ISSUE 13 - "WINTER"
"Winter Cabins" by Kathleen Gunton
Kathleen Gunton is committed to literary journals. Her photography appears on the cover of Arts & Letters, Studio One, Potomac Review, and Thema -- to name a few.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Thank you for the over 1000 pieces of prose poetry & creative nonfiction, as well as over 100 pieces of artwork & photographs for this most excellent winter-themed issue (#13). It is truly gorgeous, each piece a part of the larger shimmering picture. As per usual, we had to turn down hundreds of fine pieces simply because we didn't have room for them all. In the end we'll have taken about 25 pieces and will reveal half a dozen or so each month on our homepage through April or May, though you'll be able to find them here in spurts between now and then. You're all such lovely and kind writers; please keep up the good work and do think of us again in the future! ~Chila, for all of us
ACCEPTANCES
Adam Berlin (prose poem) - "white out"
Bethany Bowman (2 prose poems) - "Melanoma Dreams" & "Fat Tuesday"
Kathleen Casey (prose poem) - "The Winter that is Nothing"
Hannah Christopher (creative nonfiction) - "Ohio in the Golden Hour"
Robbie Curry (prose poem) - "Never Winterland"
Tom Daley (prose poem) - "Near Woodfin, Christmas Eve"
Kathryn Ganfield (prose poem) - "High Moon"
Norma Gerber (prose poem) - "City Lady Lost"
Jericho Hockett (prose poem) - "Your Altar on the Mantle"
Shaun Holloway (prose poem) - "Antlers"
Brian Johnson (prose poem) - "January in the Upper Midwest"
Kinneson Lalor (prose poem) - "Winter is the Perfect Time to Dig a Swimming Pond"
Susan L. Leary (prose poem) - "Knitted Wings"
Diane LeBlanc (prose poem) - "Winter Self"
Colleen Michaels (prose poem) - "The Snow Explains Its Falling to You"
Andrew Alexander Mobbs (prose poem) - "Witching Hour"
Daniel Edward Moore (prose poem) - "Bethlehem, Baby, Bethlehem"
Daniel Olivieri (creative nonfiction) - "Off Season"
Tamara L. Panici (prose poem) - "Christmas Plans"
Concetta Principe (prose poem) - "Where Are"
Biman Roy (prose poem) - "At Dobbs Ferry"
Rikki Santer (prose poem) - "Dear Twilight Zone Episode Starring Me"
Molly Sturdevant (prose poem) - "My Holocene Portion"
Rodney Torreson (prose poem) - "First Winter: Return from Ft. Dodge"
Claire Unis (creative nonfiction) - "Winter Solstice 2020: Acceptance"
Shane Vande Brake (prose poem) - "Left Cold"
Lenore Weiss (prose poem) - "Things That Swing in Space"
ACCEPTANCES
Adam Berlin (prose poem) - "white out"
Bethany Bowman (2 prose poems) - "Melanoma Dreams" & "Fat Tuesday"
Kathleen Casey (prose poem) - "The Winter that is Nothing"
Hannah Christopher (creative nonfiction) - "Ohio in the Golden Hour"
Robbie Curry (prose poem) - "Never Winterland"
Tom Daley (prose poem) - "Near Woodfin, Christmas Eve"
Kathryn Ganfield (prose poem) - "High Moon"
Norma Gerber (prose poem) - "City Lady Lost"
Jericho Hockett (prose poem) - "Your Altar on the Mantle"
Shaun Holloway (prose poem) - "Antlers"
Brian Johnson (prose poem) - "January in the Upper Midwest"
Kinneson Lalor (prose poem) - "Winter is the Perfect Time to Dig a Swimming Pond"
Susan L. Leary (prose poem) - "Knitted Wings"
Diane LeBlanc (prose poem) - "Winter Self"
Colleen Michaels (prose poem) - "The Snow Explains Its Falling to You"
Andrew Alexander Mobbs (prose poem) - "Witching Hour"
Daniel Edward Moore (prose poem) - "Bethlehem, Baby, Bethlehem"
Daniel Olivieri (creative nonfiction) - "Off Season"
Tamara L. Panici (prose poem) - "Christmas Plans"
Concetta Principe (prose poem) - "Where Are"
Biman Roy (prose poem) - "At Dobbs Ferry"
Rikki Santer (prose poem) - "Dear Twilight Zone Episode Starring Me"
Molly Sturdevant (prose poem) - "My Holocene Portion"
Rodney Torreson (prose poem) - "First Winter: Return from Ft. Dodge"
Claire Unis (creative nonfiction) - "Winter Solstice 2020: Acceptance"
Shane Vande Brake (prose poem) - "Left Cold"
Lenore Weiss (prose poem) - "Things That Swing in Space"
JOURNAL GUIDELINES
This is a themed online issue - "Winter." Submissions open December 12, 2020 through February 20, 2021. Chapbook submission guidelines (open until April 5th) are in the section below this one.
