There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of literary journals online, and the quality on these sites runs from brilliant to dreckish. There is as yet no online rating service to assist would-be submitters and readers in their search for quality literary journals.

One site has consistently demonstrated an ability to attract and retain excellent work from talented writers. Called Conte, an online journal, the periodical bills itself as “a web journal that aims to promote the art of telling stories.”

Each issue contains provocative work by rising poets and writers arranged loosely around a given theme. Best of all - this is a labor of love in which the corrupting spectre of filthy lucre has not been able to extend its festering fingers into the project. At least not yet.

Pieces have startled me, moved me, disturbed me, and touched me; the wide variety of artists provides a continuity of unpredictability.

Here is another sign of the quality of their editorial staff - historymike’s pathetic attempt at a minimimalist short vignette was politely turned down. The wounded artiste in me should be bitter, but the reality was that it just was not a very strong contribution.

So venture over to Conte and experience the work of some of America’s best young writers.

Do it now. Don’t wait until after you go grocery shopping, or after you get hooked into watching Olympic curling or some rot.

Michael Brooks is a Clamor contributor, journalist, and historian based in the Midwest, where al Qaeda operatives are few and far between.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 11th, 2006 at 9:34 am by Michael Brooks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.