Clifford Garstang's Blog, page 8

Library Finds: 1943 World Atlas

Library Finds

I’ve been acquiring books for as long as I can remember (and have only recently begun the process of deacquisitioning). Most I’ve purchased, but others have been given to me as gifts or for the purpose of writing a review. I don’t have any particularly valuable books, but I do have some that are unique and interesting. It is my intention to begin a series of periodic posts about some of these interesting finds on my library shelves.

This one is probably the most unusual book I own: a leather-bound World Atlas with my name on it. But wait, that’s not MY name. It’s the name I shared with my late grandfather, and I inherited this atlas when he died in 50 years ago.

This atlas was published in 1943 by the Rand McNally company. It has two copyrights—1941 and 1943—which suggests that it was updated after its original publication to include changes that had occurred in the early part of WWII. For example, the first map is of the Western War Zone, with the “United Nations” territories highlighted in red. Because the United Nations didn’t exist until 1945, I assume this refers to what we commonly call the Allies. Axis Nations are shown in dark green and countries or territories occupied by the Axis Nations are in light green.

Additional maps show the Middle East, South Pacific, and North Pacific War Zones. The South Pacific map is interesting because it shows most of Southeast Asia and North Asia either as part of the Axis Nations (Japan and Korea, which at that time was a Japanese “colony”) or as occupied by Japan.

In the map of Central America, modern Belize is called British Honduras. I had no idea. (And I now know that it didn’t obtain full independence until 1981.)

The map of Central Europe is complicated. The Baltic Republics don’t exist. Poland covers some of the territory that is now part of Belarus and Ukraine. Germany covers all of what is now Austria, Czechia and Slovakia.

The map of “Turkey, Syria, and Iraq” is also interesting. No Israel exists yet and both Palestine and Trans-Jordan are part of the British Mandate. The most unrecognizable map belongs to Africa, divided among the various European powers.

The binding of the atlas is fragile and I doubt the book has much value, but it certainly is a curiosity!

Year Out, Year In

Out with the old, in with the new

Although COVID-19 is still with us, 2023 saw a return to almost normal. I went to plays and concerts, I ate in restaurants, I spent a few weeks in Europe, and I wrote for three weeks at an arts residency. Pretty normal.

And what did I accomplish this year? At the end of last year, I evaluated my progress toward the previous year’s goals and set a few new ones. You can read about those here.

The biggest accomplishment of the year was that I found a publisher for my new novel and spent a lot of time getting the manuscript ready for publication. The Last Bird of Paradise will be published on February 22, 2024. It’s currently available for pre-order from the publisher (and on the usual online bookseller sites).

One of my goals for the year was to work on a new novel. Early in the year, I was actually working on two, one of which I decided to set aside. The other project is moving forward and is very different from anything I’ve done before. That’s about all I can say about it at this point, although I am enjoying working on it for now.

I also wanted to finally turn my attention to personal essays, but the only movement I made in that direction was to read a few collections of essays. Maybe next year will be the year. (I said that last year.)

Some other accomplishments:

I wrote a post in which I celebrated my 70th birthday by looking back at where I was at ten-year intervals. Some people found that interesting, and I did too. Nothing like a little self-reflection at significant moments of your life. (Maybe I did write a personal essay, come to think of it.)I posted the annual update of my Literary Magazine Rankings. This is something a lot of people appreciate as an aid to submitting their work to literary magazines. It takes a good deal of time, but I’m happy to provide it to the writing community.The audiobook version of my novel Oliver’s Travels came out. I didn’t have much to do with that other than approve the selection of the voice actor who did the narration.I did some book reviews and also provided blurbs for several new books.I converted my newsletter into a Substack with a bit more focus on writing. You can see past issues and subscribe for free here.

Plus, I have goals for the new year, of course:

The new book is coming out, but I need to do my best to spread the word. Keep an eye on my Events page for news of in-person and online appearances.I intend to finish a draft of my next book. It’s a short one, I think, so this should be doable. Famous last words.I’m definitely going to try my hand at a personal essay and see if I can get it published.I’ve written some poems I like and I plan to start sending them out to magazines.I’m going to be doing a bit of teaching, something I haven’t been doing much of lately.I’ll most likely make another trip (or two) abroad. Where should I go?

Finally, it was another good year in reading, although I just barely made my goal of reading 60 books for the year. There are so many wonderful books, including dozens in piles on the floor of my office, so I need to do better!

Happy New Year!

2023 Reading–December

That’s a wrap on my reading journal for this year. I’ve logged only 60 books this year, fewer than any year in recent memory.

The Supermajority by Michael Waldman

The Supermajority: The Year the Supreme Court Divided America by Michael Waldman is a frightening book. Waldman, who directs the Brennan Center for Justice, looks back at the history of SCOTUS and how their function has evolved over time. The scary part is how in recent years the court has taken on much more of a political overtone with a tendency to abandon precedent (the principle of stare decisis) in favor of reinterpretations of the constitution with a political perspective. This has led to the conservative majority making wildly unpopular decisions overturning decades of social progress and threatening to do even more damage in the coming years. Terrific book.

