Ghost Ocean 6

Ghost Ocean 6, the last of the non-quarterly issues, has arrived. We love love love this issue & if you do, too, (why wouldn't you?!) you should tell us all about it here or on our Facebook page.

Issue 6 features the haunting words of the following writers:

Natasha Kessler

Theodosia Henney

Sara Lier

B.C. Mitchell

Michael Bagwell

J.A. Tyler

Tyler Flynn Dorholt

Read it & Spread the word!

THE PROSE ISSUE

Ghost Ocean 5 is here! Issue 5, The Prose Issue, scrambles flash fiction and prose poetry so it's YOU, the reader, that gets to decide what is poetry and what is fiction.

So check out Issue 5 & when you're done, let us know what you think via Facebook, Twitter, or in the comment section of this blog. We want to hear your reactions!

Thanks for reading & ENJOY.

Opportunities

We've recently updated our website, adding an Opportunities section. Here you'll find info about opportunities for artists to re-interpret the written work of our magazine, as well as our search for a new Web Intern.

The web intern will be expected to work 12-15 hours/week. The internship will last, at minimum, 6 months or one college semester. We are willing to consider extending the internship if the intern shows exceptional promise.

If interested, please visit our website for specific qualifications and requirements for the Web Intern position. If not interested, we will throw you into the ocean as pictured above.

2011 Chapbook Contest

Ghost Ocean Magazine is kicking off its first-annual chapbook contest! Submissions will be accepted between March 1 and June 1. In August we will choose the winning chapbook to be designed and published by Ghost Ocean Press. The winner will receive 25 complimentary copies of the chapbook from an edition of 100. Upon selling out, the printing of a second edition will be considered. First and second runners-up will also be considered for publication.

Submission Guidelines

• 15-35 pages of poetry or flash fiction
• 12 pt. Times New Roman. Poetry single-spaced; Prose double-spaced.
• Paginated; Include a table of contents if appropriate
• $10 contest entry/reading fee
• Only unpublished material will be considered – individual poems or stories may be previously published, but the work as a whole must be unpublished.
• Simultaneous submissions are, of course, acceptable. Please withdraw your submission immediately if your chapbook is taken elsewhere.
• Multiple submissions are okay but will require an additional reading fee for each additional manuscript.

Write This Down

AWP Booth #116!

Write it down on napkins, notecards, bathroom stalls, the inside of your eyelid, the outside of someone else's--Just don't forget & Come and see us!

Ghost Oceancast: January 23

Since we last spoke, Ghost Ocean Magazine’s kickstarter both launched and finished its campaign to get to 2011’s AWP Conference in D.C. We’re so excited to tell you that we’ll be seeing you there! We’ll be the really good-looking people shacked up with our friends at Oyez Review (published through the MFA program at Roosevelt University). We’ll even have some goodies to give you so make sure you stop by and see us! We want to meet you, hug you, and say thanks for all your support. We sincerely couldn’t have done this without you.

Since our last update, we've published another issue: Issue 3! The new issue features work by Jory M. Mickelson, Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney, Rachel Levy, and several others. We've also included an interview with Kyle Beachy, author of The Slide. If you haven’t seen Issue 3 yet, what are you waiting for? The water feels fine. Jump on in!

Issue 4 is filling up quickly, so if you haven’t sent us anything yet, get a move on it!

Be on the lookout for more updates soon!

Ghost Ocean at AWP

On the cusp of our second issue--one we could not be more excited about--we've made a decision: We are going to AWP in D.C. in February. We believe in online lit mags, we believe that being able to link others to your work is fantastic (advantageous) thing in the Internet Age, and we believe this should not be a reason you receive any less exposure as a writer. So we want to bring our laptops, slap them on a table, and scream READ THIS AMAZING WORK! to all of our friends, non-friends, and soon-to-be friends at AWP. We love you and we want to prove it.


That being said, these things take money, and money is one of the things we don't have a lot of. Sure, we may have a lot of creepy oceans, but money doesn't grow in the ocean, you know. So, we've started a Kickstarter project in order to raise the funds we need to get an AWP Bookfair table and create all the fun freebies that will spread the Ghost Ocean name across the planet.

If you're reading this, we assume you're a really cool person who would want to help us with this or you're a non-cool person who misspelled something in your address bar. But we judge not! No matter who you are, we hope you'll at least consider donating to our cause. If you're a contributor, GET EXCITED! This means everyone at AWP could be scrolling through your orgasmic flash or poetry! Maybe even taking home a poetry postcard with your work on it! Or a flash chapbook! Oh my, Oh my!!


So check out the site HERE, and if you can spare some change, please do--there are several creative goodies in it for you after all; we want to give you something as a big thank you for your help!


We hope you all will donate some if you can, and we hope to see you at AWP in February, too! D.C. here we come! Let's make it happen!

New Look!

In case you've yet to see it, check out our new look. We've put Issue One in the archive to make room for our upcoming issue, which we will release on November 1.


We'd love to hear feedback about the new site, so if you have a moment, comment here, email us, or talk to us on Twitter or new Facebook page.


We hope you guys love the new look!

Issue Two!

Hello out there! 

We've been busy bees buzzing through your submissions, so it's been a bit since we last talked to you.

First off, thanks to all of the wonderful writers who submitted for Issue One, and double thanks to the wonderful contributors whose work is floating in our creepy ocean! (If you haven't read it, then please go do so before you are struck down by a white hot bolt of God's wrath.)

Also, we wanted to announce our latest call for submissions for Issue Two: ghost / ocean / ghost ocean / ocean ghost. Basically anything mildly relevant to the title of the magazine. Just make sure that when you submit, you put Issue Two Theme or Ghost Theme or Ocean Theme or Ghost Ocean Ocean Ghost Ocean Theme--something like that--in the subject line, along with your name and genre as usual.

Issue Two will be undead and available for your viewing pleasure on Nov 1, so if you want to be considered for the issue, you better hurry! And remember, we're still accepting general, non-themed submissions for Issue Two, as well. We can't read to read your words!

Brandon Courtney - Jesus Dreamt Only Once

Today we're shining the spotlight on one of our favorite poems from Issue One, "Jesus Dreamt Only Once" by Brandon Courtney. Below you'll find a segment of one of two killer poems by Brandon Courtney that can be found in the debut issue. We think it gets better after every read, so even if you've read it before, dive on in again!

Jesus Dreamt Only Once

& He saw his Father’s garden;
stepped into the sea,

smelled the crushed odor of weeds,
knew thirst for the first time,

the compulsion to drink –
and drink of it his fill.

He prayed for mercy and mercy came
in the shape of waves,

crushing Capernaum to sand, floating
the sternum of his body like an empty boat.

& He dreamt the sea kneeling
at the entrance of his mouth,

the swells that unstrung the necklace of breath
from his throat, beating their gospels against the fence of his ribs.

He dreamt of his Father’s coffin.
Just yesterday, men were bathing in it,

spitting, moving through it, swimming,
pressed as close as the bones of a wrist.

***

Read the entire poem here!