Editor Interview: The Militant Grammarian

Bold, daring fiction

SmokeLong Quarterly, AGNI, L'Espirit Review, Granta, Puerto del Sol

Our magazine's name is an Infinite Jest reference, so David Foster Wallace is the obvious one. Others include Don DeLillo, John Barth, Zadie Smith, Susanna Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Thomas Pynchon, J.D. Salinger, Rick Reiken, Jennifer Egan, and Robert Coover.

In our editorial process, we tend to reward risk-taking. There are plenty of journals out there that publish safe material, but we're looking for stuff that takes chances that pay off.

As always, look at the stuff we've published. If you have a piece that you feel strongly is good but isn't landing at less experimental journals, it might be up our alley.

The ideal submission hooks us right away. It introduces threads and ideas that later come back and attain a new relevance. The form is daring and unconventional, the characters unique and fleshed out. Our favorite pieces often devolve into a dimension of self-commentary or even self-parody, making us reconsider assumptions we initially took for granted.

Leaving personal information on the submission document (we judge anonymously), submitting traditional narratives, submitting sci-fi and fantasy (submissions don't need to be straight realism, but we don't publish genre fiction)

We care much less about cover letters than we do about the submission itself. A brief cover letter naming the piece with a bio listing previous publications is plenty. Previous publications do not matter to us—our associate editors judge solely on the basis of the quality of the story you've submitted (however, we will use your bio in the case that the piece is published).

We generally read pieces all the way through, but we tend to know within the first few pages if a piece is not going to be a fit.

If at least 3 editors vote yes on a piece, we begin to discuss the possibility of publishing it, but we don't actually publish a piece unless all the editorial staff is in agreement.

I receive submissions and distribute them to editors, who individually vote on them. I keep track of votes, and if a piece gets more than two "no"s, I reject it. Once pieces have a majority of "yes" votes, we discuss the possibility of publishing it. After I send acceptance emails, the pieces go through a light copyediting process, and contributors are sent mock-ups of what their pieces will look like on our website.

We edit for grammar and word choice, and the author has the option to approve or reject all suggestions. If we accept a piece, that means we like it as-is, and any suggestions for improvement are optional.

We nominate for the Pushcart Prize.