Never have I felt a literary magazine embody its name more than the current issue of The Meadow. Its contents guide readers through a field of language which sets forth a landscape of natural beauty that’s not without its seasonal allergies. The Meadow amalgamates previously published writers like Keith Dunlap with students, such as Kirsten Jachimiak, who attend Truckee Meadows Community College where the magazine is published. Continue reading “The Meadow – 2014”

I haven’t reviewed many literary journals despite my sixty-something years on earth, since many of those years were spent in the Navy and at sea. I’ve never read a journal cover-to-cover until I perused the Fall 2014 issue of The Common, a relatively new journal, first published in 2011, and headquartered at Amherst College. And I didn’t expect it to make me feel like this was my journal; like I’d selected all of the pieces I want to find in a journal: fiction, poetry, essays, and photography. Continue reading “The Common – Fall 2014”

According to the cover, the Summer 2014 edition of The Carolina Quarterly is said to be full of “fairy tales, and pheromones, pious knives and lullabies, plus dust, dreams and winged messengers,” but it’s also chock full of darkness and hope, especially in the fiction and nonfiction entries. The Summer 2014 edition takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of loss, love, and optimism. Continue reading “The Carolina Quarterly – Summer 2014”

“I like folksy vulgarity. I don’t say that because ‘folksy vulgarity’ is a good way to describe the contents of this issue of Bat City Review. I say it because one of my favorite scenes from a novel takes place in Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel,” writes Alen Hamza in the editorial preface. And thus begins the Fall 2014 issue of Bat City Review. Continue reading “Bat City Review – 2014”

The Autumn 2014 issue of the Gettysburg Review is utterly absorbing. Its writers are not coy about the heart of the matter; readers know exactly what they’re trying to get across. It is very accessible reading. The most straightforward sentence is also fresh, and the most commonplace sentiments come wrapped in stories that linger. In “The Woods Are Never Burning,” Steven Schwartz weaves together different strands of his childhood and adolescence in Chester, Pennsylvania, anchored by his eternally optimistic furniture salesman father. In the background, there is the quiet hum of racial tension, the strangeness of growing up, and changes to Chester itself. Marian Crotty recounts the beginning of a romance in “Love at a Distance,” where the narrator is in Dubai and her lover, Chicago. The language has a touch as light as a ballerina on pointe: “When we talk, it is almost always on the edges of sleep, one of us newly emerged from the unconscious and the other ready to fall.” Continue reading “The Gettysburg Review – Autumn 2014”

Ordinarily, this interdisciplinary journal (formerly the Kansas Quarterly), focuses on the seven states of the Mississippi Delta. This special issue of Arkansas Review grew out of the 100^th year anniversary of the arrival of the Pfeiffer family in Piggott, Arkansas, as celebrated by the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center there. Its director, Adam Long, guests edits this exploration of the Hemingway-Pfeiffer connection. Continue reading “The Arkansas Review – August 2014”

Rust, dust, lust is the three-pronged theme carried in the pages of this year’s Slipstream. Poems start on page 5 of this issue and continue, unrelentingly in all the right ways through page 92. That’s 87 consecutive pages of notable work! Janet Warman and Margo Davis do an absolutely amazing job, separately, in weaving a compelling link between all three themes in a short space. Warman’s poem “Tin Man” uses familiar subject matter for the most part and left me cringing in anticipation. School plays, for their derision among parents, foster a necessity for creative ingenuity and a waypoint for future childhood memories. The lines “She made us rust, / and I was to grab his legs / as he told his Beautiful story.” showcase this perfectly. Continue reading “Slipstream – 2014”

Willow Springs has a thirty-year tradition of publishing fine contemporary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. With this edition, the tradition continues with an impressive body of work. This is a strategically compiled collection, replete with recurring thematic and structural patterns. A striking feature in the issue is Jeffrey Bean’s series of “Voyeur” poems. The pieces, which comprise this series, are interspersed throughout the issue, presenting the speaker as voyeur. But his voice is not menacing or threatening. Instead, it is a gentle voice of longing and inquiry. Continue reading “Willow Springs – Fall 2014”

Only two stories—but two big stories, longer than short stories and shorter than novels, big in word count and big in quality—is what this beautiful issue of Big Fiction offers. When you read the website, you think: big ambition! When you hold the book, you think: big, admirable taste in design and material! When you dive into the stories you think: big winners! big pleasure! big success! This issue is, to put it in big letters, EXCELLENT. SPECTACULAR. WELL WORTH YOUR TIME. Continue reading “Big Fiction – Summer/Fall 2014”

