January 7, 2009

A Personal Note about the New Year!

So it's a new year!!! 2 0 0 9! Can you believe it? Someone asked me about my New Year's resolution--but alas I didn't make any, not because I'm a pessimist or lazy, hehe, I'll leave that alone, smile. I just thought to myself, what would happen if I didn't make one? What would happen if I didn't create some super inflated expectation for myself (and or others)? What would happen if I didn't set myself up for some enormous challenge, as if remembering to write 2009 wasn't stressful enough, LOL!

That got me to thinking about 2008--all the things I'd done and been fortunate enough to experience: the people, the stories, the poetry, the pictures. Not to mention my kiddo turned 4! WHOOPIE!!! HA-HAAH. We've published goo-gobs of new and emerging writers. And quite frankly, we're stoked about it!

In the past year of our operations we've published OVER 100 contributors (writers, artists & photographers) as well as interviews with some stellar editors and publishers. We are constantly amazed and honored to be entrusted with your work!

ISSUE 5 is now available! Be sure to take a look at interviews with the editors of WORD RIOT and RED FEZ. And look for our next issue where we talk to Kelly Smith, EDITRED's Fiction Editor. We'll also feature an interview with playwright Jacqueline Lawton.

Now although we don't have any resolutions for '09, we have great things planned-- so check back for more info on upcoming contests, an anthology, and other presently unnamed projects. As always we're always open to your submissions. Visit our homepage as we are tweaking the guidelines for both print and online versions--probably as you are reading this.

Well a fond farewell to '08--we're happy to be in '09. Fifteen different corny expressions just popped into my mind--you know like 'On time in '09', smile. I'll spare you from my humor and not chase that rabbit, LOL!

Have a gander at our contributors--and feel free to read their work--we are TREMENDOUSLY PROUD (yep, enough for caps) to feature their work. And remember, every issue is available to read IN FULL (that's right) completely from cover to cover from our home page: www.34thParallel.net

All the Best,
Trace
34thParallel Editor

P.S. we need a caption for the mailbox photo--if you have one send it with your submission. If we use it we'll give you cred!

MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS

MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS PAGE 1, PAGE 2, PAGE 3, PAGE 4, PAGE 5

MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS

Dave Morrison is a writer of novels, short stories, poetry, and many notes on scraps of paper, after years of playing guitar in rock & roll bars in Boston and NYC. Dave's poetry and short stories have been published in FRiGG, Thieves Jargon, Void, Rumble, Mad Hatters Review, Juked, Laura Hird, Psychopoetica, and other fine magazines, and a collection of poetry, Sweet , published in 2006. His latest book A Brand New Day will be available in September 2007.
Alice Shin graduated from UCSB with degrees in Asian American studies and film studies. It is from film, rather than from literature, that she gets most of the structural aspects of her stories. Because of her degree in Asian American studies, she tends to discuss race, identity, and power in her work. "As of right now, my publication history is just about nonexistent, unless you count a poem that was published in my high school annual literary magazine. This will be, in fact, my very first publication."
James Meredith is from Belfast, Northern Ireland, a winner of the Brian Moore Short Story Award.
Alan Emmins is a freelance journalist and creative non-fiction writer who was born in England in 1974. After living in New York he relocated to Copenhagen, Denmark. Alan's articles, books and images have sold worldwide and cover a wide range of topics, from point of interest features to investigative journalism. Accompanied by his images his stories have appeared in Time Out, Stern, GQ, Playboy, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, Politiken, Berlingske Tidene and others. Alan continues to travel and write features for worldwide publication. He lives in Copenhagen with his wife and daughter.
Sharon Harriot took journalism at university with every intention of being a journalist. She was lucky enough to walk straight into a job on a teen magazine called Sugar. After spending two years writing Real Life stories and finding a zillion different words for 'fantastic,' she side stepped into fashion PR, and began a career on the other side of the media fence. Sharon also writes short stories, and poetry, and is the Audiobook Reviews Editor for Poet's Letter Magazine. She's launched an audiobook reviews website called Audiogeist.
Chris Niesmertelny grew up in suburban New Jersey and graduated with a degree in Radio, TV & Film from the University of Maryland. He lives in Montclair, NJ. Chris' work describes visually his impression of the world. He sees the meaning in blur, in color, in shapes and contrasts, understanding that light is ever-changing, revealing something one day, hiding it the next. In addition to the premiere cover for 34thParallel, Chris recently had gallery show of his underwater photos. More of his photography can be found online at PBase.
Patrick Cole's fiction has appeared in High Plains Literary Review, Agni online, Nimrod International , and Turnrow, as well as other journals. His most recent piece appears on the Identity Theory website.
Rosalia Sanfilippo publishes her short stories in a variety of magazines, and she has compiled a collection of short stories titled Cloud Shadows , 14 Provocative Tales ranging from neurosis to ecstasy.
Michael Peck is a Philadelphia-based playwright, poet, essayist, and short story writer.
Elizabeth Castoria says she is desperately trying to make the job title "freelance writer" actually mean something. Her reporting has appeared in the Newport Daily News and Newport Mercury, and the Mercury carries a weekly column of hers, Voracious Vegan. She would be quite happy to talk about food all day long.
David Miller has published poetry in journals such as Poetica, and become a frequent contributor to western regional magazines such as Mountain Gazette , as well as a freelance journalist for The Boulder Weekly. He is also the editor of Matador.
RaChelle Hafen was born and raised in Salt Lake City and spent many years exploring urban districts and skateboarding to the University of Utah. She's an amateur stand-up comedienne, a sketch artist, and a fan girl for anything underground. She has chosen to write as a life-long commitment, at all costs.
Jake Epstine, a native New Yorker, has lived on the West Coast for thirty years, where he works as a nurse caring for AIDS and oncology patients. He has been writing his own stand-up comedy material for over a decade, branching out to performing monologues in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. Last year, he completed a collection of short stories and is currently writing a novel based on his nursing experiences.
Judy Kaber was born a long time ago, she says, in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in the suburbs of Long Island, dropped out of school, went to California, married, moved to Maine 35 years ago, lived in an old house, had two kids, wrote a lot, published a little, went back to college, taught school—still teaching, still writing, still living in Maine. Influences include Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, and Denise Levertov. She has been published in Maine Times, the Waldo Independent, Thieves Jargon, All Things Girl, and Showcase Journal. Other examples of her work are at Edit Red. Contact her by email at jkaber@prexar.com
Greg Gerke's work has appeared in Pedestal Magazine, Pindeldyboz, Hobartpulp, Apt, Rive Gauche, VerbSap, and Ghoti. He has published a book of short fiction, Fiction for a Sound Bitten Age.
Kelly Desilet lives in San Diego, California. "I am constantly at battle trying to determine whether to save the world or be a reclusive artist," she says. "I was a quiet child and have always found writing to be my most productive means of expression. I live for the days of lower gas prices when I can drive up the coast to Los Angeles where the streets are dusty and the people are real." Kelly says she works by day and writes at night under the low light of insomnia.
Stefan Schumacher is a reporter for the Journal & Topics Newspapers in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He is trying to find a publisher for a novel, Death By Strip Mall.
Susan Breeden's publishing credits include: Woman's World, Playgirl, BorderSenses Literary Magazine , The Armchair Aesthete, Nerve Cowboy, Thorny Locust, and the Houston Chronicle's Texas Magazine.
Colin Dardis lives in Belfast where he hosts a monthly poetry night in the Safehouse Gallery and is a member of the performance group The Belfast Poets. He's also the editor of Speech Therapy , a journal focusing on new poetry in Northern Ireland.
MeaLee Thomas is making her first spoken word CD, Educational Lyrix. She is also working on her first two collections of poetry and a collection of short stories.
Michael Overa is a writer and bartender from Seattle, and has lived in London, Dublin, and Sydney. He is the owner and operator of The Local Writer , and his work has appeared in Pindeldyboz, the Denver Syntax, and Ink Collective among others.
James Gormley's Nothing of Value in this Car is Poem No. 2 in his unpublished poetry book, The City , which is developing into a collection of snapshots of life in New York City (NYC).
Deanna Roy has had stories published in the Writers' League of Texas Scribe, Farfelu, and The First Line . She is a photographer and lives in Austin, Texas.
Michael Lee Johnson lives in Chicago. He is a freelance writer and poet, heavily influenced by Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Irving Layton, and Leonard Cohen. Michael Lee Johnson's 1st chapbook of poems and his first paperback of poems—The Lost American: A Tender Touch & a Shade of Blue (Chapbook); The Lost American II: From Exile to Freedom (Paperback)—are both available for purchase or download at Lulu. Contact him by email: poetryman@walla.com.
Lori Kozlowski is an author and a journalist. Fascinated with the underground and the off-beat, she writes about subcultures, history, art, and music. She completed her M.F.A. at the University of Southern California in 2005. She has lived in several different cities: Las Vegas, London, and Seattle. She currently resides in Los Angeles. Her short story "Going to California" was published in the anthology Book By Authors by the Long Beach Public Library Foundation. Currently, Lori is working on a short story to be included in Las Vegas Noir , part of a Noir series published by Akashic Books.
Howard McKenzie-Murray tells us that he is 1000 different characters whose seminal vesicles, whose conception, sprang from his own pen. And each character he plays is true. And each he wishes was not true. He loves one girl's pride. She has joined that seldom solemn character. He hopes everything he writes will not offend her pretty pride.
JM Pengelly was born and raised in a London overspill, she read and read and read till she was 40, writing only a little, not feeling she had anything much to say. Now she has plenty to say, and the written word is her vehicle of expression. She's developed a fairly philosophical outlook on life; found Nature is her greatest teacher; and discovered all things in life are about perspective.
Corey Evans, formerly an internet development professional, is a graduate of the University of Calgary with a degree in English literature. He lives with his wife and two children in the French Alps, working on his first novel.
John Janda says it's a fiction that Prophecy is a story. "It's not a story," he says. "It relates a snippet of everyday reality, yours and mine, just bundled like a story. Every word portrays what actually happened. Literary, I hope, but not a word of fiction in it." John's novel, American Spirit, was published in Sept. '06.
Fabio Sassi photographed Country Road (in the premiere issue)— with a Yashica FX 3 Super 2000. A former bluesman (but he still blows his harp!) now visual artist, mail artist, rubberstamp carver and much more! He uses spray cans and xerox machines instead of brushes. He's contributes graphic artworks to Nervehouse. He lives and works in Bologna, Italy. In 2006 He joined "Terror?" an international interdisciplinary project investigating how each one of us experiences fear and how it affects our lives at Intersection for the Arts , in San Francisco, CA. And his art has been shown through Works on Paper in NYC.
Cher'ley Grogg is a wife, mother, and grandmother who enjoys fine art, writing, and photography.

John Wayne McClung, Jr. is an innovator. Whether photographing scenic byways or teaching Algebra, John enjoys creating new perspectives. John co-authored Get a Grip on the Reins of Life and is currently writing his next book as well as developing games, books, and a children's television program to teach math. His photo "Sunrise Mountain Fog" appeared in the premiere issue.

January 3, 2009

Read ISSUE 5 - IN FULL - NOW