Carl William Rozycki (more)

Upcoming deadline:

  • Fiction Open. First place: $2,500 and publication in Glimmer Train. Deadline: March 31.
  • Open to all writers. Any story that has not appeared, nor is scheduled to appear, in a print publication is welcome.
  • Winners and finalists will be announced in the June 1 bulletin, and contacted directly one week earlier.
  • Complete writing guidelines.
  • I'm always thinking, What doesn't the character know? Often, the tension that drives a story comes from the fact that the character is being kept in the dark about something, or is perhaps in denial. That's a very powerful engine.—Andrew Porter
Essays in this bulletin:
Vi Khi Nao: I think the best writing is the one that after you write it, it slaps you in the face. It wakes you up from a literary, contemplative daze of continuity and perfection and denouement. (more)
William Luvaas: Beginners often assume, wrongly I think, that talent alone will bring them acclaim; they undervalue persistence. I have seen gifted writers quit, convinced they lack sufficient talent, when what they lack is doggedness. (more)
Matthew Salesses: A couple of years ago, an editor asked if I had a story for an all-flash-fiction issue of an online publication. I didn't have anything at hand. Yet that didn't stop me from saying, "I could." (more)
Joyce Thompson: Till then, I had wanted to be able to make readers laugh, cry, and think. Now I amended my wish list: I want to make people identify beyond the furthest outposts of their prejudices. (more)

Results of the December Fiction Open

Winners and finalists have been notified, the Top 25 list is posted, and here are the Honorable Mentions. (A note about who wins.) Our thanks to all of you for letting us read your stories!

  • 1st place: Vi Khi Nao for "Herman and Margaret"
  • 2nd place: David Lynn for "Divergence"
  • 3rd place: Madhuri Vijay for "Hill Station"
Feel free to forward this bulletin to your writer friends. As you know, the bulletin is free and meant to inform and to promote writers. (We never share your info.) People can sign up for bulletins themselves here. Missed a bulletin? They're all archived here.
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Sisters and Editors
Glimmer Train has been discovering and publishing emerging writers since 1990.
  • One of the most respected short-story journals in print, Glimmer Train is represented in recent editions of the Pushcart Prize, New Stories from the Midwest, O. Henry, New Stories from the South, Best of the West, and Best American Short Stories anthologies.
  • Every story published in Glimmer Train is unsolicited. And every year, we pay out over $50,000 to fiction writers.