Know that we seek lyricism above all.
We are a non-paying market except for our annual genre awards.
1. We'll accept themed ("winter") submissions for Issue 13. Make sure your work has some tie-in to winter, though the connection may be understated or oblique. We welcome many interpretations of "winter." Artwork and photography will also be considered.
2. Essays up to 1500 words (note word count change from previous issues). Send up to three in the same document. (Note that we love hybrid, lyric, and unique subjects & writing styles.)
3. NO FICTION THIS TIME.
4. Prose poetry up to 250 words. Send up to three in the same document. NOTE: We consider a prose poem to be like a paragraph of text. That is, NO line breaks whatsoever, no blocking forms, no slashes, no extra spacing, just a straight paragraph of text but of course it should contain the lovely tight and surprising language of poetry rather than sound like a diary entry or narrative paragraph.
5. Only submit in one genre at a time until you hear back from us. That is, one to three pieces of nonfiction in one document OR one to three prose poems in one document.
6. No reading fee. No payment this time for accepted work except for our annual genre awards which will be announced in January 2022. Awards will be $50 or more per genre. Winner must have a Paypal account to accept payment. If you submit work and it's chosen, yet you don't have a Paypal account, you forfeit payment. Please be aware of this. You will also have the option to donate the prize back to us. We don't expect it, yet of course we always appreciate these type of donations.
7. Submit as many times as you wish, but only after you've heard back from us.
8. As always, work must be smart, preferably lyrical, and geared toward a wide audience.
9. Send material in its final form, as we cannot allow substantial changes once we receive your work. We will edit to catch small things you may have missed, then we'll send the edits for your approval.
10. Winter-themed artwork & photography welcome.
11. Please give us six weeks or so to review and respond to your submission(s), though generally we hope to reply much sooner.
12. Our speedy reply donation option will be available during this time. (Speedy reply means a simple yes or no within 15 days.
13. We read BLIND. No author name or address on the manuscript or file name. The Title space on Submittable should only contain the title of the work. Your name and bio goes in the box marked Cover Letter on your Submittable submission form.
14. All submitted material should be in Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, double-spaced.
15. What to avoid: anything not geared toward a wide-audience focus, i.e., not erotic.
16. If it helps you decide what to send, please know that we enjoy short, pithy, language-driven work that makes sense. We love beauty and lyricism.
17. We reserve the right to edit an author's bio for whatever reason.
GENERAL INFORMATION (and far too much of it; hopefully it's helpful)
- Most journals and reviews want a story; we want magic in the language & fire in the flow, a show to impress over drama to incite. Please stretch your lyrical wings. Give us the beautiful, the musical, even the odd & quirky. Think Annie Dillard meets Gertrude Stein, but make sure it makes sense.
- Free general submissions during our reading months, except for our speedy reply & basic feedback options.
- All stories must appeal to a broad audience. Do feel free to delve into the tougher subjects, only do so carefully. We are a "journal of good spaces."
- We are primarily seeking lyric essays & prose poetry, though we'll also consider creative nonfiction and flash fiction. Please, no standard poetry, journalistic essays, book reviews, etc. If you've not read Annie Dillard, you may not have discovered the kind of lyricism we especially love.
- Be witty, fun or meditative. Be experimental with language.
- Accepted contributors will be required to sign an author's agreement.
What we hope to avoid: purple prose, genre/mainstream writing, erotica, horror, bawdy and base elements, base humor, predictability, swearing, gratuitous sexuality, racial or sexual bias, bigotry, name-calling, preaching / conversion attempts / agenda in religious or philosophical work, political works without story and literary bent or which aims to convert. Excessive and unnecessary drama for drama's sake. Darkness for darkness' sake. Find better ways to employ strong emotion in your writing.
If you're not sure about a work or a topic, please send it anyway.
Miscellaneous Facts
Simultaneous submissions are fine but as per usual please let us know immediately if you receive an acceptance before you hear back from us, as is customary.
We do not favor reprints unless it's a piece that meets our requirements above and has been published in a well-known literary venue.
Any writer from any country in the world is welcome to submit work in English.
Include a short third person, 50 word, bio in the Cover Letter box on the Submittable form.
This will be an online-only issue; accepted work will be posted online either month-by-month or all at once, TBD. Select work may be included in a future print anthology.
Our final decisions will be based on work quality and current needs (though we may occasionally solicit work). That being said, we eschew favoritism in all its insidious forms.
Submissions may be nominated for the Pushcart award, Best of the Net, Best American Essays, etc.
