Lania Knight, whose story “Postcard From The Freud Museum” can be found in Midwestern Gothic Issue 1 (Spring 2011), will have her debut novel Three Cubic Feet published by Main Street Rag in spring 2012.
Sarah Layden, whose story “Arrested Development” can be found in Midwestern Gothic Issue 3 (Fall 2011), has a short story included in the anthology Sudden Flash Youth .
Suzanne Scanlon, whose story “The Closest Thing” can be found in Midwestern Gothic Issue 2 (Fall 2011), will have her debut novel published fall 2012 from Dorothy, a new press edited by Danielle Dutton.
December 7th, 2011 |
How appropriate that we received our first (real) snowfall of the year this week in Michigan…the same week we’re unveiling the cover for Issue 4 (Winter 2012)!
Pretty fantastic, eh? Cover image copyright (c) Jane Carlson.
Next, we’re excited to unveil the contributor listing for this jam-packed issue:
Great, great lineup of uber-talented folks in this one. More info (including an official release date) to come soon!
December 1st, 2011 |
Heather Cox’s poem “This Town is a Photograph” appears in Midwestern Gothic Issue 3, out now.
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing since I was fairly young. I started out writing very short, very weird sci-fi stories—thanks Poe!—and then switched to shitty teenage poetry some years later. Actually, I used to make summer schedules, right about the time I started elementary school, detailing everything I wanted to do that day (watch Power Rangers, make mud pies, draw, “break time”, etc.). Have I ever not been writing? Probably not.
What’s your connection to the Midwest?
I was born in Texas, grew up in Arkansas, and then moved to Chicago for graduate school. Arkansas, for me, feels both Southern and Midwestern—just less Springsteen, more Hank Williams.
How has the Midwest influenced your writing?
I’ve been surrounded by rivers and lakes and open fields and overgrowth all my life, so I was naturally drawn to the Midwestern landscape. One in every five Heather Cox poems has a lake or a river in it (or your money back, guaranteed). Some of my favorite poets, too, are Midwest guys: my friend Alexander York and the incredible Zachary Schomburg. Schomburg’s “Scary, No Scary” is actually the poem I immediately go to when I imagine a Midwest poem. There’s this notion of childhood and memory and dream, paired with the dilapidated Midwest, that I love about Schomburg poems and those from other Midwest writers—it’s a skin that really fits for me, too.
Why do you believe there has never really been a regionalist push for Midwestern writing in the past like there has with the South or even the West Coast?
Is it the absence of a coast? Surely it can’t be that simple. As a southern transplant, my vote probably goes to the similarities of landscape between the Midwest and the South. When I drive through the rural areas of Illinois, I find myself wondering How is this so different from Arkansas? Maybe it’s all of the cornfields. Do readers not like corn? Whatever the reason, I’m grateful and excited for the recent push that I’ve seen (obviously from you MWG guys) in literary magazines and anthologies. Start the revolution!
How do you feel about social media to promote your writing, and do you use it?
I think it’s an okay and at times necessary way to promote your writing, but it’s all about tone and frequency, in my opinion. I might post once about a forthcoming poem of mine and I always give a strong nod to the publication, too, encouraging friends and followers to read more than just my work. I’m more liberal when I’m promoting my lit mag (Ghost Ocean Magazine), but mostly when I’m posting as the literary entity and not myself. As long as you’re not a spambot, I think it’s understandable.
Favorite book?
Yikes. I don’t know about favorite but the books I return to most, even if just for a moment: Joshua Poteat’s Illustrating the Machine That Makes the World; Zach Schomburg’s Scary, No Scary and The Man Suit; Julia Cohen & Mathias Svalina’s Sugar Means Yes; Blake Butler’s Scorch Atlas; Matthew Rohrer’s A Green Light; Patrick Somerville’s The Universe in Miniature in Miniature; Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind; anything Greying Ghost Press publishes—I’d keep going but I don’t want to overstay my welcome.
Favorite food?
It’s Honeycrisp apple season. I’d be lying if I said anything else tastes better this month. Well, maybe hard cider.
If you could have coffee (or tea or a beer) with any literary figure, alive or dead, who would it be?
Lawrence Ferlinghetti and/or Allen Ginsberg. If it wasn’t for the Beats, I probably would have swallowed one too many sonnets and changed my major to computer science.
Where can we find more information about you?
I just started blogging (again) at www.looklookhere.tumblr.com
I tweet pretty frequently at www.twitter.com/heathercox903
I’m a fiend for Goodreads www.goodreads.com/heathercox903
And you can check out me & my mag at www.ghostoceanmagazine.com
November 29th, 2011 |
Find details for Session #3 here, including a reader list. In the meantime, enjoy the flier for the November session below.
November 19th, 2011 |
Jason Lee Brown’s poems “Chores With My Father” and “Intersection” appear in Midwestern Gothic Issue 3, out now.
How long have you been writing?
