Six Questions for Susmita Paul, Founding/Editor-in-Chief, The Pine Cone Review

The Pine Cone Review publishes flash fiction/creative non-fiction, poetry, and translations upto 600 words, and visual artworks. Two main issues per year are published. The January issue is themed around brown existence. The June issue is unthemed. We plan to publish special themed issues in between. We also plan to publish reviews  and launch an Op-ed section soon. Read the complete guidelines here.

SQF: Why did you start this magazine?

Susmita Paul: It was in August of 2020, when the first wave of Coronavirus had struck, the idea of birthing a magazine occured to me. In the face of helplessness at the astronomical degree of misery in my homeland India, the act of creating something seemed banal but nonetheless restorative. I resorted to the only ability that I had—writing. 

The inspiration that the magazine will showcase brown existence, at least in 1 issue per year, was derived from a series of poems titled A Brown Sky by Amitava Nag. He writes about the peculiarity of being brown. This writing about an aspect of being captured my imagination. The magazine thus matured from the personal to the discursive and, if I may say, into the political. 

SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?

SP:  

1. Thematic uniqueness or unique treatment of much used themes. The perspective matters the most. A new perspective or a re- modelled perspective of a well-worn theme is what makes a piece unique. This is important because we want to showcase new thinking that contemporary writers and artists are cultivating right now. 

2. Play of words. This is the second thing that makes a piece unique. It also shows the craftsmanship of the writer. The use of language involves saying as much as not saying it all. Since we publish 600 word pieces, this becomes vital in a piece getting selected. 

3. The meeting of the personal and the universal. This we believe is what all great writing does. It traverses the landscape of the personal and emerges in a new horizon of the universal. Universal is not quantitative. It is not about how many people will relate to the piece. The universal aspect we look for is qualitative. It is about the unease, the joy, the pain, the bafflement that a reader will encounter in a piece. 

SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?

SP: When a submission is sent without reading the guidelines, it is written all over it. It shows a sense of disrespect for the magazine and for the small group of volunteer editors. 

SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?

SP: Unpredictability. The fact that we can not gauge where the action curve of the story or the poem is going excites us. 

SQF: Many editors list erotica, or sex for sex sake, as hard sells. What are hard sells for your publication?

SP: Besides these, we do not usually publish horror or romance. We also do not publish rhyming poetry anymore.

SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?

SP: Do you publish new and emerging writers and artists? 

We absolutely do. We have published new writers and artists alongside seasoned ones. Where you have published is also not our concern. We want writing and art that is thought-provoking.  And that is all that matters.

Thank you, Susmita. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.