Rag News Samples

The Rag #4: Summer 2012

The Rag CoverCreative Risk: No Gamble, No Future

In our Summer 2012 issue we’ve explored the side of writing that assumes the risk that comes with invention and ingenuity. As most of us know, those who take risks are exposed to the possibility of failure and sometimes disaster, but taking risks can also result in greatness. We believe the material we’ve found this quarter falls into the latter category.

Some of the themes you’ll encounter this time around challenge the sanity of modern society and the human values that claim to shape it.  This is familiar Rag territory to an extent, but these tales are woven in ways we haven’t seen before. From the wild spasms of foulness and hilarity that coat the pages of Patrick Million’s The Fall of a Fool’s Paradise to the surface density of Allan Shapiro’s Has and Have, the ways these writers attack their themes vary greatly, but in each case it makes for a unique and memorable reading experience.

We’re sometimes asked by writers whether there’s a minimum word count for short fiction. The answer is that any minimum length is entirely theoretical. While it may be impossible to tell a cohesive, compelling and memorable story in a single sentence, some of the writers here are pushing the limits of length. You’ll notice a number of pieces in this issue that could be classified as flash fiction, as this time we’ve found some seriously brief, albeit memorable, stories that we believe master the qualities of concision and subtlety.

This is The Rag’s 4th issue, which also means it’s our anniversary. We’ve been around for about a year now and we’ve published almost 40 writers and managed read nearly 4000 submissions. Over the next few months we will be hosting a number of fundraisers in effort to ensure that our contributing authors are duly compensated for their work in the future, and we thank our some 800 subscribers for supporting us thus far. We have read, edited and published a lot of great work, and we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. But we couldn’t have done it without our many submissions from writers all over the world and the generous support of our readers, and so we’d like to say THANK YOU. And we hope you continue to enjoy The Rag.

You can purchase single issue copies or subscribe on our website store or on the Amazon Kindle store. Reviews on the Kindle store are appreciated. You can also read a sample on the Kindle store.

Here’s what you’ll find inside:

The Fall of a Fool’s Paradise by Patrick Million
Massacre in Pink by Elise Kaplan
has and have by Allan Shapiro
Inside the Aimless by Samantha Salvato (poetry)
Notes to a Future Me by Kristin Kearns
Scalpel by Kathleen Jercich
13 Units (According to Polish Logicians) by Amber Cash
Intersex by Jenny Lederer (poetry)
The Watch by Rachel Thomas-Medwid
Transformation by Tamer Mostafa (poetry)
Pistol by Philip Cole
Revolution on Ten Dollars a Day by Wes Trexler
Bag Worm by John McKernan (poetry)
Dorela’s Response When Asked About the Current Sociopolitical State of the World by Olatundji Akpo-Sani (poetry)
Terminal by George E. Wade

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