Tag: Literary Fiction

Candid Talks, Writing

How to Choose a Literary Journal …for Submitting Your Work

Pauline Shen

If you’re writing for publication, you need to know where your work will fit. After you’ve written a short story (or poem, or nonfiction piece…), you’ll need to send it somewhere. But where? Do you simply send your work to any and all journals that have an open submission call?

Or should you devote some time to reading current literary journals? It is a good idea to look for the best fit for your writing, so you ought to consider reading a selection of journals first. Now wait… there are so many literary journals out there! So, to avoid being overwhelmed I’ve developed a system to help narrow the field when you’re just starting out. It goes like this:

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Story Reviews

It’s a Pattern. Commentary on Barbara Diggs’s “You Are What You Eat”

Pauline Shen

We each thrive dependent on how well we nourish ourselves. But what we choose to nourish ourselves with is a story in and of itself. In Barbara Diggs’s “You Are What You Eat,” the reader witnesses the effect of one narrator’s attempts at mitigating rage by replacing it with love. But which ingredients are required? Diggs pulls the reader in with sensual yet surprising language. “Sunny side up, salmonella-scrambled, salsa-slathered, over-hard yellow-white discs fried in bacon grease until the edges curl like wispy brown lace.”

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Story Reviews

It’s Not About the Guardrail. Commentary on Desiree Nippard’s “An Early Thaw”

Pauline Shen

In Desiree Nippard’s “An Early Thaw,” the reader witnesses a group of schoolchildren sending lanterns into the sky while playing a send-off tune on recorders. In this ceremony for the deceased, “[y]ou could hear every pause for breath, every off note from the shifting of small fingers as we all allowed the melody to seep into our souls.” (54) This coastal town is grieving, and the narrator reveals the cause with deep sensory descriptions that guide the reader with the right amount of grace and gentleness.

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Story Reviews

Eyes Half Closed or Half Open? A Commentary on Cecilia Januszewski’s “The Salmon Family Baptism”

Pauline Shen

Meet Bernadette and Moore Salmon, new parents who consider themselves first and foremost puppy parents to their dog, Thomas, rather than growing into their responsibility as human parents to the infant in this scene. In fact, Bernadette spends so much energy detaching herself from motherhood that she appears as a modern-day version of Bernice Pritchard from Steinbeck’s The Wayward Bus. Januszewski’s account of Bernadette’s visualization techniques to the point of obsession with none other than how the pet dog’s bandana looks are spot-on. Never for a moment does the reader lose interest in the story.

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