Shadow Dance by Martin Ott

Shadow Dance by Martin Ott. Here is the blurb I provided for this book, which was published in December: Martin Ott’s Shadow Dance is the perfect L.A. Noir novel for our times, with a little of everything—romance, drugs, filmmaking, PTSD, twisted families, repressed memories, and mysterious disappearances—all set in a sketchy strip club in Little Persia on L.A.’s West Side. Ott’s Buddy Rivet is a deeply flawed character, a hard-luck Army vet, who readers will root for, a soulful guy who wants to save the world but isn’t sure he can save himself. This book is L.A. Confidential meets The Family Fang, with all the deception and double-cross of a terrific crime story, told in breathless, blunt-force-trauma prose.   

Indigo Field by Marjorie Hudson

Indigo Field by Marjorie Hudson is a sprawling novel about addressing past injustices. It’s more than that, though. It’s also about redemption and healing old wounds. To some extent, the story is about Rand, a retired Army Colonel who isn’t happy living in a North Carolina retirement community with his wife, Anne. Their daughter lives far away and their son has yet to live up to the expectations Rand has for him. Their lives begin to intersect with the local community—descendants of native and formerly enslaved populations—with the sorts of conflicts you would expect. For one thing, the son is interested in archaeology and finds work on a site studying an old native burial ground, which raises ethical questions and also dredges up a past that some would like to leave buried. One of the most charming aspects of the story is the presence of TJ, the son of a man who killed the black woman he was living with and who was something of a mother to TJ. When the father is sent to jail, TJ is fostered by Ruby, an older Black woman who is the aunt of the murdered girl. TJ is a good kid who still manages to get into mischief, but Ruby does her best to keep him on the right path. A lot is going on in this book, but it’s an enjoyable read.

It’s Getting Dark by Peter Stamm

It’s Getting Dark by Peter Stamm, translated by Michael Hofmann: I admire these stories and the odd sensibility they represent. What connects them is a quirk in most of the stories that pivots on the unreal–almost but not quite magical realism. Having recently read the author’s novel The Sweet Indifference of the World, I have the sense that this is something of a hallmark of his work. (And let me just add some applause to Other Press for bringing such fine translated work to a US audience.)

2024 Literary Magazine Ranking–Poetry

Below is the 2024 Literary Magazine Ranking for Poetry. To understand the Rationale, Methodology, and Calculation for the Rankings, please go here.

Note that every effort has been made to verify the website links, but magazines do sometimes change their web addresses and occasionally you will encounter a broken or incorrect link. If that happens, please let me know by emailing info@cliffordgarstang.com.

If you find these rankings useful, please consider supporting this website by making a or by purchasing one or more of my books.

2024 Literary Magazine Ranking for Poetry

Note the following:

