Editor Note

An empty space is full of potential. Believe that you are making room for something. Turn on the vacancy sign. Keep moving. (Keep Moving, Maggie Smith)

Issue 26
June 2022

Happy Summer! Our June issue lags a bit behind summer’s arrival this year, but we’re proud of all the work that we rounded up for Issue 26. We’ve never done ‘theme’ issues, relying instead on a veritable buffet of views and themes from our student writers. Our hope is always that any issue of Blue Marble Review creates a new sense of space for the reader, and that there is a story, essay, poem, or work of art in each issue that stimulates a new way of thinking, a greater sense of empathy, or perhaps just a nod of understanding.

There’s a LOT of fine work in this issue, but in particular we’d like to highlight the Cover Art from Sabahat Ali Wani. Her artist statement— poignant and powerful, is here:

The mixed media artwork titled, ‘Revisit: A Wardrobe’ is an artist’s attempt to celebrate a Kashmiri woman’s wardrobe in an authentic way. It is a celebration of our culture that often gets appropriated and capitalised upon. Yes, it is a political statement but it also tries to bring in a fairytale aspect that goes beyond the conflict by appreciating our scarfs, sleeves, clothes etc., which are long forgotten but still stand as symbols of our existence and resistance. 

 Look for more of her mixed media work in our ART section.

 We plan to continue to make space for readers and writers who use creativity as an emblem of both existence and resistance.

Enjoy the issue—

Molly Hill
Editor

Editor’s Note
Issue 25/March 2022

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going, no feeling is final.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Dear Reader’s and Writers:

We’ve never asked students to submit writing according to a particular theme, but when each issue is curated, polished and ready to go online, the writing seems to always reflect the current cultural mood. Some of the titles featured in this issue* show us that although there is still struggle, search, and lots of figuring out how to cope going on— creativity and hope are alive and well.

Not sure how we got to Issue 25 so quickly(!), but we’re still championing the idea that reading, writing, and creative work can provide both solace in a challenging world, as well as a sense of empathy and connection to others in these pseudo-quarantined-is-it-over-yet times.

Still engaged in that Sisyphean task of thinking positive, trying not to get discouraged, and figuring out the new normal? Us too. Let’s just keep going.

Molly Hill
Editor

 

(cartoon by Zachary Kanin for The New Yorker)

 

*A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, The Things We Love Most in the World, How Coin Tosses Prove God Exists: A Lab Report, Legacy Ends Here, Tormentor, Dreams About Death, Nostalgia, grief, deconstructed, Blind Spots, Bonding, in the margins, Dear Brother, The Homeless Tiger, After Lucy, The Neighborhood Infinite, Smoke Breaks.

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