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Antithesis
Common takes a web break until Autumn 2007
4 January 2007
After much
deliberation, we have decided to take a quarter-long hiatus from online
publishing, effective immediately. This was not an easy decision to make, and it
has both positive and negative implications.
During our
time off we will begin working in earnest on our debut print anthology,
featuring the best works from the first 18 months of Antithesis Common's
publishing life. So, while we will not be publishing any new online content this
spring, we will be hard at work creating a beautifully-tangible book for all to
enjoy.
As for the
web magazine, we will begin accepting submissions again on April 15th, 2007,
with the Autumn 2007 issue due to be published on September 15th. In the
meantime, all submissions that are currently in review will be returned to their
authors. Although we considered keeping them on file for the next submissions
cycle, eventually we decided it wouldn't be fair to hold works in limbo for that
long. (Yes, lots of other magazines do it, but we're not other magazines.)
We will still
be reachable via email during the hiatus, but the submission form will be
disabled so as to discourage any works from trickling in unawares.
Above all
else, we want to stress that this hiatus is temporary. We are taking a
break to pursue better things for Antithesis Common, but that is in no
way meant to upset or offend any of our longtime readers or contributors. If
anyone has any questions about the hiatus, the forthcoming book, or anything
else, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
We appreciate
your understanding and hope everyone is as excited about the book as we are!
_
Antithesis
Common Issue VI (Winter 2006/07) now available
18 December 2006
Antithesis
Common's
Winter 2006/07 edition is now available online! Featuring 12 stories and essays,
16 poems, and collections of works from six different artists, the latest issue
has something for everyone. Click here
to read it now.
Topics in
this issue include dancing, truancy, speech, cars, India, the Internet,
injuries, death, memories, flowers, small towns, birth, music, MySpace,
vacations, love, Polaroids, vegetarians, lynchings, dentists, heat, English
football, oceans, moving out, cats, pudding, writing, family, birds, the moon,
waves, war and much more!
Small
revisions made to Antithesis Common's submission guidelines
15 November 2006
Antithesis Common
has always been run with a "writer friendly" attitude (after all, we
are writers too). We are not only one of the few literary magazines in the world
that offers editorial feedback on all submissions, but we also accept reprints
and simultaneous submissions, not to mention that the genres and styles we
publish are limited only by the imaginations of our contributors.
It should
come as no surprise that people occasionally try to take advantage of our open
policy, so a few changes have been made to the submission guidelines following
the Winter 2006 cycle. Although in our experience the contributors who don't
read the guidelines are the biggest offenders of these unstated rules, we still
feel it is pertinent to clarify the following:
-
Submissions
should be publishing-ready - Please only send works that are complete,
error-free and that you want to have published. If you have a work in
progress or simply want feedback, we can recommend several online writing
communities for this purpose.
-
Contributors
may be given the option to revise their works, at our discretion.
As obvious as
the first item sounds, you would be surprised how many submissions we've
received in our 18-month history that fell into this category. I think my favorite
was the poet who (once we had read and reviewed her work, natch) disclosed to us
that she only wanted feedback, and her poem was "too private" to
publish (but not too private to share with an unknown group of editors).
Instances like these are funny and make us smile in retrospect, but in the heat
of the moment they take away valuable time from the contributors who actually
want to see their work published in Antithesis Common.
The second
point has come about because we give the majority of our contributors the
opportunity to revise their works, a process unfamiliar to many given the
impersonal nature of the publishing world. As such, we felt it was important to
clarify this potential for revision, though it by no means cancels out
the first point about sending complete, error-free works. Also, due to the
amount of works we receive, sometimes we do not think revisions would suitably
improve a work. In this case, we do not offer the option to revise and do not
wish to see additional revisions.
These are
both clarifications on unstated, common sense points that will hopefully improve
the submission process for all involved!
Antithesis
Common: Best of 2005/06 print anthology to be
published this winter
16 September 2006
This winter, Antithesis
Common will be releasing a print anthology featuring the best works we've
published in our online magazine so far. Tentatively titled Antithesis
Common: Best of 2005/06, the book will be published at the end of the year,
and will be available for sale worldwide.
More details
about the anthology will be announced soon, so please stay tuned to the
"News" section of our website.
Antithesis
Common Issue V (Autumn 2006) now available
15 September 2006
The Autumn 2006 issue
of Antithesis Common is now online! Featuring 13 stories and essays, 14
poems, and collections of work from seven different artists, this issue is the
end product of our strongest submissions quarter yet. Click here
to read it now.