© means that the magazine/press is closed

(H) means that the magazine/press is on hiatus

(?) means that it’s unclear what’s going on with the magazine/press

2024 RankMagazine2023 Rank2024 Score1American Poetry Review2692Poetry1623Kenyon Review3494Threepenny Review5385Poem-a-Day4366New England Review629.57Paris Review728.58Southern Review825.59Ploughshares1719.510Yale Review131911Smartish Pace918.512Agni661712Beloit Poetry Journal101712Rattle151715Copper Nickel1016.515Georgia Review1016.517Adroit Journal261618New Ohio Review331419Alice James Books411219Iowa Review581219Manhattan Review181219Sun161223Ecotone2611.523Gettysburg Review ©1411.525Foglifter231126Birmingham Poetry Review2310.527Alaska Quarterly Review281027BkMk Press281027Four Way Books721027Glacier, The1031Blackbird289.531Michigan Quarterly Review319.533Florida Review36934Conduit418.534Copper Canyon Press208.534Image1228.534Pleiades238.538Five Points36838Palette Poetry36838The Journal66841American Journal of Poetry ©417.541Boston Review417.541Gulf Coast417.541Lana Turner417.541Massachusetts Review417.541Quarterly West1387.541Rhino417.541Salmagundi417.549Common, The52749Virginia Quarterly Review31751Hudson Review206.551Poetry Northwest206.551Tin House ©556.554Boomerlitmag58654Cincinnati Review18654Consequence194654Court Green (?)58654Four Way Review58654Prairie Schooner58654Spillway34654Swamp Pink (fka Crazyhorse)182654Willow Springs34654World Literature Today55654Zephyr Press182665American Scholar665.565Hobart665.565Shenandoah665.568Arkansas Review72568artangel72568Ashland Poetry Press72568Bare Life Review (H)72568Bloomsday Literary72568Boulevard72568Chicago Quarterly Review72568Circling Rivers Press568Clarion Magazine72568Clover ©72568Dialogos Books568Field ©36568Fjords Review72568Glassworks568Gordon Square Review72568Grain Magazine72568Heart Poems72568Here: A Poetry Journal72568Hole in the Head Review72568Iamb72568Indianapolis Review72568James Dickey Review72568jubilat ©72568Ligeia Magazine72568Light568Lost Horse Press568Love’s Executive Order (?)72568Manoa72568Moon Tide Press568Orion41568Parentheses Journal568Pirene’s Fountain72568Reed Magazine72568River Heron Review568Saginaw72568Salt Hill Journal568Sidereal72568Slipstream72568St. Bridgid Press72568Stonecoast Review72568Sundog Lit568Terminus72568This Broken Shore (?)72568Torch Literary Arts568Tupelo Press72568Turtle Point Press72568Two Sylvias Press72568Twyckenham Notes72568Vallum: Contemporary Poetry41568Washington Square Review72568Waxwing Literary Journal725119Plume524.5119Southern Indiana Review584.5119ZYZZYVA524.5122Arroyo Literary Review553.5122Bennington Review1383.5122Literary Imagination583.5122Ninth Letter583.5122Sugar House Review723.5122Tar River1213.5122Tiger Bark Press1223.5122Volta ©1223.5130Awl ©1293130Codex (?)1293130Missouri Review1293130Narrative1793130Nepantla (?)1293130Prelude1293130Sixth Finch1293130Southeast Review663130Tahoma Literary Review1293130White Pine Press1223140Abstract Magazine TV722.5140Account1382.5140Bettering American Poetry (?)722.5140Brick1382.5140Butcher’s Dog1382.5140Cave Wall1382.5140Constellations1382.5140Crab Orchard Review (?)1382.5140Foundry (H)1382.5140Granta1382.5140Graywolf Press1382.5140Greensboro Review1382.5140Hawaii Pacific Review1382.5140Hopkins Review1382.5140I-70 Review1382.5140Kweli Journal722.5140Lake Effect1382.5140LitMag722.5140Little Star1292.5140LSU Press1382.5140Malahat Review1382.5140Moonpie Press1382.5140Nerve Cowboy ©1382.5140New Criterion722.5140New Orleans Review1382.5140Nimrod722.5140Prism1382.5140Purple Passion Press1382.5140Saturnalia Books722.5140Seneca Review722.5140Shade Journal722.5140Storm Cellar1382.5140Summerset Review1382.5140Sycamore Review ©1382.5140TAB-Journal1382.5140Thrush1382.5140Tipton Poetry Journal1382.5140Tule Review1382.5140Wordtemple Press722.5179Iron Horse Literary Review1792179Salamander1292181Colorado Review1821.5181Grub Street1821.5181Indiana Review1821.5181MIZNA1821.5181River Styx1821.51863: A Taos Press1186A Public Space1821186Adirondack Review (?)1941186Airlie Press1821186Bamboo Ridge Press1941186Broadsided Press1941186Cherry Tree Magazine1941186Columbia Review1941186Cortland Review1186Cultural Daily1186Delta Poetry Review1941186Denver Quarterly1221186Empty Bowl1186Gertrude ©1941186Glass, A Journal of Poetry ©1941186Good Life Review1941186Grayson Books1186Guernica1186Halcyone1941186Honey Literary1186Hong Kong Review1941186Ibbetson Street Press1221186Ilanot Review1186Inverted Syntax1186June Road Press1186Lascaux Review1186Leon Literary Review1941186Los Angeles Jewish Journal1941186Matter1941186Mercer Univ. Press1941186Mississippi Review2391186Modern Haiku1186New Letters1821186New Poetry in Translation (?)1941186New South1791186Orange Blossom Review1186Pangyrus1941186Pembroke Magazine1941186Persea Books1821186Pitt Poetry Series1941186Portland Review1941186Quarry, The1941186Radar Poetry1941186Red Wheelbarrow1186River Mouth Review1186Roadrunner Review1941186Rust and Moth1186Sheila-Na-Gig1941186Sixteen Rivers1941186Split Lip1941186Sundress Publications1186Terrain1941186Third Coast1941186Trio House Press1941186Upstreet ©1941186Valley Voices1941186Verse Daily1941186Vox Populi1941186West Branch1186Wordfarm1941246Academy of American Poets2390.5246Bauhan Publshing1940.5246Believer2390.5246Birdfeast ©1940.5246Black Warrior Review2390.5246Bloom ©2390.5246BOA Editions2390.5246Chinquapin Literary Magazine2390.5246Chiron Review2390.5246Cimarron Review2390.5246Cleveland State Univ. Poetry Ctr.2390.5246Clockhouse2390.5246Construction (?)2390.5246Cossack Review (?)2390.5246Cutbank1940.5246Enizagam (?)2390.5246Epoch2390.5246Exit 72390.5246Great Weather for Media1940.5246Gulf Stream1940.5246Gun Powder Press2390.5246Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review2390.5246Heart ©2390.5246Hotel Amerika1940.5246Hunger Mountain1220.5246Jai-Alai (?)2390.5246Lake, The2390.5246Little Patuxent Review1940.5246Louisiana Literature2390.5246McNeese Review2390.5246Meadow, The2390.5246North American Review2390.5246Offing2390.5246OmniVerse2390.5246One Throne (H)2390.5246Paris American2390.5246Pluck (?)2390.5246Poet Lore1820.5246Poetry South1940.5246Porkbelly Press2390.5246QWERTY2390.5246Radius (?)2390.5246Raleigh Review2390.5246Rove ©2390.5246Rumpus2390.5246Saranac Review2390.5246Scablands Books (?)1940.5246Solstice2390.5246Springhouse (?)2390.5246Tupelo Quarterly2390.5246Upstairs at Duroc2390.5246Yarn ©2390.5246Zone 31940.5

2024 Literary Magazine Ranking–Nonfiction

Below is the 2024 Literary Magazine Ranking for Nonfiction. To understand the Rationale, Methodology, and Calculation for the Rankings, please go here.

