I never thought of myself as someone who read short stories or poetry except for assignments in class, until I became one of those readers who needs something for the commute to and from work as well as ten minute breaks and 30 minute lunches. Then, short stories and poetry became a whole lot more appealing. I didn’t feel like I was losing out at the end of my commute or break because I had just consumed a nice small bite of literature – large enough to keep me buoyed up and small enough to read in a small chunk of time. This is one of the things the “Small Press” is good at – providing small books with bite-sized pieces of literature – almost like those mini-candy bars you see at the drugstore that you pick up cuz you just want a little chocolate at a time, not the whole bar.
However, the thing with publications from the “Small Press” is that they aren’t necessarily easily found on your bookshelf at Barnes & Noble or Borders, nor are they the first to pop up on an Amazon search. You kind of have to know where to find them, and where to search. Sometimes you find them through friends, search engines, or in small independent bookstores. But when you do, you fall in love. It’s not the grand love of your favorite epic novels or series, it’s more like the love of a favorite postcard, photograph or drawing. Something you can read that will pull you away from the world for a little while, so you can return five minutes later refreshed and ready to go, or at least more aware of the world around you.
These days, small lit press is not just a hard copy zine with a stable binding, carefully Xeroxed by one of the editors late at night at work so they don’t have to pay for the paper and ink. These days they come with fantastic art work, perfect bound, POD publications only printed out when you ordered them, or solely online on a website or in PDF or some other ePub format easily downloadable for free or cheap. And you can find them everywhere.
Duotrope Digest and Writers Market are two places to start. Or just type what you’re looking for – say Fairy story magazines – into your favorite search engine and see what comes up. They’re all over the place and they really do range anywhere from free to really cheap. Some of the really cheap ones even offer free work online to give you a taste of what’s in the rest of the hard copy should you order an issue or a subscription.
And don’t think that just because someone is in a small press zine or anthology that they’re lowly beginners or that the literature is just so-so. That could be the case sometimes, but there are a lot of pros out there who are prolific and just want their work read wherever it will get accepted. And while they’re waiting to hear back on the novel they just sent to their agent, they’re typing away at all the short stories that stirred in their soul, struggling to get out while they were working on their grand epic.
So, go out there and take a look. If you a want a good place to start, then might I suggest (beware of plug here) you take a look at some of the publications where I have had short stories and poems published, such as Electric Velocipede, Aoife’s Kiss, Beyond Centauri, Bewildering Stories, MindFlights.com and Drollerie Press, plus many more. You can find links to all of them right here: http://www.puttputtproductions.com/fiction_and_poetry
