After 227 days I got a form rejection from McSweeney's Quarterly. I had submitted a story for one of their upcoming themed issues on surveillance/privacy. The rejection said they decided to go with all nonfiction for that issue.
Is there a comprehensive list somewhere, of literary magazines that publish short fiction? I don't write short fiction, but I wouldn't mind taking a look at some of the publications.
Ew @jannert, there’s a list of our literary fiction titles over on the Wikipedia, butt really wouldn't you be happier on your facebooks, I mean this is very sophisticated people writing stuff about their feelings, and it's gone so PC these days, edited by children in my opinion, and superdrips. My god I was researching founder of 'literary death match' yesterday. He was a lightweight, umm, anyway that magazine disappeared, I was wondering why if I can remember the title? Y'know, Paris Review is in America, y'know I told you that @jannert. I quite like them though bores as well, not as bores as 'Poetry,' have I mentioned those bores? 'Earnest' is the word.
I tested out the Paris Review site. They do allow you to read the start of the stories in each edition. I did read a few. I wasn't so taken with any of them that I want to fork out $40 a year for a 4-issue subscription. Just not my thing. However, if I see a magazine in a bookstore (ha ha yes remember these) I'll pick it up and have a look. Damn. I miss Borders. They always had a great selection of specialist magazines. I used to buy quite a few art-related ones, and a few that covered other topics as well. I miss that bookstore.
https://www.theparisreview.org/fiction These are so ripe. Makes you want to bust in with your zips, cockers, colons, fack off, wanker. ... Agatha flicked her copy of the Paris Review under the aspidistra; its leaves like the fingers of a green molestor Blue cheese ripened that summer mother died of cancer The happy children frolicked in the spray of a midsummer hosepipe.
What's your opinion on The New Yorker? To be honest, I find a lot of those articles to be not only pretentious, but highly trivial and reeking of insecurity. For example, more than of the few articles I see published go as follows. I'm an (approaching) middle age man/woman, living in New York, who still hasn't figured my life out. I got involved in a weird and embarrassing relationship which demonstrates just how immature and behind I really am, and, I am OK with that.
I don't know. I'm sure I must have seen a copy of the New Yorker at some point in my life. I also see some of the cartoons they print ...and those are sometimes really funny, sometimes not. I'll check it out. I do certainly recognise that synopsis, though. And for the most part, those kinds of stories fail to move me. Same as Woody Allen movies weren't really my thing. Maybe I'm just too Midwestern at heart.
Ah well, you let me down gracefully. How many here do actually read the literary journals then? I mean for enjoyment not as a part of your writing process. Not being silly, just curious, as I have never read a literary journal and only a few Sci-Fi mags. I've only really been a book/novel reader.
@rats reads for us all. But, but one must have some appreciation - otherwise it’s ‘feartur schmirtur’ talk innit, ‘all vose actors having a good time and we have to sit and look at ‘em.’
Do I note a little ambiguity in your words? Just kidding, just kidding. Obviously people do read them otherwise they wouldn't continue to stay solvent. Most of the short stories I've read have been in novel form. I'm assuming that literary journals only publish shorts.
I feel ya. I thought because I failed in everything else in my life, that when a group of fellow writers loved my manuscript, that I might have a talent for something, once in my miserable life. Not so it seems.
Right, quite a lot of people read anthologies. I have read just two magazines so far, Lightspeed and Asimov.
I did recently buy The Best Sci-Fi of the Year (or something) which are taken from the main sci-fi journals, so I guess that counts. But I don't see myself taking out a subscription to any of the magazines.. my to-be-read pile is already unmanageable.
Yup, mine too. I haven't taken out a subscription I just picked up a single copy of each to see what they were about.
I recieved a form rejection from The Spectacle and The Arkansas Review in the same day. Wasn't my day.
There are plenty of lists out there like the top 25 literary journals and things like that. I use Duotrope which is a database of literary journals and agents that you can search and has a lot of info. It also includes interviews with the editors at a lot of places. Duotrope does cost $5, but it's totally worth it in my opinion. There are some free alternatives, but I just don't think they're as good. If you want to see a list that is more than just a list someone created (I could totally make you a list), you can look at things like how many Pushcarts publications won. That list comes out every year. The best of the best are awarded Pushcarts. They print an anthology of all the prize winning stories every year. It's a great way to see who is putting what out there.
Don't tell her the secrets, @rats. Very disappointed. DO you want ordinary people reading OUR magazines? She has her 'Lowland Style,' and her 'Michigan Paddle-Boarder.' And now you have left us with nothing. YOU make a terrible freemason.
I know this wasn't a question directed at me, but I just wanted to say I love The New Yorker most of the time. I've had a subscription in the past. For now, I read some things online. I kind of find The New Yorker puts out stuff that gets buzz in both fiction and nonfiction. Like the whole Junot Diaz thing that started when he wrote an essay published a few weeks back. I'm kind of surprised no one is talking about that or has brought that up on the forum. It's kind of a big thing. I'm honestly not sure what to think about that or maybe I'm a bit torn on how to feel or what to think. Sorry for the sidetrack. Back to The New Yorker... I think they have always and continue to put out important works. If I never read The New Yorker again, I think I would feel something was missing from my life. They are definitely highbrow, but I don't think they're full of themselves. I love their fiction and how it makes the mundane beautiful. That being said, I have found some of their fiction a bit gimmicky a few times. That sort of stuff usually comes from a known writer. I guess The New Yorker is a platform for some of them to try things out. I know that The New Yorker has a stable of writers where they're under some sort of contract and give The New Yorker a first look. So, you will find repeat writers. Ann Beattie has a very thick collection out that is just her New Yorker stories. I really love her work. I once got a personal rejection from an editor at The New Yorker. It was the longest personal rejection I've ever gotten and they talked specifics of my story. I don't usually get rejections like that from anywhere. I couldn't believe that my story was actually considered to the point it was. My dream is to be in The New Yorker.