Note that every effort has been made to verify the website links, but magazines do sometimes change their web addresses and occasionally you will encounter a broken or incorrect link. If that happens, please let me know by emailing info@cliffordgarstang.com.

If you find these rankings useful, please consider supporting this website by making a or by purchasing one or more of my books.

2024 Literary Magazine Ranking for Nonfiction

Note the following:

© means that the magazine/press is closed

(H) means that the magazine/press is on hiatus

(?) means that it’s unclear what’s going on with the magazine/press

2024 RankMagazine2023 Rank2024 Score1Sun1432Georgia Review242.53Granta336.54Orion427.55Gettysburg Review ©20235Threepenny Review12237Creative Nonfiction (H)720.58Agni819.59Kenyon Review18199Ploughshares5199River Teeth11199Salmagundi61913n+11418.513Narrative918.513New England Review1518.516Fourth Genre1017.517Virginia Quarterly Review1616.517Tin House ©1215.519Chicago Quarterly Review441519Sewanee Review171521Longreads301321Paris Review231321Pinch221324Point, The1812.525American Scholar261226Brevity2310.527Yale Review279.528New Letters23928Oxford American21930Ecotone288.531Conjunctions316.531Terrain.org346.533Emergence Magazine34633McSweeney’s31633Reed Magazine34636Antioch Review315.536Caught by the River345.536Colorado Review415.536Consequence345.536Iowa Review295.536Tikkun1435.536Transition955.536True Story (?)415.544Harvard Advocate44544Awanadjo Almanack (WERU)544Ninth Letter52544Sarabande Books544World Literature Today49549About Place Journal344.549Bennington Review344.549Hedgehog Review494.549Hudson Review414.553Common Reader57454Baffler863.554Missouri Review473.554New Orleans Review643.554Southampton Review523.558Alaska Quarterly Review73358Electric Literature57358Mississippi Review73358Raritan52358Southern Review57358War, Literature and The Arts57364Another Chicago Magazine572.564Bat City442.564Common, The642.564Fourth River642.564Gigantic642.564Massachusetts Review862.564Prairie Schooner642.564Radio Silence ©642.564River Teeth [moved from poetry]2.564Swamp Pink (fka Crazyhorse)732.564TriQuarterly642.575Arrowsmith73275Bellevue Literary Review95275Big Roundtable (?)73275Boston Review73275Broad Street ©73275Guernica73275Gulf Coast73275Hopkins Review86275Pleiades73284Believer491.584Bomb861.584Boulevard471.584Image571.584Michigan Quarterly Review731.584New Ohio Review1431.584Normal School731.584Oregon Humanities1431.584Water-Stone Review731.584Willow Springs861.584Witness861.584ZYZZYVA641.596A Public Space95196Baltimore Review95196Black Warrior Review95196Blackbird52196Blast95196Book Post95196Brain, Child ©95196Briar Cliff Review ©95196Brick86196Brink95196Catapult ©86196Chattahoochee Review ©95196Chautauqua86196Cincinnati Review95196Columbia Journal95196Copper Nickel95196Free State Review196Harvard Review95196High Desert Journal ©95196Hong Kong Review95196Kelsey Review196Manoa95196New Rivers Press ©95196Nowhere Magazine95196O-Dark-Thirty95196Offing95196Pen America95196Pidgeonholes95196Potomac Review95196Prism95196Red Hen Press95196Rumpus95196Shenandoah143196Southern Indiana Review95196Speak95196StoryQuarterly95196Turtle Point Press95196War Horse95196West Branch951135American Athenaeum (?)950.5135American Chordata1430.5135Barrelhouse1430.5135Catamaran1430.5135Chicago Review1430.5135Crab Orchard Review (?)950.5135Delmarva Review1430.5135Denver Quarterly950.5135Epiphany1430.5135Epoch1430.5135Fifth Wednesday ©1430.5135Five Points1430.5135Heyday Books1430.5135Hunger Mountain570.5135Kitchen Work950.5135Milkweed Editions – Press950.5135Mount Hope950.5135Natural Bridge1430.5135Pacific Standard950.5135Passages North950.5135Provincetown Arts1430.5135Redivider950.5135Room950.5135Ruminate ©520.5135Santa Monica Review1430.5135Slice (?)1430.5135Southwest Review950.5135Sweet950.5135Tahoma Literary Review950.5135Tavern Books1430.5135Third Coast950.5135Timberline Review1430.5135Under the Sun1430.5135Wilson Quarterly1430.5135Zone 31430.5

2024 Literary Magazine Ranking–Fiction

Below is the 2024 Literary Magazine Ranking for Fiction. To understand the Rationale, Methodology, and Calculation for the Rankings, please go here.

