Modern Authors Guide

Liao Yiwu was born in 1958, when Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward launched 30 million starving Chinese peasants into their early graves, and he has spent his life trying to uncover the stories of the forgotten souls that have been left behind during China’s tumultuous modern history.

In The Corpse Walker, Liao Yiwu interviews the Chinese downtrodden, the Professional Mourner, the Leper, the Corpse Walkers, the Tiananmen Father, the Grave Robber, the Migrant Worker, and many others whose lives have been torn apart and obliterated by the Chinese authority.

Liao Yiwu’s interviews are pieced together from his memory and notes, some from discussions over time with fellow inmates when he was politically imprisoned, others from oppressed elders who have nothing left to hide.

Their stories are stunning, sorrowful, and spectacular all at once, and they offer a true glimpse into the mourning heart of a Chinese culture that few Westerners could ever understand and most of the modern Chinese society would rather forget.

Liao Yiwu unleashes the immeasurable scale of recent Chinese history through the words of the oppressed people that the Chinese government never wanted to be heard, and although these stories are all true, they are even more unbelievable because of that fact.

Words from The Professional Mourner:

In the old days, there were people who specialized in walking the corpse. They normally traveled in the evenings, two guys at a time. One walked in the front and the other at the back. Like carrying a sedan chair, they pulled the body to walk along, as fast as wind. They would utter in unison, “Yo ho, yo ho.”

If you looked from a distance, you would see that the dead and the living march to the same steps. They used gravity to keep the corpse walking to the same rhythm. It was hard for the trio to change gait and make a turn, never a sharp turn. If you happened to see a walking corpse coming, you got out of the way. Otherwise, it could walk right into you.

I saw this in 1949. A local merchant was accidentally shot by a group of army deserters in Jiangxi Province. This merchant’s name was Lu. I helped arrange his funeral. At that time, there was no easy means of water or land transportation to bring his body back home. His friends couldn’t bear to bury him in another land. They paid money to those professionals to get his body home. It took them over a week, and when they got there his body looked as if he were alive.

End quote.

Liao Yiwu still lives in China, risking his life to hear the stories that were never supposed to be told, and even while he is awarded for his efforts, he is persecuted just the same, as are those who would dare to listen.

Stephen Graham Jones explores the tragic magic of storms and serial killers in his hardcore crime novel, All the Beautiful Sinners.

Following the destructive path of tornadoes across the American Southwest, a sadistic serial killer plucks children out of their homes into thin air, sucking them into the eye of his apprenticeship to be the next generation of psychopaths that carry on his legacy.

Pursued by Deputy Sheriff Jim Doe across the path of tornado valley, the killer leaves a trail of bloody evidence that leads Doe ever closer to the realization that he is intimately involved with the murders.

Steeped in urban legend and modern mythology, All the Beautiful Sinners is a triumphant smorgasbord of desperation and destitution, where a serial killer seeks to create his legacy out of the offspring of those lost to the storms.

Stephen Graham Jones strength is his use of language and metaphor to twist sentences into steely slices that penetrate your skin and leave scars long after you’ve closed the pages.

Both complicated in its design and simplistic in its intention, Jones’ sinister novel details the path towards atonement we all must seek, regardless of our past sins or triumphs.

A passage from All the Beautiful Sinners:

The moon was shot through with the small bodies of blind sparrows.

Behind her, the boy looked to the girl. To Marlene. Marly. She was smiling, the soldering wire molded into her lips, the flesh of her cheek, the one dimple pulled through with a piece of thread, tied to her second molar. The scissors used to cut the thread would show up in a trashcan back at the campsite. Along with an empty can of the sealant used on her face. They would be in a stratum that would get labeled March 15th. There would be no prints on her, though, not in the shellac around her arms, where she’d been lifted, placed, not on her own fingertips, even.

The boy shook his head no at Marlene, no no no, but then when he stood to run it was into a denim shirt. Far above, a brown hat.

The girl looked around slow.

‘Father,’ she said. ‘Look what we found.’

‘Yes,’ her father said. ‘Good, good.’

The boy looked up at Him and hugged himself into a ball, still shaking his head no, and his father carried him back to the road like that, the girl trailing behind, holding the fingers of one hand in the other, behind her back, her smile fixed like the children’s had been, her eyes glazed with wonder.