Please do not ask about a free submission until at least 4 months have passed.
CHAPBOOK SUBMISSIONS (until April 5th):
Lyric Essays and Prose Poetry ONLY, from 25 to 40 pages (5.5" x 8.5" page size). No theme is required. There is no reading fee per manuscript. Submit as many times as you wish. If you send standard poetry, fiction, or other genres not included in "lyric essays and prose poetry," we'll of course have to decline it. Note that for our purposes, prose poetry has NO line breaks and is NOT in block form. It looks and reads like a normal paragraph of writing (like this one), but without the initial indentation, and with the beautiful language, sound, surprise, and story of poetry.
Please know that we prefer nature-themed submissions, place-based submissions, and the like. We like hopeful, beautiful, and sculpted writing. Previously published sections (from journals) are fine; note name of journal and date published, but the whole should not have been previously published as one.
We may choose finalists, and if we do, will do so by April 15th. A winner will be chosen by early May or thereabouts. In the off-chance that none of the submissions fit our dynamic, we will forego a winner.
If we choose your manuscript:
A letter of acceptance along with an author contract will be sent, and the expected general correspondence.
After the signed contract is returned, you will have a chance to look over the manuscript before the printing.
Please have at least one book blurb written by a well-published writer, editor, or critic for the back cover.
You will be notified of typos we find, and an electronic proof will be sent to you for final approval before printing.
We will announce the book launch and promote it via our website and monthly update when first released, but you are responsible for any further promotion, marketing, and sales.
We will gladly let you know how many copies have sold when you ask, but please no more than once every 3 months.
Our publishing configuration does not pay royalties, but instead we will give you 10 free books and a 25% discount on copies you purchase through Eastern Iowa Review.
We use print-on-demand for all our print copies (Lightning Source / Ingram). Lightning Source supports a CMYK color model and offers matte or glossy finish for covers, and cream or white pages for interiors. Ingram distributes to various vendors worldwide, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. We of course cannot predict or be responsible for pricing fluctuations on their sales channels, sales rankings, and availability issues from individual vendors. However, you and your friends will always be able to purchase books and journals directly from Eastern Iowa Review.
If you like what you've read here, please do submit during our open reading period which ends on April 5th.
Lyric Essays and Prose Poetry ONLY, from 25 to 40 pages (5.5" x 8.5" page size). No theme is required. There is no reading fee per manuscript. Submit as many times as you wish. If you send standard poetry, fiction, or other genres not included in "lyric essays and prose poetry," we'll of course have to decline it. Note that for our purposes, prose poetry has NO line breaks and is NOT in block form. It looks and reads like a normal paragraph of writing (like this one), but without the initial indentation, and with the beautiful language, sound, surprise, and story of poetry.
Please know that we prefer nature-themed submissions, place-based submissions, and the like. We like hopeful, beautiful, and sculpted writing. Previously published sections (from journals) are fine; note name of journal and date published, but the whole should not have been previously published as one.
We may choose finalists, and if we do, will do so by April 15th. A winner will be chosen by early May or thereabouts. In the off-chance that none of the submissions fit our dynamic, we will forego a winner.
If we choose your manuscript:
A letter of acceptance along with an author contract will be sent, and the expected general correspondence.
After the signed contract is returned, you will have a chance to look over the manuscript before the printing.
Please have at least one book blurb written by a well-published writer, editor, or critic for the back cover.
You will be notified of typos we find, and an electronic proof will be sent to you for final approval before printing.
We will announce the book launch and promote it via our website and monthly update when first released, but you are responsible for any further promotion, marketing, and sales.
We will gladly let you know how many copies have sold when you ask, but please no more than once every 3 months.
Our publishing configuration does not pay royalties, but instead we will give you 10 free books and a 25% discount on copies you purchase through Eastern Iowa Review.
We use print-on-demand for all our print copies (Lightning Source / Ingram). Lightning Source supports a CMYK color model and offers matte or glossy finish for covers, and cream or white pages for interiors. Ingram distributes to various vendors worldwide, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. We of course cannot predict or be responsible for pricing fluctuations on their sales channels, sales rankings, and availability issues from individual vendors. However, you and your friends will always be able to purchase books and journals directly from Eastern Iowa Review.
If you like what you've read here, please do submit during our open reading period which ends on April 5th.
TERMS OF PUBLICATION
By submitting your work to the Eastern Iowa Review, you agree, should your work be accepted, to grant the Eastern Iowa Review exclusive print and electronic rights to your work until the time of print or online publication, as well as a non-exclusive right to maintain a copy of the published work in the literary journal archives indefinitely, online included; this includes the right to republish your work in anthology form without further remuneration, if any, to you. Any subsequent publication should include the credit “originally published in the Eastern Iowa Review.”
