The Houston Literary Review

 About:

The Review has embarked on another year of publication. Founded and staffed by volunteer editors, THLR works to promote the best poetry, prose, short stories, and visual art from Texas and beyond.
The Review's contributors are artists representing countries from around the world. THLR staff is especially interested in promoting creative writers, visual artists, photographers and art in general. The Review will not publish art that promotes violence, the gratuitous use of profanity, religious intolerance or bigotry. Visual art must demonstrate good taste and not offend the young, the meek, the unprotected, the sensitive.

The Review plans publish a print magazine of work the end of this year/the beginning of the next. The hope is that through this publication We can share more with our contributors and readers. Feel free to contact Us directly with any questions regarding the print issue at: senior.editor@thehoustonliteraryreview.com

Website: http://thehoustonliteraryreview.com


Review:

If you have been coveting and hankering in your chimeras about a literary magazine that arranges their anthology into a nifty and unprecedented way before, and neither are they in hackneyed books or PDF files jammed with texts, then stop and look at this crafted memorabilia.

The Houston Literary Review is flawless in their presentation. Indeed, all of the issues are gratis. However, since time immemorial, possibly, there has been rarely a few inchoate magazines which priortize how they show their works, like in an opulent gallery.

The Houston Literary Review's cornerstone is how of their anthologies can be neatly labelled. Undoubtedly, they have been categorizing their anthologies into a eye-catching and palatable dish, filled with prose and poetry side by side. All you have to do is to click on the issue you want to peruse, then open the issue cover and there you will see the Poetry, Prose and Visual Art compartments. Finally, click on any of them to read the contents in PDF format.


Simple isn't it? It is indubitably not a crass and slapdash literary magazine which functions only for fame and money. The Houston Literary Review has even a Film and Book Review page. Of course, The Houston Literary Review has been craving for a little paper cup of lukewarm cappuccino after days of slogging with their eyes and fingers. You can support The Houston Literary Magazine by buying books in the Book Shelf page or simply donating a sum of money by clicking on the 3D Donate button.


The Houston Literary Review is a shining little star up virtually above the sky. But before it can be eminent and develop itself bigger, it must encounter adversaries along the way through the atmosphere.

10 Flash Quartely

About:

10Flash publishes genre flash fiction stories — fantasy, horror, science fiction, suspense or slipstream — between 800 and 1,000 words.  I may fudge on the bottom number, from time to time, but the top limit is firm.
Each quarterly issue will feature ten stories, all written around a common prompt. These prompts are not intended to be restrictive, but rather to provide a thread to pull the issue together. However, the prompt is important. Its minimalization (or absence) suggests to me that an author has sent me a trunk story with the prompt stuck on.

Website:

http://10flash.wordpress.com

Review:

Before mercenary and egotistical magazines could put a kibosh on prompts for writers while only focusing on stories that bestow streams of money, this nifty magazine have been unstinting all along to have a Renaissance.

There is hardly any online literary magazines which give prompts for the writers to muse on, except for writing groups perhaps. 10 Flash is the exact antithesis of this. 10 Flash do not want to accept any stories that do not have the theme of their prompts, which means if 10 Flash gives this prompt Santa Claus Ain’t Coming to Town, you should only write pertaining to this. There must be no extraneous information, however, 10 Flash mentions that you are free to conceive anything about the prompt and welcomes new interpretations. ''I want to experience frisson.  I’m looking for stories that have been crafted with care and an eye for detail, that offer characters and a plot free of cliché and that proceed to a conclusion that is both emotionally and intellectually satisfying. Most of all, I am looking for stories that are fun to read.''

You are whining over this cumbersome task and suppressing your anger? Don't be lachrymose. 10 Flash pays you $20 within six weeks of publication. You will get to see a bulging envelop in your postbox, a largesse for your efforts. As I mentioned, any online literary magazines which pays for their contributors will build rapport and credence.

Garnering 55,706 hits to date, as stated under Blog Stats, 10 Flash has indeed done some consummate publicity to attract writers. Other than having a quasi-potent logo featuring the lightning flash, the content and organization is simple and succinct. But as the words may be small, some may have to scrutinize and bend their heads to the computer.

10 Flash also has a Fresh Flash section with commentaries about flash fiction and the publishing world. You want to know more about the vast literary oasis, this may be utilitarian, or could be read for your curiosity.

