2.19.15

There are some new literary resources popping up in my radar lately. One is Moss, an in-depth essay journal. It is focused on pieces inspired by or somehow relating to the Pacific Northwest, and they pay their contributors, isn't that lovely. This is an interesting review of the publication, since I haven't really poked my head into it yet, you can get a taste. (I did read the interview with Reed about Cantwell, and have queued up the Hills around Centralia by Robert Cantwell for a read).


On the other end of the spectrum, there is Spartan, a minimalist (and also smaller) prose source. Where Moss encourages essays of 1.800 words or more, Spartan would like their submissions to be less than 2k words. I read All Monsters Welcome by Jenny Hayes. Nice transitions in that one.


Another is the James Franco Review, a poetry and prose journal born out of the desire to see underrepresented or less-visible work get recognized. Regarding their mission and name:

"We want the story, poem, or essay you wrote that you believe in the most, or that hasn’t found the right home. We aren’t looking for work that imitates James Franco’s work or satirizes—writers need not be so cruel. Think of this as the open door where who you are, where you studied, and where you’ve been published doesn’t matter. If the guest editor likes your piece, they’ll take it, and if they don’t like it, remember that it’s subjective and keep writing."

I read the poems by Chelsey Weber Smith, part selected because I went to high school with someone of that name. It would be cool if it were the same person. (Good lord, it totally is. How cool is that) My favorite was One day someone important will say this is not a poem. 


Pacifica  is another journal with a Northwest focus. It features prose, poetry, and art. I thought this, from their description page, was particularly pretty:

"The Pacific presents us with the ability to rewrite who we are again and again, to begin anew every day we wake, to forgive who we were. Contrary to popular belief, the frontier is not closed: we remake the boundaries each day and with each act of ourselves. We expand and contract like tides; we cannot border ourselves with hand-me-down myth because we are new, borderless, the creators of our own order. When we sat down to create this magazine it was these qualities we had in mind. We did not simply want to bring a new literary magazine to the Northwest, we wanted to loose the remaking these waters permit into magazine form"

Being local, I ought to check out their physical presence, which is a release party coming up next week. It is nice when you get an online presence, physical hard copy of a journal, plus an opportunity to hear work performed and connect with artists. Do browse the page, I liked Ghost Story by Kalya Rae Candrilli. 

I look forward to reading more from these outfits.