What People Really Mean When They Say You Shouldn’t Run A Lit Mag If It’s Not “Profitable”

*The following is likely to offend primarily because everything that doesn’t have a vegetative state-level of conviction offends. But I am not here to soothe easily ruffled feathers with dulcet tones and false assurances.* In the “modern age,” it’s widely accepted that the artist can no longer be just that. They have to be everything. Their own one-man self-promoter—a barker in this carnival of horrors … Continue reading What People Really Mean When They Say You Shouldn’t Run A Lit Mag If It’s Not “Profitable”

Genna RivieccioApril 9, 2024April 9, 20241 Comment

Fiction, Satire

The Office of the Presidency by Michael Tilley

It was with a pep in his step that Robert Quinlan, a recently retired corporate attorney hailed in his firm’s parting tribute for, among other fine qualities, his “unfailing courtliness,” emerged one bright autumn morning from a 66th Street medical building. Here he was, the brand-new recipient of a cardiologist’s clean bill of health, which followed last week’s thumbs up from his general practitioner, and on … Continue reading The Office of the Presidency by Michael Tilley

Genna RivieccioMarch 14, 2024March 14, 20241 Comment

Criticism

Says I: Against the Repetitive of Use of “Says” and “Said” in Prose

Something has happened in the writing world recently. A sudden sea change in favor of the repetitious use of a particular four-letter word…describing characters’ utterances. Said. Where once it would have been unthinkable to see such lazy writing (and it is lazy, not “simple,” as many writers are fond of using as a defense), it’s now deemed the norm for “straightforward, unpretentious” writing. Writing that … Continue reading Says I: Against the Repetitive of Use of “Says” and “Said” in Prose

Genna RivieccioNovember 18, 2023November 19, 20233 Comments

Essay

On Submission Fees and the Publishers Are Pirates Belief That’s Currently Trending

It’s funny how “the universe” can sometimes make you feel like it gives enough of a shit about you to tailor schadenfreude at your expense. I say this because only this year, seven years after starting The Opiate, I decided to implement a two-dollar submission fee, from which I get $1.64 and then still have to pay a monthly fee in order to use the … Continue reading On Submission Fees and the Publishers Are Pirates Belief That’s Currently Trending

Genna RivieccioApril 8, 2023April 8, 20232 Comments