Book Reviews

Slowly and surely, the blog comes back to life.

In addition to the artist interview that Brian had mentioned last post, we would like to start publishing one or two book reviews each issue. I know you guys are out there reading (besides our wonderful online magazine), and I bet you have opinion too. Well, time to have that opinion heard. Feel free to have pictures along with your review (the front cover, something that stood out to you, etc.).

We’re getting really excited about this new issue, and you should too. Look for us at the end of this month.

Back on the Home Front…

As you know, we’ve been relatively quiet on the blog front lately, and for this we apologize; our “blog staff” has been away on “business.”

So you ask: What’s new?  The answer: A lot of things.

First on the list, we’ve decided to add an “Interview” section; every issue an artist of our choosing will be interviewed, their work displayed.  For those of you seeking fame and recognition, this couldn’t be a better opportunity.

We have reorganized the website – everything should be easy to navigate now.  We also added a “Submit” page.  Find it here.

Last, we’re coming out with our 8th ISSUE!!!  –  We’ll keep you posted.

Almost-April, 2k10

We are moving into the final month before we go to print with the Spring quarter. It goes without saying that we’re stoked about the stuff we’ve gotten. We’ve received some excellent poetry submissions, and our visual arts section is looking strong. In fact, we’ve been thoroughly surprised over the last few quarters by how big a part of our publication visual art has become; honestly, it wasn’t something that factored heavily into our initial plan for what the magazine would publish. We tried it out early on, as we kept receiving submissions even though we hadn’t made them an intrinsic part of our sales pitch. No matter. The artists made their voices heard. Sometimes these undertakings have awesome, if unintended, consequences.

Of course, we believe you can never have too much of a good thing. We’d love to see more submissions, whether visual art, poetry, or prose, for our Spring Quarter. I’m hoping you arts-folks keep on sending your work. The Spring edition ought to be as vibrant, colorful, and fresh as the season it represents.

Some Literary Links

The primary purpose of this blog is to link our readers to one another, and to give them a chance to follow us more regularly than a quarterly publication allows. Nick has been doing a great job with the site updates, which I’m sure some of you are interested in.

However, we also started this blog to share with our readers articles, links, and literary news… Here are a few links I thought our readers might find interesting:

Article: “Literature for the Imminently Dead”

Source: Rum and Monkey (a British humor site)

Summary/ Highlights: Odd British fellow summarizes famous literature for the dying i.e. those without much time to read… which is one way to look at it, I guess. The author writes that what one in this unfortunate state (dying, and with little knowledge of the classics of Western literature, but the desire to experience it) wants “is some means of sampling the cream of the crop without reading, or indeed encountering at all, tedious quantities of unnecessary words.” His solution to the dilemma…. Great Books, summarized in five words or less. For example:

“ROMEO AND JULIET (William Shakespeare)

Hormones conquer Verona. Cast expire.”

Take a peek at the rest. It’s good stuff.

http://rumandmonkey.com/articles/207/

Article: “Coming of Age, Going to Pieces”

Source: The New York Times

Summary/ Highlights: This link leads to a more serious work, a 1985 New York Times ‘Books’ article by minimalist author Raymond Carver. The article deals with the literary influence of Ernest Hemingway on the school of minimalism, and on American literature and culture itself. Carver writes, “Who was this man – by his own admission, ”a son of a bitch” – whose novels and books of short stories changed forever the way fiction was written and, for a time, even the way people thought about themselves?”

This following link is to one of my favorite literary essays of all time; George Orwell’s ‘Politics and the English Language.’ It was published in 1946 in the journal Horizon, a British literary magazine in publication in London between 1940 and 1949. In the article, Orwell calls for a clearer and more straight-forward use of language instead of the willfully misleading politicized mode of speech and writing we so often find ourselves falling into. Unsure of what I mean? I’ll let Orwell explain it:

“I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes:

I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Here it is in modern English:

Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

This is a parody, but not a very gross one.”

I side with Orwell; the first is by far a more evocative, and straight-forward, use of the English language.

Article: ‘Politics and the English Language’

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

I hope these links get the attention they deserve. I believe all three highlight some of the intrinsic beauty and love of language which we all share. There’s a bit of humor, a bit of introspection, and a bit of objectivity in each of them.

I also invite readers to share their own links. You can share them in the comments section below, or send some to us at submit@hcquarterly.com We’ll try to publish as many submitted links as we can in upcoming posts on this blog.

Also, the newest edition of Hidden City Quarterly will be available on our website on January 31st, 2010. We are still accepting submissions, both for this upcoming Quarter, and those after. Poetry, Prose, and Graphic/Visual Art. Visit http://hcquarterly.com/howtosubmit.html for more information.

