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Editor Interview: The Gateway Review: A Journal of Magical Realism

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: magic realism, surrealism

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: Cleaver Magazine, Phantom Drift, One Story, Tin House, Zone 3, Crazyhorse, Missouri Review, Indianola Review, Jelly Bucket--too many to name them all

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Adam Johnson, Jeanette Winterson, Celeste Ng, Heidi Julavits, David James Poissant

Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?

A: We're looking specifically for magic realism; a lot of our submissions get rejected for lacking that injection of the surreal into otherwise normal worlds. We don't really want ghost stories or post-apocalypse work (we get a lot of those), unless the ghosts are expected and the post-apocalyptic world has, say, talking peanut butter jars. We also trade solely in fiction.

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: It sounds repetitive, but read the magazine. A good 75% of our rejections are a result of work not being the kind of thing we're after. Know what magic realism is. Also: write a cover letter, even if it just says, "Hi! Thanks for reading my work!" Include a word count.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: A short story with relatable, interesting characters and an attention to language without being flowery--there's a fine line between beautiful and bulky. A story that has a bizarre or surreal element that is important but not awed over by the characters. If everyone would read Ramona Ausubel's "Chest of Drawers" or Aimee Bender's "The Healer" before submitting, they would understand the kind of work we're after.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: They don't read our guidelines. We get a lot of hard fantasy, science fiction, and stories that dance around their bizarre element. We want writers to embrace the surreal without sacrificing traditional narrative style. I read a lot of material that seems to think there should be something coy about the magical and surreal. I want it to be in my face, overt.

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: I like a cover letter. A "Thanks for considering my story, which is ____ words long." There's nothing more annoying than a 3rd person bio and nothing else whatsoever.

Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?

A: That depends. Sometimes, only a page or two if I know the writing isn't my style. If I get more than 50% through and there's no magical element yet, I'm likely going to stop reading.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: A group of students in my publishing course read all submissions with me. We make initial cuts, then get our choices down to somewhere between 20-25 stories, then we choose our lineup from there. We usually have a handful that are obviously getting accepted, and we then shape the rest of our choices partly around how harmonious the issue feels with other stories included.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: That depends on the season. When submissions are open, I'm usually sifting through expedited submissions for good work; after submissions close, we start reading, and things get more hectic then with evaluating, reading, ranking, and preparing the magazine for publication. Of course, I'm also a writer and teacher, so a lot of time gets taken up with my own work and my students' projects.

Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?

A: I think a balance of both is important. I value the printed page, and so I want my magazine to be old-fashioned, hard-copy work for as long as I can keep it that way. I like using Submittable and Lulu (the publishing vendor I use) for its ease. We're on Facebook now (give us a search!), because it's helped our reach.

Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?

A: We generally only do line editing; if a piece needs serious overhauling or revision, we're probably not going to accept it in the first place. We always give writers an opportunity to review what we suggest before we go to print.

Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?

A: Yes. We submit for the Pushcart (when our overworked editor remembers the deadline). If an author wants us to nominate for something else, we will happily do so if we get ample lead time.