Editor’s note: Issue 08
Editor’s note for Issue 08 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 been enjoying the quarterly release schedule and hope that you have found added anticipation between issues due to the longer lead time.
Please note that this issue deals with heavy topics. Of course, this is the way of Reservoir Road, but these stories face serious issues in a more brutal, direct way than previous issues. Please read with care.
Numbers
In April, the submission period for Issue 08, we increase our poetry cap from 75 to 100 and kept our other submission caps the same. Again, as with Issue 07, we decided to be more fluid with acceptance across submission categories, resulting in half poetry, half prose, meaning another high poetry acceptance rate. We had considered increasing the number of pieces included in the issue, but we found the consistent top 12 to make the most sense for now. Increasing acceptance rates remains a future possibility.
Here are the total submissions by category with acceptance rates.
Fiction: 150 submissions (150 cap), 0 acceptances; acceptance rate of 0%
Flash fiction: 137 submissions (150 cap), 2 acceptance; acceptance rate of 1.4%
Flash creative non-fiction: 80 submissions (150 cap), 4 acceptances; acceptance rate of 5%
Poetry: 100 submissions (100 cap), 6 acceptances; acceptance rate of 6%
Photography: 56 submissions (150 cap), 3 acceptances; acceptance rate of 5.4%*
TOTAL ACCEPTANCE RATE: 523 submissions, 15 acceptances; acceptance rate of 2.9%
*Please note: This is calculated based on submission count, not based on the number of photographs per submission.
Insights
We accepted zero longer fiction pieces for this issue. Often, in the longer fiction pieces, we see the same overtones and approaches to typical topics: the saccharine side of grief and loss, the malingering grief underneath relief or retribution. It’s not that death, sadness, and grief don’t each have a place among the stories in Reservoir Road; clearly, they do. We seek stories that take us beneath and beyond these typical expressions that border on tropes—little setup, direct language, brutal honesty.
We also went a different direction with photography. Instead of selecting individual photographs to pair with stories based on mood or general “vibes,” if you will, we chose photographs from just three photographers, opting for larger sets that balance each other: light and dark. We hope you enjoy the mood this sets.
Wish list
Our world has been in and is headed into some darker times. I hope you will take us with you as you explore the burden of daily existence. I would like to see more stories from autistic and disabled people forced to live “normal” lives that stretch them beyond capacity.
We also have our new Fiction Editor, Daniel DeRock, starting with us on Issue 08. I look forward to seeing how he shapes that category and what he finds within your stories. Stay tuned for any wish list items from him as we move forward.
Changes to next reading period
The only changes to the upcoming reading period are that we now have Daniel on the longer fiction category. No other changes to note.
Closing
I hope you enjoy Issue 08. And again, please take care in reading; this issue deals with heavy topics, but heavy topics must be acknowledged if ever we are to address them.
Best,