We are proud to announce the shortlist for our seventh printed anthology, judged this year by the illustrious Rebecca Makkai. These thirty stories and essays represent outstanding work by emerging writers. Makkai will select ten from this list to appear in the printed anthology. Stay tuned for the finalists announcement next month! Thank you to all of the wonderful writers who submitted to this years’ anthology. It was a pleasure to read your work.

The Masters Review Volume VII Shortlist

“Life-Giving Doubt” by Ian Belknap

“The Process” by Rebekah Bergman

“Signs of Damage” by Stacy Trautwein Burns

“Summers With Dedushka” by Philip Brunst

“Rogue Particles” by Laura Demers

“The Marchioness” by Corey Flintoff

“Ben Franklin” by Kelly Flowers

“These Are My People” by Steve Fox

“Residential Units” by Marcie Friedman

“Questions for Anesthesiologists” by Robert Glick

“Little Room” by Carrie Grinstead

“Pilgrimage” by Rebecca Gummere

“Ships Made of Stone” by Sarah Helen

“We the Mothers” by Kathleen Hansen

“Doctor, Doctor, Doctor” by Blair Lee

“The Mouse and the Elephant” by Nichole LeFebvre

“Waiting” by Donna Marsh

“Why Do Voles Fall in Love?” by Una McDonnell

“Cristeros” by Bonard Molina

“Shrove Tuesday” by Jeanne Panfely

“Humane Dispatch” by Matt Plass

“Ghost Print” by Anna Reeser

“Imperative” by Beth Richards

“The Sand Nests” by Emma Sloley

“It Goes Both Ways” by Kate Simonian

“The Words to Say It” by Rosanna Staffa

“The Dumpling Makers” by Kristina Ten

“Kamikaze Dressed in Light” by Sophia Terazawa

“The Collectors of Anguish” by Andrea Uptmor

“Closer Than They Appear” by Marylin Warner

There is less than one week left to submit to The Masters Review Volume V, judged by Amy Hempel! Submissions are open to all writers of fiction and narrative nonfiction who have not yet published a novel-length work. $5000 awarded. Ten winners will be published nationally and become part of an exclusive mailing to editors, agents and publishers. So put the final polish on those stories and essays and send them our way! We can’t wait to read them.

FOR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES, CLICK HERE

Submissions for our anthology The Masters Review Volume IV close at the end of the month, so get those stories in pronto. This is one of our favorite projects each year and we’re really looking forward to reading your work. Mark your calendars, set your clock, and polish those stories. The end of the month will be here before you know it.

“The Masters Review is a lovely magazine, in form and content. How awesome it is to see the next generation of writers kicking ass, taking names, and making beautiful art.” –STEVE ALMOND, author and essayist

• $500
• Publication in a nationally distributed journal
• Exposure to over 50 literary agencies
• Contributor’s copy
• All writers are part of an exclusive mailing. We send our anthology to editors, authors, and literary institutions across the country in order to expose our writers to a growing readership

<< SUBMIT HERE >>

New Voices Category

From March 5 – March 31, submissions to our New Voices category will be closed. Because reading for the anthology takes so much time, and because our shortlist and finalists announce so quickly, we will be busy reading for the book. The good news is you can submit your stories to the anthology because all stories are considered for publication. We are sorry for any inconvenience and look forward to reading your work this month and after the 31st.

The third volume of The Masters Review, with stories selected by Lev Grossman, is available now and garnering excellent reviews. To celebrate, we’re conducting interviews with the ten wonderful authors our anthology features. In Joe Worthen’s story “County Maps,” a girl attempts to discover and make sense of herself by mapping the county. In this piece, writer Joe Worthen examines his characters by pairing them with a very clear sense of place. It is a quiet and direct piece, filled with nuance and texture. We’re thrilled to be publishing it.

“They find an old motorboat flipped between two cypress trees, covered in algae. Jack walks out on it and smokes a cigarette. Suzanne looks at the shape of him and chews the edge of her pencil.”

“County Maps” is a story about a young woman who is attempting to map her county, including a small island. Where did you get the idea for this piece? Are you interested in cartography? The outdoors?

