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New literary journal
founded
Two doctors in Mississippi bring their love of literature to life in their new independent literary journal,
China Grove.
Edited by R. Scott Anderson MD and Lucius M. “Luke” Lampton MD, the first issue features an exclusive interview with National Book Award winner Ellen Gilchrist and a new short story from her latest book,
Acts of God. Readers will also find a previously unseen letter from Mark Twain about an unpublished work called
The Great Republic’s Peanut Stand, a love letter from Pulitzer Prize winner Eudora Welty to
crime fiction writer Kenneth Millar (Ross Macdonald) with an insight into the entire collection of Welty-Millar correspondence unsealed for the first time just this year, and of course original submissions from fresh writers across the country.
Lampton grew up in the thick of southern literature. He lived among the likes of Willie Morris, Shelby Foote, Walker Percy, and Welty herself. He publishes a community newspaper called
The Magnolia Gazette. As an author of monthly columns, screenplays and three books, Anderson experienced first hand the
uphill battle new writers have in getting attention for their work. So with their combined knowledge and interests,
China Grove was born.
“Our goal is to give talented newcomers a chance to be published next to legends, and to see the history of what it is they’ve chosen to pursue as a vocation,” Anderson said.
In future, the lit-loving doctors plan to publish two issues in 2014 and go quarterly in subsequent years. They accept unpublished short fiction, poetry and essays for consideration. Every issue will feature a cornerstone interview with a famous Mississippi author. Among their next targets is Gulfport’s Natasha Trethewey, the current United States Poet Laureate.
The journal will also award two new literary prizes: The Gilchrist Prize in Short Fiction given biannually starting Fall 2014 with a monetary gift of $2,000, and The China Grove Prize in Poetry starting in 2015.
Submissions should be sent in through the
China Grove website. The deadline for the February 2014 issue is October 1, 2013, and for the August 2014 issue is April 1, 2014. Single copy issues in print or online are $18. Subscriptions are $45 for the first three issues.
For more information go to https://www.firstwriter.com/magazines/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1875
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Editor's
pick: New literary agent, publisher and magazine listings
in October
The Editor's
pick of new literary
agent, publisher
and magazine
listings added to the firstwriter.com
databases in October:
New Magazine Listing
Publishes:
Essays; Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Short Stories;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Publishes poetry, short
stories, essays, and creative nonfiction. Prefers to
receive submissions by email as a single Word or .rtf file
attachment. See website for full guidelines.
https://www.firstwriter.com/magazines/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1871
New Magazine Listing
Publishes:
Fiction; News; Nonfiction; Poetry; Reviews;
Areas include: Horror; Humour; Short Stories;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Dark
Free-sheet collage of
horror and dark humour, featuring short fiction, genre
prose, poetry, artwork, cartoons, lists, reviews, news,
cuttings, trivia, and adverts.
https://www.firstwriter.com/magazines/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1872
New Publisher Listing
Publishes:
Fiction; Nonfiction;
Areas include: Women's Interests;
Markets: Adult; Children's
Canadian feminist press
publishing fiction, nonfiction and children’s books of
special interest to women. Tries to focus on Canadian
authors. No poetry, rhyming picture books, or books with
anthropomorphised animals. Send query by post with SASE,
synopsis, and up to three chapters. No submissions on disk
or by email. See website for full guidelines.
https://www.firstwriter.com/publishers/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1874
New Publisher Listing
Publishes:
Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Biography; Business; Fantasy; New
Age; Politics; Short Stories;
Markets: Adult; Youth
Send query by email only.
See website for full guidelines. Response only if
interested.
https://www.firstwriter.com/publishers/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1875
New Literary Agency Listing
Handles:
Fiction; Nonfiction; Scripts;
Areas: Film; Radio; Theatre; TV;
Markets: Adult; Children's;
Treatments: Commercial; Literary
Handles script writers and
writers of fiction, nonfiction, and children's books.
Accepts unsolicited email approaches relating to books
only; for scripts submit by post. See website for full
submission guidelines.
https://www.firstwriter.com/Agents/agents_details.cgi?RecordNumber=1109
New Publisher Listing
Publishes:
Fiction; Nonfiction;
Areas include: Fantasy; Religious; Sci-Fi;
Self-Help; Short Stories;
Markets: Adult; Children's; Family; Youth
Accepts queries for all
genres of fiction, including science fiction and fantasy,
and nonfiction, including self-help. Submissions may
include Christian fiction, inspirational, collections of
stories. Send query by email with marketing plan and (for
fiction) 5-10 pages in the body of the email. No
attachments. See website for full guidelines.
https://www.firstwriter.com/publishers/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1877
New Magazine Listing
Publishes:
Essays; Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry; Scripts;
Areas include: Drama; Short Stories;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Literary magazine,
publishing fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and dramatic
forms. See website for more details and to submit via
online submissions manager. Also accepts submissions by
post. Only open to submissions between September 1 and
December 1.
