books 2007: Fairy Tale Review, The Blue Issue (2005?)

[supercheesegirl]

Journal info: Fairy Tale Review, out of the English department at the University of Alabama, online at fairytalereview.com. Published yearly; submissions should be postmarked between September 1 and May 1.

First of all, this is one of the nicest looking journals I've seen. They're running with a design based on the fairy books (The Blue Fairy Book, The Green Fairy Book, etc). Hence the issue being named by color--there's not even a year on it (although I would guess 2005 for this one, since Green is the current issue and Violet comes out this fall). There's a 'This Book Belongs To' page and the last page says 'The End'. It's just well and thoughtfully designed, and I appreciate that.

Secondly, all the work in this issue is excellent. I am so impressed. It starts off with a Kim Addonizio short story, "Ever After", which of course is nothing short of terrific. Aimee Bender's story "Appleless" was really disturbing, as was the Mary Caponegro story "Carrion Comfort". (Disturbing fairy tales are generally the best.) I liked Norman Lock's "Thirteen Tales" - I'm guessing it would be classified a prose poem. I liked Sarah Veglehn's poem "Hum". Good stuff all around. The only things I didn't absolutely enjoy were the Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer poems, and that's because I think they're at their best as collaborators when they're being funny. These poems weren't being funny, and so I kind of didn't get them.

Conclusion: This is the kind of journal I plan to send my work to, not because I think they'd take it, but because I really really want them to take it. I would love for my work to be good enough to find a home in such a nice journal. I plan on buying the Green issue and also subscribing.

Comments

[sheseesbackward.livejournal.com]

i love aimee bender!! she is one of my newly discovered and favorite authors. i've gotten all of her books (3) and read two of them so far. i am planning on posting soon about books i've read recently and was going to put her down. i also really like joshua beckman's poems--the few i've read anyway. i think i should check this out--it sounds like it would be a really interesting and good read. are you going to send them poetry or stories?

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I'm so psyched about this journal, I just printed their subscription form from the website. You should check it out! I'm going to send them poems, for sure--my fiction's always terrible. I have ideas already for which poems to send, too. Hopefully I can get on that this weekend.

I'll look into Aimee Bender. Joshua Beckman is neat, I met him when I was in Greensboro. The poems in this issue, though, are collaborative ones that he wrote with Matthew Rohrer, and some of their stuff is cool while some is too abstract for me. Jorn has their book, actually, I bought it for him--it's called "Nice Hat. Thanks." You could borrow it from him.

[lilacgrrl.livejournal.com]

I took a workshop with Kim Addonzio a few weeks ago, followed by her reading. I love her so much. I want to be her when I grow up. She is tattooed and feisty and loves the harmonica almost more than poetry.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

And she is so sexy!! I totally crush on her.