The Future of Lit Mags

In my last post, I suggested that as more people get into the field of literary magazines, and as we make our way online, better layouts and media integration will become a bigger part of them. With most lit mags looking like they were designed in 1998, here are some things that websites are doing now that could be a great part of what literary magazines do.

Improved Navigation

Time to lose the sidebar navigation. The reason why top navigation is so much better is because it lets a user get where they need to go quicker. A higher end computer with better screen resolution can no probably see an entire sidebar without scrolling, but I remember when I didn’t have one. And I remember have to scroll up and down just to see the navigation of the site. The more of the readers time you waste, the better the chance of them just leaving your site.

Embedded Audio

A few sites have gotten close to this, but have yet to hit it just right. I’m talking about either accepting original composition or having an audio file of an author reading their work. Mad Hatter’s Review attempts the original composition but makes a huge internet mistake. Never have an audio file auto play. You don’t know if a person’s speakers or headphones are turned all the way up, or if they were already listening to music. That is a great way to turn someone off immediately. Blackbird has the readings, but in an audio format that is most strongly associated with a long-dead player. Allmusic, while not having the prettiest site, has wonderful audio integration.

“Web2.0”

Going web2.0, itself a horrible buzzword, might be difficult for a literary magazine. The concept is that a site only provide the structure and that all content comes from users. In definition, that is what a literary magazine is, but this would go further. There would be no acceptance standards. A system of commenting, user profiles, numbers of hits and a rating system would determine exposure and popularity. Think Youtube, but with stories. There could certainly be a place for this, along side the traditional magazines.

Imagine these are stories instead of videos

I have to say, seeing some of these ideas implemented in the future is pretty exciting. I’d really like for us to have some audio files on our site in the next couple of issues.

Speaking of that, don’t forget that the new issue comes out at the end of the week. I can already tell you, it’s going to be a great one.

Literary Magazines Around the Area

Despite our hidden city message, there are other literary magazines in the DelMarVa area. I wanted to point out and compare a couple of them who’s content are both at a very high quality level – Blackbird and The Chesapeake Reader.

Blackbird is a Virginia based online literary magazine that has strong ties to both Virginia Commonwealth University and the New Virginia Review. They publish twice a year, with a recent change in their reading period, though it is clearly stated. The rather large staff is made up of either graduate students, post-grads, instructors or writers that are associated with either of the two organizations that formed it.

The content is of very high quality. They only feature poetry and prose, any art is also connected with some form of an essay. The high quality is to be expected, though, as all of the contributors have previously been published before. Anyone who makes it into the magazine receives some form of payment for acceptance, though what that amount it could not be found. Also, make sure you have a picture of your face taken with a sepia filter. It doesn’t say it is required for getting published, but it appears so.

I have a bone to pick with almost every literary magazine when it comes to layout. It should not be hard to find a college kid with a good understanding of CSS that will make your site for next to nothing to put it on their resume, yet we still see many websites that were designed using html principles from 10 years ago. While Blackbird does have it’s “poetry, fiction, nonfiction,” tabs right at the top and easy to find (though they are very small), the rest of the site is a busy mix of text and sepia head-shots. I wish they would change the background color, the more I tried to read, the more I lost my place. It made me feel dyslexic.

The Chesapeake Reader is a whole different philosophy for the online literary magazine. They are associated with no one but themselves, and don’t claim a home base but the Chesapeake Bay area. All of the staff does reside in the Baltimore area. All are professionals, either writers currently residing in Baltimore or teachers at one of the local universities. The issues are published twice a year though they will only accept submissions during certain time periods.

The rule for the content here is quality over quantity. While it is all good, for this year they only published three stories and seven poems. There is no art. All but one of the contributors has previously been published though they did seem to be not quite as professionally established at the people accepted by Blackbird. They offer no compensation for publishing.

The site appears to be in a stock free website, that includes the default colors. Personally, if I wasn’t directly linked to this website, I would have thought I went to the wrong one and that this one had not been set-up yet. But, there can be something said for “less is more” as you will not have a hard time finding your way around the site.

Each site did have one interesting quirk. Many of the works featured in Blackbird had a link for an audio file of the author reading them. This is great. What is not so great is you have to download them. Also, then are in a RAM audio format which either requires a plug-in for Windows Media Player or the archaic and buggy Realplayer. I wan unable to get them to work.

The Chesapeake Reader has a quirk in that all of their content opens in Adobe Reader. While that does look nice and is clean and easy on the eyes it is not the quickest loading program on slow machines or with a slow internet connection.

What shines through most on these sites are the excellent stories and poems that are featured on them. Both of these sites should be commended for bringing high quality writing to the world for free. But, for online literary magazines to really start rivaling their print counterparts and be taken more seriously they need to play by the rules of the internet.

