Meet the Interns: Michaela Stephens, Submissions Coordinator

Michaela Stephens is a senior majoring in Literature, Writing, and Film with a Creative Writing concentration.

What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?
I am the Submissions Coordinator. My job is to log in to our submissions and contributor spreadsheets information about .. surprise, submissions and contributions! I post the work to the correct discussion board for the editors to read and then log their verdicts into the spreadsheet. I also notify submitters if their submissions did not conform to our guidelines. (Yes, I’m the bad guy who sends form letters..)

How did you hear about Superstition Review and what made you decide to get involved?
One of my coworkers in the Writing Center was interning with Superstition Review and she talked about what she was doing a fair amount. I decided I wanted to get involved because it sounded like it would be good experience and a very helpful addition to my resume. Also, I thought it might be very interesting.

What are you hoping to take away from your Superstition Review experience?
I want to take away a thorough knowledge of how the publishing world works and why things are done the way they are.

Describe one of your favorite literary or artistic works.
Only one? You want to ask a bibliophile to describe just one of her favorite literary works? Impossible! I cannot do it! I cannot choose only one!

Bible, Book of Mormon, Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis, L. M. Montgomery, Mark Twain, George Elliot, Orson Scott Card, etc.

What are you currently reading?
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I haven’t had enough exposure to Dickens.

Who would be the Superstition Review contributor of your dreams?
Orson Scott Card. His stories are very psychological, but also very accessible.

Do you write or create art? What are you currently working on?
For the last few years I’ve been predominately a writer, but I do have an artistic strain as well. I did pretty well in a sculpture class I took in Austin, Texas, and I still have a mask project hanging on my wall that I made for that.
Right now, I am working on a piece of genre fiction about a spoiled prince who has to marry someone from a specific town or he won’t inherit the kingdom.

Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?
Doing homework, working at the Polytechnic Writing Center, blogging, reading, reading, reading. Throw in weekly cub scout den meetings, a visit to the temple, church attendance, church choir, and you’ve gotten a picture of most of my time.

What is your favorite mode of relaxation?
Undoubtedly reading, but after sitting down at the computer all day it is hard to sit and read some more, so then I either go running or I go for a walk with my husband.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I see myself as a published author of several novels, and a professional organizer. If children don’t come. If children come, I’ll be a stay-at-home mom who scribbles away in the early morning hours.

Distinguished Visiting Writers Series: Francine Prose

ASU’s Piper Center is bringing Novelist Francine Prose to ASU on March 2nd and 3rd as part of its Distinguished Visiting Writers Series.

Novelist FRANCINE PROSE
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Public Craft Q&A, 2 pm
Piper Writers House – ASU Tempe Campus
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Reading and Booksigning, 7 pm
Phoenix Art Museum, Whiteman Hall
1625 N. Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ

Prose is the author of 14 novels and six books of nonfiction, including Household Saints, a finalist for the National Book Award, and Reading Like a Writer, a New York Times Bestseller. Her most recent works include Goldengrove: A Novel and Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife. Mark your calendars for this exciting event!

Progress Update: Picking Up Steam

We’re concluding our third week working on Issue 5 of Superstition Review, and we’re really picking up steam: open submissions are pouring in, readings are being scheduled, the website is beginning to take shape, and our interns are hitting their strides.

Our Section Editors have prepared lists of authors and artists they would like to solicit work from and/or interview. The Solicitations and Interview Coordinators have organized these lists and are preparing to work with the editors to send out the solicitations emails. Now our Art, Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction Editors are shifting their focus toward reading and evaluating the open submissions that have been piling up in our Submissions Editor’s inbox.

Our Reading Series Coordinator set up our first reading of the semester (details soon to come!) and is now brainstorming authors and ideas for our March reading. Our Advertising Coordinator sent out email marketing for our submissions period (keep sending us your work!), and she’s now teaming up with our Photoshopper to create some ads to exchange with other magazines. Our Development Coordinators are doing important work on grants and bringing Superstition Review to Kindle (you’ll hear about it here when we’ve got that all set up!). Our Web Designers are in the process of assembling our staff and events pages. And finally, I’m here, keeping you up-to-date on everything happening with Superstition Review. Keep reading!

Meet the Interns: Nicole Dunlap, Development Coordinator

Nicole Dunlap will be graduating from ASU in May with a degree in English Literature.

What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?
I’m working on the development of SR – putting together documents for Kindle — I will be composing all of the past issues into organized word documents.

How did you hear about Superstition Review and what made you decide to get involved?
My adviser recommended I apply for the internship Fall 09.

What are you hoping to take away from your Superstition Review experience?
More experience with working with a team, learning how the line of production works for publishing a magazine.