One thing to be said about Sweet’s publications is the creative “cover” of each online issue, making the issue even more of an experience. With this issue, it’s all about the autumn treats: the table of contents is set up like a tray of blueberry pie, the section titles powdered with sugar. And each slice, each piece of writing, is a delicious treat. Courtney Kersten’s very short essays are easily relatable and allow the metaphors to provide all of the insight. For example, in “My Father in Wisconsin,” her father experiences a tragic event, and as a result of it, he has large scars from the gashes: “When I was younger, I would watch him shirtless and swearing and lugging things around the front yard unable to fathom how such deep gashes were able to heal.” Continue reading “Sweet – Fall 2014”

One thing that sets Driftwood Press apart from the crowd of literary magazines is that following each piece of writing is a quick ‘interview’ with the writer, asking about inspiration for the piece and the writer’s creative process. A few writers get asked what drew them to the magazine, and the resounding answer seems to be the cover art. So go ahead, judge the book by its beautiful cover; the writing inside is just as pleasing. One writer who agrees is Jillian Briglia, who contributes the poem “Insomniac’s Eulogy to the Moon.” With a young girl’s imagination, the narrator keeps a suitcase by her bed, only half asleep as she plans escape routes in case of “fires floods earthquakes pirates.” But later in life, this backfires as insomnia ensues: “alarm blinks red every six and half breaths and the dancing shadows are a folded page I can’t help turning to and I think what if what if what if I could fall . . . ” Continue reading “Driftwood Press – Fall 2014”

Started in April of 2012, Embodied Effigies puts an emphasis on creative nonfiction writers, “and the bonds that hold us together as we explore our pasts, presents, and futures.” A long time coming, the Summer 2014 issue is now out, and it was worth the wait.

In Mark Lewandowski’s piece, he admits to having commitment issues, but not those of the romantic variety—he can’t pick a hairdresser: Continue reading “Embodied Effigies – Summer 2014”

As part of the Texas State University MFA program, Front Porch Journal publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, and interviews. I’ve perhaps come across it too late to enjoy on those final summer afternoons as the editors suggest (especially since I swore I saw snow this morning), but it’s never too late to enjoy the writing. As I do with most journals, I gravitated to the nonfiction section first. The first of the two selections is Wendy C. Ortiz’s “September 1986,” which was first published in issue 10 and republished here to honor the publication of her collection of essays, Excavation: A Memoir. After reading it, I certainly wanted to pick up her book. Set in a junior high classroom, this essay explores a moment in which, despite her desire to come off as disinterested, Ortiz is first recognized for her writing. Continue reading “Front Porch – August 2014”

For their latest issue, the editors of Tin House have gone tribal, calling on some of their “favorite storytellers and poets” to help explain “what life is like in our contemporary tribes.” In creating their “Tribes” issue, they’ve assembled a trenchant and soulful collection of poetry, fiction, and essays that unsettle as they entertain, exploring the consolation and alienation of belonging or wanting to belong. Poetry from Tony Hoagland and Cate Marvin, fiction from Jess Walter and Julia Elliott, essays from Roxanne Gay and Molly Ringwald, as well as the work of many other well-known writers, all share communal space in this lively gathering of the literary tribes.

Continue reading “Tin House – Fall 2014”

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Screen Reading, mini reviews by Kirsten McIlvenna of online and digital literary magazines, was originally published the first Monday of every month. However, in an attempt to gain more readership, they were then published on the 15th of the month along with the regular literary magazine reviews. Here are the archives:

October 2014
The Boiler :: Medical Literary Messenger :: Neutrons Protons

September 2014
Cleaver Magazine :: Drunken Boat :: Out of Print

August 2014
decomP :: Wicked Banshee Press :: Your Impossible Voice

July 2014
Avatar Review :: Devil’s Lake :: Pretty Owl Poetry :: Southern Women’s Review :: Under the Gum Tree

June 2014
Clare :: Communion :: New Purlieu Review :: rawboned :: Red Booth Review

May 2014
Anak Sastra :: Glass :: Olentangy Review :: One Throne Magazine :: 1966

April 2014
Apple Valley Review :: Flyway :: Hamilton Stone Review :: Origami Journal :: Sixth Finch

March 2014
Breakwater Review :: Cider Press Review :: Dragnet :: The Oklahoma Review :: The Ostrich Review