Note that every effort has been made to verify the website links, but magazines do sometimes change their web addresses and occasionally you will encounter a broken or incorrect link. If that happens, please let me know by emailing info@cliffordgarstang.com.

If you find these rankings useful, please consider supporting this website by making a or by purchasing one or more of my books.

2024 Literary Magazine Ranking for Fiction

Note the following:

© means that the magazine/press is closed

(H) means that the magazine/press is on hiatus

(?) means that it’s unclear what’s going on with the magazine/press

2024 RankMagazine2023 Rank2024 Score1Paris Review1572Conjunctions3532Ploughshares2534Zoetrope: All Story544.55One Story443.56Narrative6387Threepenny Review936.58Southern Review835.59Missouri Review113410Noon733.511Kenyon Review193012New England Review1629.513Virginia Quarterly Review272914Sun102715Idaho Review172515Yale Review172517Gettysburg Review ©122418McSweeney’s1323.519American Short Fiction152220Tin House ©1321.521Cincinnati Review202122Sewanee Review2320.523Iowa Review202024ZYZZYVA241925Granta2217.526Wigleaf2916.527Ecotone Magazine251628Bomb6715.528Santa Monica Review3215.530Georgia Review311530Glimmer Train ©261532Bellevue Literary Review271433Colorado Review481334Agni2912.534Hudson Review3512.535Copper Nickel341236A Public Space3511.537New Orleans Review331137Story421139Boulevard481039Image371039Oxford American421042Common, The458.542Epoch418.544Bennington Review44844Chicago Quarterly48846Jewish Fiction113746n+145746Pinch45746Pleiades37746Southampton Review (?)37746Swamp Pink (fka Crazyhorse)53746Witness53754Mississippi Review486.554New Letters376.556Harvard Review485.556Post Road555.558Egress ©58558Fractured Lit58558Harvard Advocate58558Hysterical Rag ©58558Leapfrog Press58558Paper Darts ©58558Pushcart Press564Five Points674.564Ninth Letter674.566Electric Literature58466Michigan Quarterly Review70466Raritan55470Epiphany723.570New Ohio Review803.570Prairie Schooner703.570Ruminate ©723.570Sarabande Books803.575Catapult ©55375Juked76375New Madrid (H)76375Shenandoah76379Alaska Quarterly Review762.579Arts & Letters892.579Catamaran962.579Hopkins Review962.579Notre Dame Review722.579Prime Number Magazine582.579Salmagundi802.579Southern Indiana Review582.579Stillhouse Press802.579West Branch802.589Another Chicago Magazine113289Antioch Review80289One Teen Story80289River Styx80289Southwest Review72289Terrain89295American Scholar961.595Black Lawrence Press1131.595Blackbird891.595Brick961.595Brooklyn Rail961.595Chattahoochee Review ©961.595Chautauqua1691.595Chicago Review961.595Cleaver961.595Grist891.595Joyland961.595Pembroke Magazine961.595StoryQuarterly961.5108About Place Journal1131108As You Were1108Autumn House Press1131108Bat City1131108Berkeley Fiction Review1131108BkMk Press961108Black Clock ©1131108Black Warrior Review891108Broadkill Review1131108Cimarron Review1131108Consequence Magazine801108Crab Orchard Review (?)1131108December1131108Drift, The1108Exile1131108FC21131108Fiction961108Grand Journal1131108Green Mountains Review961108Greensboro Review1131108Gulf Coast1131108Healing Muse1131108Iron Horse Literary Review1108J Journal1131108Lake Effect1131108Laurel Review1131108Leaf Litter (?)1131108Little Star1131108Massachusetts Review1131108Meridian1131108Nimrod1131108Orion1131108Outlook Springs1131108Oxford Magazine1108Oyster River Pages1108Per Contra (?)1131108Prism1131108Puerto del Sol961108Quarterly West1131108Quiddity1131108Redivider1131108Reed Magazine1131108Reservoir Journal (?)1131108Rumpus1131108Rupture (fka The Collagist) ©961108Salamander1131108Scoundrel Time1131108Shade Mountain Press1131108Smoke Long Quarterly1108Third Coast891108Upstreet ©1131108Willow Springs1131108Worcester Review1131108Woven Tale Press1131108Zone 3891163African American Review1690.5163Akashic Books1690.5163Baffler, The1130.5163Baltimore Review1690.5163Barrelhouse1690.5163Beloit Fiction Journal1690.5163Blue Fountain (?)1130.5163Broadkill River Press1690.5163Chapter House (fka Mud City)1690.5163Cola (fkaYemassee)1690.5163Confrontation1690.5163Cutbank1690.5163Dr. T.J. Eckleburg Review1690.5163East (?)1690.5163Elm Leaves/ELJ1690.5163failbetter.com1690.5163Fiction International1690.5163Fifth Wednesday ©1690.5163Fjords1690.5163Four Way Books1690.5163Gascony Writers Anthology (?)1690.5163Gigantic (?)1690.5163Glossolalia1690.5163Graywolf Press1690.5163Hunger Mountain1690.5163Indiana Review1130.5163Kweli1130.5163Literal Latte (H)1130.5163Literary Review (?)1690.5163Litmag1130.5163Lumina (?)1690.5163Malahat Review1690.5163Memorious1690.5163Mid American Review1690.5163Midwestern Gothic ©1690.5163Minnesota Review960.5163Moon City1690.5163Mythium ©1690.5163Natural Bridge1690.5163New Delta Review1130.5163Obsidian1690.5163Potomac Review1130.5163Provincetown Arts1690.5163Pulp Literature1130.5163Salt Hill1130.5163Seneca Review1690.5163Sixfold1690.5163Sonora Review1690.5163Spectacle1690.5163Texas Review Press1690.5163Transition1690.5163Tweed’s (?)1690.5163Vassar Review1130.5163Water-Stone Review1130.5163Western Humanities Review1130.5163World Literature Today1690.5

