Issue #41

There's nothing better than being a reporter, because that profession gives you entrée into people's lives and into worlds where you cannot go on your own. You can go right into people's homes and ask them personal questions when you're writing features and news stories. You have an excuse, a reason to be there. And since a fiction writer really is a voyeur, working as a journalist gives you the window to peep through.—Lee Smith, interviewed by Susan McInnis

What does it mean to be American these days? Do we have shared values, or are we all coming from different Balkanized places? Are there many Americas? And what does that bode for the future? These are pressing questions.—Charles Johnson, interviewed by Jennifer Levasseur and Kevin Rabalais

My advice? Don't look for an agent too soon. Wait until you have a significant body of polished, accomplished work to show.—Melanie Rae Thon, interviewed by Jennifer Levasseur and Kevin Rabalais

Research is important, but it's not terribly important. Except for in A Gesture Life, which partly focuses on a historical period. I wanted to make sure that I had that period right so that it would be as accurate and authentic as possible.—Chang-Rae Lee, interviewed by Sarah Anne Johnson

Every story we publish is unsolicited, and 86% of the stories we accepted last year came to us directly from the writer.
That's exactly how we like it.

One of the most respected short-story journals in print, Glimmer Train Stories is represented in recent editions of the Pushcart Prize, New Stories from the Midwest, O.Henry, New Stories from the South, Best of the West, and Best American Short Stories anthologies.