“Exclusive print and electronic rights” means that you agree not to re-publish your work elsewhere in print or online until the time of print publication, or in the case of online-only issues, until official online release. “Publish” means any public display of your work, and includes your personal website and posting to message boards. You are welcome to link to the page featuring your work instead, if sample excerpts or the complete work is featured online. Once the issue your work appears in has been published in print or online, you are free to republish your work in print or online. We have the right to display your work, in part or the whole, for promotional purposes online, in flyers, in anthology form, etc., in perpetuity. This includes on various online sales channels, in perpetuity.
Effective 2014, you also grant the Eastern Iowa Review the perpetual right to post an audio version (podcast) of your work on this or another site using our choice of reader.
You retain all other rights, including the right to re-publish the work in electronic or non-electronic form once the print or online issue has been released.
Letters to the editor(s) from any party may be published in whole or in part here or elsewhere online. Names and other identifying information will be withheld unless the author’s express permission is obtained. We welcome letters to the editor. Send to: [email protected].
Masthead
While no longer a member of CLMP, we strive to achieve a similar level of ethical standards: "...to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically."
Further, as is often the case with CLMP journals and presses, Eastern Iowa Review uses a blind judging system to arrive at writing acceptances and contest winners. This is how we do it:
1. We accept submissions via Submittable and use its tools to ensure that all identifying information is hidden from our readers throughout the selections process.
2. We ask entrants not to include their names or contact information within the document they upload to Submittable or its title; those who neglect this requirement will be disqualified.
3. While many journals disqualify close friends, relatives, students, and former students of the readers/judges from participation in any contest/award scenario, we're letting this one pass. We read "blind," and if the managing editor recognizes an author, she passes the work on to at least two of her other readers for their impartial input. We despise partiality in all its insidious forms and have no plans on letting it slither its way into our decisions at Eastern Iowa Review. We've turned down a number of "friends" and some many times.
Eastern Iowa Review is an extension of Port Yonder Press LLC.
Eastern Iowa Review is not funded by any organization and therefore appreciates your support via the purchase of our special print issues, or even through a donation.
By submitting your work to the Eastern Iowa Review, you agree, should your work be accepted, to grant the Eastern Iowa Review exclusive print and electronic rights to your work until the time of print or online publication, as well as a non-exclusive right to maintain a copy of the published work in the literary journal archives indefinitely, online included; this includes the right to republish your work in anthology form without further remuneration, if any, to you. Any subsequent publication should include the credit “originally published in the Eastern Iowa Review.”
“Exclusive print and electronic rights” means that you agree not to re-publish your work elsewhere in print or online until the time of print publication, or in the case of online-only issues, until official online release. “Publish” means any public display of your work, and includes your personal website and posting to message boards. You are welcome to link to the page featuring your work instead, if sample excerpts or the complete work is featured online. Once the issue your work appears in has been published in print or online, you are free to republish your work in print or online. We have the right to display your work, in part or the whole, for promotional purposes online, in flyers, in anthology form, etc., in perpetuity. This includes on various online sales channels, in perpetuity.
Effective 2014, you also grant the Eastern Iowa Review the perpetual right to post an audio version (podcast) of your work on this or another site using our choice of reader.
You retain all other rights, including the right to re-publish the work in electronic or non-electronic form once the print or online issue has been released.
Letters to the editor(s) from any party may be published in whole or in part here or elsewhere online. Names and other identifying information will be withheld unless the author’s express permission is obtained. We welcome letters to the editor. Send to: [email protected].
Masthead
While no longer a member of CLMP, we strive to achieve a similar level of ethical standards: "...to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically."
Further, as is often the case with CLMP journals and presses, Eastern Iowa Review uses a blind judging system to arrive at writing acceptances and contest winners. This is how we do it:
1. We accept submissions via Submittable and use its tools to ensure that all identifying information is hidden from our readers throughout the selections process.
2. We ask entrants not to include their names or contact information within the document they upload to Submittable or its title; those who neglect this requirement will be disqualified.
3. While many journals disqualify close friends, relatives, students, and former students of the readers/judges from participation in any contest/award scenario, we're letting this one pass. We read "blind," and if the managing editor recognizes an author, she passes the work on to at least two of her other readers for their impartial input. We despise partiality in all its insidious forms and have no plans on letting it slither its way into our decisions at Eastern Iowa Review. We've turned down a number of "friends" and some many times.
Eastern Iowa Review is an extension of Port Yonder Press LLC.
Eastern Iowa Review is not funded by any organization and therefore appreciates your support via the purchase of our special print issues, or even through a donation.
Remember, good spaces happen everywhere.