End passage.

All the Beautiful Sinners by Stephen Graham Jones is a journey into the violence of the American frontier, along all of the winding trails it entails, where children are lost to the howling wind and the memories of our past entwine with the dreams of our present.

Jerome Bahr’s stories of stark small-town life with hard-drinking morality and innocent desperation capture the moody weather and seasonal sullenness that overcast the Wisconsin consciousness.

Jerome Bahr was born under that cloud in Arcadia, Wisconsin, around 1909, and he studied at the University of Minnesota before working at several Midwest newspapers.

Bahr later moved to New York, and his first book, “All Good Americans,” appeared in 1937 when Earnest Hemingway introduced him to the American reading public.

Wisconsin Tales was published in 1964, but some of the stories first appeared in The New Yorker, Mademoiselle, Woman’s Day, and Story Parade.

The characters in Wisconsin Tales show both the self-destructiveness of their behavior and the quiet fortitude of the landscape that surrounds them.

In “And the Fishes Were Beautiful,” a drunken fury leads a man to drag a woman to the edge. “The Grudge” shows how anger can eat away our sorrow. The subtleties of racism in the North are explored in Ebony Intermezzo.

Jerome Bahr may have left the Midwest for New York City, but his heart still lived in the hills of Wisconsin, and his writing always reflected the will of Wisconsin’s people.

This will is reflected in this passage from “The Grudge”:

August stared out the window. The sun had begun its descent, offering surcease to the baking hillside; and along the banks of the river, tree-shadows spread and cooled the shallow stream. The entire countryside was relaxing. Only August, grim and determined, seemed to oppose the day’s decline…

Stories in Wisconsin Tales include:

The Grudge
And the Fishes Were Beautiful
Whisper in the Night
Canny Fanny
Ebony Intermezzo
The Correspondents
Olga’s Revenge
The Word Passer
The Baker’s Triumph
Bannon’s Pavilion
The Grandmother

Jerome Bahr’s Wisconsin Tales was published by Trempealeau Press in Baltimore, Maryland.

In Wisconsin Tales, Jerome Bahr speaks of what is small-town in us all, our dreams to expand, and the struggle between who we want to be and what we become.

Check out Jerome Bahr Books on Amazon.com.

Review by The MAG Zine.

Every writer who encloses their words into an envelop and sends them off to agents, editors, and publishers must learn to face the eventual return of a rejection letter.

Rejection letters come in many shapes and sizes, but they are mostly form letters with little personality, which is wise, as there is danger in treading the emotional waters of rejection.

If an editor ever chooses to grace your rejection letter with actual handwritten words, or if the gods are willing, a bit of inspiration or encouragement, then you must not consider that to be a letter of rejection, as human contact within a rejection letter is actually a form of victory.

However, most rejection letters are short and apologetic, and they usually point to the massive influx of new authors they receive every day as the reason your work could not be considered, which is really disconcerting if you understand that to mean that there are just too many people with more talent than you.

If you think about it, the very idea of the rejection letter is unique to writers alone, as other unknown artists are simply allowed to go unnoticed and are not directly subjected to a written form of deliberate rejection.

Not many budding rock stars would jam in dimly-lit bar stages if they knew they would actually receive a direct rejection from the audience after the show and not just be ignored, although it’s true that writers don’t usually have to worry about beer bottles flying at them while they’re writing.

How you handle your rejection letter is the most important aspect of the publishing process, as it could easily discourage you from otherwise pursuing your art.

At first glance, it’s easy to feel slighted. I mean, you spend years putting together your novel of over 400 pages, you slave over the crafting of every sentence exchange until the words bleed into your eyes off the page, and then you take the care to send a perfect copy to an editor or agent, only to have it dismissed summarily without so much the decency to even sign a name onto the rejection letter.

It’s enough for any writer to want to self-publish their work, but we must dismiss rejection letters as easily as they dismiss our work, because it’s just business.

It’s a numbers game, and it’s the writers job to submit our work to as many valid markets as possible, and it’s the publishing industry’s job to filter out what is viable for publication.

Of course, we may not agree with their opinion, but it’s how you disagree that makes you stronger.

Don’t write your editor back denouncing their knowledge of literature or demanding they reconsider your work. First of all, that’s crazy behavior, and second of all, maybe you didn’t deserve consideration at this time and you need to look further into your writing.

