In keeping with the discusson of online journals, I want to find the best ones, the res[ected ones that submit stories to the prize places such as Pushcart or best short stories. Perhaps we could start a list. there are many weak ‘zines but some really good ones. What do you guys know?

A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.  Virginia Woolf

If you’re referring to online-only journals, Duotrope’s Digest lists the following online journals that have nominated stories for various awards in the past: Antithesis Common, Cezanne’s Carrot, Chick Flicks, Crime and Suspense, Dana Literary Society, failbetter.com, Flash Me Magazine, Green Hills Literary Lantern, November 3rd Club, Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k), Rattapallax, Rose & Thorn, Son and Foe, Strange Horizons and Terrain.org.

Links for each can be found at: http://www.duotrope.com/index.aspx

Several of the above have rejected my stories, so it’s obvious they do indeed have lofty standards.

Looks like two e-only journals have nominated for the BAP:

failbetter.com
La Petite Zine

Thanks, Duotrope. I did not know that.

If I can be so bold, please let me hype our new literary webzine at http://www.icorn.org BABEL- international literature with as many tongues as possible- sound files! We are too new to have a reputation, but our contributors include Etienne Balibar, Moris Fahri and Faraj Bayrakbar, Catherine Daley (next issue includes Marilyn Hacker and other well-established writers).

ren.kat

While, to some degree, respect is earned; the largest share of respect, credibility, and prestige is merely conferred on a worthy recipient.

In addition to publishing my own online literary magazine (reading a hundred or so submitted stories and selecting a few), I’ve been reading other online literary magazines.  So last year, I read a large body of literary fiction printed online.  I also subscribe to six or seven print lit journals and two mainstream glossies that still publish fiction.  So I get a steady input of the print literary world’s offerings.

My conclusion after a year of reading is that you are just as likely to find great literature online as you are in a paper magazine, and you are just as likely to find stories which are not to your taste.  Most online journals have editors with a refined literary sensibility and don’t publish stories which are manifestly dreck.

Thus, online literary magazines are worthy recipients of respect, credibility, and prestige.  It’s up to us (as the community of readers) to decide whether we want to confer that prestige.

To Ren.kat’s post on ICORN… I quoted from ICORN’s home page on my blog and linked to their URL.

Thank you posting that notice--this is a site that every writer, every reader who respects literature, would do well to be aware of.

Jacob Russell’s Barking Dog