February 2014
Brevity :: East Coast Ink :: Ghost House Review :: Jersey Devil Press :: Really System

January 2014
Agave Magazine :: Alimentum :: Apogee :: FictionNow :: The Monongahela Review

December 2013
Ascent :: Blue Lyra Review :: Chagrin River Review :: Compose :: Lines + Stars

November 2013
Chantarelle’s Notebook :: Fogged Clarity :: foam:e :: Psychopomp Magazine :: Sixfold

October 2013
Gulf Stream :: NAP :: Sassafras Literary Journal :: SpringGun :: Toasted Cheese

September 2013
Crack the Spine :: Gone Lawn :: The Meadowland Review :: Middle Gray Magazine :: Unsplendid

August 2013
Bodega :: The Citron Review :: drafthorse :: Four Ties Lit Review :: Hot Metal Bridge

July 2013
Clarkesworld :: Driftless Review :: The Fiddleback :: Looseleaf Tea :: Niche

June 2013
Apeiron Review :: Bent Ear Review :: Gris-Gris :: ONandOnScreen :: Split Lip

May 2013
Ascent :: Cliterature :: The Drum :: Fiddleblack :: Literal Latte :: Mezzo Cammin

April 2013
Brevity Poetry Review :: Ghost Ocean Magazine :: Spry :: Star 82 Review :: Swamp :: Tongue

March 2013
The Blue Route :: Cactus Heart :: Danse Macabre :: Flycatcher :: Four and Twenty :: The New River :: Shadowbox :: Temenos

February 2013
Cellar Roots :: Cleaver Magazine :: Damazine :: Lingerpost :: SpringGun :: Terrain.org

January 2013
ARDOR Literary Magazine :: Imitation Fruit :: Literary Juice :: Miracle Monocle :: Ontologica :: Redheaded Stepchild :: Rufous City Review :: Scapegoat Review :: The Sim Review :: storySouth :: Thrush :: Valparaiso Fiction Review

December 2012
Atticus Review :: Birdfeast :: Cerise Press :: The Golden Key :: Jellyfish Magazine :: Map Literary :: Mead :: Otis Nebula :: Right Hand Pointing

November 2012
The Bacon Review :: Digital Americana :: The Fib Review :: Five Quarterly :: Fogged Clarity :: Goblin Fruit :: Halfway Down the Stairs :: The Medulla Review :: On the Premises :: Per Contra :: Printer’s Devil Review :: The Writing Disorder

October 2012
Arsenic Lobster :: Fiction Fix :: failbetter.com :: Gemini Magazine :: Lowestoft Chronicle :: Menacing Hedge :: Persimmon Tree :: Pithead Chapel :: Poemeleon :: Quickly :: Revolution House :: The Rusty Toque :: Sleet Magazine :: Sundog Lit :: Umbrella Factory

September 2012
Amarillo Bay :: The Bacon Review :: The Boiler :: Brevity :: DMQ Review :: FRiGG :: Penduline :: Poecology :: Steel Toe Review :: StepAway Magazine :: Swamp Biscuits and Tea :: Sweet

August 2012
The Baltimore Review :: Blue Lake Review :: Contrary :: Fox Chase Review :: La Petite Zine :: New Delta Review :: Plume :: The Puritan :: r.kv.r.y :: Ragazine.cc :: Tampa Review Online :: Wag’s Revue

July 2012
Carve Magazine :: Cigale Literary :: Defunct :: Eclectica Magazine :: elimae :: Hippocampus Magazine :: Memorious :: Mixed Fruit :: pif Magazine :: Sixth Finch :: SmokeLong Quarterly :: SNReview :: Treehouse :: Vine Leaves Literary Journal :: The 2River View

June 2012
Anti- :: Blood Orange Review :: Dragnet Magazine :: inter|rupture :: Jersey Devil Press :: LITnIMAGE :: The Molotov Cocktail :: Short, Fast, and Deadly :: Shot Glass Journal :: Spittoon :: Stirring :: Straight Forward :: The Summerset Review

Tar River Poetry, published by East Carolina University, has featured work of established and emerging poets since 1978. This issue follows tradition and includes a substantial number of engaging poems. These predominantly brief, free verse poems are intellectually challenging yet accessible to a wide variety of readers. While these pieces vary in subject and stylistic mode, imagery remains strong throughout the collection. The best poems convey striking images, the kind that stay with a reader long after the last page of the journal is turned. Continue reading “Tar River Poetry – Spring 2014”

