Just recently, self heard The Octopus Literary Salon, in Oakland, where she and friends had all variously read, had closed. SAD! It was a mainstay of the local literary community.
Self was just looking through her pile of contributor copies (for stories she’s published in literary magazines) and realized that there are quite a goodly number that do not exist anymore. Like, The Rambler? This magazine of nonfiction appeared in North Carolina, survived a number of years, and took two of self’s flash.
How about Isotope? A place for creative and science writing. Edited by poet Chris Cokinos. In the same issue as poetry and plays, an essay on math (with numbers!) or biology. This one published out of Utah.
Here are self’s list of The Departed (the ones she knows about):
- 5_Trope
- Alimentum: The Literature of Food (Self loved this magazine. It moved to on-line only, and self still loved it. Then, ALAS!)
- decomP
- Elsewhere Lit
- Isotope
- LITnIMAGE
- Our Own Voice (featuring writing of the Philippine diaspora)
- The Cricket Online Review
- The Rambler
- Used Furniture Review
- White Whale Review (The editor solicited her after reading her blog)
- Word Riot
Most of these magazines fell into the experimental and/or social justice arena. They were trying to do something different, and their presence in the literary world was exciting (Face it, if self had to rely solely on the big literary magazines, her career would have been over years ago). They were labors of love (as every literary magazine, big or small, is) and their vision was unique.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Kanlaon 