"A Big Tent." A Chat with Christopher Linforth, Editor of Atticus Review

Editor of online magazine takes us into his journal's history & its current changes

Happy Monday, friends! We kick this week off with a brand new editor interview, newly wrapped.

Today I had the pleasure of chatting with Christopher Linforth, Editor of Atticus Review. This journal is currently in the process of making structural changes. Christopher, who published work with the magazine years ago and then took over as Editor in December 2021, shared details on the exciting changes underway and what prompted these shifts.

Atticus Review has been publishing work online since 2011. Their publishing schedule has been quite rigorous, with new creative content appearing on the site four times per week. Since that time, the magazine has built up a strong reputation, with several pieces appearing in anthologies such as Best Microfiction.

Beginning this year, Atticus Review will switch to publishing work triannually. There will also be theme issues. The submission fee has also gone down from $5 to $3, with free submission days on occasion.

The motivation behind theme issues was a desire for the works to speak to one another more overtly. While the magazine has consistently published quality writing—and work that Christopher described as “counter-culture,” “quirky,” “sincere,” “offbeat,” “strange,” and “powerful,”—it could be hard to have clear thematic through-lines among so many pieces. With triannual publication, the issues will aim to have more cohesion, with two out of three issues each year related to one specific theme.

The new publishing schedule will also give this hard-working staff a chance to rest. In addition to Christopher, the staff of Atticus Review is made up of both readers and genre editors. Who, you may be wondering, are these readers? What training to they have? What qualifications?

Rest assured, at Atticus Review there is collaboration among readers and long-time editors. Readers go through training upon joining the AR staff, to ensure all submitted pieces are reviewed with the attention they deserve. Most of the work that is accepted for publication in this magazine is not solicited, and comes through Submittable.

With a new publication schedule, does this mean the magazine will publish fewer pieces and be more competitive for writers? Alas, most likely yes. Currently the journal accepts just 1-2% of submissions. This number may change.

What, then, can writers to do to increase their chance of an acceptance at this magazine? Is there a sweet spot for short story lengths? Are there differing aesthetic preferences among the genre editors? Do they want writing that is more traditional, more character-driven, heavy on imagery, off-kilter, strange, surreal, long, short, or…what?

You will have to tune in to find out!

Atticus Review publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, mixed media and criticism. Their criticism section, The Attic, will have a more frequent publishing schedule and will be open to pitches in May.

To hear about calls for new theme issues, calls for readers, calls for pitches for The Attic, and to just keep in touch with this magazine generally, be sure to sign up for their newsletter.

In the meantime, you can get to work on your Internet-themed poem, essay or story, and submit it now. Submissions related to The Internet Age are open until July 15th.

To all those who came out today to join the discussion, thank you for tuning in. You know your faces bring me all the joy!

And, of course, thank you to Christopher for taking the time to peel back the curtain of another super cool little magazine.

Happy viewing!