Playing parts both online and in print, Booth chose this year to put out a special short fiction issue, packed with many of the best pieces from the online edition as well as the winners of the 2013 Booth Story Prize. All the stories included in this issue are imaginative and well worth the read. Continue reading “Booth – Issue 2014”

Fall in the Midwest is a time for snuggles, blankets, reading, and a new issue of The Boiler. While the fiction and nonfiction were enjoyable, it was the poetry that warmed me up inside. In “Things I Know,” Megan Collins reminisces about part of her family she never knew—her grandfather. Continue reading “The Boiler – Fall 2014”

There’s much to be grateful for in this issue of Image. Always intellectual, visual, and spiritually beautiful, now in its twenty-fifth year, Image has a well-deserved reputation for hopeful, but realistic, attention to the intersection of “the larger questions of existence. . . [and] what the poet Albert Goldbarth calls the ‘greasy doorknobs and salty tearducts’ of our everyday lives.” Image is more than a journal—it’s also a set of programs to further the cause of such attention. The theme for this silver anniversary is “Making It New.” This issue fulfills this mission with grace; gratitude, as a response, is entirely appropriate. Continue reading “Image – Summer 2014”

The prose and the poetry in this issue of the Colorado Review are in two separate sections. And the issue certainly feels like two different journals, the prose accessible and filled with gripping stories, and the poems experimental and eclectic. Continue reading “Colorado Review – Summer 2014”

Broad Street has created a viable option for literary end table collections. In this issue, several mediums of storytelling are combined, allowing readers both a visual and multifaceted verbal display. Hunt/Gather was the proposed theme, and I do feel it is somewhat of a challenge to the reader. Loose definitions of the terms seem to have been used by the editors in compiling the pieces presented. By getting a little too hung up on wanting traditional definitions, I feel like I missed some of the simple beauty available in the pages that I can easier see in reflection. Continue reading “Broad Street – Summer/Fall 2014”

Medical Literary Messenger is an online/PDF journal aimed to “promote humanism and the healing arts through prose, poetry, and photography.” All work relates in some way to medicine, illness, or the body, and this issue includes reflections from doctors, patients, and family members of those who are sick. But the journal isn’t simply a platform for those to express themselves and heal through words; it’s also an intriguing read and delicate look into the lives of others. Continue reading “Medical Literary Messenger – Spring 2014”

The first thing that caught my eye in this issue of Neutrons Protons was the titling of the included pieces, and I was intrigued to read more, as you will be when you see titles such as “A Social Media Marketer’s Guide to Chronic Illness” and “The House with No Doorknobs” and “It Was All So Pinteresting” and “The Tin Man Addresses the Parole Board.” I urge you to read past the titles that invite you in; you’ll be glad you did. Continue reading “Neutrons Protons – September 2014”

This issue of Poetry East is absolutely a pleasure to physically handle. Every page is of glossy finish, it is roughly the dimension of a medium-size paperback, and it is lightweight enough to pack anywhere without being in the way. No page numbers in this issue make it difficult to reference where to locate some of the poems I found most enjoyable. Linear structure seems to have lent itself to the editor’s preference in selecting which works to include. Most of the poems included follow a very reasonable, almost philosophic arc toward endings that do not surprise so much as fulfill the reader. In response, since it feels good to go against the grain sometimes, I am going to employ reverse linear structure in presenting this review. Continue reading “Poetry East – Spring 2014”

Because Agni 79 begins with an editor’s note titled “Ten Broad Swipes at the Problem of Structure in the Essay (and Perhaps Other Genres as Well),” I first turned to the essays collected in the issue to see how they managed to meet Sven Birkerts’s argument for the arbitrariness of chronological structure. “As we all know,” Birkerts writes, “there is a huge difference between a narration that unfolds an experience in sequence (as they say in the movies, when the witness is being questioned, “Just start at the beginning”)…” Continue reading “AGNI – Number 79”

Published by the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, Bellevue Literary Review explores literature that addresses aspects of the human condition that relate to health, healing, and disease. In this volume, selections of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction recover images from hospital rooms and doctors’ offices, caregivers’ homes and nurses’ stations. They find language deeply rooted in the human body, with all its strength and resilience, limitation and vulnerability. These selections speak a common language with which most of us can identify and relate. Continue reading “Bellevue Literary Review – Spring 2014”

