Non-Genre Fiction Magazine Recs Wanted
July 26, 2011 8:56 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for fiction journal or magazine recommendations, and I don't know where to start other than what I don't want: 'Genre' or McSweeney's.
I do read voraciously, but I read way too much sci-fi/fantasy and I'm trying really hard to read 'general' fiction. But whenever I start reading 'non-genre' fiction, I tend to get bored; so I figured if I get a magazine, that's less intimidating than a book, and if it has a bunch of stories, hey, at least one of them's got to be good.
What I've liked: some of the fiction in the New Yorker. But it makes me jealous of events in the city, so I'd rather not get it. Most of what I've read from Akashic press, including the non-genre stuff. I read popular non-fiction about 1:5 books.
What I've disliked: every book I've read from the McSweeney's press. Twee stuff. Generally stuff marketed toward women as an amorphous group.
Cost isn't really an issue, but I'd rather not import from outside the US, and I'm pretty much English only for fiction.
I do read voraciously, but I read way too much sci-fi/fantasy and I'm trying really hard to read 'general' fiction. But whenever I start reading 'non-genre' fiction, I tend to get bored; so I figured if I get a magazine, that's less intimidating than a book, and if it has a bunch of stories, hey, at least one of them's got to be good.
What I've liked: some of the fiction in the New Yorker. But it makes me jealous of events in the city, so I'd rather not get it. Most of what I've read from Akashic press, including the non-genre stuff. I read popular non-fiction about 1:5 books.
What I've disliked: every book I've read from the McSweeney's press. Twee stuff. Generally stuff marketed toward women as an amorphous group.
Cost isn't really an issue, but I'd rather not import from outside the US, and I'm pretty much English only for fiction.
Best answer: Another good journal to check out is Ploughshares. You could also try compilations such as The Best American Short Stories if you don't mind the book format, since you can read books like that similarly to how you'd treat a magazine -- leaving them around the house and picking them up for a story or two when the mood strikes.
If you are considering subscribing to anything, I love One Story. Every three weeks, I get a little envelope with one simply bound short story in it. They've been very diverse in style and content, so if you don't like one, in a few weeks you'll get something totally different!
posted by in a dark glassly at 9:19 AM on July 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you are considering subscribing to anything, I love One Story. Every three weeks, I get a little envelope with one simply bound short story in it. They've been very diverse in style and content, so if you don't like one, in a few weeks you'll get something totally different!
posted by in a dark glassly at 9:19 AM on July 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I'm planning on a subscription - I'd rather get something X times a year in the mail than just have a book, because YAY MAIL - but I do have a good magazine store on my way home to buy individual issues if I want to.
posted by cobaltnine at 9:31 AM on July 26, 2011
posted by cobaltnine at 9:31 AM on July 26, 2011
Granta
posted by philip-random at 9:44 AM on July 26, 2011
posted by philip-random at 9:44 AM on July 26, 2011
Fourthing Granta.
posted by fivesavagepalms at 10:10 AM on July 26, 2011
posted by fivesavagepalms at 10:10 AM on July 26, 2011
I enjoy my subscription to Geist quite a bit. It's a quarterly that does short fiction and poetry, along with some non-fiction. However, it may come across as overly Canadian.
posted by frimble at 10:48 AM on July 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by frimble at 10:48 AM on July 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
American Short Fiction is my second favorite journal. (One Story is my fave, but each issue contains just one story so if you don't like it, s.o.l.)
posted by booth at 11:04 AM on July 26, 2011
posted by booth at 11:04 AM on July 26, 2011
How about checking out the literature magazine section at your local bookstore? I know the Barnes and Noble near us has a pretty decent selection of lit quarterlies. Also, there's always Atlantic monthly.
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 1:10 PM on July 26, 2011
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 1:10 PM on July 26, 2011
Granta, Granta, Granta.
posted by AngryLlama at 2:43 PM on July 26, 2011
posted by AngryLlama at 2:43 PM on July 26, 2011
Granta is great. The Missouri Review and Tin House are also excellent (though slightly less over-the-radar than Granta).
posted by soviet sleepover at 3:10 PM on July 26, 2011
posted by soviet sleepover at 3:10 PM on July 26, 2011
Response by poster: I think I'm going to see if I can find a copy of either Granta - which I'm guessing won't be too hard - and Black Clock (which was also recc'd by someone via e-mail) to look over in paper.
Even though One Story is one story at a time, if I don't like it, I don't mind passing it along, and every three weeks is pretty awesome.
Thanks!
posted by cobaltnine at 9:25 AM on July 29, 2011
Even though One Story is one story at a time, if I don't like it, I don't mind passing it along, and every three weeks is pretty awesome.
Thanks!
posted by cobaltnine at 9:25 AM on July 29, 2011
Any used bookstore should have dozens and dozens of back issues of Granta.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:20 PM on July 29, 2011
posted by KokuRyu at 5:20 PM on July 29, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Granta
posted by mattbucher at 9:00 AM on July 26, 2011 [1 favorite]