.” Her lifetime of wanting “to be utterly female and to do what the boys could do” is also in the philosophy of creating a magazine open to all, but that specifically “celebrate[s] the lives and writing of women.” Redman-Waldeyer hopes that Adanna will “offer women a new opportunity to publish in a publishing world where the gender scales are too often unfavorably tilted.”

The next submission period for Issue #2 is January 31-April 30, 2012, but Adanna is currently accepting “love poetry” for a contest. The 50 poems selected will be published in a perfect-bound print edition.

The inaugural issue of Adanna is guest edited by Diane Lockward, and includes the following contributors:

POETRY
Jennifer Arin, Janet A. Baker, Carol Berg, Kristin Berkey-Abbott, Pam Bernard, Debra Bruce, Sarah Busse, Laura Cherry, Laura E. Davis, Jessica G. de Koninck, Erika Dreifus, George Drew, Lois Parker Edstrom, Susan V. Facknitz, Patricia Fargnoli, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Alice B. Fogel, Ruth Foley, Maria Gillan, Maryanne Hannan, Penny Harter, Ann Hostetler, Adele Kenny, Claire Keyes, Kathleen Kirk, Jacqueline Kolosov, Judy Kronenfeld, Michelle Lerner, Robin Lim, Diane Lockward, Sandy Longhorn, Angie Macri, Marjorie Maddox, Greg McBride, Judith H. Montgomery, Julie L. Moore, Jim O’Rourke, Connie Post, Susanna Rich, Helen Ruggieri, Judith Skillman, Sarah J. Sloat, Molly Spencer, Christine Stewart-Nunez, Madeline Tiger, Ingrid Wendt, Laura S. Whalen, TJ Wiley, Lisa Zimmerman

SHORT STORIES
Margo Berdeshevsky, Colleen S. Harris, Liesl Jobson, Lani Friend, Nwamaka Osakwe, Pramila Venkateswaran

CREATIVE NON‐FICTION
Jessica McCaughey, Yelizaveta P. Renfro

ESSAY
Beatrice M. Hogg

EdgePiece Promises to Work With You

Just when I thought I’d heard it all (sometimes over and over), along comes a whole new and ambitiously innovative new publication. Still in the submission stage for its inaugural issue, EdgePiece is a collective of “emerging editors launching emerging writers.”

The editors include Head Editor Sarah Lindsay, Readers and Developmental Editors Sarah Lucas, Dakota Morgan, Pamela S. Wall, Katie Damphousse, Max Pickering, and Copy Editor Pamela S. Wall.

The editorial process, and the use of “developmental editors” means the editors will work with authors to help them polish their work to prepare them for publication: “We edit for spelling, grammar and in some cases, clarity/strength of arguments/purpose. We do NOT touch the author/artist’s voice, vision, or personal style, and we never fully reject a piece. We suggest improvements and encourage the author/artist to resubmit, for we are capable of seeing the potential in all submissions we receive.”

EdgePiece is currently “hungry” for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, with consideration for book/essay/poetry/film reviews, photography and other graphic/visual art for their first tri-annual issue.

New Lit on the Block :: Fjords

Editors John Gosslee and Sarah Gallagher, along with a full staff, bring forth Fjords, a full-color, print annual “comprised of new cultural developments in art and literature,” featuring fiction, poetry, photography, visual art, new voices, authoritative figures, occasional biographies, interviews and film reviews.

The editors both solicit works from writers and artists, but maintain an open submission policy, “which creates a diverse collection of regional and international works from different eras, movements, and languages.” In addition to the print publication, Fjords also publishes some of its authors in a strictly audio format, which can be found on their website.

Included in the first print edition: poems by Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Corey Mesler, Olympia Sibley, Juliana Kocsis, J. J. Steinfeld, and 20th Century Ukrainian Poet Pavlo Tychyna translated by Stephen Komarnyckyj; the article “Ecclesiastic: a Font Orphan: Typographer Ed Edman restores a Font” by John Gosslee; prose by Judy Light Ayyildiz, Stephen Wade; art by Clay Witt and Suzun Hughes.

Fjords‘s next deadline for submissions is August 1, 2011

New Lit on the Block :: The Newtowner

Based out of Newtown, CT with a focus on the local arts community, The Newtowner is also open to and encouraging of national readership and submissions. The quarterly, trade-sized print publication includes fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, essays, features, columns, artwork and photography, cartoons, profiles and interviews with local writers and artists, book reviews, “On the Town” – arts reviews of local theatre, dance, music and arts events, “Off Main St” – cultural events and locations of interest outside our local area, “The Newtowner Book Club” – read along and join discussions online, a directory of local arts and literary groups, and a calendar of local arts and literary events.

The Newtowner also includes “Youth Expressions,” a section of the magazine for young artists, poets and writers and visual artists. Currently, The Newtowner accepts creative nonfiction, fiction, columns, poetry, art and photography mediums from high school- and middle school-aged students.

Founding Editor Georgia Monaghan writes: “Newtown has a unique literary, artistic, and community spirit dating back to the philanthropist Mary Hawley, who laid the foundation for Newtown’s excellence in education and the arts. Boasting an inordinate number of literary and artistic residents both past and present, Newtown continues to act as a magnet, attracting established and emerging writers and artists of every kind. How many small-town libraries have a whole section dedicated to their town’s authors and illustrators? How many towns of this size can boast upwards of twenty book clubs within its borders?”

And now The Newtowner itself can be added to those bragging rights!

Full subscription and submissions guidelines can be found on The Newtowner website.