Editor Note

Issue 24
December 2021

 

There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth. -Doris May Lessing

Dear Readers and Writers:

Of the 32 selections in our December issue, seven of them are fiction pieces. There’s a short flash piece about taking on a bully (Turtle Girl), a funeral with a widow who is decidedly NOT grieving (Pray), and one about some wall art that seems a little.. shifty (Portrait). Check out Seedless Soil, —a very unusual duel at high noon, two ‘smoke’ stories (Smoke Ghosts and Smoke in the Air), and The Window, a quirky/imaginative vignette we couldn’t say no to.

You’ll also find a dozen splendid poems, a handful of poignant essays, an outstanding book review (When Breath Becomes Air) and some incredible art and photography.

December 1^st was the deadline for 2021 Pushcart nominations, and though it was a challenge to select only six pieces from everything we published this year, it was such an honor to recognize these students:

 

Flotsam(poetry)- Oluwafisayo Akinfolami

Reader, I (poetry)- Zoe Reay-Ellers

Polyester (poetry)- Rena Su

Give & Take or how God Takes his revenge (poetry)- Roseline Mgbodichinma Anya-Okorie

Snow Day (fiction) -Crystal Peng

Bottle Baby (fiction)- Matt Hsu

Congrats to these writers, and to every student who fills out our submission form, attaches their writing and hits SEND. You all are the best.

Molly Hill
Editor

September 2021
Issue 23

Dear Readers and Writers,

In case you’re new, thought we’d let you know how things work around here. We’re an online journal and welcome submissions (ages 13-22) via an email form on our site. We publish poetry, flash fiction, short stories, travel adventures, personal essays, movie reviews, art, and photography. Guidelines are on our website, and our submissions are always open.

Our response time used to be a couple of weeks, but now we run 6-8 (working on it!)— and some of you submitters will attest that it can be longer than that. Our submissions went WAY UP during Covid, and we’re pleased that we’ve had the chance to read so much good work.

In January of this year, we published our FIRST print anthology celebrating 5 years of online publication! There WILL be another print anthology, and this fall we’ll begin selecting and soliciting work for that.

Being grant funded means we are always hustling and hoping for donations, and applying for grants, — but also that we are lucky enough to pay our published writers, and student editors. Like many lit mags we have a set budget per issue, and once we max out said budget our issue “fills,” and we move all remaining submissions ahead into the queue to be considered for the next issue.

Every submission gets a response, and a yes or a no— but only if we have a correct email. High school and middle school students may want to use a home or parent email as school servers may block our responses. This doesn’t tend to happen with our college submitters.

Since selection of writing for publication is a subjective process, all subs are read by several editors. This may delay our response time a bit, but we feel it’s the best way to be the most objective about the work we receive. And you don’t have to have a long or even a short list of publication credits to send us your work. All levels of creative experience are welcome!

We receive more poetry than anything else— by far.

Payment has been steady for a while at $25 per published piece (we hope to increase this soon), and $75 for work that’s selected for cover art.

We’re based in the Minneapolis-St.Paul metro area, but happily read submissions from all over the world.

Hope that gives you all a sense of the scaffolding behind the stage; we’re here if you have questions: editorbluemarblereview@gmail.com

 

• IUp next————>ISSUE 23!!

Molly Hill
Editor

 

June 2021
Issue 22

Dear Readers and Writers:

I’ve never been a fan of the word closure, — same goes for journey, or summative statements like my takeaway, all in all, or at the end of the day.  Yet it’s hard to ignore the urge to reflect on what we’ve all been through over the past year. * While some might claim they’ve emerged from 2020 a bit more insightful, with a deeper sense of gratitude and compassion, it’s hard to experience that basket of virtues without also feeling the lingering pang of loss, the still simmering sense of anxiety, and more than a hint of bewilderment and apprehension about what comes next.

In the midst of this possible-post-Covid, mid-vax, no more mask wearing era — we present our June 2021 issue.

Remember pre-Covid summer movies? THAT feeling, — you and your friends in the air-conditioning with a tall tub of popcorn drenched in butter, a blue raspberry slushie, or the XL box of Milk Duds? In the dark hush of the multiplex, the outside world receded for a few luxurious hours as you fell into the thrall of the story. Lights dimmed. Curtains opened. And as you settled back in your seat you also kind of leaned forward eagerly awaiting what was to come.

This is our 22^nd issue, but that movie theater feeling is always what we’re going for. Anticipation and reward, the story with the surprise twist, the essay that punctures the way you used to think about something.

Pull us up on your phone from your hammock or Adirondack, — scroll and lean in. Escape.

Molly Hill
Editor

*Resisting the urge to provide closure, we instead offer comfort from some of our favorite philosophers: Calvin and Hobbes.