I was twenty-four before I believed writing was something I should seriously pursue, which was around the time I surrounded myself with other writers and artists who cared about the same things. For the folks I grew up with, creative writing was not considered a worthy profession to pursue. It wasn’t like folks were putting it down. It just wasn’t considered.
What’s your connection to the Midwest?
I am a lifetime Illinois resident. I earned a Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Eastern Illinois University, where I currently teach writing.
How has the Midwest influenced your writing?
In every way, even when I don’t want it to. I’m not sure I have a choice. So instead of running from it, I embrace it. I strive to be the writer producing the absolute best fiction and poetry set in or about Illinois and the Midwest. When others think Illinois—specifically central Illinois—I want them to think Jason Lee Brown.
Why do you believe there has never really been a regionalist push for Midwestern writing in the past like there has with the South or even the West Coast?
This is a question I have been asked several times and a question I have heard several others answer. I don’t think there is one answer, but I have heard some great and not so great ones. One thing I know for sure is that the quality of writing is here. So, for me, what it comes down to is who cares enough to take the time and effort—for low to no pay—to find projects that support Midwestern writing and writers. I think that’s where the push begins: action by talented Midwest writers and editors.
Though this region is often ignored in discussions about distinctive regional literature, I am trying to change that. My goal—through my writing and editing—is to demonstrate how the quality of fiction from and about the Midwest rivals that of any other region. And apparently you wonderful folks at Midwestern Gothic have the same goals. There are others too, just to name a few: Switchgrass Books, Holy Cow! Press, RockSaw Press, Bottom Dog Press, Midwest Chapbook Series by Green Tower Press, Southern Indiana Review, etc.
When I first tried to find a publisher for New Stories from the Midwest, everyone told me how great of an idea it was. When I got a publisher, everyone told me how great it was that this anthology existed, and that it was long overdue. Now, I tell everyone the same thing. If everyone who has said the anthology is a great idea or glad it now exist buys a copy, then Midwestern literature would instantly rise to the top of regional literature because sales would be through the roof. Also, Midwestern universities and colleges should offer more Midwestern literature courses or regional literature courses that include the Midwest. I think that’s where it ends: supporting Midwest writing. Sometimes sales speak louder than words. I could go on and on but I’ll stop there.
How do you feel about social media to promote your writing, and do you use it?
I think you have to do it in some form. Fighting technology in any field of work doesn’t work. So I use social media but not very well. My biggest problem is the time consumption. When I get off FB, I feel like I’ve wasted writing or reading time that I’ll never get back.
Favorite book?
Green Eggs and Ham. It began the chain of books that captured my attention and eventually led to Lolita. I often get asked what I look for in writing when editing the anthology. I have two criteria for everything I read. It must be emotionally engaging and entertaining in some way. So give me any writing that does that and I’m happy.
Favorite food?
Because I’m an avid amateur baker, I have to go with something I can’t get or reproduce in central Illinois: Japanese cake, chocolate or strawberry. Light moist cake. Fluffy cream icing. Blows away the more sugary American cake.
If you could have coffee (or tea or a beer) with any literary figure, alive or dead, who would it be?
My knee jerk reaction is Twain. But I’m happy talking with any writer, accomplished or beginner, especially if we discuss the process of writing, which I am obsessed with. How do other writers get from A to Z, and can I adapt that to make my writing process better, faster?
Where can we find more information about you?
I don’t have a website or blog but I do have FB. Friend me. Or just email if you have any questions. I enjoy communicating with other writers, especially those fond of Midwestern literature. You can also check out the call for New Stories from the Midwest Cover Art Contest and submissions for individual writers: http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Stories-from-the-Midwest/165574933489340
November 17th, 2011 |
Hey! If you haven’t yet been able to check out Wednesday Night Sessions, the monthly reading series we co-sponsor, Session #3 is not to be missed (coming up on November 30)! We have a solid line-up of readers, and we’re doubly excited to announce that The Collagist is coming on board to sponsor our monthly shindig as well–if you’re not familiar with the journal, you should be. It’s fantastic.
Details of Session #3 (Wednesday, November 30, 7-8 PM) can be found here. For the most up-to-date information, follow Wednesday Night Sessions on Twitter here.
Hope to see you there!
November 12th, 2011 |
J. A. Tyler’s piece “The Second Non-Death Dream // Re-Dreamt” appears in Midwestern Gothic Issue 3, out now.
How long have you been writing?
In the sixth grade I wrote a choose-your-own-adventure book without the choices. It was about a boy and a dog and a castle and a goblin. In 2005, roughly 15 years later, I started submitting my work for publication.
What’s your connection to the Midwest?
I live in Colorado, one of the most beautiful places on earth.
How has the Midwest influenced your writing?
There is an ease and depth to this area that filters through and into my work. My writing is full of pine trees and mountains, rivers and dirt, fields and bowing wheat and the occasional lake, and choked too with weather – sun, winter, rain, falling leaves.
Why do you believe there has never really been a regionalist push for Midwestern writing in the past like there has with the South or even the West Coast?
