Editor’s note: Issue 05
Editor’s note for Issue 05 includes a look at numbers, insights and themes, and other notes from the Reservoir Road Literary Review Editor-in-Chief, Adrienne Marie Barrios.
Dear reader,
Thank you for your continued readership. We’ve enjoyed the the slight shift in content in September submissions and incorporating poetry into our regular mix. It’s been a joy for me to work with Dorian, our poetry editor, who sees the vision of the magazine so clearly. As we near the submission period for our final issue of our first year, we may or may not do something a little bit different, so stay tuned!
Numbers
In September, the reading period for Issue 05, we kept our caps at the standard limits due to a lack of bandwidth for more.
Here are the total submissions by category with acceptance rates.
Fiction: 150 submissions (150 cap), 1 acceptance; acceptance rate of 0.7%
Flash fiction: 150 submissions (150 cap), 4 acceptances; acceptance rate of 2.7%
Flash creative non-fiction: 60 submissions (150 cap), 3 acceptances; acceptance rate of 5%
Poetry: 75 submissions (75 cap), 4 acceptances; acceptance rate of 5.3%
Photography: 66 submissions (150 cap), 7 acceptances; acceptance rate of 10.6%*
TOTAL ACCEPTANCE RATE: 501 submissions, 19 acceptances; acceptance rate of 3.8%
*Please note: This is calculated based on submission count, not based on the number of photographs per submission.
Insights
This submission period brought more pieces aligned to the voice and topics we hope to publish. We saw a lot of familiar themes—death, terminal illness, grief, pain, violence—but with vulnerability, honesty, and bravery that make the topics new again: the way Barlow Adams dives into the complex layers of chronic and terminal illness while providing support for others experiencing the same things, the way Cathy Ulrich looks at murder and difficult family relationships from a POV that almost brings you into the mind of the killer himself, the way Robert Hamilton weaves in violent imagery such that it doesn’t shock but rather enhances, the way Wilson Koewing offers subtle hope at the edge of complacency. We also saw an uptick in images that really aligned to the magazine’s aesthetic: vast, open images with vibrant colors or some sense of something eerie. This issue is a masterclass in what we hope to publish.
Wish list
Although, this is from last issue’s editor’s note, this is still true. I want more mundanity. There’s a calm frankness to be explored in many of the difficult situations life brings to us. Not everything must be significant; not everything requires deeper meaning and explanation. Some things just are, and sometimes the weight of that realization is enough to break someone.
Changes to next reading period
We don’t have any specific changes coming, but we may have a theme for the final issue of this first year. To be determined (by the time subs open on November 1).
Closing
I hope you enjoy Issue 05. Although all issues are close to my heart, this one tackles some significantly difficult issues in a way that pulls me in each time I read each piece, leaving no room to stay separate or shield myself from the intensity of the experiences portrayed by our authors. I hope it floors you the way it has floored me.
Best,