https://www.firstwriter.com/magazines/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1878
New Magazine Listing
Publishes:
Poetry;
Markets: Adult
Poetry magazine with
international outlook, publishing poems from around the
world. Send up to four poems by email or by post with SASE.
https://www.firstwriter.com/magazines/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1879
New Publisher Listing
Publishes:
Poetry;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Publishes poetry chapbooks
of 18-24 pages. Submit by email only.
https://www.firstwriter.com/publishers/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1880
New Magazine Listing
Publishes:
Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry; Reviews;
Areas include: Criticism; Short Stories;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Scholarly journal
publishing literary criticism, fiction, poetry, and book
reviews concerning the Greater Southwest. Submit online
via online submission system.
https://www.firstwriter.com/magazines/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1882
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Publishers think teenagers don't want to read about sex, says young adult author Darren Shan
 Horror author Darren Shan has claimed that publishers of books for young adults have a no-sex policy, believing it will turn off teenage readers.
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Book Trade Announcements - Unlock Your Writing Talent With New Ebook Novella Contest
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When Writing Well Is Part of the Problem
A little more than six years ago, I had the good fortune to be in a fiction workshop with Charles D’Ambrosio at the Tin House Writers Workshop in Portland, Ore. Charlie’s three books are among my favorites, so I was very excited to be in his class. He is one of those rare creatures: a gifted writer who is also a gifted teacher. Charlie was recovering from an allergic reaction that week, and while dispensing brilliant comments, he rubbed Aveeno anti-itch cream on his wrists. The story I submitted was narrated by a 16-year-old girl who is forced to spend the summer playing bridge with her grandmother. It tentatively explored sexual drive (budding in the young narrator, waning in the old woman, who has a homoerotic friendship with her bridge partner) and longing and familial duty, and it was, Charlie said, “so well written.”
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Former D&M staffers launch Page Two, a twist on the traditional literary agency
Former D&M Publishers staffers Trena White and Jesse Finkelstein have announced the launch of a new company, Page Two Strategies, that will serve both authors and corporate clients on a variety of projects.
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Books about writing worth a look
Lately I’ve been reading lots of books about writing. I’ve been collecting writing books for years, and I think I own more books about writing than most libraries. There are probably some amateur or professional writers who read my column, so I’ll provide you a short overview of what I’ve been re-reading.
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Writing a novel was very different from writing for television
 As one of the UK’s foremost screenwriters, Rob Gittins is no stranger to storytelling everywhere from Albert Square to Emmerdale. But, as he tells Kirstie McCrum, his first novel Gimme Shelter is a gritty thriller that’s a far cry from the cosy surroundings of soapland
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Wylie tells publishers: 'withdraw from Amazon'
 Literary agent Andrew Wylie has compared Amazon to conqueror Napoleon and said the online retailer is showing “megalomania”.
In an interview in New Republic, the renowned US agent was outspoken about the online retailer he once partnered with to launch publishing initiative Odyssey Editions. The partnership went on to spark a row between his agency and Random House.
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Write What Scares You!
There is a fine line between writing for yourself and writing for your audience. Writing something consumable is necessary to sell books, but at what point do we choose our audience over being honest with ourselves as we fill page after page with words? I was being interviewed recently by a reporter from Sweden about my book, The Cross in the Closet. She asked me why I had chosen to include details in the manuscript that might put-off my perspective audience inside the religious main stream. Specifically she cited the instances of alcohol use, smoking, and things considered off-putting to religious readers...
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Annabel Pitcher's top writing tips
 My first tip would be to start small and not over face yourself with writing a book. This is simply because it is really daunting to try and write seventy thousand words, when instead you can try and write a creative piece that is a thousand words, and have the lovely experience of finishing something that has a beginning, middle and end – a story, but on a small scale. What is great about this is that you get to practice being a writer; you get to plan and plot and write and edit without getting bogged down by a large project.
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10 Words to Cut From Your Writing
 As Mark Twain famously wrote, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." His point? Strong writing is lean writing.
When you want to make your writing more powerful, cut out words you don't need--such as the 10 included in this post:
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On Writing: Short doesn't mean easy
When Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature last week, she said she hoped it would boost the fortunes of the much-maligned short story.
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Writing Tips from Prompt Proofing - Avoid Stacked or Ambiguous Modifiers
I am not sure if this issue is a result of ever-changing technology or simply slightly lazy business jargon but there is an increasing tendency to string long lists of modifiers together before the noun they are all supposedly modifying (stacked modifiers). This can be tedious - and often confusing - to read.
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11 New Agents Earn a Stake in ICM Partners
ICM Partners has promoted 11 agents to partner, bringing its leadership group to 38, the agency announced on Monday. Those 11 all gain equity in the agency, which morphed into a partnership after buying out private equity firm Rizvi Traverse and former CEO Jeff Berg last May.
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Amazon Is Scaling Back Its Book Publishing
 Larry Kirshbaum, head of Amazon’s New York and Seattle adult and children's publishing imprints, is leaving the company—and with his departure, Amazon publishing operations will be scaled back, according to Shelf Awareness.
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