Just keep writing and accept your rejection letters for what they are, an initiation into the secret society of people who tell stories in isolation and invite others to listen.

Rejection letters are a symbol of your loyalty to your art. They are as important as your writing itself, because without them, you are only a diarists.

So keep writing, work harder, and continue submitting your work for approval, because without running the risk of receiving another rejection letter, you are removing the possibility that you will one day be published.

Article originally published by The MAG Zine.

On a major network special covering the effect that global warming is having on the melting Andean glaciers, a local farmer was quoted as having asked the following question:

“Why are the mountains crying?”

His metaphor is poignant, comparing the melting glacier waters rolling down the mountain slopes to human tears, inflicting the sadness and frustration that often results in crying.

In a detailed program that revealed all of the facts and figures of global warming and the retreating glaciers, which threatens the water supply of this region, this single metaphor was more powerful than any image, interview, or scientific evidence.

It may only be that as a writer, I am more open to accepting the emotional significance of a metaphor than others who were watching this program, but in a very real sense, I believe it represents the power and influence of poetic language in our modern society.

With all of the statistics, survey results, scientific theories and their rebuttals floating about, it’s sometimes hard to understand the meaning of our world from an emotional perspective, which is really the mechanism by which motivation is inspired and change eventually happens.

Raw human emotion purified into palpable communication is the essence of poetry, and in that sense, poetry is alive and prospering in the words we hear every day, despite the meager sales of poetry chapbooks in local bookshops.

Whether it be Barack Obama’s eloquent words on racism that serve to inspire our country or the manipulated fragments of advertising copy that internalizes our unknown desires for products we didn’t know existed, poetry is everywhere, even if it goes undetected, and it’s as important in the world today as ever.

Originally published by The MAG Zine (themagzine.com).

If you know a local library professional who makes your life a little easier and loves their job, then take the time to nominate them for the 2008 Spotlight Award.

The Spotlight Award winner will receive a $2,500 prize as well as $250 for their library.

Any current public library employee is eligible to be nominated, so if you know of any employee at your local library who deserves a little extra attention, then make sure to nominate them for this award.

The Spotlight Librarian Award Nomination Form can be submitted online or by mail, but all entries must be received by May 15, 2008.

Librarians are the modern gatekeepers of our collective knowledge, despite what all of the Wikipedia worshippers write, and they deserve our recognition for the services they provide.

Nominate your local librarian today.

Current poet laureate Charles Simic announced today in verse that the National Poetry Month has been canceled due to a general lack of interest.

Although relished by poets as a month to be proud of who they are and their right to exist as citizens of the United States, a general disagreement with this notion by everybody else motivated President Bush to order National Poetry Month canceled.

While introducing Simic to the media, Bush indicated he had hoped to cancel the month of April altogether, but his advisors notified him that wouldn’t be possible.

Simic spoke eloquently of poetic rights and the struggle poets have long endured in America, although his words were basically ignored as they were delivered in a sonnet, which most members of the American media assumed was Canadian English.

Although all National Poetry Month events in April have been canceled, Simic encourage poets to “keep writing, even if other poets in your creative writing class are the only ones who will ever read your writing.”

His words were met by enthusiastic snaps from the mostly melancholy crowd.

The cancellation of National Poetry Month is a sad day for poets, and to cheer themselves up, President Bush suggested they go see a movie and support the economy in Hollywood.

In the end, it was an exciting day for poets, who admit they are used to being ignored, and all of the attention created by canceling their month was quite exhilarating.

The United Poetry Front, a rogue poetry militia group on permanent writing retreat, threatened a poet strike that could cripple the greeting card industry, but Hallmark insiders indicated monkeys had actually taken over writing greeting cards long ago.

President Bush was delighted by the news of the monkeys and threatened to veto any attempts to cancel National Monkey Month.

Enjoy April Fools’ Day from The MAG Zine.

Every poet should subscribe to as many poetry magazines as possible to read current poets and be involved in the poetry community, not to mention supporting the magazines that may one day publish your poetry.

The more poetry magazines you subscribe to and the more poetry you read, the more you’ll learn and your own writing will improve.

A good rule to follow is to read more than you write, and write a lot.

