Fiction

Featured Artist | Kim Buck

 Being a good lit citizen means supporting lit pubs. Donate. Buy. I’m going to show some #AWP17 mags that you need to support…. @NoTokensJournal, @EckleburgReview, @open_letter.
—Meakin Armstrong (Guernica)

 

The Last Moment in Mexico

“Most of the lanterns were broked in the stampede,” Cooch says, and he lifts a candle to his face.

Garage Sounds

A dirty jar on a top shelf falls over, drops to the concrete floor and explodes. Glass shards fly… my mother’s bare legs… my baby sister…

Terry Sanville lives in San Luis Obispo, California with his artist-poet wife (his in-house editor) and one skinny cat (his in-house critic). His short stories have been accepted by more than 100 publications including the Fifth Wednesday Journal, Birmingham Arts Journal and Boston Literary Magazine. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for his story “The Sweeper.” Terry is a retired urban planner and an accomplished jazz and blues guitarist—who once played with a symphony orchestra backing up jazz legend George Shearing.

Wheels of Industry

Our supervisors have purchased bullwhips. They are intended to keep us obedient and productive. Violence persuades.

Jason Jordan holds an MFA from Chatham University. His forthcoming books are Cloud and Other Stories (Six Gallery Press, 2010) and Powering the Devil’s Circus: Redux (Six Gallery Press, 2010). His prose has appeared online and in print in over forty literary magazines, including Hobart, Keyhole, Monkeybicycle, Night Train, PANK, Pear Noir!, and Storyglossia. Additionally, he’s Editor-in-Chief of decomP, accessible at www.decompmagazine.com. You can visit him at his blog at poweringthedevilscircus.blogspot.com.

Eckleburg Workshops in Fiction

Short Story Workshop

Short Short Story Workshop

Novel: From Start to Finish Workshop

Magic Realism Workshop

Writing Sex in Literary Fiction: Are Your Sex Scenes Essential or Gratuitous?

View All Fiction Workshops

About Eckleburg Fiction

Eckleburg runs online, daily content of original fiction and hybrid including work from Richard Peabody, Cris Mazza, Eurydice, Rick Moody, Steve Almond and more…. Read hard. Write hard. “Being a good lit citizen means supporting lit pubs. Donate. Buy. I’m going to show some #AWP17 mags that you need to support…”

Submit Your Fiction

We accept previously unpublished and polished prose up to 8,000 words year round, unless announced otherwise.  We are always looking for tightly woven short works under 2,000 words and short-shorts around 500 words. No multiple submissions but simultaneous is fine as long as you withdraw the submission asap through the submissions system. Please do not email the editors to withdraw your submission. Read more. Note: We consider fiction (and poetry) that has appeared in print, online magazines, public forums, and public access blogs as being published. Rarely do we accept anything already published and then only by solicitation. Once the piece is published in Eckleburg, the author is welcome to re-publish the work anywhere and everywhere. In these cases, we ask that the original publication be credited each time to The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review. One rare exception is our annual Gertrude Stein Award, which allows for submissions of previously published work.

 

Essays

It Is/It Was/It Will

A baby is a composition the body knows how to create. And destroy. My baby—found and then lost.

I know I should resist the aspen trees. The elevation on the Colorado plains is too low. Below 7,400 feet they’re vulnerable to all the things that can kill them. Still I plant two. I hold their heart-shaped leaves against my palm just to feel the softness. I study the veins of their stems and watch them grow.

They say that miscarriage is an adaptation of the body, a function of a machine working as it should.

Danielle Harms writes from Denver, Colorado, where she works in higher education. Her writing has appeared in Salon, The Offing, New South Journal, and The Baltimore Review. She has called Wisconsin, D.C., Hungary, and South Korea home. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at George Mason University, where she was the editor of Phoebe: A Journal of Literature and Art. Find her online at Danielle.HarmsBoone.org. 

Blue Sundays or My Year As a Chemical Eunuch

One thing we can agree on about cancer—there is no great time to be told you have it. I got my good news from a urologist named Alton Fitch. He delivered the results of my biopsy the way a vice principal would teach a miscreant the consequences of his bad behavior. “You’ve got quite a bit of cancer there,” he observed. “Cancer in nine of the twelve cores. Your Gleason score is seven, five being the least aggressive cancer, eight being serious cancer. This cancer is treatable. If you had to get any kind of cancer, this is the best kind of cancer to get.”

