Free State Review is the print literary journal of the nonprofit book publisher Galileo Press. Each 90 to 110 page issue offers varied amounts of poetry and prose, and a few recurring beats such as our Remembering portfolio, one minute plays, and book reviews and author doings written as poems.
We want to publish every submission sent to us, and fail at this effort 93 % of the time. Here's how you can help: be literal, transitive, and associative all at once. Think and feel harmony more than melody. Be genuine. Read your piece aloud before sending it. We favor endings that don't shut down the poem or story. Yes, we like strong and textured characters, but not ones who are living in a 'character-driven' piece blithely overwhelming the plot they find themselves in. Try to swim without drowning. Our style creed: totally limited omniscience.
Experimentalists: if you want to push the reader away, go ahead, but remember to do something generous and honest to invite her back. Poets: you don't have to die to write a poem about death. Strange is not always better. Simple and clear are not always memorable. Imagination or experience? Hmmm. Try taking this way, smells of seawater. Or that way, has metal parts, or this way, pools.
The goal of our 'current issue with feedback options' isn't to teach you how to write. You've already mastered that. Often it's just a process of synching your beats with ours. An issue is worth a thousand words. We'll be as clear as possible with a sample copy and a few notes to settle your writing into what we're looking for.
Hybrid, personal, off road, music / art criticism, tragedy queen--tell us a story as you ferry us across the river between Earth and the underworld. Try to keep it between 1,000 and 4,000 oar strokes.
Upon acceptance of your essay, you grant Free State Review First North American Serial Rights and the right to publish your work on our website for up to six months after your work is printed in our journal. Publishing rights revert back to the author after printing, but if you do print elsewhere, we ask you note us as publishing your work first. If you have a simultaneous submission please let us know.
Hybrid, personal, off road, music / art criticism, tragedy queen--tell us a story as you ferry us across the river between Earth and the underworld. Try to keep it between 1,000 and 4,000 oar strokes.
Upon acceptance of your essay, you grant Free State Review First North American Serial Rights and the right to publish your work on our website for up to six months after your work is printed in our journal. Publishing rights revert back to the author after printing, but if you do print elsewhere, we ask you note us as publishing your work first. If you have a simultaneous submission please let us know.
A poem can be anything
from the sounds of two people
quietly playing tennis
to an anthem.
We are not here to answer
this question or to preach
how something poetic
is not necessarily a poem.
Upon acceptance of your poems, you grant Free State Review First North American Serial Rights and the right to publish your work on our website for up to six months after your work is printed in our journal. Publishing rights revert back to the author after printing, but if you do print elsewhere, we ask you note us as publishing your work first. If you have a simultaneous submission please let us know.
No more oyster poems, please.
We favor stories which aren't so over-engineered we can't hear the voices in the wind. Any style or subject is welcome, but try to create images without using objectifying language. Note: we're getting annoyed that the first description of a male character is his profession and the first description of a female character is her hair color.
Upon acceptance of your submission, you grant Free State Review First North American Serial Rights and the right to publish your work on our website for up to six months after your work is printed in our journal. Publishing rights revert back to the author after printing, but if you do print elsewhere, we ask you note us as publishing your work first. If you have a simultaneous submission please let us know. Prose should be 500-4,000 words.
We favor stories which aren't so over-engineered we can't hear the voices in the wind. Any style or subject is welcome, but try to create images without using objectifying language. Note: we're getting annoyed that the first description of a male character is his profession and the first description of a female character is her hair color.
Upon acceptance of your submission, you grant Free State Review First North American Serial Rights and the right to publish your work on our website for up to six months after your work is printed in our journal. Publishing rights revert back to the author after printing, but if you do print elsewhere, we ask you note us as publishing your work first. If you have a simultaneous submission please let us know. Prose should be 500-4,000 words.
A poem can be anything
from the sounds of two people
quietly playing tennis
to an anthem.
We are not here to answer
this question or to preach
how something poetic
is not necessarily a poem.
Upon acceptance of your poems, you grant Free State Review First North American Serial Rights and the right to publish your work on our website for up to six months after your work is printed in our journal. Publishing rights revert back to the author after printing, but if you do print elsewhere, we ask you note us as publishing your work first. If you have a simultaneous submission please let us know.
No more oyster poems, please.