Greetings!
Home Planet 16 features poetry by Michael Igoe, Paul Lojeski, Bruce McRae, Kushal Poddar, John Popielaski, Beate Sigriddaughter, Alex Stolis, C. Walker, Michael Waterson, Diane Webster, & Mark Young; fiction by Harvey Huddleston, Zoltán Komor & Jacob Strunk; & visual art by Mériadec Le Pabic. Many thanks to all our contributors!
While we’re grateful for the poetry & fiction submissions we regularly receive at Home Planet–please keep them coming–we wish to make it clear that we’re open 24/7, 365 days a year (taking but a single day off every four years as union rules require) to submissions from across the arts spectrum, regardless of genre, even those we’re not actively soliciting, even hybrids & the unclassifiable, which is either an 80s new wave band or a Lovecraft title. Whatever. We read every submission we get & even those we don’t. If you have something you think we’d like, you’ll never know unless you send it. For instance, last year, we started publishing original songs (sadly, none this issue) with the idea of providing a little variety to the fiction & poetry that comprises most literary magazines, including HPN.
As a literary journal, our primary criterion remains the same regardless of the submission category: we like good writing. But what the #@$%#* is good writing? Good question! For starters, Home Planet News does not belong to any school, literally, figuratively, or otherwise. We enjoy a vast swath of literary styles, from formal to free verse, from the traditional to the experimental, from realism to surrealism & all that falls through the cracks in between. One constant is that we value well-crafted pieces. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the writer must faithfully & faultlessly follow the rigid rules of formal English, though as the old saw goes–you got to know the rules before you break them. Yet another old saw states that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Or is that a chestnut? Anyway, in a nutshell, we like literature that demonstrates the ability to use language effectively, employing consistent word choice to establish voice & tone while anchoring ideas & feelings to poignant imagery.
We also consider originality an important component of good writing. However finely crafted, if the work overindulges in overused motifs, it will most likely seem overly dull. We don’t like dull so much. We like to be entertained, not unlike the teens of whom Nirvana derisively sang long ago. Indeed, we are those teens, all grown up & pissed off. While it isn’t easy to put a finger on what originality means, especially given the one nation, under guard police state in which so many of us live nowadays, Louis Aragon’s Traité du Style (Treatise on Style) offers a “coarse” on the subject. If you can’t locate a copy of Aragon’s book, let Kenneth Koch’s “Fresh Air” serve as a summer session on being original. Or maybe, just maybe, the rusty old kick-against-the-pricks saw might cut it for those in a pinch.
Please note that none of the above is intended to imply your work is boring or poorly written if it wasn’t accepted. In many instances, the decision came down to our not reaching a consensus, usually in relation to specific concerns about a specific piece that would be incredibly inappropriate for us to initiate a discussion of in a public forum such as this. Instead, we have plans in the works to start a podcast for this express purpose. Nah, just kidding. We advise you to try us again. You know what they say: You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket. Quite frankly, you probably won’t anyway, so that’s a bad analogy. Point is, don’t give in, up, or out. Give to & with a chance.
Many thanks!
Matt