______________________________________________
THE ROSE & THORN NEWSLETTER ________________________________________________
From: The Rose & Thorn Literary E-zine
http://www.theroseandthornezine.com/
June 2009
________________________________________________
"Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music-the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself." Henry Miller
________________________________________________
This mailing is available only by subscription and is never sent unsolicited. Subscribers' addresses are kept strictly confidential. The Rose & Thorn showcases emerging and established writers and provides a resource for writers, media professionals, and readers.
________________________________________________
AOL MEMBERS: You can read this newsletter on the web with hyperlinks intact. Go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/theroseandthorn/read
________________________________________________
NOT GETTING YOUR R & T NEWSLETTER?
Make sure you send a valid e-mail address to theroseandthorn@topica.com, and then check both your inbox and your junk mail folder for an opt-in invite from Topica. Without responding to the opt-in invite, Topica will never know you have indeed subscribed to the R & T newsletter.
________________________________________________
SPONSOR SPOT
----------------------------------------
MARGARET REID POETRY CONTEST FOR TRADITIONAL VERSE – LAST CALL!
6th year. Fifteen cash prizes totaling $5,350. Top prize $2,000. Submit poems in traditional verse forms, such as sonnets. Winning entries published online. Both published and unpublished work accepted. Entry fee is $7 for every 25 lines, payable to Winning Writers. Postmark deadline: June 30. Judges: J.H. Reid, D.C. Konrad. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. Winning Writers is proud to be one of "101 Best Websites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005-2009). More information: www.winningwriters.com/margaret
______________________________________________
NEWSLETTER CONTENTS
--------------------------------------
* From the Newsletter Editor's Pen
* From the Co-Managing Editor’s Pen
* Of Literary Note
* The Buzz
* Markets & Contests
* Book Reviews
* The Readers' Mailbag
* What We Are Up To
* Masthead
________________________________________________
FROM THE NEWSLETTER EDITOR'S PEN
Kathryn Magendie
----------------------------------------
Dear Readers,
Summer is almost here. At last I can rock on my porch with the critters and trees and breeze and the creek singing loud, my laptop perched on my lap, and write. Where do you write? Do you find summer a time for sitting outdoors and finding a place of contemplation that brings on fresh material? Or does the warmth and nature distract you and call you to more physical endeavors?
I find taking walks along the Muse Trails of my mountain cove allows my characters, scene, and setting to come to me without force. It is just as when you wash dishes, take a shower, paint a wall, or some other “mindless” activity that gives your brain free reign to explore, those thoughts can come unbidden. Haven’t you been doing some repetitive task and suddenly are struck with an idea or thought that causes you to say, “Oh! Hey! That’s it!” Sleep can bring on these same Aha! moments. One wakes in the middle of the night and the question is answered, or the dilemma resolved. The workings of our brains amazes me.
How do you find inspiration, or answers to your questions; where do your sudden inspirations come from? I’d love to hear from you; email me any time! And, have a wonderful summer; I will next see you in August!
Kat
Co-Managing Editor/Senior Newsletter Editor
http://www.kathrynmagendie.com/
email me: kmtrain@hotmail.com
________________________________________________
FROM THE CO-MANAGING EDITOR’S PEN
Angie Ledbetter
----------------------------------------
Dear Readers,
Before summer’s sweltering heat rolls in, it’s a good time to have one last stroll through nature’s beauty for a dose of writing inspiration. When the weather isn’t cooperating, what are our options for communing with the muse? Cruising the museum? Attending a lecture or writers conference? Escaping the routine for a retreat or getaway? Switching from keyboard to longhand? Reading great poetry and prose?
If none of the above is working for you, the Internet is open 24-7 to serve our needs. Great blogs, writing exercises/story starters, writer resources and lovely writing and artistic sites call us to visit. Art.com http://www.art.com/ generously lets The Rose & Thorn browse its goodies for story graphics, and is a wonderful place in which to get lost for a few hours. Be sure to visit if you want a wide array of artistic renderings from the masters to the moderns to refresh your perspective.
May nature, art, music and life in general take your writing to new heights this summer, and we hope you consider us a regular pit stop on your path to great reading and writing. I’d really like to know how you jumpstart your creativity, so email me at AngieDLed@aol.com and tell me what inspires you.
Lemonade and writing supplies beneath shady trees to you this season,
Angie
Co-managing Editor
http://www.angie-ledbetter.blogspot.com/
________________________________________________
THE ROSE & THORN SUPPORTS OUR TROOPSSend a free printed postcard to U.S. military personnel overseas:
http://www.letssaythanks.com/
Want to send help to our soldiers who do not receive mail or goodies? http://www.anysoldier.com/
----------------------------------------
CHECK OUT OUR MASTHEAD
Look upon the roses & thorns of your favorite online publication.