Hal Ackerman is Co-Chair Emeritus of the UCLA Screenwriting Program. The 15th year anniversary edition of his book, Write Screenplays That Sell…The Ackerman Way arrived September 2017. He has had numerous short stories published in literary journals, among them North Dakota Review, New Millennium Writing, The Pinch, Southeast Review, Passages, and most recently in the 2016 Idaho Review and Fiction International(in the company of many stalwarts). “Sweet Day” was read by Academy Award nominee Robert Forster and is available at the Harper Collins Publishers Digital Media Café.  “The Dancer Horse” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and is available on Audible, read by Adrian Pasdar.  “Roof Garden” won the Warren Adler 2008 award for fiction and is published by Kindle; “Alfalfa” was included in the anthology I Wanna Be Sedated…30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers. “Belle and Melinda” was selected by Robert Olen Butler as the winner of the World’s Best Short Short Story contest. It appeared in the Spring 2013 edition of the Southeast Review. He has published two successful novels in a detective series about an aging counter-culture P.I.  Stein, Stoned won the Lovey award for best first novel in 2010 and was followed in 2011 by Stein, Stung.  His short story collection, The Boy Who Had A Peach Tree Growing Out Of His Head… (And Other Natural Phenomena) was published in November of 2016. Seven pieces of non-fiction, flash fiction, and longer fiction arrived in  2017.

Bamboo

I spent an entire therapy session on the bamboo. Not about how crazy it is—how wrong it is—that my husband, Paul, planted it in the first place, but about my reaction to it. The waves of anxiety that overcome me whenever I think about it.

Susan Hodara is a memoirist, journalist, and teacher. Her articles have appeared in publications including The New York Times and Communication Arts. Her short memoirs are published in a variety of anthologies and literary journals. She has taught a memoir writing workshop at the Hudson Valley Writers Center in New York for nearly a decade. Hodara is a coauthor of Still Here Thinking of You: A Second Chance With Our Mothers (Big Table Publishing, 2013). www.susanhodara.com.

Essay and Other Nonfiction Workshops at Eckleburg

Personal Essay

Lyric Essay

Body Narrative

Modern Memoir

View All Workshops

Submit Your Essays

We accept polished creative nonfiction / essays up to 8,000 words year round, unless announced otherwise. Preferences veer toward shorter works under 1500 words with an arts and culture focus. If you wish to include a bio, keep it short, under 200 words. Submit your nonfiction.

Essay Collections and Memoir Manuscripts

We publish essays at The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review. At this time, we do not publish novel, long memoir, essay collections, story collections or poetry collections at The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review. We do offer manuscript workshops at The Eckleburg Workshops. If you are looking to place a manuscript, we can suggest several excellent small and large presses whose excellent books are promoted through our Eckleburg Book Club — i.e., Random House, Graywolf Press, Coffeehouse, Tinhouse, St. Martins Press and more.

 

Poetry

Eckleburg Workshops in Poetry

The Poetry Workshop

The Poetry Chapbook Workshop

Writing the Short Poem Workshop

The Beats Workshop

Spirit of Writing Workshop

Mindfulness & Writing Workshops

Hybrid: Crafting, Publishing & Promoting Hybrid Work

Literary Matchmaking Workshop

Breaking Rules: When and How to Leave Linguistic Conventions Behind  Workshop

Evolving Origins in Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction and Hybrid Workshop

View All Poetry Workshops

Submit Your Poems

We are now accepting previously unpublished poems. Please submit 1 – 5 poems as separate files in separate submissions. Please do not submit them all on one document. Submit. Note: We consider work that appeared in print, online magazines, public forums, and public access blogs as being published. Rarely do we accept anything already published and then only by solicitation. Once the piece is published in Eckleburg, the author is welcome to re-publish the work anywhere and everywhere. In these cases, we ask that the original publication be credited each time to The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review.

Collection Manuscripts

We publish short works at The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review. At this time, we do not publish novel, long memoir, essay collections, story collections or poetry collections at The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review. We do offer manuscript workshops at The Eckleburg Workshops. If you are looking to place a manuscript, we can suggest several excellent small and large presses whose excellent books are promoted through our Eckleburg Book Club — i.e., Random House, Graywolf Press, Coffeehouse, Tinhouse, St. Martins Press and more.

