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Issue #15 ~ Spring 2024 is Live!

Issue #15 ~ Spring 2024 is Now Live!

April 12, 2024

Depths of the River by Tona Pearce Myers

Hello friends… We’re glad you’re here! 

Spring arrived early in Omaha this year and we are already enjoying the wonderful pops of color from crocus, daffodils, tulips, and hyacinth. Everything turning green again means it’s time to reveal our Spring Issue!

We are thrilled to introduce this bold collection of poetry, prose, and art by fourteen amazing writers and six talented artists. Part of our mission is to champion and celebrate writing that reveals the complexities in life – that which might otherwise be overlooked and this issue does exactly that. These pieces are evocative, engaging, and vulnerable. Each was selected by our team of 23 editors and readers who came together in collaboration to bring you the very best! 

We’re grateful for all the writers who sent us their stories, essays, and poems and recognize that our organization could not exist without their passion for creating and their courage to share. We’re eager to showcase their pieces and the striking artwork selected to compliment each. We highly recommend looking at the full-spread issue in PDF format downloadable here or from our home page.

With this issue, we have crossed the threshold into our fifth full year of operations and are excited to continue working toward establishing TGLR as a recognizable name in the literary community, both locally and nationally. Our team continues to grow each season and we’ve got plans to increase our visibility and exposure and widen our reach for both our contributors and our readers. 

More on that coming soon. So without further ado, we bring you Issue #15 ~ Spring 2024! And stay tuned for some fabulous interviews with our contributing writers compliments of Q&A Editor, Christine Nessler.

As always, thank you, dear reader, for visiting, supporting independent journals, and believing in the literary arts.

With Peace, Love, and Strawberry Pie,

~Shyla Shehan, Tacheny Perry, and All of The Good Life Review Team

*** PS *** There are still a few days left to get in on the 2024 HoneyBee Prize. The winner in each of three genres — Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Fiction — will be awarded $500 plus publication in our summer issue (and a jar of honey). More info can be found on our HoneyBee Prize page and the form to submit is on Submittable. The contest closes April 15h.

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Issue #14 ~ Winter 2024 is Live!

TGLR #14 ~ Winter 2024 is Hot off the Press and Available Now!

February 7, 2024

Today we are super excited to share that Issue #14 ~ Winter 2024: Best off TGLR is hot of the actual press and available NOW! We’re also on our way to AWP and thrilled to be showcasing this collection of amazing work!

This winter marks the four year anniversary of the inception of TGLR and the perfect time for looking back at the journey and celebrating all the fabulous people we’ve met along the way.

Working on this passion project, we have learned a great deal, met many talented writers and artists, and gained a deeper appreciation for the process. Each submission is far greater than a manuscript to consider. It is an exploration of our environment and culture and a reflection of how we see ourselves and our relationships within the ecosystems that surround us. These reflections take many forms and are often raw and vulnerable but the unifying characteristic among them is the artist’s desire to create and connect. This yearning is inherent and when we share it’s worthy of conversation and celebration. In this we are connected.

Since the first issue of the journal in 2020, our team has also grown from the original 15 co-founding editors to what is now a team of 25 volunteers. Without them, the journal would simply not exist. And though change is inevitable and some have moved on, each new person brings their own unique perspective and energy to who “we” are as a collective and are a big part of why we’ve been able to stick to our mission and vision and persevere.

As always, the full winter issue is also available to read and share from our home page. If you are on your way to Kansas City, come visit with us at the AWP book fair, table 913, and purchase a hard copy. Or, if you’re not able to make it to AWP and but still want to purchase a copy, please send an email to editors <at> thegoodlifereview <dot> com.

On behalf of our entire team, we thank you for visiting, reading, and supporting the arts!

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team

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TGLR 2024 New Year’s Revelations

TGLR 2024 New Year’s Revelations

January 19, 2023

Who needs New Year’s resolutions when you can have some badass revelations instead!! For us, 2024 is definitely front-loaded with a ton of exciting news!! 

The first big reveal is that the release of our Winter 2024 Issue will be happening soon… and will be available in PRINT for the first time ever! This is also more than our typical quarterly issue — it’s an extraordinary collection of the best poems, stories, and essays that TGLR has to offer. 

That’s right, our editorial team got together to select the best pieces we’ve published in the past 18 months AND cherry-picked some of our favorites going all the way back to the very first issue. Did you love “Extra Large for the Lord?” by Tomás Baiza from issue #1? Well, now you can laugh out loud all over again when you read it from our newly minted winter edition. 

