Star 82 Review publishes short fiction/creative nonfiction to 750 words, flash fiction, combo word + image, art, erasure text, collage poems, and hidden gems. “Star 82 Review especially looks for humanity, humility and humor.” Read the complete guidelines here.
SQF: Why did you start this magazine?
Alisa Golden: I wanted to share writing with artists and art with writers and to create a new community. Ten years later I am happy to report that the categories have become more fluid, and more people are creating both, as well as hybrid forms. The communication with accepted contributors has been extremely positive.
SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?
AG: In a story I look for a meaningful interaction between at least two people, sometimes in relation to a place, animal, or an object. In this way the reader can experience how characters deal with their challenges. Interaction in relation to someone or something is the “show" part of the ubiquitous advice, “show, don’t tell."
In both prose and poetry I look for thoughtful reflection, an emotional truth, and connection to the wider world. A piece can be very specific, with concrete imagery, but also ripple outward as we notice how we are all connected. An emotional truth is something humans can share, we can feel it; this emotion provides an entry point for the reader.
In art I look for that entry point; it could be the back of a person, a landscape, or object rendered with emotion, skill, and care. How can the viewer relate to and be part of the image? For everything I’m looking for something ultimately positive, a little bit of hope, if possible.
SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?
AG: In addition to the usual things that editors mention (hate, violence, isms), a tone of judgment, self-satisfaction, or viewing a character as Other or exotic.
SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?
AG: Right away the language tells me where I am. Lyrical language and attention to sound relaxes me immediately; I can trust this writer. Expletives early on suggest the story will not be right for *82. If I see the word “o’er,” or other archaic language in the poetry, I am worried the poem is stuck in the past. I hope to read honest language of the present, and true to the writer.
I also hope the setting isn’t a café or—since the pandemic— the inside of someone’s home with only one person in it. I would like to be taken to a new place, learn something, or see something or someone in a new light.
For artwork I look for access for the viewer: landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes, nature, buildings; good abstract work; no portraits. I’d like to be able to say, “Wow!” and wish I had seen or thought of that.
SQF: Are there particular genre/categories that you’d like to see more of in your submissions?
AG: I would love to see more compressed prose, prose poems, and short fiction that contain lyrical language and imagination. That is not to say fantasy, but does say stories I haven’t read before, self-aware, perhaps about overlooked, everyday subjects, the kinds of things that stand-up comedians notice. I’d like to see the work dig deep and push further. Even so, I still may admire a piece and not publish it for other reasons, usually subject-related.
The stories I want to see less of: the unrequited infatuation, the dying relative, the road kill or crash stories, the hospital stories, the memoir unconnected to the wider world. And anything just too sad. But this is one editor’s opinion. There are so many other magazines and homes for all kinds of works.
SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?
AG: What do you like about compressed forms?
Part of what makes flash, poetry, and compressed writing so interesting is that little leap of inference the reader gets to make, filling in the spaces between actions. There can be a chuckle in the “aha” moment when the reader is in on the joke.
Yet, although I am interested in seeing more humor, a humorous short work should not be a joke or have a punchline. I’m looking for the “funny always,” the funny you feel in your gut and that makes you nod your head or perhaps wince in recognition. That’s the human condition.
Thank you, Alisa. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.
This is an updated interview. The original can be found here.
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