Issue Eighty-Four – Authors Publish Magazine

Quote of The Week

Emily Harstone — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 19:57:54 +0000

Writing Prompt: Translate This

Emily Harstone — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 19:57:12 +0000

This is a writing prompt I encountered several times in graduate school. The task is to take a poem in a language you do not understand and “translate it”.

I don’t mean look every word on google or try to use babble fish (a translation site). I just want you to read this poem in this language you do not understand. I want you to read it more than once and try and figure something out about it that you recognize, like, or can imitate. It can be as simple as having the same stanza breaks, or as complicated as trying to replicate the meter of the poem.

If you know a couple of words in the language that is ok, as long as you are nowhere near fluent in it. I have supplied a poem in Spanish below but if you know Spanish look for poems in another language by googling the name of the language and the words “poem in”.

Have fun writing the poem! This prompt tends to generate good and interesting stuff. The title of the poem is in English to give you a hint of what is going on.

Walking Around

Sucede que me canso de ser hombre.
Sucede que entro en las sastrerías y en los cines
marchito, impenetrable, como un cisne de fieltro
Navegando en un agua de origen y ceniza.
El olor de las peluquerías me hace llorar a gritos.
Sólo quiero un descanso de piedras o de lana,
sólo quiero no ver establecimientos ni jardines,
ni mercaderías, ni anteojos, ni ascensores.
Sucede que me canso de mis pies y mis uñas
y mi pelo y mi sombra.
Sucede que me canso de ser hombre.
Sin embargo sería delicioso
asustar a un notario con un lirio cortado
o dar muerte a una monja con un golpe de oreja.
Sería bello
ir por las calles con un cuchillo verde
y dando gritos hasta morir de frío
No quiero seguir siendo raíz en las tinieblas,
vacilante, extendido, tiritando de sueño,
hacia abajo, en las tapias mojadas de la tierra,
absorbiendo y pensando, comiendo cada día.
No quiero para mí tantas desgracias.
No quiero continuar de raíz y de tumba,
de subterráneo solo, de bodega con muertos
ateridos, muriéndome de pena.
Por eso el día lunes arde como el petróleo
cuando me ve llegar con mi cara de cárcel,
y aúlla en su transcurso como una rueda herida,
y da pasos de sangre caliente hacia la noche.
Y me empuja a ciertos rincones, a ciertas casas húmedas,
a hospitales donde los huesos salen por la ventana,
a ciertas zapaterías con olor a vinagre,
a calles espantosas como grietas.
Hay pájaros de color de azufre y horribles intestinos
colgando de las puertas de las casas que odio,
hay dentaduras olvidadas en una cafetera,
hay espejos
que debieran haber llorado de vergüenza y espanto,
hay paraguas en todas partes, y venenos, y ombligos.
Yo paseo con calma, con ojos, con zapatos,
con furia, con olvido,
paso, cruzo oficinas y tiendas de ortopedia,
y patios donde hay ropas colgadas de un alambre:
calzoncillos, toallas y camisas que lloran
lentas lágrimas sucias.

3 Very Unusual Literary Journals

Emily Harstone — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 19:55:18 +0000

Most literary journals are pretty predictable. There is a front cover and a back cover if it is a print journal. Online the format is more varied, but usually with similar results. There might be some art work or some audio that makes the presentation have a little more depth. But mostly they are variations on a theme. The following journals are not like that.

Broadsided

Broadsided publishes only poetry. Instead of publishing the poems in a traditional book form, they turn each poem into its own poster (otherwise known as a broadside). The idea is that the editor and volunteers actually put these poems up in public on telephone poles, etc. . .

To learn more visit their website here: http://www.broadsidedpress.org/

Hoot

Hoot is a miniature literary journal that publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. By miniature I mean that it is a postcard. A beautiful postcard, usually with the piece of writing integrated into artwork. In fact all work has to be less than 150 words in length.

To learn more visit their website here: http://www.hootreview.com/

The Poetry Storehouse

The Poetry Storehouse is a mixed media project that presents poems in video format. They combine work by visual artists with poetry.

It is a wonderful project and you can learn more about it at their website: http://poetrystorehouse.com/submissions/

Anaiah Press: Open to Manuscript Submissions

Emily Harstone — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 19:53:32 +0000

Updated August 2024: As they continue to remain closed to submissions long after they said they’d reopen, I’m removing them from current lists and the Manuscript Publishers Guide for the time being.

Anaiah Press is a Christian digital first publisher. They publish faith based fiction and non fiction. However they have a large number of editors for such a small organization and many of the editors have a fair amount of experience. The editors (aside from the managing editor) all have wishlists below their profile. These wishlists make it clear what kind of manuscripts they are particularly interested in.

At this point they are still a relatively new publisher having been around for little over a year. However the cover art appears to have made a marked improvement in this time, however there is still room to grow.

As a Christian Press they do not accept works that are anti-faith, contain gratuitous sex, or encourage religious or social intolerance.

They are accepting manuscript submissions for the following imprints: Anaiah Presence (45,000 – 110,000 words), Anaiah Romance (20,000 – 90,000 words), Anaiah Surge (45,000 – 90,000 words), Anaiah Adventures (up to 60,000 words), and Anaiah Inspirations (20,000 -90,000 words). The imprints page gives potential submitters a better idea of what each of the imprints are looking for.

They pay royalties in the amount of 40% on net for digital format and 9-12% net on all other formats. Right now they are primarily a digital publisher.

If you are interested in submitting, send a query letter and the first three chapters in the body of an email to their general submission address or to the editor that you feel would be most intrusted in your work. They try to contact all submitters within 8-12 weeks. Make sure you mention in your query which imprint your work is intended for.

To learn more or to submit, visit their website here.

Zest Literary Journal: Open to Submissions

Emily Harstone — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 19:51:30 +0000

Zest is an electronic literary journal based out of the UK. They publish poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. They have been around since 2013. They release four issues every year. They are closing to submissions after November 30th. The theme of the issue is “Wake me up”. You must submit something that interacts with this theme in some way. Work unrelated to the theme will not be accepted.

Zest is a smaller publication. They are more open to publishing unpublished writers and they have a higher acceptance rate than most publications.

All work is submitted via email. The cover letter and your bio can be in the body of the email but your creative work must be attached as a word document.

You must submit work that is previously unpublished. They are very explicit about this and they make it clear that you should not have even published it on your Facebook page or blog previously.

Fiction and creative non-fiction can be up to 3,000 words in length. Poetry has to be 3 short poems, or one poem up to 40 lines in length. They consider flash fiction up to 1,00 words, and micro fiction up to 250 words in length. They also consider art and photography for each issue.

They include audio recording links with some of the stories. The journal is easy and free to review before submitting, you just have to download a PDF which is easy to find in the Issues section of the webesite.

To learn more or to submit, visit their website here: http://zestlit.com/submissions/