2024 Literary Magazine Rankings–Overview

It is time once again for the annual Literary Magazine Rankings for Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. As explained in more detail below, these rankings are based solely on the number of Pushcart Prizes and Pushcart Special Mentions the magazines have received over the past ten years. They are intended as a guide for determining where writers might submit their work for publication.

If you find these rankings useful, please consider supporting this website by making a or by purchasing one or more of my books.

2024 Literary Magazine Ranking for Fiction

2024 Literary Magazine Ranking for Nonfiction

2024 Literary Magazine Ranking for Poetry

Rationale. When I first started submitting my short stories to literary magazines, I didn’t know what I was doing. I was aware that some magazines were more prestigious than others, but I didn’t have a way of evaluating prestige. I subscribed to several (and still do) but choosing where to submit my work was often hit-or-miss until I started tiering. I didn’t invent the idea of tiering submissions, but when I learned of it, I thought it made great sense for me.

Tiering is an aid to simultaneous submissions that groups the best magazines together in the top tier, somewhat less prestigious magazines in the next tier, and so on. It is advisable to submit work to the top tier first, or at any rate within the same tier, so that an acceptance by one, which requires withdrawal from the others, won’t be painful. (If you get an acceptance from a lower-tier magazine while you’re still waiting to hear from a higher-tier magazine, that could lead to a difficult withdrawal. Withdrawal is ethically required, but what if the higher-tier magazine was about to accept the piece?) So, I decided to rank literary magazines—first in fiction, because that’s what I was writing, but later in poetry and nonfiction because many people requested that—to help me decide where to submit. In theory, I would aim toward the top of the list and work my way down until someone finally accepted my story.

Methodology. To create the rankings, I considered looking at the various annual anthologies (Best American Short Stories, O. Henry, and Pushcart) to see what the editors of those volumes considered the best magazines to be. Ultimately, for several reasons, I settled on using only the annual Pushcart Prize anthology. For one thing, it excluded the “slicks”—magazines like The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and Harpers—whose prestige is well-known. Those markets are really in a category by themselves, and writers should definitely submit to them if they deem their work suitable for publication in these elite magazines. For another, consideration for inclusion in the Pushcart Prize anthology seemed somewhat more democratic, or at least transparent, than the other options. Although there are Editors-at-Large who nominate for the anthology, every magazine has the opportunity to do so as well, so the Pushcart editors see thousands of entries and can pick from work that has appeared in hundreds of different journals, both in print and online. Finally, when I began ranking poetry and nonfiction magazines, too, it was fortuitous that the Pushcart Prize anthology included those genres. Otherwise, I’d have had to look at separate volumes for each genre and I still preferred the relative fairness of the Pushcart approach. It should be noted that the Pushcart editors have been slow to recognize the quality of online literature, but that has been changing, and quite a few of the honored pieces were first published only in digital form.

Calculations. I decided from the beginning to use a ten-year rolling formula to determine the rankings. It seemed to me that reputations aren’t won or lost in one year, and that the best magazines, the markets where I’d really like to be published, are the ones that have been around awhile and have really established themselves. So, I created a formula that used a fixed-point value for each Pushcart Prize won in each of the ten years and a smaller number of points for each special mention (those are the stories listed at the back of the book as also being worthy of note). The formula adds up all the points and ranks the magazines based on the total. (The total number of points is shown in the far-right column of the ranking.) Several years ago, I adjusted the formula so that prizes and special mentions earned in the last five years are weighted more heavily than those from the first five years of the period. The intention of this adjustment was to recognize the fact that in the digital age, magazines may emerge and be deserving of accolades more quickly than was the case in the past. So, a Pushcart Prize won today gets more points than one earned six years ago. Note, too, that the rankings are as objective as I can make them. The editors of the nominating journals and of the Pushcart Press are exercising their judgment, of course, but I’m just going by the numbers. My rankings don’t take into account how much the magazines pay, or whether they charge for submissions, or how long it takes them to respond. Different writers feel differently about those factors, and so I don’t want to impose my judgment in place of theirs. For a different ranking approach, check out Erika Krause’s Rankings.