 

write hard | fiction, poetry, essays, writing workshops & more

EVENTS |03/04/2019, 10:00 am @Barcelona, Spain | 3rd Edition of International Congress on Pediatrics

3rd Edition of International Congress on Pediatrics 03/04/2019 10:00 am There is an entry fee Barcelona, Spain Hotel Augusta Barcelona Valles AP-7, Km 12 5, 08410 Barcelona Spain Barcelona Alabama 08410 Spain Title: 3rd Edition of International Congress on Pediatrics Short name: Pediatrics 2019 March 4-5, 2019 Barcelona, Spain Theme: Emerging technologies and Future directions …

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EVENTS |12/03/2018, 09:00 am @Lisbon | European Conference on Epidemiology & Public Health

European Conference on Epidemiology & Public Health 12/03/2018 09:00 am There is an entry fee Lisbon Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon — Select State — 1045 Portugal Hi, I'm Monika; Program Manager of Public Health 2018 Conference. I would like to welcome you, to participate at the upcoming “European Conference on Epidemiology & Public Health” which is …

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EVENTS |11/05/2018, 09:00 am @Park Inn by Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre London | 5th International Conference & Exhibition on Herbal and Traditional Medicine

5th International Conference & Exhibition on Herbal and Traditional Medicine 11/05/2018 09:00 am There is an entry fee Park Inn by Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre London London,UK 47 Church field Road, London, W3 6AY London London W3 6AY United Kingdom Herbal Conference 2018 is a best platform with its well organized scientific program to …

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Melanianade

Melania Trump (Cecily Strong), Ivanka Trump (Emily Blunt), Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon), Omarosa (Sasheer Zamata) and Tiffany Trump (Vanessa Bayer) can no longer stand by Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin).

THE MAKE UP @ Black Cat

The Make Up was an American post-punk band from Washington, D.C. formed in 1995, consisting of ex-Nation of Ulysses frontman Ian Svenonius on vocals, James Canty on guitar and organ, Steve Gamboa on drums, and Michelle Mae on bass guitar. The Make-Up were joined in late 1999 by a fifth member, Alex Minoff (of the groups Golden and Extra Golden), who played guitar with the group until the band’s dissolution in early 2000.

AETHER | Catharsis

Catharsis: One of the great unsettled issues. That it implies a beneficial cathartic effect produced by witnessing a tragic action is clear; how it is produced is in question. Some believe that the spectators, by vicarious participation, learn through the fate of the tragic hero, that fear and pity are destructive and thereby learn to avoid them in their own lives (this interpretation is clearly didactic). Others believe that the spectator, being human and thus subject to disturbing emotions of fear and pity, has this imbalance rectified and these internal agitations stilled by having an opportunity vicariously to expend fear and pity on the hero…. (Handbook to Literature)

 
Being a good lit citizen means supporting lit pubs. Donate. Buy. I’m going to show some #AWP17 mags that you need to support… , , .” Meakin Armstrong (Guernica)
 
The most exciting and adventurous and gutsiest new magazine I’ve seen in years.” Stephen Dixon
 
Refreshing… edgy… classic… compelling.” Flavorwire
 
Progressive….” NewPages
 
Eye-grabbing… fun… bold… inviting… exemplary.” Sabotage
 
 
Eclectic selection of work from both emerging and established writers….” The Washington Post
 
Literary Burroughs D.C…. the journal cleverly takes its name from the The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald….” Ploughshares
 

Proud member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses.

 

The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review was founded in 2010 as an online and print literary and arts journal. We take our title from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and include the full archives of our predecessor Moon Milk Review. Our aesthetic is eclectic, literary mainstream to experimental. Write hard. We appreciate fusion forms including magical realist, surrealist, meta- realist and realist works with an offbeat spin. We value character-focused storytelling and language and welcome both edge and mainstream writing with punch aesthetics. We like humor that explores the gritty realities of world and human experiences. Our issues include original content from both emerging and established writers, poets, artists and comedians such as authors, Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Stephen Dixon, poets, Moira Egan and David Wagoner and actor/comedian, Zach Galifianakis.

Currently, Eckleburg runs online, daily content of original fiction, poetry, nonfiction, translations, and more with featured artwork — visual and intermedia — from our Gallery. We run annual print issues, the Eckleburg Reading Series (DC, Baltimore and New York), as well as, the annual Gertrude Stein Award in Fiction, first prize $1000 and print publication, guest-judged by award-winning authors such as Rick Moody and Cris Mazza. Write hard.

We have collaborated with a number of talented and high profile literary, art and intermedia organizations in DC, Baltimore and New York including The Poetry Society of New York, KGB Bar, Brazenhead Books, New World Writing (formerly Mississippi Review Online), The Hopkins Review, Boulevard, Gargoyle Magazine, Entasis Press, Barrelhouse, Hobart, 826DC, DC Lit and Iowa’s Mission Creek Festival at AWP 2013, Boston, for a night of raw comedic lit and music. We like to promote smaller indie presses, galleries, musicians and filmmakers alongside globally recognized organizations, as well as, our local, national and international contributors.

Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away.  —The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald