The Weekly Atticus (08/09/2017)

A recap of the week at Atticus Review, along with some extras.

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Dear ,I hope your fall is off to a good start. If you are from Southeast Texas or from Florida, we at Atticus Review wish you safety and a speedy recovery from the recent storms.  I'm going to keep this introduction short because there's a lot of exciting stuff happening at Atticus Review and I want to get right to the good stuff. Flash Fiction ContestFirst of all, this week, we launched our first Annual Flash Fiction Contest, led by Fiction Editor Michelle Ross. There are more details on that below but the main points are these: 

• $9 entry fee

• $250 first prize; $75 second prize; $25 third prize

• Deadline: 10/22

• Winner Announced: 11/27

• Judge: Carmen Maria Machado

You can't beat that.Staff ChangesSecond, Dorothy Bendel, who has done a great job as our Creative Nonfiction Editor at Atticus Review for the past year, will become our Managing Editor this week. She has led the charge on organizing our monthly "Author Updates" on our blog. You can expect to see her voice in more things, including on Twitter and Facebook.With Dorothy's role changing, Atticus Review is in search of a Creative Nonfiction Editor. We are especially interested in candidates who are passionate about actively seeking underrepresented voices. If you are interested, please email [email protected] with your qualifications, what you can bring to the role, and why you would want to work at Atticus Review. This is a volunteer role, but comes with all the perks and rewards of working with a great team of people and doing awesome literary things.I also want to welcome Natalie Chetboun to the role of Assistant Poetry Editor. Natalie received her MA in Creative Writing from Bar Ilan University. Her poetry, reviews, and articles have appeared in The Ilanot Review, The Museum of Americana, Blue Lyra Review, The Jerusalem Post, and others. Raised in Alabama, she currently lives in Jerusalem.Atticus Review Needs Your SupportFinally, I posted to our blog yesterday on the topic of the financial support of literary magazines and the inherent difficulty of sustaining a viable media venture today. I won't re-write the whole thing here, but in the post I talk about things like mandatory submission fees (which we will not be doing), the public radio revenue model (which we will be doing), and paying writers for their work (which we hope to be doing!). Here is a paragraph:We’re going to adopt a model used by another media source I consume regularly: public radio. What I like about the public radio model is that it relies on a community of people who are made to feel like they are active participants in the production of the media and who voluntarily give to it. I think of Atticus Review less as a top-down media outlet and more as a community endeavor, one which other folks participate in, rather than simply consume.To me, the mission of the magazine is to support developing writers. To provide a platform for them, initially. But also to continue to support them as they progress in their career.All that and more below. The earth has been a strange place lately. We're glad you're here.

David Olimpio Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

ATTICUS NEWS

ANNOUNCING OUR FIRST ANNUAL FLASH FICTION CONTESTJudge: Carmen Maria MachadoSUBMIT HERE!First Prize: $250Second Prize: $75Third Prize: $25Deadline: October 22nd, 2017Winner Announced: November 27th, 2017

YOU CAN HELP US PAY WRITERSBECOME A PATRON TODAYYour financial support will help pay the bills we already pay, including hosting, newsletter fees, and the submissions manager. Also, starting in 2018, we will begin the production of an annual “Best Of” print issue. Your financial support will help in all of this.Second, and more importantly, we believe in paying our contributors, and our goal is to do this by 2019. However this will be a goal we’ll only be able to achieve through your financial support. READ MORE

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

FERAL TOWN by Adam Gustavson

CHARLEMAGNE

BOOK REVIEW: UNEARTHING THE BONDS OF SISTERHOOD

A review of GETTING IT RIGHT by Karen E. Osborne. Review by Eshani Surya"Two sisters, damaged by the same father. Two racial identities, forever at odds with each other.  Two stories that intertwine for a brief two-week period at the end of spring. In Getting It Right, Karen E. Osborne writes from the alternating perspectives of Kara and Alex, two women who share a father and little else...This is a novel that opens many doors..."READ MORE

FICTION: THAT WATER LIVES SO FARby Jad Josey"The well had turned last summer. The sweet, piney water smelled like blood now. Like dank copper. Jenner and Charlie had been there when Uncle Charles pulled up the bucket. He’d jerked it back and forth, the ruined water sloshing onto his thick wrist. “Goddammit,” he said. Charlie’s little brother cooed loudly. “Shut that baby up,” Uncle Charles said. He pulled out his buckhorn knife and sawed through the rope, then tossed the bucket aside."READ MORE

FEATURED POET: AMIE WHITTEMORE"September's Featured Poet is Amie Whittemore. Imagine the wildly imaginative leaps of Bob Hicok, the finely crafted lyricism of Charles Wright, and the sardonic wit of Sharon Olds and Anne Sexton. Now, imagine someone exhibiting all these poetic talents—and more—at the same time. If that sounds impossible, it’s my pleasure to prove you wrong with this month’s Featured Poet, Amie Whittemore. Rarely do you find a contemporary poet who can pull off this many magic tricks at one time. Then again, rarely are any of us privileged to read work like this. Enjoy!"READ MORE

NONFICTIONSTORIES ABOUT SONGS: SING FOR THE MOMENTby John Gredler The first in our Stories About Songs series. We are still looking for more submissions for this series."I remember sitting like this next to my father as a boy and later as a young man. The smell of his cologne mixed with leather and cigarette smoke, the way we were so physically near each other in that closed space, both of us looking ahead through the windshield. I felt closest to him when I was sitting there next to him, not looking at him, just feeling his presence."READ MORE

MIXED MEDIA: THE CLOUD CAPPED CITADELSby Colm Scully"Filmed by my daughters during a plane journey to Spain, the simple backdrop tied in with an old poem of mine. Hopefully there is enough depth in the images to promote reflection while listening to the words, without overwhelming them."WATCH VIDEO POEM