Assistant Editor Jess Jelsma Masterton: Many writers shy away from the second-person perspective. Some literary journals go so far as to caution writers against submitting stories written in second person, suggesting that the point of view is somehow gimmicky or overwrought. While it certainly draws attention to itself, when the second-person perspective is done well, …
Assistant Editor Jess Jelsma Masterton: In a typical week at CR, I read through anywhere from twenty-five to forty submissions, from 500 word miCRos to 8000+word stories, novel excerpts, and essays. While my tastes run the gambit from lyric fabulist fiction to hyperrealism, there is one aspect guaranteed to pull me out of an otherwise …
Associate Editor Caitlin Doyle: Our first cowritten poem for the miCRo series hails from two authors who are no strangers to pairing up on the page. As part of the editorial team behind They Said, a recently released multigenre anthology of contemporary collaborative writing that’s creating a stir in the literary world, Simone Muench and …
Assistant Editor Jess Jelsma Masterton: As a genre, micro fiction attempts to do the impossible: establish a protagonist with a clear conflict, all within a tiny, less than 500-word frame. The author must find a way to show the reader what is physically or emotionally at stake. What is the protagonist’s central struggle? How …
We’re getting close to the release of Issue 15.2, which should arrive from the printer in the next few weeks! In advance, we’re pleased to share the cover, with artwork by Emily Hanako Momohara: We also want to take this opportunity to explain a change in our editorial practices. Generally, we follow the industry Bible, …
Associate Editor Molly Reid: This one-sentence story is not a gimmick, and it is not sorry. An honest, almost-cruel moment opens out into wonder and uncertainty. Read this one out loud and let it take your breath away—and then do yourself a favor, and listen to Sarah read it. To hear Sarah read the story, …
Associate Editor Caitlin Doyle: What better way to herald the change of seasons than with a miCRo double feature that simultaneously registers and resists time’s passage? In this week’s two micro nonfiction pieces, “My Husband’s Story from the War” and “Assisted Living,” Nance Van Winckel explores the human relationship to memory and invites us to …
Assistant Editor Jess Jelsma Masterton: When I read through submissions, the question I return to again and again is “What is this story’s occasion?” Well-crafted openings put forth an answer for why the story must start where it does. What has changed or is in the process of changing for the protagonist? In essence, …
Associate Editor Caitlin Doyle: Paul Haney’s innovative sonnet “Spoils” gestures toward the ecstatic tradition in English-language poetry while reveling without restraint in the excesses of contemporary life. Artfully blending an antiquated diction register with a profusion of colloquial phrases and brand names, Haney creates such an echo-rich sonic atmosphere that we’re helpless to resist joining …
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