The Spring 2014 issue of The Bitter Oleander is like a smorgasbord laden with curious-looking food that you’re not sure you would like, and which even seem a little intimidating. But egged on by your adventurous spirit and that childhood admonition at the dinner table—you don’t have to like everything, but you ought to try everything—you pick it up and discover that the rewards can be great indeed. The magic lies in the deft mix of the accessible and the unfamiliar, in the selections as a whole as well as in the individual pieces. Continue reading “The Bitter Oleander – Spring 2014”

One of the best young journals out there is burntdistrict, each issue promises tons of beautiful, thought provoking, and unique contemporary poetry and this issue is no different from all the rest. In its third year of publication, burntdistrict is still going strong and publishing some of the best up–and-coming and well-established writers from across the world. One of the most interesting poems in this issue is Alexander Lumans’s poem “What We Don’t Know About Natalie Portman Can Still Hurt Us.” This poem masterfully uses the narrator’s obsession with the actress and the narrator’s lack of knowledge about her to reflect how obsessed society is with things unknown Continue reading “burntdistrict – Winter 2014”

Not having reviewed Cleaver Magazine since its launch with the preview issue, I felt it was high-time I check back in to see how it is evolving, and this issue did not let me down. Each contribution to the issue is well thought-out and carefully crafted. After reading Amelia Fowler’s “Space and Time,” I was surprised to find out that it is her first publication. Props to Cleaver for snatching her up, because I imagine there is only more publications to come for this writer. Continue reading “Cleaver Magazine – September 2014”

This issue of Conduit carries a byline of “Failing Famously.” It is roughly 11 inches high by 4 inches wide and is a visual pleasure with interesting color schemes and artwork sprinkled throughout. The physical layout truly lends itself well to the presentation of poems that might not have fit on more traditional 7-inch pages. Viewing a poem on a single page carries substantial effect for empowering the words! I would love to be able to give specific pages of reference to anyone interested in picking up a copy of Conduit based on this review, but I can’t. Editors made a very bold choice to use words associated with failure as their method of pagination! What some might call page 1, the creative team at Conduit decided to call “accident.” The last page of the magazine is called, “zero.” Continue reading “Conduit – Spring 2014”

CutBank is a biannual literary journal run by the English department at the University of Montana. The journal is in its 40th year of publication and prides itself in publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art from both established and up-and-coming writers and artists. CutBank proclaims they are “global in scope, but with a regional bias” that allows people joy by helping them to “discover and develop a fondness for the new work” that it features. In this issue of CutBank, there is page after page of phenomenal writing that your heart will grow fond to love. Continue reading “CutBank – 2014”

For an online literary, Drunken Boat has a huge amount of content to read, from the regular fiction, poetry, and nonfiction to translations, art, a Greek poets folio, and a special section of funny flash. While there is way too much here to touch on even every genre, I simply offer you some of my favorites: “On Monasteries” is a piece of nonfiction that weaves together stories of clients Allison Vrbova had as a social worker with her desire to visit and her experience with Taize, “a magical place where pilgrims join the life of the monastery, eating, praying, singing and working in a community.” Continue reading “Drunken Boat – August 2014”

One of the older philosophies of critical theory maintains that good art should reflect reality or enlighten us about the real world. The variety of approaches and perspectives that are available promise us that we can always be surprised by the next work of the next author. Such surprises come quickly in this issue of the Open Minds Quarterly. A ‘new’ reality comes to us through the works of artists who have to deal with a world that we may not have experienced. All of the contributions to the quarterly are meant to create an awareness of mental health issues, and they all do it very successfully, whether the piece is poetry, photography, an interview, or an essay. Continue reading “Open Minds Quarterly – Summer 2014”

Out of Print is an online magazine hailing from India that publishes short fiction in English or translated to English with a preference for literature that reflects the subcontinent. G. Sadasiv reimagines the end of Guy de Maupassant’s famous short story “The Necklace,” or, rather, he continues the story for one more final twist. The piece starts as a brief retelling of the original story over the phone and then delves into the continuation of the story as one character imagines it, starting with Mathilde regaining the expensive necklace she had returned. Continue reading “Out of Print – June 2014”

Whitefish Review carries a constant byline of “Art, Literature, Photography.” This particular issue carried a special theme of “fire,” and some of its words will continue to smolder inside me for a long time. Poetry, fiction, and visual imagery all have some very bright spots, but the nonfiction entries take the cake! Every page felt like it was making the most of itself to give pertinent information while remaining entertaining. Continue reading “Whitefish Review – Summer 2014”

Though this issue of American Short Fiction isn’t overtly themed, Editors Rebecca Markovits and Adeena Reitberger note that they had already selected the stories when they realized “four of the five were about work, the daily grind or the vocation, the answer to what William Carlos Williams called ‘the typical American question’: What do you do?” This does indeed serve as a nice framework for the five pieces of short fiction that make up the issue, work by Tia Clark, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Antonya Nelson, Matthew Neill Null, and Rob Roensch.

