Editor Interview: Fiction Attic

Flash fiction, essays

Glimmer Train, Gulf Coast, Graywolf Press

Lars Gustafsson, Grace Paley, Maj Sjowall, Pers Peterson, Lydia Netzer, Joan Didion, Ray Bradbury, Eugen Ruge, Patrick Modiano, David Shields, Kate Atkinson, George Orwell

We love the strange, the sublime, the surprising. We love a literary take on genre, be it sci-fi or thriller. We're open to anything wonderfully written that tells a story. We seek to enlighten, entertain, and provoke.

Please include a brief cover letter with your submission, and please give us time to respond. We have a very small, all-volunteer staff, so it can take us quite a while to get to your submission. If you haven't heard from us after six months, feel free to write to us.

The idea submission shows us a new take on an old subject. We love flash fiction that makes us feel and makes us think, and personal essays that have unexpected and surprising associations (see "Eating Octopus" by Judith Lille on our website for an example).

Submitters who send us something as part of a class assignment but fail to submit a traditional cover letter. Submitters who expect a quick response. Submitters who are aggressive or impolite in asking for a response will always receive a rejection.

We do care about cover letters because we want to know who you are, and we want to see that you made the effort to write a brief, thoughtful cover letter. Previous publications are not important, as we love discovering new writers and have published a number of writers with no previous publication credits. However, if you have a strong history of publication, it should of course be part of your cover letter.
A cover letter should never tell us what the story is about or praise the piece you are submitting. The essay or story should speak for itself.

If there are glaring grammatical errors, we may only read to the end of the first page. With flash fiction, we read the entire story before deciding whether to accept or reject it. With short stories and essays, we need to see promise in the first couple of pages. If it hasn't captured our attention by the end of page two, we are unlikely to read the entire story or essay.

Each piece usually has two to three readers prior to acceptance. However, if the publisher falls in love with the piece before any other readers have weighed in, it will be published.

We may make light suggestions for clarity, and we may occasionally suggest a revision to the beginning or end of a piece. However, most pieces are published without editorial changes, aside from mild grammatical edits. We do not accept writing that needs a great deal of editing.

Yes, we nominate stories for the Pushcart Prize and Best American Essays.