It may be an issue of population. Or it may be that it is coming, and we should gear up.
How do you feel about social media to promote your writing, and do you use it?
Some days I love it, some days I don’t. But I do use Facebook and Twitter for my own work and that of Mud Luscious Press and its imprints. Tumblr escapes me right now like a tremendous woman who I lust for but who hates me.
Favorite book?
Shit. Perhaps: The Old Man and the Sea. We Make Mud. How the Days of Love & Diphtheria. Scary, No Scary. Catcher in the Rye.
Favorite food?
Coffee. Pesto. Are either of those ‘foods’?
If you could have coffee (or tea or a beer) with any literary figure, alive or dead, who would it be?
Again, shit. Perhaps: Ernest Hemingway (though he’d probably call me names). Peter Markus (I’m sure he thinks I’m a stalker). Kurt Vonnegut (I’d even take up smoking again).
Where can we find more information about you?
www.chokeonthesewords.com
November 9th, 2011 |
Just a friendly reminder that submissions for Issue 4 close this Friday, November 11, at midnight EST.
(Photos are accepted year-round.)
For details on what we’re looking for, click here. To submit directly to us, click here.
November 7th, 2011 |
Adam Schuitema’s short story “Last Year’s Palms” appears in Midwestern Gothic Issue 3, out now.
How long have you been writing?
There have been some false starts here and there, so it’s a little tough to say. I wrote my share of G.I. Joe and Transformers fan fiction as a fifth-grader. I got serious about writing as a junior and senior in high school but then drifted away from it when I first went to college. After graduating with a degree in elementary education I worked a few years in the world of marketing communications. By then the drive to writing had returned and I headed to graduate school. I’ve been writing consistently ever since, for about the last fourteen years.
What’s your connection to the Midwest?
Born and bred. I’ve lived in Michigan my entire life. It hasn’t necessarily been by design all of the time. There have been opportunities to leave, but they were never the best opportunities. I’ve traveled a great deal throughout the States and try to go overseas every year or two. The distance helps—the new perspective—when it comes to writing the Midwest. Hemingway went to Paris to write his Michigan stories. But he never truly returned, and never really wrote about the Midwest again. Which is a shame.
How has the Midwest influenced your writing?
In some ways it’s difficult to say because it’s been ubiquitous in my life. I will say, however, that when I was in my mid-twenties and started getting serious about my writing I started to embrace where I was from and the landscapes surrounding me. Places that had seemed trite when I was younger and dreaming of escape suddenly seemed like unique and worthy settings for the stories that ended up in my book, Freshwater Boys.
Why do you believe there has never really been a regionalist push for Midwestern writing in the past like there has with the South or even the West Coast?
Part of what seems to have prevented the development of a common Midwestern culture and identity has been confusion as to where the Midwest begins and ends. There are actually many Michiganders who don’t think of themselves as Midwesterners. They define themselves by the Great Lakes, and to many of them the Midwest is more synonymous with the Great Plains. But it may also be that, historically, there hasn’t been a significant cultural or historical necessity to think of ourselves as one people. The South is defined by the Civil War. The West is defined by Manifest Destiny. But one good thing that might come out of the “Great Recession” that we’re now in is that Midwestern states are most of the hardest hit. More than just geographically, we’re starting to understand our shared struggles. Perhaps, from all of this economic bleakness, will come some cultural and artistic gains. Actually, I think that’s already happening.
How do you feel about social media to promote your writing, and do you use it?
I embrace it, though I know I’m a long ways from getting the most out of it. I’m on Twitter (@AdamSchuitema), but am always trying to figure out the best ways to utilize it. I’m on Facebook (“Freshwater Boys”). Both are good tools to promote events and reviews and new publications. Had Freshwater Boys come out just a couple of years earlier, I would have lost out on so many potential contacts that the new technologies afford. Instead, I’ve been able to spread the word to old grad school and literary friends who are scattered across the country, and to connect with writers that I’m just now meeting. These tools help writers to have a presence in the writing world, even during those long droughts between publications.
Favorite book?
Toss up: Hemingway’s In Our Time and Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. Both Midwestern classics.
Favorite food?
Some sort of cheese.
If you could have coffee (or tea or a beer) with any literary figure, alive or dead, who would it be?
Though I’ve read and taught Hemingway more than any other writer, I doubt we’d get along. I’d be more interested in speaking with his frenemy, Fitzgerald. (I apologize for writing the word “frenemy”…) I think he’d be eloquent and reflective when discussing both writing and the cultural contexts of his work.
Where can we find more information about you?
www.adamschuitema.com
Twitter: @AdamSchuitema
Facebook: Freshwater Boys
November 4th, 2011 |
We’ve been fortunate enough to take part in ‘The First Year’ series at Portal del Sol, discussing what it takes to get a lit mag off the ground in this day and age.
Our most recent post, “Designing the ePub: When Perfect is the Enemy of Great,” is up now–and you can check it out here.
November 3rd, 2011 |