Frequently Asked Questions

XYZ Magazine is Closed, so why is it included in the rankings? When I am certain that a magazine has closed, I will include the symbol © next to its name. I think it’s useful for historical purposes to note that, for example, Tin House, was a fine magazine until it shut its doors. Also, some closed magazines still have their archives online or other useful information, so I’ve included links to their websites, even though they’re no longer open for submissions.

What do the other symbols mean? Quite a few magazines decide to take a break from publishing (the pandemic seems to have had that effect on several) but not to shut down entirely. They may say that they are on pause or on hiatus. When I know about it, I’ll mark the magazine with (H). Other magazines have broken website links or websites that haven’t been updated in some time, suggesting that they may have closed. But if don’t know that for sure, I don’t want to declare their death prematurely, so I’ll mark the entry with (?).

It’s a ranking of literary magazines, so why are there some small presses included? Good question. Technically, the Pushcart Prize recognizes the “best of the small presses,” and so stories, essays, or poems published in collections from independent presses frequently win prizes or special mentions, landing them in the mix for the rankings. I think it’s useful to include them in order to draw them to the attention of writers who may be looking for places to submit whole collections.

This endeavor seems like a lot of work. What do you get out of it? As I noted above, I created the first rankings many years ago when I needed guidance on where to submit work. When I started sharing the rankings, the feedback I heard from many people was that the rankings were very useful. I’m happy to provide this service and if people want to make a donation (or buy one or more of my books) to support it, that’s much appreciated.

Point of View: Who is telling the story and to whom?

Years ago, I participated in a writing workshop with Russell Banks, the late, great novelist (Rule of the Bone and, most recently, The Magic Kingdom). It was at a wonderful small conference called Under the Volcano in Tepoztlan, Mexico, that is still going strong. Our small group working with Banks was magical, and I’m still in touch with some of the writers in that group.

I learned a lot from Russell, but there’s one lesson that sticks with me, although it’s one that I don’t think I’ve successfully put into practice yet, at least not in a novel.

All writers know about Point of View. It’s a fundamental decision an author has to make. Who is telling the story? Am I going to use the first person, in which case the narrator is speaking about themselves (even if they are observing what is happening to someone else, like Nick in The Great Gatsby)? Or am I going to use the third person, in which case the narrator is speaking about someone else (even if that narrator is privy to the innermost thoughts of the main character)? Or am I going to use one of the many variations of these options, including the omniscient point of view, or shifting points of view, or even the second person? The possibilities are nearly endless.

The complementary decision that Banks talked about, however, is not often discussed. In addition to deciding who is telling the story and from what point of view, shouldn’t we also care about to whom the story is being told? Or are we assuming that the narrator is simply addressing an unknown future reader, which can seem artificial and unnatural?

Banks said he sometimes imagined two brothers lying in their bunk beds at night with one of them telling the other a story. This choice of an auditor will have an impact on what information the narrator includes in the telling and even the language he uses. The scenario Banks suggested is a particularly intimate one and is appealing for that reason, but one can imagine other relationships between story-teller and auditor that might result in language that is more formal and distant.

This lesson came to mind recently as I read Ann Patchett’s new novel, Tom Lake. The first-person narrator and main character of the novel is Lara Nelson, a woman who is isolating during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic at her family’s cherry orchard in Northern Michigan along with her husband and their three daughters. Because many of their seasonal workers have been unable to come to work the cherry harvest, the girls are (willingly and somewhat cheerfully) pressed into service picking cherries along with Lara. While they pick—over the course of many days—Lara tells the girls the story of her life: how she came to take the part of Emily in a high school production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” in New Hampshire, which led to taking the same part in a college production, which led to her being cast in a Hollywood movie, and ultimately to yet another production of “Our Town” in a summer stock theater in Michigan. It was during the summer stock production that she had a torrid affair with an actor who eventually became very famous and is the reason Lara is telling her daughters this story.

The present action isn’t terribly important to the dramatic arc of the story (except in the way it reveals the family dynamics and then ultimately leads to a resolution of the novel). What is important, though, is what details Lara chooses to tell her daughters about the famous actor and their relationship. She doesn’t tell them everything, although eventually, she reflects on these omissions, so the reader isn’t left in the dark as the girls are. Also, she’s talking to her daughters, so the language she uses about an affair that was intensely sexual is more sanitized than it might be if she were telling the story to a friend or, say, a tape recorder (a device I used in my first novel).

Another factor that makes this structure successful is that Lara is telling the girls the story of her life while they are otherwise engaged in an action. They’re picking cherries or they’re making dinner, or they’re watching a movie together (one that features the famous actor, giving them a reason to pause the movie to talk about him). This makes the telling seem perfectly natural and unforced.

The book is an excellent lesson in how to build a structure that leads organically to choices that affect both the pacing and the diction of a novel.

I’m currently at a writing residency in Virginia working on a new project (about which I’ll have more to say in a future), but I’ll leave you with this image I snapped this week.

Sunset at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts

I’ve Got Questions for Martin Ott

Editor’s Note: This exchange is part of a series of brief interviews with emerging writers of recent or forthcoming books. If you enjoyed it, please visit other interviews in the I’ve Got Questions feature.

Shadow Dance by Martin OttWhat’s the title of your book? Fiction? Nonfiction? Poetry? Who is the publisher and what’s the publication date?