Regarding the stories, they are simple and well written, meeting the needs of the editor of 10 Flash. This may imply that you have to really try your best to get your work published, and of course, with the aforementioned rewards waiting for your retrieval.

Breakwater Review: a journal of the arts

About:

Breakwater Review is an online arts journal committed to publishing poetry and prose by established and emerging writers. We're looking for sincere, well-crafted work that takes us somewhere unexpected and sticks with us. While we may explore "themed" issues in the future, we don't limit either the subject matter or type of work of our contributors.
Breakwater Review is published in two issues per year: January and June. Find out more about our reading periods by viewing our Submissions page. In subsequent issues, we're adding criticism, interviews, as well visual and multimedia art.
Our team of staff and volunteers is drawn from UMB students. The journal is supported, but not governed by, the Creative Writing MFA program at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Website:

http://www.breakwaterreview.com/index.php

Review:

To start with this, I will just give a terse and eulogizing comment: That's a good online literary magazine!

Though Breakwater Review is marginally inchoate, I think that their website is clearly compartmentalized into different chapters, just like what you would do when sorting out a raft of profiles, and of course advocated by a few contributors. This is the first time I perceived that a literary magazine has been created with the help of the University of Massachusetts, Boston staff under the aegis of Creative Writing MFA program.

But what is lacking, for me to observe the touchstones or yardsticks of an established online literary magazine, is that Breakwater Review has only a meagre amount of contributors since the first two issues published, albeit being published twice a year. Apparently, no one knows about the existence of Breakwater Review. Why there is solely a few contributors I do not know much. But I do know that 10,000 Tons of Black Ink, the magazine we had reviewed before, superseded Breakwater Review.

Well, don't feel disillusioned, Breakwater Review! Though there is hardly any active contributors, the poetry published on their website is excellent and flawless. However, the prose, admittedly, is not really that decent for a university. They are simple, readable, not pompous and verbose, but they lack of literary quality, thereby they are not of an established writer's work. Most of the prose might be written by new writers. But, I reiterate, there must be high quality works to be published under a university's name.

Breakwater Review accepts many literature genres including criticism. Of course, you must capture their attention through your work. Your work must be crafted and moving.

I hope that Breakwater Review would be emerging out of the haste it is now embroiled in, and be watered, like a plant, with many more writers' works. Keep on going!

10,000 Tons of Black Ink

About:

10,000 Tons of Black Ink strives to give voices to new and burgeoning literary artists who would normally not have the freedom to stretch their works to the limits of imagination and ingenuity. The online publication exists to encourage emerging writers across the globe to reveal the splendor of their uninhibited creativity, and to share the product of this expression with a diverse audience. Our annual “Best Of” print edition features the strongest pieces published online during the course of the year.

For all writers dedicated to their craft, the true reward for their labor is the delight in the process of writing itself, but the ultimate goal for most literary artists is publication. We recognize the professional and motivational power that results from new and emerging writers having their work published so we now provide a quality online literary outlet that allows us to publish more writers more regularly. 

Website:

http://10ktobi.wordpress.com/

Review:

After perusing 10,000 Tons of Black Ink's motive, we, the ELITMAG Review, can explicitly understand that they are emphasizing very much about splendid and high quality works. They have been also trying to eulogize and made the writers as their embodiments of what they are seeking for, and whose works are considered the best of the year pieces that will be published in a print edition.

To have your work accepted, you must really be committed to fine-tune your works until you think that they are the best that you can edit. You must be talented, ingenious and industrious. In a nutshell, 10,000 Tons of Black Ink hankers for other replications of John Updike, Charles Dickens and other literary maestros. 

I am not saying that you must be gifted. Most importantly, you have to follow their guidelines, which has a long tail of 13 points. They are not verbose, if that is what you are thinking. Instead, in order for you to be considered as a priority, you simply have to do what they want so that you can have your work published.

10,000 Tons of Black Ink has also a creed in reading and selecting the works they love. The process is comparable to the technicalities of Google's Pagerank. In order for you to be popular or to be considered as a short story master, you have to keep on writing and submitting. If you need more information, you may visit their website, under the page submit.

The one thing that I love in this online literary magazine is that it values its contributors by printing a print issue of their works. It is rare for a literary magazine to do that by caring for others who help them. For this, I will also consider submitting my literary works to 10,000 Tons of Black Ink.

Indeed, the black ink is not just 10,000 tons of them, but ceaseless.

