Blog Archives
The Year at READ SHORT FICTION
It was quite an amazing ride over at Read Short Fiction this year—we became a professional-rate market (as of January 1, 2013), so our submission levels increased—and our selection process intensified. We are also thrilled to announce Read the rest of this entry
READ SHORT FICTION announces Pushcart nominee
Rob Mayette and I, co-editors at Read Short Fiction, are proud to announce that our Pushcart Prize nomination for the year goes to Michael Wehunt’s “Everything, All at Once, Forever.”
“Everything, All at Once, Forever” is a rare find. I was so overwhelmed with grief while reading this piece that when I had finished, I could barely talk. I think Rob, in our meeting, put it best when he said he was “spellbound,” that the writer is “so in command of this mindset,” and that he was “emotionally drained after reading it.” This story plumbs the terrible depths of loss in a way that few stories, for me, have; in my opinion, this is literary horror at its finest.
To learn more about the Pushcart: http://www.pushcartprize.com/
To read “Everything, All at Once, Forever”: http://www.readshortfiction.com/2013/06/everything-all-at-once-forever-by-michael-wehunt/#more-655
Writers: 7 hardly-mentioned tips for submitting to zines
There are loads of articles about good submission practices. As a co-editor of Read Short Fiction, I’ve picked up on a few things that many articles don’t mention as often regarding submission etiquette. So here they are. Read the rest of this entry
OUR READ SHORT FICTION EDITORS’ INTERVIEW IS UP ON DUOTROPE NOW!
Rob Mayette and I, co-editors of Read Short Fiction, recently completed our interview for Duotrope (http://www.duotrope.com/), the popular online writer’s market database which also features a free submissions tracker. It’s now posted.
If you’d like to see the listing for our publication that’s been going strong for two years now, you can check it out here: http://www.duotrope.com/market_4000.aspx. Want to read the interview and learn more about what we’re looking for and how we run things? You can read that here: http://www.duotrope.com/Interview.aspx?id=4000
Enjoy…and if you’re a writer, consider submitting your work to us!
HAUNTING SHORT FICTION ON RSF: FINDING A BOOK UNDER THE BUREAU YOU LEAVE YOUR KEYS ON
If you’re looking for a short little haunting something to read for Halloween, then don’t miss Michael J. Rosenbaum’s “Finding a Book Under the Bureau You Leave Your Keys On” up now at Read Short Fiction.
I’ve known many people who frown on the use of second person POV. I happen to love it—because when it’s used correctly, as in Carlos Fuentes’ classic horror tale Aura, it has a truly haunting quality which supports the tale. It seems so integral to the piece, in fact, that to even imagine it written in any other POV ruins it. Rosenbaum has absolutely achieved this difficult feat: the second POV here creates a ghostly tone and a voice out of oneself or from the other side of the veil that compliments the existential theme beautifully.
Read this haunting piece here: http://www.readshortfiction.com/2011/09/finding-a-book-under-the-bureau-you-keep-your-keys-on-by-michael-j-rosenbaum/
REGRETS? YOU’RE NOT ALONE…READ “GEORGETOWN KISSES” AT RSF!
I’ve never felt such sympathy for a guy I didn’t like too much, and that’s what sold me on Sarah Harris Wallman’s “Georgetown Kisses,” now published at Read Short Fiction. I found him to be an Everyman, a man who has, like all of us, made mistakes—and one critical, very large mistake (and possibly a second, eventually, as the ending suggests) that destroyed his life as he knew it. The characters, even Trimble’s wife Sylvie, whom we never really meet, are so real, so well-defined—so the people-next-door. “Georgetown Kisses” is a stellar example of creating not-so-nice characters who still manage to tug at our heartstrings.
You can read the story here: http://www.readshortfiction.com/2011/05/georgetown-kisses-by-sarah-harris-wallman/
TROUBLE IN LOVE? CHECK OUT READ SHORT FICTION’S “DOG FARTS AND DANCER GIRLS”
Brady Allen’s “Dog Farts and Dancer Girls” is a comment on what can break down in a romantic relationship—often, it’s what’s never said.
I love the mood in this piece; I can feel the weight of what’s unspoken in that car in the first scene—even though I’m not quite sure what it is right off the bat, I know that it’s something monumental, something that threatens to split this couple in half. If you’ve got trouble in love, this story might just give you some ideas on what you shouldn’t do.
Check it out at Read Short Fiction here: http://bit.ly/ktuDxc
DOWN ABOUT YOUR LIFE? CHECK OUT “THE MINX” ON READ SHORT FICTION!
Cassandra Dunn’s short story “The Minx” is up at Read Short Fiction, and if your winter blues aren’t fading fast enough, this piece might be just the right pick-me-up!
What I love about this piece is its pervasive sense of sadness. The speaker laments her own life, but is realistic about how her choices got her to that life–yet there’s a piece of her that wishes she were someone else. And really, who hasn’t done that at least once or twice? Well, the end might surprise you.
Check it out here: http://www.readshortfiction.com/2011/03/the-minx-by-cassandra-dunn/
PUT SOME MURDER IN YOUR MARCH
“Beware the Ides of March” has new meaning!
Judy Viertel’s “Man Murders Wife” is now up at Read Short Fiction—while it doesn’t have the hallmarks of a ghost story, it is a testament to the idea that subtle is better, and it will haunt me for many days to come. Don’t miss it! http://www.readshortfiction.com/2011/03/man-murders-wife-by-judy-viertel/
“THE HEARTBREAK NEXT DOOR” ON READ SHORT FICTION
Whether you recall your first young love or not, Read Short Fiction’s first February feature—the young adult short “The Heartbreak Next Door” by S.G. Rogers—is a reminder that our hearts were fragile from the very beginning—it’s a touching little reminder that we never really grow up. You can check it out here:
http://www.readshortfiction.com/2011/02/the-heartbreak-next-door-by-s-g-rogers/
