Timothy Gager Sets A New Bar In Literary Citizenship

Most writers feel the importance of contributing something to the literary community that sustains them, being a good literary citizen. Reviewing books, working for journals, there are many different ways people contribute. It’s particularly cool when I see people pioneer new ways of contributing.  Gessy Alvarez is one who comes to mind in the Community section over at Digging Through the Fat that collects links together regularly of recently published online stories to increase their visibility. Timothy Gager is another, just having put together something particularly innovative and cool.

(Just as a reference, anyone who follows my Goodreads reviews will remember Timothy Gager most recently as the excellent author of The Thurday Appointments of Bill Sloan.)

Timothy Gager has put together The Dead Market Writings. This site has cool content for everyone, but if you’re a writer this site is especially cool. Much of our work gets published online. However, online journals sometimes close, disappear. Suddenly, that beautiful work is gone.

But not anymore.

The Dead Market Writings brings it back. It provides homes for writing that was once published in a journal that has gone defunct. It’s a rescue, a labor of love, and an immense service to the literary community. Timothy Gager definitely deserves kudos for that.

There’s already some great work on there so far. Two beloveds of mine found new homes (“Polite Notes of the Dinnertime Neighborly Etiquette Apocalypse“, and “Counter Spring“) as well as stories by Nathaniel Tower, Joseph Grant, Len Kuntz, and more.

If you’re a writer and have some dead links, send them on over to The Dead Market Writings! Keep that writing out in the world. Whether or not you’re a writer though, travel on over and check out what has been saved from the ravages of time. What we choose to keep and what we allow to let go often defines a major part of who we are.