While many literary journals close up shop during the summer months, here at Conte we are actively reading through July 1st for Issue 7.1, slated for publication in August.  Review our submission guidelines and send those poems, stories, and essays our way!

 Happy Hanukkah.  That comes about 3 days late.  I said it to you before I said it to my grandparents.  That’s how horrible I am.  Are you serious?  It’s like December…it’s pretty much about to almost be January. Well, you guys, I feel like a seagull because of my inbox.  See, my inbox has a [...]

Though the holiday season is the most hectic time of year for all of us, I nonetheless wanted to share an exciting poetics blog I recently discovered called How a Poem Happens that is quickly becoming one of the best poetry sites online.  Edited by Virginia poet Brian Brodeur, the weekly updates feature a sample poem by a prominent American [...]

It has always struck me as peculiar that Americans (myself included) celebrate Halloween—a holiday that has grown exceedingly morbid and ghoulish—with candy, costumes, and whimsical delight when, at its very core, it is a holiday centered on death. I’ll spare us all the history lesson, as there are several cultural variables that have led us to this odd [...]

 A long time ago I read a short story which shouldn’t really have been any good.  It was called "The Flesh Man," and read with a certain perspective, it probably qualifies as basically pornography with a side of brooding pulp machismo.  I wouldn’t begrudge anyone that interpretation, at least.   The story’s not really that shocking, [...]

  One of the burdens of narrative verse is that it requires the poet to be moderately skilled in the techniques of fiction. Character, arc, and even dialogue are essential weapons in the narrative poet’s arsenal. And while many beginning and journeyman poets have an intuitive understanding of these elements—surely we can all tell a story, right?—the [...]

Chances are that if you’re reading this, you have some degree of faith that online journals make a substantial contribution to contemporary literature.  I’m glad to say that Sandra Beasley does, too, as her article "From Page to Pixels: The Evolution of Online Journals" in the May/June 2009 issue of Poets & Writers is one of the best pieces I’ve read [...]