Check out our masthead page at: http://pratt.edu/~cgarza/
----------------------------------------
WHY NOT DONATE?
The award-winning Rose & Thorn Literary E-zine welcomes YOUR donations. No amount is too small and all funds are used to keep this site going.Did you know that we've been listed as one of Writer's Digest's Top 30 Short Story Markets, as one of their 101 Best Places for Writers, and as an "Internet Envy" Site too? Or that we've been a Preditors & Editors Truly Useful site? (Visit our awards page to see more.)
Please donate by clicking http://tinyurl.com/2zxn63
Make a $10 or more donation to The Rose & Thorn and receive a gift copy of Adnan Mahmutovic’s starkly moving collection of prose and poetry entitled REFUGE[E]. A review of REFUGE[E] can be read at The Roses & Thorns: http://tinyurl.com/aqquq2
____________________________________________
OF LITERARY NOTE
----------------------------------------
BOOK TOUR: WHERE AUTHORS & AUDIENCES MEET
As the world's largest, 100% free directory of author events, BookTour.com makes finding when a favorite author is coming to your town as easy as checking the weather.
In just a few minutes any author can create a page showcasing their biography, books, and upcoming engagements. Listing new events is as easy as answering a few questions. Publishers, booksellers, events managers, and even just well-informed readers can add tour dates by simply filling in a few blanks.
http://www.booktour.com/
----------------------------------------
THE READ ON WNC
Your online source for informed talk and book-related media created by Rob Neufeld and CITIZEN-TIMES.com
http://thereadonwnc.ning.com/
____________________________________________
THE BUZZ
---------------------------------------
CLAYTON BYE
Clayton Bye, under the imprint Chase Enterprises, has been writing and publishing since 1994. The author of several books as well as internet short stories, poems, articles and reviews, he's also known as an accomplished speaker, trainer and small business consultant who has delivered countless keynote addresses, seminars and workshops on a wide variety of topics. Mr. Bye's current projects include increasing his internet presence and writing a sequel to his novel, The Sorcerer's Key.
Check out this well-received online short story: The Speed of Dark. He welcomes and posts comments/reviews. Email the author at ccbye@shaw.ca
---------------------------------------
WIFE GOES ON: LESLIE LEHR
Wife Goes On is the story of four women with nothing in common but divorce, who learn that it's more than enough to become friends – and spend one life-changing summer helping each other live happier ever after. A modern cross between Sex & the City and First Wives Club, Wife Goes On celebrates the second acts of today's women with humor, heartbreak, and hope. Husbands may come and go, but friends are forever.
"Leslie Lehr is a truth teller - a rare writer who untangles the realities of women's lives without flinching, while making you laugh, cry, and nod in understanding with every word."
--Leslie Morgan Steiner, Washington Post columnist
"A celebration of second acts wrapped up in a humorous, heartfelt homage to the power of friendship." - Arianna Huffington. For more: http://www.wife-goes-on.com/
____________________________________________
MARKETS AND CONTESTS
---------------------------------------
Readers should make sure to check sources carefully and to inquire about references when appropriate. The Rose & Thorn cannot assume responsibility for the sites and services mentioned below.
----------------------------------------
ART FROM ART ANTHOLOGY
Deadline for submissions: 7/31/09
This collection of short fiction by literary writers aims to feature stories that are connected directly to—or inspired by—a work of art. It could be a song, a painting, a museum, an architectural monument, a blueprint, a piece of writing—a play, novel, poem, letter, etc. The art in question needs to be a major component of the story—a character—within the fabric of the story. Perhaps the idea will be inspired by an event from life or maybe it will be something completely fabricated.
All genres welcome. ART from ART will bring new and established voices and ideas to a fine collection of fiction. I aim to have the art featured on a page either at the beginning or the end of each story—a visual correlative that will enhance the experience. Submit your story and a brief bio via email to Stephen Soucy at shsoucy@modernistpress.com. Please follow standard submission guidelines (Microsoft Word Document with 12-point font). Please go to the site for special instructions: http://www.modernistpress.com/
----------------------------------------
FLASH FICTION ONLINE
We publish stories from 500 to 1,000 words in length. We look for previously unpublished material, with the exception of our Classic Flash selections. (Classic Flash stories are old: the copyright must have expired on them).
Pays $50 per story. No reprints or simultaneous submissions. http://www.flashfictiononline.com/submit.html
----------------------------------------
DISCOVERING NEW MYSTERIES COMPETITION
NO ENTRY FEE
Discovering New Mysteries is now accepting submissions of original plays, screenplays, teleplays, and short stories for both adult and youth audiences. Deadline for submissions is August 30, 2009. A panel of professional readers will blindly review the submissions and narrow the field to the final mysteries, who- dunnits, cops-n-robbers, courtroom dramas, thrillers, suspense or adventures. The festival finalists will be personally notified by January 2010 with national press coverage of the finalists’ performances to be released shortly thereafter.
BEST NEW WORK, $10,000 prize
MOST PROMISING NEW WRITER, $5,000 prize
OUTSTANDING SCREENPLAY or TELEPLAY, $2,500 prize
BEST WORK FOR YOUNG ADULTS (ages 12-18), $1,000
BEST SHORT MYSTERY PLAY (1-Act plays, short screenplay,
short story), $1,000
http://www.newmysteries.org/submission_guidelines/
----------------------------------------
MEMOIR AND . . .
Literary journal’s call for submissions for reading period May 1 through August 15. Will award 3 Prizes for Memoir in Prose or Poetry ($500, $250, $100) and one Prize for Graphic Memoir ($100). No entry fee. Online submissions preferred. Guidelines at http://www.memoirjournal.com/ or by mail: P.O. Box 1398, Sausalito, CA 94966.
________________________________________________
BOOK REVIEWS
----------------------------------------
HAVANA TOP SECRET: DAVID PEREDA
Published by Eternal Press
Reviewed by Wil Hough
From the moment Pepe tells his good old long-lost Cuban-American buddy, Dr. Raymond Peters, a Miami-based plastic surgeon, “… believe me… I’m here because you have a problem, and I want to help you solve it,” we know the main protagonist is in for a world of trouble. Despite his natural suspicions, Dr. Peters, still grieving over the recent loss of his wife, finds himself agreeing to assume a fake identity and sneak into Cuba, ostensibly at the behest of a son he never before realized existed—a son now apparently dying and wishing for his last request to meet with his biological father. But, as any consumer of mystery would suspect, until the final chapter is written, things are never what they seem to be. For the rest of the review, go to: http://tinyurl.com/ob97en
----------------------------------------
ILLEGITIMATE: ADNAN MAHMUTOVIC
Cantarabooks April 2009
Reviewed by Kathryn Magendie
A woman’s bones go out of joint in labor, my Mom used to say. On New Year’s Eve 2000, in Munich, a Polish girl, Bozena, is coming apart in her basement. Down here, in this cold concrete box in Dachau, the sounds from the street life and the festivities are weak. The happy screams and cracking fireworks, drunken voices and barking of German shepherds come to my ears as if through water. […] I straddle Bozena’s left leg and slowly press her stomach. […] I slap her across the mouth but she will not stop screaming. […] I hit the concrete to unhinge my fingers and try to shove the ball into Bozena’s mouth. It’s too big, but I press it harder and her nostrils widen like eyes in the dark…
For the rest of the review, go to: http://tinyurl.com/px3zhp
----------------------------------------
NO ROOM FOR DOUBT: ANGELA DOVE
Berkley Books trade paperback, 2009
Reviewed by: Kathryn Magendie
Angela Dove’s debut book No Room for Doubt is a true story of how “one violent moment can changes lives—forever.” If one expected Dove’s first book to be a humorous jaunt, one would be mistaken, even though Dove has been writing humor columns for six years. Yet when Jacque MacDonald asked Dove to write the story of her daughter’s murder and the hunt for her murderer, Dove took on this task knowing that what she may find could forever alter the relationship she has with her family, most particularly with her father, Harold Whitlock. For the rest of the review, go to: http://tinyurl.com/pfys7c
----------------------------------------
More reviews by your favorite staffers are available http://www.roseandthornreviews.blogspot.com/
(Under the label: Book Reviews/Author Interviews)
_______________________________________________
THE READER'S MAIL BAG
---------------------------------------
Your feedback is welcome. Letters to the editor should be sent by clicking "Reply" to this newsletter.
______________________________________________
WHAT WE'RE UP TO
---------------------------------------
When the staff of The Rose & Thorn isn't slaving away over prose and poetry, or at their day jobs, they're scribbling their own musings and submitting to other worthy publications.
-------------------------
Peter Kirchikov has a poignant and strongly written essay in KNOW, Magazine for Paralegals http://www.knowparalegal.com/
From Editors at KNOW: “Peter immigrated from what was then the USSR. A guide and interpreter, he and his family were blacklisted, an ominous signal for people who had different beliefs than the mainstream. Added to serious hardships including death threats, the KGB and Chernobyl, Peter struggled for years to immigrate to the U.S. with his wife and 20 month-old toddler. After enduring a life without freedom of speech or religion, few luxuries (including enough water to just shower), he managed to get to the U.S. where he found a new career, an entire new life and freedom unlike anything he ever experienced. Kudos to him and his sponsors for taking a huge risk to reach our country. Kudos also to him for choosing the paralegal profession as his new career! Please read more about this amazing story in the next issue of KNOW. It's important to know the people who make up this terrific career. I'm sure you will be as truly moved as I was.”
-------------------------
NEW DISCUSSION FORUM LINK
The former home domain for our Community Forum has been sold and replaced. The new URL is http://forum.bigperspective.com/.
Join Wil, our own social heretic coyote, as he pokes and prods under a multitude of scabs in search of unique subject matter. Any subject, whether of finances, religion, politics, or even the very meaning of life, is fair game for debate and postulation.
As always, folders are available for the various genres of writing. However, a forum for serious discussion on whatever threatens to “capsize your boat” is now available to one and all. Do NOT let such an opportunity to "speak out” slip by.
Wil Hough
Senior Editor & Community Forum Manager
http://forum.bigperspective.com/
-------------------------
TWITTER—WHAT ARE WE DOING?
Want to know when submissions reopen or a new issue is posted? Follow us on Twitter. Want to know when we are looking for essays or flash or a particular genre? Follow us on Twitter. Want to know who we are nominating for the Pushcart or other awards? Yep…Follow us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/RoseandThorn
_____________________________________________
YOUR AD CAN BE HERE
---------------------------------------
DREAM QUEST ONE WRITING COMPETITION NOW OPEN!
Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject or write a short story, five pages maximum, single or double line spacing, on any subject or theme, fiction or non-fiction. Multiple entries are accepted. Postmark Deadline: July 31, 2009. Awards: Writing Contest First Prize is $500; Second: $250; Third: $100. Poetry Contest First Prize: $250; Second: $125; Third: $50. All contest winners will be published online in the Dare to Dream pages, on August 31, 2009. Entry fees: Writing Contest: $10 per short story. Poetry Contest: $5 per poem. Info: Include title of poem or story, name, address, phone#, email, brief biographical info. (Tell us a little about yourself) on the coversheet. Entry fees payable to: “DREAMQUESTONE.COM”- Mail to: Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest, P.O. Box 3141, Chicago, IL 60654. Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com/ for details and to enter!
---------------------------------------
Do you have a writing service, contest, publication, or product you'd like to share with our sophisticated and talented readers? Why not take an ad out in The Rose & Thorn? Our ads are most reasonable and start at $20.
Advertise with The Rose & Thorn.
________________________________________________
FEEDBACK AND WORD OF MOUSE WELCOME---------------------------------------
If you like the e-zine and its contents, feel free to forward the link to your associates and friends who might enjoy the same.
As always, thanks! Comments or questions? Email us. We love to hear your feedback so drop us a line at rose-andthorn@live.com
Until next time. Happy Reading!The Staff of The Rose & Thorn.
_____________________________________________
STAFF
----------------------------------------
B.A. Quinn, Publishing Editor
Angie Ledbetter, Co-Managing Editor/Newsletter Editor
Kathryn Magendie, Co-Managing Editor/Senior Newsletter Editor
Cesar Garza, Senior Editor, Blog Administrator
W. Hough, Poetry Editor, Senior Graphics Manager, Community Forum Chief Administrator
Eric Giere, Chief Webmaster
Liam Wilkinson, Cover Commentator
Dallas D’Angelo-Gary, Editor, Announcement Newsletter, Procedure Manual
Nora Capocy, Prose Editor
Karen Reiser, Prose Editor
Cathy Biribauer, Assistant Prose Editor
Cynthia Toups, Assistant Poetry Editor, Assistant Prose Editor, Assistant Newsletter Editor
Patresa Hartman, Assistant Prose Editor
Megan Roth, Book Reviews, Facebook Manager
Samella McClary Brown, Community Forum, Award Staff
Sheri Whitlock, MySpace Manager, Awards Staff
Deborah Laws, Blog Manager
Yu-Han Chao, Asst. Poetry Editor, Asst. Blog Manager
Adnan Mahmutovic, Asst Blog Manager, Podcast Manager
Maggie Grinnell, Awards Staff
Peter Kirchikov, Community Forum