Describe one of your favorite literary or artistic works.
I don’t like choosing favorites … but a couple contemporary pieced I like include Mark Danielewski’s book House of Leaves – it’s a combination of literature and visual arts. Also the only book I’ve ever reread (by choice) is Donna Tarrt’s The Secret History.

What are you currently reading?
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest – Ken Kesey

What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?
I’d like to be the non-fiction editor. I would love to be forced to read all submissions – good and bad.

Do you prefer reading literary magazines online or in print?
I like reading things in print, just because I like the physical act of turning pages, dog-earing pages, etc.

Do you write or create art? What are you currently working on?
I’m working on a dual collaboration with my friend Kara Roschi – I’m printing photographs directly onto wood slabs. I think it’s being displayed in the Practical Art gallery in April.

Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?
I work a lot. In my free time I like taking photographs, writing, and going out with friends.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I hope to be in graduate school in 10 years. Hopefully in the meantime I’ll spend some time in Germany.

Now Accepting Submissions

The interns have had a week to settle in, and now it’s time for the serious work, reading period, to begin. We’re looking for fresh new works of art, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for publication in Issue 5, which launches the week of April 25th. We’ll be accepting submissions from now until March 31st.

Thinking of submitting? Please refer to our Submissions Page for guidelines and submission directions. We can’t wait to receive your work!

Issue 4 of Superstition Review

We apologize for not announcing it on the blog sooner, but Issue 4 of Superstition Review is up and running!

Brought to you by Fall 2009’s 23 student interns through the B.A. program in Literature, Writing, and Film at the ASU Polytechnic campus, Superstition Review’s fourth issue features excellent new work from established and emerging artists and writers.

In our Art section, we present work from Christopher Jagmin, Eric Penington, and José Bechara.

For Fiction, we have stories from Allen Kopp, Cary Holladay, Charlotte Holmes, Jen Knox, Juli Henshaw, Karen Brown, Kate Kostelnik, Leslie Epstein, Sherril Jaffe, Sudha Balagopal, and Vytatuas Malesh.

In Interviews, our interns speak with Carol Ann Bassett, Judith Halberstam, Leslie Epstein, Michael Martone, Robert Ekiss, Robin Hemley, Tania Katan, and Wanda Coleman.

We present Nonfiction essays from Anna Viadero, Carol Ann Bassett, Christine Steele, Jo Scott-Coe, Joseph Lombo, Rachel Yoder, Rick Steigelman, and Tania Katan.

Our Poetry section features poems from Aaron Fagan, Barbara Kingsolver, Billy Collins, Deborah Bogen, Emily Ferrara, James Kimbrell, Katherine Soniat, Kathleen Hellen, Keith Ekiss, Kelli Russell Agodon, Richard Bronson, Sarah J. Wangler, Stefanie Silva, and Timothy Liu.

Check it out and enjoy!

Meet the Interns: Carrie Grant, Blogger

It’s a new semester at ASU, which means a new team of student interns is gearing up to work on Superstition Review Issue 5. We have 18 interns this semester, and you’ll be getting to know us one at a time as the weeks progress.

As the person bringing you the interviews with our interns and keeping you up-to-date on everything happening with Superstition Review, I figure I should introduce myself first. I’m Carrie Grant, a sophomore majoring in English Literature and Sociology.

What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?
I’m the Blogger, which means I post updates on the SR staff’s progress toward publication, interviews with our interns, and other Superstition Review topics of interest to our WordPress blog, Twitter account, and Facebook fan page.

How did you hear about Superstition Review and what made you decide to get involved?
I heard about Superstition Review through an email listserv last semester. I had been throwing around the idea of a future in publishing for a while, and this seemed like the perfect way to get a taste of how publishing works and to better determine whether I could actually see myself working in publishing.

What are you hoping to take away from your Superstition Review experience?
I want to gain an understanding of how the work done by each intern contributes to the overall process of publishing a literary magazine. I also want to become more confident in my ability to work independently.

Describe one of your favorite literary or artistic works.
I’m in love with The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The recent film adaptation doesn’t do this intricate science fiction/love story justice at all. Actually, I think the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button conveys the feeling of The Time Traveler’s Wife much more accurately.

What are you currently reading?
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which I’m enjoying so much that I can’t believe I haven’t read it before now. I started David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest at the end of winter break, and I’m trying to find time to get back to it.

Who would be the Superstition Review contributor of your dreams?
Margaret Atwood. She’s basically my literary idol of both poetry and fiction, and it would be amazing to be a part of publishing her work.

What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?
I would like to be Content or Submissions Coordinator, or a Fiction Editor.

