Editor Interview: Corner Bar Magazine

Spec-fic we enjoy reading

John Gosslee (Fjords); The Main Street Rag; Crazyhorse; The Sun; Creative Nonfiction; McSweeney's.

Melville, Mrs. Shelley, Asimov, Sheckley, Shaara, Charles Frazier, Mark Z. Danielewski, Neil Gaiman, Amanda Coplin, Monica Byrne, Helene Wecker, Laine Cunningham.

We decided early that we were not driven by fear of comparison with other 'zines publishing speculative fiction - that we just wanted to see everything that fell into the bucket (in our contributors' eyes) of that rather broad and mystical genre. Writers want to write, we want to read and be entertained, and then share that...satisfied feeling with readers. I think sometimes being around a long time may be a burden, you can't recognize something fresh because you are jaded managing the archives of what you've already seen. We'll keep that in mind as we go forward.

Read what we've published, follow our guidelines blah blah blah. Just kidding... Have fun. If it isn't fun, something is off the rails. Send us your stuff - we're interested.

Submitting is a leap of faith. Writers want to please someone. Maybe it's even just that little voice inside them. So they write. We want to see that writing - we're curious about the human condition. Or the alien condition.
What's the ideal? Something that a writer knows in their gut is a pretty good idea rendered as honestly as they were able. Maybe they've even sent it around already, got the generic post card or e-mail "no thank you." It was a bummer to receive, a gray hour in an otherwise sunny day. No good explanation. They've heard all the possible reasons for rejection.
But, not quite discouraged, they found our listing, send us a note with an attachment, hopeful once more.

Nothing: submitting is tough - it's like going on a date. Be polite. Be patient. If it's a simultaneous submission, tell us. If it's been accepted somewhere else, tell us (we may ask you to keep us in mind when you have something new).

Sure, they're fun to read. We hope they're kind of fun to write. We like to know what you've been up to - and we can use it as a bio-sketch if we publish. We hope you checked us out first, but we also know that you can't read everything - not enough hours in the day. Do your best.

All of it. What's the point otherwise? Stopping on typos? Frustration with a type-face? Sure, sometimes we can see if a piece isn't right for us, but what if it's great? Think of all the slushpiles in the world, throughout the history of the world. How many terrific stories and novels do you think might have been lost, because the editor was...busy, and the author was too shy to persist. Damn...

I enjoy reading aloud to my family and friends. I assume that's OK with submitters. Seriously, though, we have an excellent old-school grammarian who does final looks and tells me if there are items I need to address with the author beyond punctuation. That's pretty rare, though.

My desk is in a house in the woods outside Chapel Hill, NC. The music is on - CD shuffle - it could be Satie or Prince or Miles - I have a big stereo from the 1980s and no neighbors, so it gets pretty loud. I print submissions out, sit back in my chair by the front window, and drink cafe Americano while I read.
If I like it, I make notes as to why (to tell the contributor, of course. People like knowing why, I think.)
If I don't think I can use a piece, I make notes as to what I thought was worthy about it, and what specifically didn't work for me. I use this information in my note back to the submitter. It takes a little time, not too much, and may be of some small value to them to know what was on my mind at the time.
I read at different times of the day. If a piece was on the edge, I set it aside and read it at a different time, just in case it was something about the light, the music, I don't know - the coffee that morning.

Type? Goudy Old Style (hee!)
We fix punctuation. If we edit content, we confirm with author.