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Monday, February 16, 2015

The Magazine Thing


Once a week (not really) I'll put up a brief description of a magazine of interest, usually a literary magazine. One that takes submissions from people not their uncle.

Update: February 16, 2015
Zyzzyva has the clever tag line, "The Last Word: West Coast Writers and Artists." Based in San Francisco, they aim to publish "mostly West Coast writers," Oscar Villalon of the magazine says. I just happened upon this article, "San Francisco’s Zyzzyva Turns 30 with Literary Aplomb," from KQED, January 9, 2015.  The Washington Post also reported "Zyzzyva Reaches No. 100," April 21, 2014.

Update: February 8, 2015
I posted Every Writers Resource a couple of weeks ago, but it deserves one more post. It provides a new listing for a literary magazine at least every week. On February 7th they provided information about The Bleeding Lion: A Journal of Arts and Letters. At both sites you can learn about the magazine's interests and submission guidelines. When you're at Every Writers Resource subscribe to their email updates. It's helpful to readers and potential contributors.



Update: January, 31, 2015
Rolling Stone, January 30, 2015, announces: 
"For the first time ever, Rolling Stone is opening up [their] vast archive of award-winning music, political and cultural reporting — dating back five decades, to our 1967 launch — online for free. In collaboration with Google Play, articles by notable writers including Hunter S. Thompson, Cameron Crowe and Matt Taibbi are now available to read on Android and iOS phones and tablets via the Google Play Newsstand, Google's news reader app optimized for phones and tablets. Additionally, Rolling Stone's daily coverage of music, politics, movies, TV, sports and culture is available on the Play Newsstand.

"Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/rolling-stone-teams-with-google-play-to-open-archives-in-unprecedented-way-20150130#ixzz3QQlpo5FJ
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook"

Literary Magazine Lists
There's Every Writers Resource dot com's Top 50 Llterary Magazines. Here is a list of Los Angeles literary magazines.


11 comments:

  1. I noticed that the Paris Review Website looks very sophisticated, as in it is what a more mature person of literature would look into. I see a few inspirational quotes that most likely give the average writer/person a bit of support so they can continue on in writing their piece of written work (s). Lastly, I also see current works that are being announced so one can look at. Interesting overall.

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  2. Third time's the charm? Let's hope so. I enjoy reading about how artists go about their craft; when I can see a glimpse of myself in their process it gives me hope. That said, I don't think the appeal is limited to artists, I love watching people cook even though I am not that great at it and have no interest is improving.

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  3. Mavi, I'm with you on this one. I'm a fan, too, of learning and watching how people work.

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  4. I was honestly surprised but the amateurish appearance of the site: it looks a lot like most other blogss/personal websites I come across on a regular basis. I had higher expectations for such a highly regarded magazine, but am also aware of the fact that this is likely an indication of how little money these publications are able to make these days. Such a bummer that that's the case.

    Anyway, appearance aside, I noticed that they offer some of the content from the latest issue, but not all of it. A difficult thing to navigate, I imagine: it makes me wonder how they determine what stuff they publish online, and which they keep strictly for print!

    When perusing the interviews section, I immediately got hooked on reading the quotes pulled from these interviews. I think the simplicity of the black and white photos of the authors, next to their often-profound quotes, is really lovely. The caliber of authors they've interviewed is so impressive!

    Lastly, I love that they require you to submit a physical copy of your work. I don't know how this works at most other magazines, but this sort of loyalty to the old school is really exciting to me.

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  5. Elise, Great observations. Let us know if there are any literary magazine websites out there you'd recommend.

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  6. It looks more like a blog to me than a website for a well-known literary magazine or journal. However, it still has a visually pleasant layout, it doesn't feel too cluttered but it still manages to include all the important links. I personally didn't like that they said they should welcome the non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders, because much of my political writing that I do is indeed drum-beating and axe-grinding. I was impressed to see that they were one of the first magazines to recognize the work of Jack Kerouac, and that they had interviewed William Faulkner. I like that they do focus on the creative side of writing, though, so I might consider submitting something to them someday.

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    1. Kelvin, Thanks for your remarks. And as I said to Elise: let us know if there is anything out there that you think is worth our time to look at.

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  7. For those of you who wish to see a literary magazine site different than the Paris Review's, see McSweeney's. http://www.mcsweeneys.net/ . Dave Eggers is the founder of McSweeney's and respected for his nonfiction.

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  8. This is from Casey Wright:
    The Paris Review seems like quite a nice publication, which both publishes the works of important modern writers as well as giving artists an opportunity to explain their work. The website, while simple and blog-like in its layout, is easy to navigate and has little to distract from the content.

    Being a film fanatic I immediately pounced upon the interview with Michael Haneke (though it is rather short, it's excellent), after which I read the interview with the always fascinating Robert Crumb. I also skimmed through some of William T. Vollmann's interview. These interviews definitely provide some excellent ways in which a professional interview ought to be done, as well as giving insight into the methods, philosophies and techniques of artists.

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  9. So I FINALLY remembered to look at The Paris Review. It looks like a professional newsletter. It's rather simple in its design with links at the top and a variety of things to look at...with that said, it looks rather dull to me. I did find an interesting and somewhat amusing article about one person's experience with the common cold(link here: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/01/29/common-colds/ ), but I didn't find it terribly interesting, to be honest.

    Then again, I tend to lean more toward fiction than nonfiction, plus it seems like the sort of thing older people who come off as incredibly stuffy would like.

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