Do you prefer reading literary magazines online or in print?
Online. I don’t have much time to read for pleasure, so I like the ease with which I can take a break from, say, writing a Superstition Review blog post, and read a new poem or short story.

Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?
Day-to-day I can be found reading for classes in the Barrett study room, watching indie movies in bed or at the local indie theater, patrolling the halls of Hassayampa with my fellow Community Assistants (known as RAs basically everywhere but at ASU), and editing for the student-run Barrett Honors College magazine, The Barrett Chronicle.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I hope to be working in publishing, possibly as a literary agent or an editor. Ideally, ten years from now I’ll be married, living in a well-decorated Manhattan apartment, and the owner of a dream library and wardrobe.

Meet the Interns: Jessica Swanson, Web Design Team Manager

Jessica Swanson is a Senior at Arizona State University majoring in English with a concentration in Creative Writing.

What do you do for SR?

As the Web Design Team Manager I oversee projects for the Blogger, Web Developer, and Photoshop Editor. I initiate or remind the members of upcoming projects as well as assist them with certain projects or questions. During the past few weeks the team and I have begun a rebuild of the SR webpage which I am extremely excited about. This includes redesign the fonts, colors, and layout of the site as well as creating a new banner that will represent SR during the release of the fourth issue.

How did you hear about or get involved with Superstition Review?

I have had a few classes with Trish in the past and had heard about Superstition Review a few times. Since it is my last undergraduate semester at ASU I thought this would be a great opportunity to gain some hands-on experience with this online literary publication.

What is your favorite section of SR? Why?

I am a fiction girl so I would have to say that section and the art section are my two favorite areas of SR. I primarily write fiction so I am drawn to that section just from a personal bias, and I am always fascinated by artwork and, therefore, attracted to that section.

Who is your dream contributor to the journal? Talk about him/her.
Well he has already contributed to the journal, but I would really love to see a piece of fiction by Sherman Alexie. He is a very diverse author/poet and I find his work extremely influential in my personal life. I have a deep respect for him as a Native American author and would love to meet him one day.

What job, other than your own, would you like to try out in the journal?
I would really like to be a fiction editor (big surprise) or possible work for the marketing team.

What are you most excited for in the upcoming issue?

I am very excited about the re-design of the SR website. My team has been working very hard these past two weeks to get this up and running by the fourth launch and I am extremely excited to see the final result.

What was the first book you remember falling in love with and what made it so special?
Well this wasn’t really one of the first books that I ever fell in love with, but this was the first book that made me cry. I remember being in elementary school and reading Where the Red Fern Grows, probably for pleasure and not as an assigned reading. I was home alone and it was an overcast, early winter day. I sat in an oversized plush chair in the living room, curled up with my feet underneath me. As I read the novel I became overwhelmed by what I was reading, never having read something quite like that at my age. I cried and cried until my family came home and at the time I was sad, but I was also thrilled because that was the first time I had truly interacted with a book. After that I just became an even bigger bookworm and you could not pull me out of library for anything.

What are you currently reading?

Besides schoolwork I am attempting to read a mystery called Beautiful Lies. This has been a feat considering the workload of the first few weeks, but I hope to have it completed soon. I am very surprised with the novel so far – something I wasn’t expecting since it had been on the bargain table at Barnes and Noble. During the summer I read the entire Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris and I would like to start viewing the show True Blood which is based on the series. Also, I am greatly anticipating Dan Brown’s new novel The Lost Symbol which continues the Robert Langdon series.

What artist have you really connected with, either in subject matter, work, or motto?

I think I talk about Sherman Alexie a little bit too much, but he has got to be my favorite author just because of subject matter (although I hear he is a pretty nice guy as well). He has really helped me not only as a writer, but also as a Native American who always felt a little bit like an outcast within the community. I appreciate his work because he is so true and honest and humorous. I truly respect him as an author and I greatly value his work.

What would be your dream class to take at ASU? What would the title be and what would it cover?

Dream class? Naptime 101. But that will never happen. I really wish I could take a class where I am being graded to read whatever I want. If I knew that I could devote two hours a night to reading some random fiction novel off the shelf for a grade then I would be in heaven. I have found that during semesters I really cannot dedicate the time I would like to read novels for pleasure. If I could have a class where I was allowed to do that then I would be overjoyed.

Meet the Interns: Heidi Nielson, Fiction Editor

Heidi Nielson is pursuing concurrent degrees in English (Creative Writing) and Journalism (Digital Journalism), as well as a minor in Music.

What do you do for SR?

As a fiction editor, I send solicitations to authors for work, as well as for interviews, read, discuss, and decide on submissions along with Riki, and conduct at least one interview with an author.