I’m not really interested in either of these topics directly. This story started with the image of younger children watching Suzanne wade across a shallow river next to an overpass. From there I added her motivation to map the island but I can’t remember why. I think it stuck because I liked the idea of a teenage girl with GPS technology documenting a gross, used-up place. Her mission sort of ramps up the faux post-apocalyptic vibe that strip mall Appalachia naturally produces.

In “County Maps” the story’s two characters, Jack and Suzanne, are trying to reconcile their feelings toward one another as they walk the island. Why did you choose to explore a relationship within this context?

There’s a sense of place in the south that people really internalize. Even though everything in Suzanne’s county is sort of busted and weird, polluted, Styrofoam cups and old cell phones, that’s her place and who she is (and who Jack is). So the characters and their histories are part of the landscape (not just the mountains and islands but the Chili’s and Texas Roadhouses and vape huts) in the same way the landscape is part of the characters. Suzanne thinks that knowing the county will allow her to know herself and her family. But she winds up getting to know Jack using the same proxy, which she sort of encourages/lets happen. It’s a more positive outcome for her probably, because it’s hopeful. I guess the mapping of the island also provides a pretty direct metaphor for navigating the day after a one-night stand.

Is “County Maps” similar to your other writing? What are you working on now?

I tend to write language intensive stories that are either very regional (like “County Maps” that deal with youth in SC) or totally magical where language and imagery drive the narrative to places that it would never go in a realistic story. So, sort of, I guess. It’s on the more realistic end of the spectrum of things that I write.

Which writers or stories do you turn to for inspiration? Where there any in particular that served as the inspiration for this piece?

“County Maps” definitely draws from Mary Miller’s Big World collection as well as Barry Hannah’s Airships. They write the sort of short stories I feel the most connected to. Where really raw, colloquial language meets up with extremely deliberate syntax and rhythm to the end of creating a poetic gloss over the prose and allowing for a sense of heightened meaning/emotionality even if the narrative itself is simple and the drama muted. (more…)

In addition to our anthology, which is currently open for submissions, we have some killer categories that are open year round.

Editorial Letter – If you’re interested in knowing a little bit more about what we thought of your writing, utilize our Editorial Letter option. When we’ve reviewed your piece we will include up to two pages of feedback on what we liked and didn’t like about your story, suggestions for revision, where it might be a good fit, and other comments about your piece. It’s nice to get feedback from the editors reviewing your work… and now you can.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin

Fast Response – There’s a saying in publishing: “If you need to know now, the answer is no.” Well friends, we’re offering an exception to the rule. If you want to hear back regarding your New Voices story within two weeks, consider ponying up a few bucks to hear back right away, and we’ll respond with an acceptance or rejection within two weeks of receiving your story.

“There are no speed limits on the road to success.” – David W. Johnson

Anthology – The fourth volume of our anthology is currently open for submissions with the aim of publishing the ten best emerging writers. Get your work in front of editors, agents, and publishers, and have it personally selected by our guest judge, author Kevin Brockmeier. We are open to fiction and narrative nonfiction up to 7000 words until March 31, 2015. All emerging writers are free to submit as long as they have not published a novel-length work at the time of submission. $500 and publication will be awarded to ten authors.

“I’ve actually been solicited for work several times since publishing in the Master’s Review.” — Joe Worthen Volume III

“I’ve had such a busy semester, and never reached out to say thank you for all the work you all did on The Masters Review. It’s a beautiful book. I was even contacted by a literary agent, which is so neat, but also quite nerve-racking. Time to work on some fiction!” — Drew Ciccolo Volume III

SUBMIT HERE: https://themastersreview.submittable.com/submit

We’re so proud to introduce the ten writers representing, The Masters Review Volume III with stories selected by Lev Grossman, out this fall. Here’s a chance for you to get to know them a little better. We cannot wait to make this collection available to readers. Stay tuned for details!

The Short Anthology  is proud to announce its first issue available online, and listen friends, this is a cool project. Each issue of The Short Anthology uses work from a photographer as inspiration for fiction.

This first issue involved writers from around the world interpreting of a set of eight photographs. The photos were taken by Joe Coleman and featured images of the sea from Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand. The stories range from science fiction set in Uganda, to a story about immigration and loneliness in Dover, UK.

It’s a great concept, and cool use of art providing inspiration for writing. For more information you can contact the editors at: editors (at) theshortanthology (dot) com. And for a better taste of their style, check out a photo from the interior, below.