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Luna Digest, 1/4

"The Moors," by Ben Marcus from Madras Press

Happy New Year! I’m thrilled to be bringing you the new Luna Digest while Travis takes some much-needed time to spend with his family. So, if you have any news to share, feel free to pass it along.

In my virtual travels over break, I was happy to see Madras Press get some press in David L. Ulin’s piece on unbound codex, print-on-demand, and e-books in his article on books vs. e-books in the Los Angeles Times. Madras distributes the proceeds of their individually bound short stories and novellas to charitable organizations of the author’s choosing. (Madras Press’s The Moors by Ben Marcus pictured at right.)

Speaking of giving back: Metazen’s Christmas Charity E-Book is available here.

Over at the Leonard Lopate Show, One Story’s Hannah Tinti, Keith Gessen of n+1, and Little Star’s Ann Kjellberg discuss the literary magazine’s (surprisingly) thriving future in the digital age.

largeIf you haven’t had a chance to check out Virginia Quarterly Review’s Fall 2010 issue, which is dedicated to Kevin Morrisey, the managing editor who committed suicide this past summer, Ted Genoways (whose own tenure at VQR remains unclear after the university recommended “appropriate corrective action” regarding his role in Morrisey’s death) writes about the underlying environmental cost of the paperless revolution. One single e-reader = 50 books.

Necessary Fiction is ringing in the new year by emulating the Scottish Hogmanay custom of “first footing” by inviting former contributors to take the last line of a story as the first line of their own. As Editor Steve Himmer explains:

Those borrowed lines and the gifts they offer will set the course for new stories the participants write in response, and the rest of us will have a month of good luck and good reading to kick off the year.

So what does the New Year hold? According to the NYT’s Year in Ideas, we are in the age of “Literary Near-Futurism.” Let us rejoice!

Marcelle Heath is subbing in this week for Luna Digesta selection of news from the world of literary magazines, presented every Tuesday by Luna Park, a magazine founded on the idea that journals are as deserving of critical attention as other artistic works.


  1. susan tepper

    Lots of beautiful new New Year ideas and thoughts from Luna Press, plus The Moors, a true holiday gift from Ben Marcus! Enjoyed this a lot, and lots to click onto–

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