Shadow Dance, Novel (Fiction), Regal House Publishing, December 4, 2023

In a couple of sentences, what’s the book about?

A young soldier goes AWOL after experiencing the horrors of guarding prisoners of war during two tours in Afghanistan and disappears in the nightlife of Los Angeles, where he becomes entwined with the dysfunctional and deadly family drama of an Iranian strip club owner, working as a bouncer, trying to discover who he is this world of false names and lost dreams.

What’s the book’s genre (for fiction and nonfiction) or primary style (for poetry)?

Thriller, Urban Noir, Literary

What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about the book so far?

“With more plot twists than an Oklahoma tornado [and] a roster of interesting characters…Shadow Dance by Martin Ott will have a very special appeal to readers with an interest in military and crime suspense thriller fiction.” – Midwest Book Review

What book or books is yours comparable to or a cross between? [Is your book like Moby Dick or maybe it’s more like Frankenstein meets Peter Pan?]

Shadow Dance follows in the footsteps of novels that portray life for vets returning home such as Yellow Birds and Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk with a touch of urban noir as in the film LA Confidential.

Why this book? Why now?

The war in Afghanistan, as well as our involvement in conflicts are the globe, is not something to sweep under the rug. These military engagements have deep ramifications for our soldiers and our responsibilities to the citizens in other nations.

Other than writing this book, what’s the best job you’ve ever had?

Running my own copywriting business for more than 5 years – it was great to pick my projects and clients, and to be able to arrange work-life balance with my creative writing.

What do you want readers to take away from the book?

I will never forget the people I met in the military who were on the run: from poverty, from risks of violence, from drug use, from brushes with the law. These souls end up in the nooks and crannies of our lives, like West and the dancers in the gentleman’s club in Shadow Dance. Their stories are intense, compelling, and almost never get told as far too many of them disappear in the shadows. 

What food and/or music do you associate with the book?

I can’t help thinking about the Cajun food from Louisiana, where West lived as a child, and how the scents and smells, along with memory of the jazz and rock from that time period kept surfacing in my mind as I wrote Shadow Dance.

What book(s) are you reading currently?

Wayward Pines by Blake Crouch. I have been reading speculative fiction nearly exclusively as I finish the draft to my novel-in-progress Future 2.0, that I am developing with the help of my agent.

Martin Ott

Learn more about Martin at his website.

Follow him on Twitter.

Buy the book from the publisher (Regal House Publishing) or Bookshop.org.

2023 Reading–November

America Fantastica by Tim O’Brien

America Fantastica by Tim O’Brien is unlike anything else I’ve read by this master. Satire in the style of Pynchon, the novel is about “mythomania”, the pandemic of lying that has infected the United States (eventually impeding efforts to combat another pandemic, Covid-19). The main character, Boyd Halverson, is a liar (in an attempt to escape his family), inventing numerous false accomplishments that embellish his resume as a journalist. When he is exposed by his father-in-law, a corrupt capitalist who fears that Boyd will cause trouble for him, his life is ruined. But that’s just the set-up. What follows is a crazy road trip in which Boyd is determined to exact revenge of sorts, and a large cast of other nutjobs weave in and out of his efforts. The book is crazy, and I worried that it wouldn’t hold together, but it does. In many places, it’s hilariously funny, but it’s also addressing a serious problem—the lies that Trump and others tell us, the whacko conspiracy theories that Q-Anon spreads, the disinformation we hear from some in the media. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Picasso’s War: How Modern Art Came to America by Hugh Eakin

Picasso’s War: How Modern Art Came to America by Hugh Eakin is seriously one of the best books I’ve ever read (although I listened to the audiobook). What a fascinating story, in which Picasso and other 20th Century artists benefitted from two champions. First, a New York lawyer named John Quinn was convinced that contemporary European art needed an American audience. He built his own collection, overfilling his Manhattan apartment, and arranged shows. He made some attempts to create a museum of modern art, but without success. After his death, although his collection was disbursed, other art patrons did create the Museum of Modern Art and hired as its director a very young man, Alfred Barr, who had seen one of Quinn’s exhibitions and was similarly convinced of the movement’s importance. While the book is focused on their efforts to bring Picasso’s work to America, they aided many other artists throughout the first half of the century. It’s an amazing, gripping story.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett is a pleasant enough read, although from the title you might think it’s about a person named Tom Lake. Instead, it’s about a place of that name in Michigan, where the main character Lara was an actress in summer stock as a much younger woman. Now, it’s early in the Covid-19 pandemic, and Lara and Joe’s three daughters are home from college isolating with them. Although they’re all busy harvesting cherries on the family farm, Lara is telling the girls the story of her life, how she first came to play the part of Emily in a production of “Our Town”, how that led her to be an actress for a time, including doing summer stock with an actor who became famous. There’s much drama in Lara’s relationship with that actor that unfolds over the course of the book, but the story also reveals how she met and eventually fell in love with Joe. I wanted the novel to have more depth, but it never did, although because of my interest in Thornton Wilder (he was a brilliant writer and dramatist), I enjoyed the book.