Tag Archives: Short Story

June 18, 2012 · 11:36 am

Picayune Magazine – “Pyromaniacs, Bored and Young”

Picayune is defunct, but read the story here.

“Pyromaniacs, Bored and Young” is a touching little tale about a group of teenagers who like to set things on fire. It is the second story I’ve published under this title.

Picayune Magazine is a lovely little publication based at New Mexico Highlands University.  They produce a beautiful magazine over there, but unfortunately their limited operations budget ($500 per issue) precludes printing extra issues.  They make a few for staff, one each for contributors, and that is it. 

Picayune magazine is now defunct.

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June 16, 2012 · 4:38 pm

Perceptions – “Nineteenth and Valencia”

“Nineteenth and Valencia” is a rumination in a hip café about becoming an utter loser.  It’s a funny piece, I adore it, and you should read it.  More importantly, the magazine, “Perceptions,” is worthy of purchase regardless of my presence.  Not only was my story featured alongside the work of some genuinely talented authors and artists, the book itself is an art piece – hands down the most beautiful periodical that I’ve been printed in.  Issues are $15 a copy. The story was published in the 2012 issue. Query Jonathan Morrow at jonathan.morrow@mhcc.edu for more information.

Mt. Hood Community College

Humanities Division c\o Megan Jones

26000 SE Stark St, Gresham, OR 97080.

Ask for the 2011-2012 issue.

Perceptions: A Magazine of the Arts has appeared annually since 1969. The magazine is produced by students who register for WR247, The Literary Publication, a three term class.

In the fall, students solicit submissions from the campus community and the outside community. After submissions are received, students read and choose which works would best reflect their chosen vision of the magazine. Working with a student from the graphic design program and the printing technology program, the design, paper and over-all look of the magazine is decided. The students continue to work as a team for the next two terms. During the winter term students work with the printing technology class who take the graphic designer’s plans and implement them. The contributors are contacted and invited to read their works at a reception that the students plan for early spring term. Awards are given for the best poem, best prose and best artwork, and the students choose these award winning works.

Although the staff is small, Perceptions reaches other programs on campus, involving other students not inclined to literature and the arts, to be exposed and participate in literary publication. The graphic design student is given first hand experience in working as part of a team to produce a design for the magazine. Printing technology has always used Perceptions as a project as part of the second year of the program.

Perceptions - Collage copy - resized

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June 5, 2012 · 10:34 pm

Spilling Ink Review – “The Last Dignified Transaction”

Spilling Ink Review is defunct, but read the story here.

“The Last Dignified Transaction” is about the rewards inherent in being a university teaching assistant, and then going on to work as a waiter… and then having to serve your former students.

This publication originated in Glasgow. Spilling Ink Review was a quarterly e-journal: “They’re a troupe of professional writers and readers that shares a passion for the written word as well as compassion for new and established writers looking for an innovative platform. Their aim is to create an environment where the unexpected can thrive, where the serious and the humorous can sit comfortably side-by-side, and where we can celebrate both the process and the product of creative writing.”

Spilling Ink Review is now defunct.  

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May 17, 2012 · 6:55 pm

Digital Americana – “The Best of the Terrible Lies”

Digital Americana is defunct, read the short story here.

“The Best of the Terrible Lies” is a story about a teenager who likes to tell lies. And he chooses to tell them in class. I’m proud to have it appear in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Digital Americana. You can still buy a physical copy of this magazine for $20.

Digital Americana Magazine (DAM) is the world’s first literary & culture journal made for tablets. It’s ten parts literary and ten parts culture. If you like to read, why waste your money on other 99¢ magazines or apps when you could already be reading DAM? We love what we do and we hope that you do to.

The issue that my piece appears in is titled Arise.  It is the Spring/Summer issue of Digital and can be purchased in print.

Digital Americana’s website.

Digital Americana’s Blog.

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About Digital Americana:

Digital Americana crosses the literary arts with American culture and a state-of-the-art publishing mindset. Since 2010, it has functioned as an independent & interactive journal of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, & criticism. Digital Americana seeks to publish writers and artists that have showcased a unique American sensibility, experience, or theme in their work.