Continue reading “American Short Fiction – Spring 2014”

Avatar Review, an online annual, “seeks to display the highest quality of writing,” as all do. And while I cannot claim that what is published in this issue is the cream of the crop, there is plenty worth consideration and worthy of merit, including poetry, prose, art, and reviews. Britt Melewski’s “On the Overnight” came with an audio recording of him reading his poem, which enhanced the feeling of the overall poem, especially his last few lines: “saying, ‘remember the absolute worst of times, / remember the fish, the fish, the fish.’”

Continue reading “Avatar Review – 2014”

An understated sophistication distinguishes The Common. At only its seventh issue, it has the tone of one who is confident of its place in the world. Many times, I paused in my reading to savor the ingenuity of a conceit or turn of phrase, but I never felt as if anyone represented in this issue was trying too hard to impress. They don’t have to: firmly in control of their craft, they steer the reader to exactly where they want her to go.

One cannot help but be carried along in the surprising and delightful rhythms of the “speechifying” of the non-native English speaker, or perhaps a native speaker of a variety of South Asian English—certainly as much a standard as any in this age where English is the world’s dominant lingua franca—in Manohar Shetty’s poem “Toast.

Continue reading “The Common – April 2014”

Published at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Devil’s Lake offers a sampling of poetry, fiction, and visual art twice a year.

I spent a great deal of time on Matt Morton’s “Spring Bulletin,” and although I don’t think I’ve unlocked all the keys to the poem, I lingered on each moment, trying to take it all in. Written in the second-person point of view, it causes me to be hesitant moving through the poem as I read the lines, “Something / vaguely unsettling about the quality of air. / Something about the humidity that left us / glancing over our shoulders when we mowed the lawn.”

Continue reading “Devil’s Lake – 2014”

Frogpond is the subscription/membership publication of the Haiku Society of America, and for anybody the least bit into haiku or who would like to learn about haiku and the many forms of traditional Japanese poetry and modernized versions of it, this is one of THE publications to be reading.

Frogpond regularly publishes haiku, senryu, haibun, rengay (and other short sequential forms), renku (and other long sequence forms), essays, and book reviews. Each issues begins with a full page devoted to the winner of the Museum of Haiku Literature Award (currently $100) for the best previously unpublished work appearing in the last issue of Frogpond.

Continue reading “Frogpond – Winter 2014”

The University of Houston’s Department of English publishes Gulf Coast, a literary journal started by Donald Barthelme and Philip Lopate in 1982, under the Texas-worthy name Domestic Crude. The current name was adopted in 1986; in 2013 the magazine merged with the Texas art journal Art Lies and began to publish writings about art in each issue, as well as the visual art which has always appeared. The list of distinguished contributors to this issue originates far beyond Houston and Texas, although local authors turn up as well.

Continue reading “Gulf Coast – Summer/Fall 2014”

This issue had a lot going on in it, and I am quite frankly left feeling run through the ringer. A full-length chapbook by Colin Winnette, titled “Follow Through,” was stuck right in the middle of this issue! It was intriguing work comprised of short, paragraph style prose poetry, but it completely distracted me from trying to understand the issue as its own piece of work. (I found out, after researching the press, this chapbook placement is a common practice with Heavy Feather Review.)

Continue reading “Heavy Feather Review – April 2014”

Iowa is often considered a fabled place in the world of American letters, and The Iowa Review lives up to the expectations that such a powerful name bestows. The journal has been publishing some of the country’s finest authors since 1970, and in 2014 it’s still incredibly strong.

This issue, the first with Editor Harilaos Stecopoulos at the helm, includes poetry, fiction, essays, and artwork, all consistent with the journal’s previous issues. The issue also includes two interviews and two reviews, both new features, as well as a pairing of three Amber Tamblyn poems with images by, among others, filmmaker and painter David Lynch.

Continue reading “The Iowa Review – Spring 2014”