[A Brilliant] Record Magazine

About:
Looking for work that is edgy. The edgier the better.

Website:

http://magazine-abrilliantrecord.blogspot.com/

Review:

Sometimes [A Brilliant] Record Magazine may fluctuate between their primordial edginess and simple truisms. The stories are indeed decent in quality and worthwhile to be considered for publication. However, they might be careless in selecting works which are really provocative and trendy, thereby causing doubts of their seeking of 'edgy' works. They are ''looking for work that is bold honest and edgy. Edgy meaning there is no censorship on language unless a term is used to describe a particular group of people or belief in a negative light even if it is your own group'', but this may be ambiguous. So we advice you that you query the editor.

However, I am not flagellating them. What surprises me greatly is that [A Brilliant] Record Magazine rewards contributors with money starting from $20 if deserved for their excellent works.According to the literary magazine, it selects one writer with a writing faculty in each issue published and a print issue will be given to him gratis. That is genuinely a kind literary magazine which rewards writers no doubt. In this era, it is hard to find such a good opportunity to get rewarded writing. So if you are clamouring for a remuneration for your time writing, [A Brilliant] Record Magazine may be your redress.


Considering the works published therein, they are not too bad. The short stories, however, are not really exemplary, but as they are mainstream, all types of work are considered excluding some malevolent ones. I love the poems though, each reminiscent of a talented writer.


I would classify [A Brilliant] Record Magazine as a brilliant magazine already sprouting out of the fecund soil, supported with contributors that add each credence to the magazine.

Apollo's Lyre

About:

Apollo's Lyre is an online ezine loaded with writing articles, poetry, flash fiction, interviews, and more...for writers and readers of every caliber and genre. 

Website:

 http://apollos-lyre.tripod.com/index.html

Review:

 Aesthetically structured (not too profligate) and featuring prolific editors and sterling writers, Apollo's Lyre is probably under the germinating category of our literary magazines' continuum. Apollo's Lyre accepts only e-mail submissions, but you would have to follow their guidelines prudently (there are a myriad of them, each type of submissions differing from one another). Not only does it accept flash fiction (under 1000 words) and poetry, but also articles, book reviews, interviews and a canny, unprecedented category they named A Bouquet of Shorts (short-short stories of no more than 250 words).

For those who cannot be flippant in your diurnal chores and toiling throughout the day, you don't need to check out the welter of updates (if there are) on Apollo's Lyre website. You can instead visit their blog, hosted by Blogspot, at http://apollos-lyre.blogspot.com/. 

On the website, you can traipse around the different archives of the contributor's work and read articles pertaining to writing.tips and advices which can help a lot, irrespective of any genres the authors wish to write.  They have the Write Tight (general) and Words Apart (an analysis of a word) sections just for your unrequited information. This online literary magazine will be a great venture for tyro writers and teachers of English to submit their fiction, poetry and others. 

I am also very impressed about Apollo's Lyre's voluntary effort to be one of the sponsers of The Muse Online Writers Conference. Registration is free as long as you register before the deadline. For more information, feel free to visit http://www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com/.

Also, Apollo's Lyre had been awarded accolades for their writing articles, including The Top Ten Finisher Preditors and Editors Readers Poll 2009.

I had simply never perceive that an online literary magazine could pull itself up by their bootstraps long ago and continue to exist within the variegated literary world. There's no hold-ups for them. Apollo's Lyre will in the limelight soon and compared against, perhaps, The New Yorker.

 

 

Send Us A Request For Reviewing

If you happen to traipse around some online literary magazines and seeing that it is noteworthy for them to be publicized and reviewed, please feel free to send us an e-mail to litmagobserver@mail.com. The subject line must be typed as the following: Request, Online literary magazine’s name. In the e-mail body you must send us the website URL of the journal and your name and contact information (e-mail address).You must only send one request of one online literary magazine.

Criteria: 

• The publisher can be a book publisher or magazine publisher.
• The literary magazine/journal/book publisher must be found online with its official website. Those who only exists offline will not be considered.
• The magazine/journal/ book publisher must at least. accept e-mail submissions
• The magazine/journal/ book publisher must be updated frequently, not moribund.
• The magazine/journal must be listed at Duotrope.com/ PW.org/ Newpages.com/ everywritersresource.com/ any literary magazines directory.

If you have any doubts, please e-mail to us and we will respond to you very soon.