Maybe the new breed of writers that are just now graduating, and have grown up with technology, will be the ones that can really push for online literary magazines to increase in popularity. Our medium is holding itself back.

That all being said, our next issue is due out on the 31st and we have some great and simple changes planned for the site to make it much easier to navigate.

Reminder to Submit

Just a reminder, now that we are in the first week October, we’re going to need your submissions soon if you want to be in the Fall issue. This being the one year anniversary, we’re hoping that this can be our best issue yet. Even if you don’t write or paint or do anything creative, if you have friends that are, please tell them.

Nothing is finalized yet, but please realize, it will take a week or so to sort through all of our submissions. I would suggest getting everything in by the 22nd at the latest.

Whatever you have to submit, send it in here.

If you’re on

Baltimore and Art

For those living in Charm City, or thinking of visiting, and into art, but kind of disconnected from the scene, there are a lot great places you can visit for inspiration (more then the number commas in that sentence).

The Baltimore Museum of Art – Admission: Free

Located in Charles Village, just a couple miles north of the Inner Harbor, the BMA could be considered the most traditional of the museums located in Baltimore. Founded in 1914, they now have over 90,000 pieces that range from the 15th century to contemporary times. It’s large, has a diverse collection and is free. There’s nothing to dislike here.

The Walters Art Museum – Admission: Free

Like the BMA, the Walters is free. It is located in historic Mount Vernon and easy to access by light rail, which is probably easier then parking in Mouth Vernon. The collection has a stronger focus on historical pieces, including a rather large display of Ancient Greek sculpture. The Walters, dinner and a walk around Mount Vernon would make for a great date.

American Visionary Art Museum – Admission: Varies, $14 for adults

Different from it’s counterparts, the AVAM is dedicated to self-taught artists. Artists with training are allowed to display work there, but the emphasis is on artists with, “…an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself.” What does that translate into? Very interesting and unique artwork that is either super modern and cutting edge.

Maryland Art Place

This is more of a service to artists then a museum like the others. They maintain the Maryland State Arts Council Visual Artists’ Registry, an online database and bulletin board of all the artists in the area that register for it. This is a great way to get yourself noticed and stay up-to-date on things that are going on around the area. The building itself is located in Power Plant Live! and usually features a few exhibits from local artists.

Maryland Institute College of Art – Admission: $33,000

No list of Baltimore art places could be complete without MICA, one of the best art colleges in the country. In addition to the constant praise and prestige that is heaped upon them, they have many viewings of the works of students, itself all art gallery quality.

Those were some of the biggest. If someone knows of, or is involved with, other great locations, you can shoot me an email or leave a comment. The more we spread the word, the more we help ourselves and others. Our goal at Hidden City is to be an active voice in the community, which is why it’s free to submit and be published by us.

Baltimore Book Festival

For those in the area, the Baltimore Book Festival this year will be on September 25- 27. That would be this weekend coming up. There will be plenty of readings, Q&A’s, book signings, tons of books for purchase and swap and plenty of other fun things to do.

It will be in Mount Vernon Place, 600 Block North Charles Street, Baltimore. Just in case, here are some directions.

We’ll be around handing out fliers and pushing people into submitting, so please come talk to us, take a flier and talk about the site. If you can’t find us through the crowd, we’re probably chasing down Buzz Aldrin to get a photo op.

Don’t forget, our deadline for submission is Halloween, so get on those.

About: Hidden City Quarterly

Hidden City Quarterly is an online-only literary magazine. All of our editions will exist in an electronic form only. You could consider that hypocritical, given our backgrounds in English and love of books, but we like to think we’re cutting edge.

Just as newspapers are cutting back on print, or even running out of money entirely, the internet is the next big place for publishing. The great thing about it is the start-up cost is someone with a little knowledge of web design and the monthly cost of server space. That wonderful cheapness of the internet, combined with an amazing access to your audience, means that anyone with the right idea can start publishing, and even the writers with the least exposure can get their name out there.

And with those ideas, we bring you Hidden City Quarterly. The hidden city is Baltimore, our hometown and base of operations. A place that can get lost and forgotten in the East Coast megalopolis, but is loved by the people who live here. The only way to discover tha

t from outside here, would be to get off I-95 and see what we have to offer.

Great works of art and literature can be just like our city. They can be hidden, tucked off of the I-95 of Barnes & Noble and the Ikea art section. But this is where we come i

n. By using the internet as our format of publishing, and taking advantage of the tools of promotion we have, these great hidden works can be shared with the world.

We hope that you will discover the hidden qualities of our site and the works that are contained within. Don’t be afraid to submit, whether you’re a first timer or a seasoned pro.

From our Hidden City to your's.