Editor Interview: Anti-Heroin Chic

The unseen & the unheard.

Quail Bell has a similarly all inclusive ethos which I deeply admire. They have a lot of diversity going on there, in every sense of the word. Occulum and Moonchild Magazine also have their hearts in the right place, and it shows.

I'm assuming you mean favorite writers and artists not published in AHC, in which case Jorie Graham, Helene Cixous, Kathy Acker, Cheryl Strayed, Toby Olson, Alice Notley, Joyce Carol Oates, Fanny Howe for writers. Artists; Francesca Woodman, Henry Darger, Sally Mann, Marisa Chafetz, Karen Finley.

Radical inclusivity. By this I mean that we strive to create a space in which creative's at varying levels in the journey of their craft coexist without hierarchy and with a willed blindness to their educational or publishing achievements. The most important guiding light for me, as an editor, is the heart and spirit behind what each person is striving to say or show. AHC was founded because it seemed all too apparent that the majority of publications seemed to put far too much emphasis (evidenced by the bios of their contributors) on educational status and achievement i.e. MFA programs and the like. The goal of Anti-Heroin Chic is to include everyone, within reason, as much as possible. We believe strongly, as Jack Kerouac says, that "everyone has the vision, what they lack is the method." Hopefully we are like a holding station for the development of that method. We believe everyone has a story to tell, and we'd like to hear as many as possible and not all from the same place or walk of life. We had the opportunity recently to publish the writings of inmates who are currently on Death Row in San Quentin, and who have turned to writing as a way of coping and transcending the desperate, harsh and unforgiving world that they are in. These voices are important to me and we need to begin hearing more of them in the literary world. The second major thing that sets us apart is a committed focus to drug addiction and recovery. We strive to publish writers who have struggled and survived addiction and also those who have lost loved ones to addiction. As our country is facing a major drug crises, we believe firmly that creativity is one of the most potent ways to bring hope and light through testaments of survival.

Read what we've published so far. Read our mission statement, but more than anything, just don't "phone it in." Make sure it is coming from a true place. As Jorie Graham puts it; hold the work up to your own pulse, when it matches, it is ready. I would say also to come as you are. We don't accept or decline based on your achievements, we accept or decline based on something much deeper and hard to define, your heart. Where have you come from and where are you going, to quote Joyce Carol Oates, that's what we want to know. Show us that- the journey and the struggle. The survival.

Heart. I tend to believe everyone has a poem or story in them. I don't privilege the place that that comes from. Although I am committed to the voices on the margin, the one's most often over looked and left standing outside, I try and open the space up to all walks of life. I do believe there is a good poem but I don't believe it's the only poem. All too often a good poem, (however you would measure that, and I'm not really sure how you would) is more often an indication of educational opportunity and training and while we publish those voices as well, we strive for the other voice too, the one's who have not had that opportunity of higher education and creative training. I should also add we aren't interested in racist, homophobic, misogynists or overly violent work. We do not want work that diminishes others. We're trying to talk up to people, not down.

Sometimes poeple think that anything goes, and send wildly inappropriate work. Just a short glance at what we publish would indicate what we try and stay away from. We ask that they paste submissions into the body of the email as well as include an attachment if they have special formatting, most often they forget to paste the work as well. Author photos for our archives, that's often forgotten. Waiting four months once their work has been accepted to submit again. But all this being said, I try not to be strict and unforgiving with the rules. That's too much ego. The one that does bother me the most though is no simultaneous submissions. We have had so much work pulled after we've accepted it because of failures to follow that guideline. Please make sure the submission is original to AHC. Everything else I'll usually over look.

Publication credits do not matter in the least. You can include them of course, but they do not impact our decision to publish or not publish. In fact we might be more likely to publish you if you tell us that you've never been published before, that's not a guarantee. But I am glad to say that we have published a lot of wonderful first time voices. I prefer cover letters, it's just good form to say hello briefly and maybe talk a little bit about the work that you're sending. But I appreciate how hectic and busy life is and I don't demand or expect cover letters. They are nice though. It's also nice when people take the time to learn the editor's name. I do like to know about the people who are sending their work, most of our contributors do open up a lot about themselves and what they are sending in their cover letter, I welcome and love that when it happens. I'm a pretty personable and approachable editor, and I try to respond to each submission with the respect and attention they deserve.

I read every piece to the end with the exception of work that is obviously racist/violent/misogynistic etc. I believe firmly in reading every submission all the way through even when I can tell midway that it won't be right. The person took the time to create and submit that creation to us, the least that I can do to honor that is to read the entirety of their creation.

No additional evaluation, if it's accepted it is accepted.

I just read them as they come in, mostly in the evening. I carefully pair each submission that we publish with a photograph/image that speaks to the spirit of the piece. That part probably takes the most time, as I agonize over getting the accompanying image just right. I believe that each contributor deserves a beautiful presentation of their work.

I don't edit or change their work except where obvious misspellings occur. I format it the way they send it, that part takes a lot of work, as it is all done manually. But changes to their work is never made beyond obvious oversights.

We nominate work for the Best of the Net.