Wednesday 1 August 2012

LONG STORY SHORT - new journal

Jennifer Matthews
Writer Jennifer Matthews, of the Munster Literature Centre, has branched out into online publication with her welcome new literary journal, Long Story Short, which will specialise in long short fiction.
  
Jen was born in Missouri and has lived in Ireland since 2003. Her poetry has been published, among other places, in The Stinging Fly, Cork Literary Review and Mslexia, and anthologised in Dedalus's collection of immigrant poetry in Ireland, Landing Places (2010).

Long Story, Short, the site says, 'is the home for tales that take their time' and will publish stories between 4000 and 9000 words. It launches mid-October 2012. One story will be published every month, and submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis. The journal is also seeking original artwork and photography to accompany the stories.

Submissions guidelines are here. You can like the journal's Facebook page here.

6 comments:

Doireann said...

That's so exciting! Well done Jen. Looking forward to reading the first edition come October!

Tania Hershman said...

Brilliant, well done Jen, have added it to my ever-growing list of lit mags that published short stories! Interesting that a poet should go for the Long Short Story - any comments, Jen?!

Rachel Fenton said...

This is very good news. Good for you, Jen!

chillcat said...

I confess - long short stories are my absolute favourites. Hope everything goes well for you! Ciao cat

Jennifer Matthews said...

Thanks everyone! Thanks so much for the links, Nuala & Tania. You're absolute stars.

It's a funny move for a poet, isn't it? I've loved & studied the short story for longer than I have done with poetry, and really felt I wanted to become more involved with the short story world.

While I think word limits are crucial for Flash (which I absolutely love), I think the 3000 word limit that most literary journals have is very constrictive on mid to long length short fiction. (I do understand why the word limit is necessary--the poor editors with hundreds of entries to sift through!) Still, after years of telling people about this idea of mine, and hoping someone would pick it up and run with it, I just decided to do it myself!

It's allowed me to engage with something I love in a totally new way. It's been wonderful reading the entries so far, and we have a *very* exciting contributor for the first issue--I cannot wait to make that announcement!

Group 8 said...

Well, it's fantastic, Jen, and fair play to you. One day I will write a superlong story and send it to you!
Can't wait to hear who the mystery contributor is going to be.