The first version of the Digital Americana Magazine (DAM 1.0) app was accepted into and released amongst the first-round of iPad App Store apps (available on launch-day of the first iPad 4/2010) — earning the distinction of being of the first magazines made for tablet devices, and the first literary magazine made explicitly for the iPad. In April 2011, we completely redesigned the app, adding new features such as in-app purchasing, and began to also offer issues in print (via MagCloud). In May 2012 we became part of Apple’s Newsstand store (DAM 2.0). In early October 2012 we introduced a new interactive “redact” function to our redesigned iPad app (DAM 3.0) with the release of our Fall—2012 Redact issue. With this “redact” toolset readers are able to create erasure poetry instantly from any page of any issue in the app. During this time we also relaunched the design & functionality of our iPhone magazine app, by creating a completely custom vertical layout that enhances the experience of reading an issue, which runs on a device that fits in the palm of your hand. Our Fall—2012 issue was the first issue to be formatted this way.

In all aspects of our mission: of the art, literary content, culture, design, and journalism featured within our pages—our hope for Digital Americana is that it will be seen as the sum of its parts—a uniquely modern and American experience.
Issues are currently released seasonally. Submission guidelines can be found here. Recent news & press can be found here.

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May 8, 2012 · 1:58 pm

Black Market Review – “The Staging Ground”

Black Market Review is Defunct, but read the story here.

Black Market Review - Collage copyBlack Market Review - Collage copy

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“The Staging Ground” was published in Black Market Review, which was published out of Edge Hill University. the story is about bad neighbors (perhaps including the solipsistic narrator) and a feud that place in or around the laundry room.

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The Black Market Review was edited exclusively by Creative Writing undergraduate and postgraduate students at Edge Hill University.  Thank you for the opportunity BMR.

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Black Market Review operated out of Edge Hill University. 

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February 13, 2012 · 9:28 am

Milk Sugar – “Vengeance is a Speechless Clown”

Milk Sugar is defunct, but read the short story here.

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The piece is titled “Vengeance is a Speechless Clown,” and the publication is Milk Sugar. “Vengeance Is a Speechless Clown” is an epic saga about revenge, artistry, and the things that drive us in life. It’s about an aggrieved clown.  Chasity Thomas and the lovely folks at Milk Sugar saw fit to include it in their February/ March issue alongside some truly talented authors.

Milk Sugar Logo

Unfortunately Milk Sugar is now defunct.  In the words of their editor, Chastity Thomas:

“Milk Sugar will officially end with Issue 22 in December. It has been a blast editing this journal and putting out into the world the work of some truly talented people. I’ve enjoyed everything I read, even the work that was a bit out there and those that were not chosen to appear. The journal started off shaky as I learned the process of rejecting people (which is really hard by the way), figuring out how to choose what works would best go together and simple stuff like how many writers to feature in each issue. I’m glad that people seemed to enjoy what were doing here. We even reached over 250 followers on Facebook, no small feat! These last two issues continue to showcase some great work. So please, buckle down and read an entry or two.

– Chasity Thomas, Editor in chief”

Milk Sugar Banner - Words

About Milk Sugar:

Milk Sugar is a literary journal that was formed with the creative writer in mind. We want to provide a forum where writers feel free to express their creative ide in an environment that actually promotes creativity and not the status quo.  Milk Sugar is not meant to be your typical literary journal, hence the name. There are no delusions of grandeur here, just good, solid and creative writing. We want the erotic, the fantastical, the existential, the dirt the grime and most of all the ultimate beauty that is a well written piece. Allow us the privilege of finding out who you are through your work.

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January 25, 2012 · 2:48 pm

Corner Club Press – “The Writing Group”

The Corner Club is defunct, but read the short story here.

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The Corner Club Press accepted my story “The Writing Group” in the January 2012 issue of their journal, which has, unfortunately since folded. This piece is unfairly subjective look at a fellow writer, but is more about the narrator’s inability to escape the monastic solitude of authorhood. It is about a man whose personal struggles make him unsympathetic to a fellow sufferer. It’s embarrassingly unsympathetic and an editor once described it as frighteningly solipsistic, but it’s a great read.

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About Corner Club Press:

The creation of The Corner Club Press is actually an impulsive endeavor of ours. Being an editor for The Oddville Press, it’s always been at the back of my mind to create my own magazine, but I never had a reason to start. For one thing, finding people on-line and then actually trusting them to get things done is a harrowing thought. For another thing, I had no idea how to go about doing it. Of course, having experience in the realm of two magazines has answered those questions for me, but even then I had nobody to start a magazine with. Then in my ENGL 2250 class, I met three other people who were interested in creative writing. The name “Corner Club” actually comes from Christopher Selmek, writer of Augusta’s local Verge. He coined the term because all four of us sat in the corner of our ENGL 2250 classroom, constantly exchanging humorous anecdotes over the days’ lessons. We quickly formed a friendship, then bonded one night during a study session.

