The newest issue of The Lakeshore Review is now available. You can find a copy here and get a sample of some the work included here.
As a special treat, the cover art is photography from my very talented brother-in-law, David Gilchrist. It’s his first publication. Somebody buy him a beer.
Below, I’ve included a copy of my editorial from Issue 3 if you’re interested.
There are a lot of great writers.
I don’t think that fact is really conceivable until you sit in an editor’s chair. It’s like thinking you know all the stars and then moving out of the city. Turns out there’s a lot more sky up there. The deluge of excellent work is constant and thrilling and frankly alarming. What if we miss something? And the more difficult question: How do we say no to so many great writers?
The answer, it turns out, is complex. We’re a small operation, and the level of time necessary to individually respond to each writer is practically infeasible. Instead, we’ve tried to become more consistent in our review process. That means two things for TLR. The first is to send rejections promptly so our fantastic submitters aren’t left hanging in the queue. The second is to notify writers whose work is being held for a second review. Is this a perfect system? Nope. Is it even a good system? Not sure yet. What do we know? You’ll get a quick response. Check back next year to see if we’re still harmonious and solvent.
The other thing I’ve noticed from the editor’s chair is that quality writing comes from so many places. Obviously, we have a geographic penchant for Great Lakes writers (who may always submit to TLR for free), but our nominal fee for non-Great Lakers doesn’t seem to deter submissions from all over the globe. It’s wonderful to read short stories and poetry from London and Saskatchewan and Mexico City right alongside submissions originating three blocks from TLR HQ in Grand Rapids.
And it’s not just geography. Many of our writers have obtained MFAs from quality programs all over the US and abroad. But just as many have no formal writing training and instead boast degrees in chemistry, engineering, law, or have no college experience whatsoever. Some people have published multiple books or poetry collections, while others have never published anything before in their lives. And you know what? We don’t care.
Quality is what we’re after. In an effort at transparency, we don’t look at submitters’ bios until we’ve made a publication decision. We want the quality of the work to come first, second, last. Have an MFA? Great. Have a parrot named Squawk? Great. We want work from writers who write. Who perfect their craft. Who compose and then edit and edit and edit. Whether that happens in a classroom or a garage or an airplane or a tent, we don’t care.
The proof is in the bios, and it’s in the work we’ve collected here in Issue 3. We enjoyed selecting these excellent, disparate stories and poems. We hope you enjoy reading them just as much.