How did you hear about SR?

I first heard about the internship while I was interning at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, working with Hayden’s Ferry Review. Shortly thereafter, I volunteered at the Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers’ Conference at ASU and was able to attend a class on literary journals that Patricia Murphy was teaching, and met with her after the class ended. During the last issue, I helped with the blog, though I wasn’t officially an intern. I’m very excited to be an intern this semester.
What is your favorite section of SR and why?

As a fiction writer, I tend to gravitate toward the fiction section of any journal first. I am an avid reader, as well as a writer. I feel like I learn the most about writing fiction from reading the work of more experienced and talented writers, like those in Superstition Review.

Who is your dream contributor to the journal?

My dream contributor would probably be Jhumpa Lahiri. Her prose is beautiful, and I admire the way that she is able to immerse her readers in Bengali culture.

What job would you like to try out?

Probably blogger. I really enjoy social media and had a lot of fun when I helped with the blog during the last issue.

What are you most excited for?

I would say that I am most excited to just read submissions. We are writing to so many amazing writers this semester to request work.

What is the first book you remember falling in love with?
I think the first book I fell in love with was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. What made that book so compelling to me as a child, I think, was that their family felt so similar to my own. I come from a family of six girls, and one boy, and the personalities of myself and the three sisters closest to me in age, always seemed so similar to the four sisters in Little Women.

What are you currently reading?
I’m currently reading a compilation of T.C. Boyle’s short stories, entitled simply, Stories.

What are your favorite websites to distract you from homework?
I noticed that most people were saying Facebook, and I can’t deny that I do check it more than once a day, but I think the website that usually distracts me from homework the most is etsy.com. It’s a website of handmade or vintage items, and I can just spend hours browsing through the thousands of items. I also get distracted by my Google Reader. I subscribe to about 50 blogs, and so I’m almost constantly reading posts.

Do you write? Tell us about a project you are working on.
I write fiction, mainly short stories. I have been working on revisions of two stories I wrote for my fiction class last year since the last ended, and I’m on my sixth drafts of both.

Meet the Interns: Michelle Leabo, Content Team Manager

Michelle Leabo is a Senior in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences majoring in English with a concentration in Literature. 

What do you do for SR?

As Content Team Manager, it is my job to keep SR’s content organized. I make sure that our spreadsheets are continually updated. One of my major responsibilities is to ensure that no work get lost. I remain in close contact with other teams and practice excellent communication between my teammates and other interns.

How did you hear about or get involved with Superstition Review?

I heard about Superstition Review last semester when I took a class with Patricia Murphy and answered her Call for Interns. This is the first issue of SR that I’ve been involved with.

What is your favorite section of SR? Why?

My favorite section is Interviews. They are so personal, honest, and candid; one really gains insight into the work of an author or artist by asking questions. I enjoy the intimacy that interviews allow for. I also enjoy forming interview questions and conducting them.

Who is your dream contributor to the journal? Talk about him/her.

Toni Morrison. She is such an established writer and I feel as if she could provide not only great material, but great strength to the magazine. I believe she still occasionally teaches courses; perhaps she would be willing to respond to a student-edited literally magazine.

What job, other than your own, would you like to try out in the journal?

I would like to tackle the role of the editor.

What are you most excited about for in the upcoming issue?

I am most excited to keep all of our content organized and to succeed in not losing any work. 

What was the first book you remember falling in love with and what made it so special?

I remember reading Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt in 5^th grade and absolutely falling in love with it. This book recounts a fictional family’s life throughout the Civil War. Through its characters, it taught me that people who lived even centuries ago experienced the same happiness and heartbreak as people today and that we can relate to them. Irene Hunt remains one of my favorite authors; other favorites of mine from her are The Lottery Rose and Up a Road Slowly.

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading a collection of short stories. I love the art of the short story; I am a fan of Hawthorne, Faulkner, and Joyce.

What artist have you really connected with, either in subject matter, work, or motto?

Through subject matter, work, and motto, I have connected with Faith Hill. She sings about aspects of life and love that I can relate to. Her music expresses the importance of love, friendship, and family in life. She has a very classy composure, and least in my opinion, and I admire that; she’s hardly ever found on the cover of tabloids. She has a motto that family comes first and she always seems to honestly follow it.

What are some of your favorite websites to waste time on or distract you from homework?

I’m a fan of Lucille Ball and I enjoy searching for information and memorabilia relating to her and ‘I Love Lucy’. I’m also a fan of the Duggar family from TLC’s ‘18 and Counting’ so I enjoy following them through clips on YouTube and sites of that nature. They’ve recently announced they’re expecting their 19^th child!