But it was Daphne and I who bonded even faster because of our fervent love for the written word and Daphne’s own shared interest in being part of a magazine. As for Greg Tredore, he is someone we impulsively added because of his experience with a literary magazine and having an MFA in Creative Writing. We figured he’d be a great mentor to us, and thus far, he is.

Even though two members of the “Corner Club” are not as of yet active in the creation of this magazine, the name wouldn’t exist without their friendship. And that’s what Daphne and I want this magazine to be about: friendship. Not necessarily stories of friendship or anything of that sort, but we aim to provide a friendly, flexible magazine for writers to submit to. I consider myself more of a novelist, so the short stories I did write often had difficulties finding magazines because many magazines want shorter works and there are few magazines that accept longer works. We also didn’t want to limit our magazine to any particular theme or genre because we want as many submissions as possible. So submit away!

Amber Forbes, Founder

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January 1, 2012 · 6:14 am

Midwest Literary Magazine – “Eliza’s Body as Sacrament of the Grace I Sunk From”

Midwest Literary Magazine is defunct, but read the story here.

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My story “Eliza’s Body as Sacrament of the Grace I Sunk From” originally appeared on page 61 of the September issue of Midwest Literary Magazine, which was titled “Broken Spades.” The story is a lamentation on a semi-functional relationship that didn’t pan out, but that coasted for a while on sex alone.  It’s also about a dumb kid who doesn’t have the slightest idea how to be a decent partner.

Maybe the piece will one day be read again by human eyes.  Only time will tell.

Midwest Literary - Collage copy

 

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January 1, 2012 · 6:05 am

Scissors and Spackle – “The Gifts I Received”

Scissors and Spackle is defunct, but read the short story here.

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“The Gifts I Received” is about a young man’s relationship with his estranged mother. The story was published in the first issue of Scissors and Spackle, and unfortunately the publication has since folded. That said, I hustled this magazine because I didn’t know any other way. I purchased dozens of copies from the editor at cost, and distributed them through local Santa Cruz publications. I backpacked these issues to friends and at parties. I still don’t really know how to publicize, but this was a fun attempt.

Check out my write up on the Bookshop Santa Cruz website and feel free to let me know if anything has been left out of the Ben Leib bio – it doesn’t, for example, mention how handsome I am.

This magazine was, for a time, also found on the shelves of Logos Books & Records:

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They were also selling it at Bookshop Santa Cruz, too:

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About Scissors and Spackle:

We are artists, creators, and writers. But we are first readers; readers of newspapers, magazines, novels, and flash. Readers of poetry, memoir, and writing that defies conventional labels. When there is nothing else around we are sometimes readers of cereal boxes, catsup ingredient lists, and shampoo instructions. We are taking up space in Los Angeles, CA but are also from Bailey and Denver CO, Twenty Nine Palms and Atlanta, Northern Virginia and New Orleans.

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January 1, 2012 · 5:51 am

Children, Churches, and Daddies – “Once, I Found that I Might Be a Good Friend”

Read the story here.

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The Story is titled “Once, I Found that I Might Be a Good Friend.”  It’s about a kid that thinks he has the personality to solve the world’s problems. He does not. The magazine is called Children, Churches, and Daddies (the stipulation for publication being that the author not discuss family or religion). Figure out how to buy the magazine by clicking either of the links below.

Cultural Touchstone

Children, Churches, and Daddies – Vol. 229

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Children, Churches and Daddies (founded 1993) has been written and researched by political groups and writers from the United States, Canada, Australia, Belgium, England, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Norway, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Africa and Turkey (as well as input from both Japan and Slovenia). Regular features provide coverage of environmental, political and social issues (via news and philosophy) as well as fiction and poetry, and act as an information and education source. Children, Churches and Daddies is the leading magazine for this combination of information, education and entertainment.

All magazine published from Scars Publications are released on the web — and pre-2010 issues are also released as a free downloadable PDF file e-book (All issues have been available on a web page, as an Internet Issue, with an Internet ISSN number). In this way people can enjoy the magazine on the Internet for free.

Cc&d magazine originally started as a print-only magazine, and within a year was placed on the web. Because of years where the magazine did not exist except in collection books, cc&d magazine has made every effort to continue to have issues available for free online. Print issues are offered to people who are interested in keeping a hard copy for their own records, but since over the years cc&d magazine has been available for free on the web, free print copies are not given away.

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