Topics in the
latest issue include the elderly, burns, teaching, doctors, mountains, Spanish,
transgender people, road trips, animals, colors, theatre, lakes, Texas, tree houses,
laundry, obituaries, board games, students, fetuses, magic, love, child abuse,
squirrels, death, bread, homelessness, shopping malls, ghosts, housewives, Greek
mythology, flowers, writing, summer, sin, and much more.
Changes
and clarifications to submission guidelines
17 August 2006
We have finally caved
in and revised our old submission guidelines. Nothing much has changed, but the
page has hopefully been made a lot clearer with a new "Jump To" box
and several new sections added.
We have made
minor changes to the following policies:
-
Multiple
poetry submissions - We will now accept between 1-5 poems, a change from our
former "unlimited" status (for what it's worth, nobody has sent
more than five poems this quarter).
-
Simultaneous
submissions - We still openly accept them, but our policy towards those who
are caught abusing our hospitality (by failing to inform us if work is
considered or accepted elsewhere) has been modified.
-
Reprints,
Terms & Conditions, Compensation and several other guidelines have not
changed but are now more prominently displayed on the page.
Niki
MacFarlane joins editorial staff
19 July 2006
We are pleased to announce
the addition of a new member to our editorial staff. Niki MacFarlane will be
working alongside Dawn Walls Thumma as the crux of our prose team (though she may
review other forms of writing as well). Her sharp editorial skills are a welcome
addition, and her presence will also ease the editorial burden on some of our
other staff members.
New
submission form for written works
17 July 2006
After a lot of testing
both on and off-line, we're unveiling the beta version of our new submission
form. This one is for writers only (sorry artists), but will hopefully speed up
and streamline the review process significantly.
The form
fixes two major problems with the email system. Under the old system,
contributors had the option to copy their works into the body of an email
message. While this seemed easy enough, we often received emails where the
formatting and punctuation had been stripped out of the submission en route.
This was due in part to the way different email programs read and encoded
characters like "curly quotes".
If
contributors chose not to copy their submission directly, they could also send
it as an attachment. While this preserved the formatting, it also posed a risk
of transmitting viruses. We took steps to scan each attachment before
downloading it, but receiving attachments from unknown senders is always a
security risk.
The new
submission form addresses both problems. Using a plug-in called TinyMCE,
contributors are able to copy their submissions directly into the form and still
preserve the formatting of their original document. There is no downloading
required, and it works on most updated browsers, including Firefox and Internet
Explorer.
The new form
also collects information that is sometimes left out of email submissions, such
as "reprint" or "simultaneous submission" status.
The form is
now live and fully functional. Contributors can still optionally send their
works to us via the old-fashioned email method while we gather feedback on the
new system, but we would like to see all written works come to us via the new
form if possible.
Email is
still the preferred method for art submissions.
If the form
doesn't work properly or you encounter a problem, please let us know! We hope
that the new submission system will be mutually beneficial for contributors and
the editorial staff; if it's not, we hope to improve it even further with your
help.
Looking
for a few good poets
11th July 2006
Antithesis Common
has always been an unrestricted, multi-genre magazine, but you wouldn't know it
by looking at the first six weeks of our submissions cycle. In short, we are
severely lacking in poetry submissions. So, while we continue to welcome
submissions of all types, let it be known that poems of all genres are in very
short supply this quarter. If you are a poet (or any writer) who has been
considering submitting to the magazine, please do so!
It's also
worth noting that creative non-fiction writers have always been scarce,
and we would love to see more of them. Well written commentaries or essays,
particularly on controversial and/or unconventional topics, are highly encouraged.
(We still
love fiction--really, we do--so please keep those submissions coming too.)
Magazine-related
announcements find new home
10th
July 2006
We're officially unveiling our "News" section
today (catchy title, isn't it?). Designed to
keep our readers updated on all things related to the magazine, we'll make the
usual announcements here, not to mention a few commentarial quips. Also, as Antithesis
Common continues to grow, we'll begin adding features to the magazine and
the site, so stay tuned!
Antithesis
Common Issue IV (Summer 2006) now available
17th
June 2006
The Summer 2006 issue of Antithesis Common is now online! Featuring
12 stories and essays, 13 poems, and collections of works from eight different
artists, there's something for everyone to enjoy. Click here
to read it now.
This issue
covers an array of topics including fantasy, copying machines, crops, faeries,
God, bananas, guitars, scrapbooking, children, race relations, poets, women,
sleep, flying, the Internet, black
cats, New Year's Day, death, nature, fortune cookies, mobile phones, flowers,
cartoons, dogs, Jesus, lipstick, prison, old women, playgrounds, and much more!
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