Journals and Magazines Publishing Gay Fiction

Tags

GLBT, journals, lgbt, literary

I have been compiling a list of literary journals and magazines who specialize in gay-themed fiction. I mean “gay male” when I say “gay-themed.” I’m looking for venues for my own work, so a lesbian-only magazine (for example) won’t work. They don’t want to bother with me, and I don’t want to bother with them.

Anyway, it occurs to me that you guys a). might find this list interesting, either because you’re writers, or because you’re readers looking for gay-themed fiction to read, or b). might be able to help me add more venues to my list, since you are many, and I am only one, and your collective knowledge of the field is probably vaster than mine.

I have tried to weed out magazines, websites, or journals who haven’t published a new issue in a long time (holy shit there’s a lot of those), or whose focus seems to be erotica or pornography (not because I have anything against those genres, just not what I’m writing).

As you’ll see below, it’s kind of difficult to tell which of these projects are still active, and which aren’t. Generally, if more than two years has gone since any kind of update to their website or publication schedule, I’m counting them as inactive. Others are on the cusp. Some of these journals publish fairly infrequently (even the ones that are supposed to be quarterly don’t always hit that schedule), and there doesn’t seem to be a culture of constant website updates among the editors, to say the least.

Here’s my list so far:

Bloom Literary Journal

Description: “A publication of Arts in Bloom Project, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to queer artists, writers, and audiences. BLOOM was founded to support the work of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered writers and artists and to foster the appreciation of queer literature and creation.”

Type of Publication: Quarterly/Print

Last issue published: Fall 2012

Notes: Not sure if this project is still active. They claim to be accepting submissions for their next issue starting September 1, but there hasn’t been a new issue for quite some time. Does anybody know if these guys are still publishing? I signed up for their email list to see if there’s any activity there.

Gertrude

Description: “Showcasing and developing the creative talents of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer-identified, and allied individuals.”

Type of Publication: Quarterly/Print

 

Last Issue Published: Winter 2013

 

Notes: Not sure if this project is still active, but I think it probably is. They have a blog — the last post there coincides with the last published issue (January 2013). So they’re either still active, or they died 6 months ago and haven’t told anybody (which is common for these literary journals’ websites). Again: anybody know?

 

Icarus

 

Description: “The magazine of gay speculative fiction.”

 

Type of Publication: Quarterly/Print & Digital

 

Last Issue Published: Summer 2013

 

Notes: The previous two were literary in nature — this one’s all about genre fiction, which may be a perfect answer for me, as a writer and as a reader. Covers have a DIY/zine-ish feel to them, which I like, but others may not.

 

Jonathan

 

Description: “A brand-new journal featuring short fiction by queer male writers. Named after the lesser-known close friend (and speculated lover) of King David in the Old Testament. Jonathan features gay writers and their short stories in each issue.”

 

Type of Publication: Quarterly(?)/Print & Digital

 

Last Issue Published: They list three issues, but no dates for each. Submissions for the next issue expire at the end of this month (August 2013), so I think maybe they’re still active.

 

Notes: Very attractive graphic design on the covers.

 

Chelsea Station

 

Description: “A new magazine devoted to gay writing, is published one to four times a year.”

 

Type of Publication: Quarterly (?)/Print & Digital

 

Last Issue Published: May, 2013

 

Notes: Associated with “Chelsea Station Editions,” a book publishing outfit that either arose out of the magazine or vice-versa.

 

So that’s not very many. I found many more whose current publication status was much more suspect, even, than these. Can any of you help me out here? Please share links in the comments — especially to online venues that update frequently! 

 

My Problem with Christopher Bram’s “Eminent Outlaws”

Tags

christopher bram, criticism, eminent outlaws, gay literature, history, writing

In an attempt to argue for a continuous tradition in “gay male lit,” Christopher Bram’s “Eminent Outlaws” emphasizes two “crossroads figures,” Gore Vidal and Edmund White — each the “magnet” that drew his “generation” together, per Bram. Their friendships and rivalries are the cloth out of which Bram cuts the pattern of his history of the genre.

What this does is perpetuate the myth that you can’t possibly be a good writer if you don’t already have famous writer friends, and the related myth that you have to be upper-middle class (or at least middle class with enough pretension and education to “fake” upper middle, like White) and live in a cultural capital like New York, San Francisco, or Paris, in order to make a name for yourself.

I’m sure these myths are nothing more than a side effect of literary historians like Bram trying to make connections and tell a unified story about their subject matter. As a historian, it’s easier to make transitions from one generation to another if you can use a friendship or a mentorship, for example, to talk about batons being passed (a phrase which Bram uses very specifically and weirdly, in describing a photograph of Edmund White and Truman Capote, even though he himself admits that the two were “running in different races” and even though it was Vidal, not Capote, whom Bram has identified as White’s predecessor). It’s also bound to be the case that cultural capitals like New York are easier to write about because they provide so many examples of people running into one another and either becoming friends or bitter enemies. The lonely writer out in the boonies is not nearly so interesting, from a literary history perspective, because there’s less activity and motion — just somebody sitting at a desk, writing — so he (they’re all “he” here because it’s about gay male lit) is in danger of being ignored altogether, not only during his own lifetime, but by history, too.

I feel strongly about this because I used to believe it. I was a non-famous kid from northwest Alabama who wanted to be a gay writer and who, by those rules, didn’t stand a chance. (Yes, Capote was from Alabama, too — but his childhood best friend, Harper Lee, was another famous writer! And mine was not! I was doomed!) I got over that. I wish Bram (whose background is much more similar to mine than it is to the patrician Vidal’s) had, too.

Worse, this concentration on the tony, incestuous social circles around these two slick dudes (which, let me be fair, include some very, very powerful and important writers — tony and incestuous and also talented and influential) also allows him to ignore or glide over a ton of other very powerful and important writers who didn’t run in those circles — early, vital, and brashly uncloseted writers like James Purdy, for example. How do you leave out James Purdy? Makes no sense. The seminal (pun intended) John Rechy can’t be avoided, but he is mentioned only as a publishing phenomenon. There is not one  mention of Quentin Crisp! Samuel Delany, possibly the best writer of the bunch, is mentioned, but only once, when he gives a speech at Out/Write.

Once we get to the 80s and 90s, Bram focuses on Michael Cunningham and Tony Kushner (two fine writers indeed), as well as the later work of Vidal, White, and so on.  Writers as different from one another — and as major, each in his own way — as Dennis Cooper, Hilton Als, Martin Duberman, David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs and Ethan Mordden are all notable by their absences. David Leavitt is mentioned in passing, twice — the first time because he had something memorable to say, once, about Edmund White, and the second time in the context of a discussion about book sales.

Bah.

Otherwise, I liked the book okay.