It’s not always easy to take time in the chaos of the day, but having poetry magazines scattered around the house will make it easier, plus it will serve as a constant reminder that you are a poet, and not whatever everybody else wants you to be at any given moment.

This is a list of the best poetry magazines that are essential for poets of any stature, whether you pick one up at your local book store or subscribe for home delivery.

Poetry

Poetry magazine has been published in Chicago since 1912, and it is one of the leading monthly poetry magazines in the English-speaking world.

They receive about 90,000 submissions a year and print roughly 300 poems with a circulation of about 30,000.

Subscribe to Poetry at Amazon.com

American Poetry Review

The American Poetry Review is an American poetry magazine published every other month.

It was founded in 1972 and has a circulation of 17,000.

Subscribe to the American Poetry Review at Amazon.com

International Poetry Review

The International Poetry Review is an international poetry magazine founded in 1975 that seeks to make the world a better place by crossing the language barrier to publish the poetry of foreign languages.

They publish poems from contemporary writers of all languages with facing English translations, and a portion of every issue is dedicated to poems originally written in English.

Subscribe to the International Poetry Review at Amazon.com

Poetry Northwest

Poetry Northwest was founded in 1959 and publishes some of the best contemporary poetry in America today.

They have published poetry by Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Pinsky, Jorie Graham, Anne Sexton, and many other great poets.

Subscribe to Poetry Northwest at Amazon.com

Poets & Writers Magazine

Poets & Writers Magazine is great resource for poetry and fiction writers, and it is an essential magazine for modern authors.

Subscribe to Poets & Writers at Amazon.com

These are 5 of the best poetry magazines, and they are all excellent resources for poets.

There are many other Literary Magazines available for all types of creative writers, so make sure you pick one that fits your particular tastes.

The most important feature of any poetry magazine is that it inspires your own craft, so review various magazines and subscribe to ones that publish writing you love.

However, with these 5 essential poetry magazines, you can’t go wrong.

This is the first poem in The Daily Poet, a column dedicated to modern poetry having an influence on the cultural expression of our society.

The Daily Poet publishes poems that attempt to reflect our personal experiences within the perspective of their greater cultural meaning as influenced by the constant changes of our modern times.

This first poem takes a more personal approach to look at one aspect of this experience.

In Midwinter

In midwinter we purchased multicolor-splashed canvasses
To dull the white walls of our rental home from reflecting the snow.

We hung them all together in the living room facing each other
Where we would see them the most as we sat on our separate couches.

They made our old framed posters look dreary and outdated
But we kept them hanging around to fill the empty spaces.

The plush couches we had bought new a few weeks before
When the comfort of our previous hand-me-downs had worn out.

Yours stretched far enough for three but you were perfectly comfortable alone
And I could sleep from head to toe on those nights when we wanted space.

We made our home picturesque and when the landlord held open houses
We were the perfect model couple to show potential buyers.

Young, a little artsy, modern, everything that influences unusually hip college graduates,
They asked if we were married yet and if hardwood floors were beneath the carpet.

The snow came in record numbers that winter as we watched it on TV
We observed it come down out the window and shoveled it away the next day.

In summer, our lease would end or maybe the house would sell
And we’d move on to find some as of yet unknown rental home.

Written by J.F. Oliak

The Daily Poet column welcomes submissions for consideration for publication in The Daily Poet and elsewhere on The MAG Zine. Please review our Submission Guidlines for details on submitting your writing.

The Daily Poet is a regular column dedicated to the poetry of life as it occurs on the timeline of living.

The Daily Poet column publishes a poem a day, or as many days as possible, which reflects our moods and feelings through the observance of the ever-changing world around us as related to our personal lives, the natural order, or the broader scope of society.

These poems are not necessarily about current events, although they could reflect them, but they do hope to capture some essence of a moment of time that is lost forever when observed in the annals of our memory.

The poems for The Daily Poet are plucked from various sources and can be written by anyone, published or unknown, as they are not as much a work of the artists as they are a representation of a reality once lived.

They can be humorous, reflective, melancholy, or desperate, but will probably be most poignant when they are all of the above.

Please feel free to Submit Your Poetry for consideration for publication in The Daily Poet column or elsewhere on The MAG Zine.

The MAG Zine – a Modern Authors Guide