This issue includes sixteen poems and sixteen prose pieces worth reading, talking about, and celebrating all over again plus sixteen stunning pieces of artwork. Want to find out what piece earned an honorable mention in the Pushcart? It’s in the issue. Curious about the two pieces that were finalists for Best of the Net? Now’s your chance. 

In just a few short days, we’ll be releasing the collection which will also be available to purchase and hold in your hot little hands. If you’re planning to go to Kansas City for AWP like we are, you can pick one up there! 

Speaking of AWP… The Good Life crew is gearing up for what promises to be the best road trip / conference / book fair / party of the year! 

During the day, you’ll find us chatting people up at the book fair at table T913. Not only will we have the books, but four fab opportunities to speak with and have a book signed by the following authors:

  • Kevin Clouther: Friday 3-4 PM
  • Jamie Wendt: Friday 4-5 PM
  • Nebraska State Poet, Matt Mason: Saturday 2-2:30 PM
  • Todd Robinson: Saturday 2:30-3 PM

At the book fair, we will also be running an AWP-only submission call in collaboration with Nebraska’s own, Karen Shoemaker and Larksong Writer’s Place. Visit the Larksong table, T1014, to start a conference-inspired micro piece that could be featured in our Micro Monday segment on TGLR Buzz! 

And as if that was not enough… We’re also co-hosting a reading/party with world-renowned Red Hen Press on Friday, February 9th at The Parlor downtown. There will be rapid-fire readings, free food, and opportunities to chat up a bunch of great authors. This event is open to the public and there will be free drink tickets for the first 50 guests. Doors open at 6!! More details about the party lineup and all these AWP shenanigans coming soon. 

And last, but certainly not least, is the big reveal of who will be this year’s HoneyBee Literature Prize judges: 

For Poetry, we’ve got the author of Rock Stars and rock star Nebraska State Poet, Matt Mason! For creative nonfiction, we have the author of Dirt Eaters and Becoming Lyla Dore, Teri Youmans. And this year’s fiction judge is Juliana Lamy, author of You Were Watching from the Sand. The winners in each genre will receive $500, publication in our summer issue, and a jar of honey from a Midwest apiary. The entry fee is $15 and the contest is open now. Full details are available on the HoneyBee Prize submission page and Submittable. 

I think that’s it for now. Good gravy, it’s certainly enough!

Take care and stay safe and warm out there!!

Cheers,
The Good Life Review Team

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2024 Pushcart Prize Nominations

2024 Pushcart Prize Nominations

November 23, 2023

We’re well ahead of the game this year. With over a week to spare, our 2024 Pushcart Nominations have been signed, sealed, and are on the way to Wainscott, New York. Huzzah!!

Pushcart is one of the most honored literary series in America and each year editors of small book presses, magazines, and journals are invited to nominate six poems, short stories, essays, or stand-alone excerpts from novels. As such, we are grateful for the opportunity to send the following pieces published in 2023 for consideration:

Congratulations and best of luck to all!

Cheers,
The Good Life Review Team

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Introducing Debra Rose Brillati

Introducing Debra Rose Brillati

October 26, 2023

Debra Rose Brillati joined our little TGLR fam in 2022 reading nonfiction for Issue #9, after which she agreed to step into the role of editor. From the get-go, Debra Rose has been wonderful to work with. She’s diligent, dependable, and thorough with her review of all the writing in her care. She’s also kind and lovely to talk with.

I asked her a few questions about her life, writing, influences, and what she gets from working on the journal and her response was, not surprising, succinct and beautifully written…

I am happily retired, living with my husband in an 1820 farmhouse in Auburn, NY. The house is rambling enough for me to display the many treasures that have come down to me from our family homestead near Scranton, Pennsylvania. I pursued my MFA particularly to write the book about my family’s history that I had always felt called to write. The many artifacts, photos, and documents from both my Italian and German immigrant families that are all around me helped me to channel the life and times of those people whom I have called the “constellations in my childhood sky.”

I am grateful to have finally gotten on paper the stories I have always felt it was a sacred trust for me to tell. I sometimes wonder why I didn’t do it sooner—what kept me from writing for so long. But I think writing happens when it is supposed to. No book can be written before or after it is actually written—because then it would be a different book. 

Currently I am trying to find a publisher for my book, an arduous process. If I thought it was hard to write the book, it is even harder to try to get it published and requires a completely different skillset. While I haven’t done it yet, I will set a deadline for myself soon and if the book has not been picked up by then, I will go through yet another arduous process to self-publish. Don’t let anyone tell you being a writer is not hard work!

For a time in the late 80’s, I transcribed oral history interviews for the civil rights history series Eyes on the Prize. When I pressed “play” on the very first tape, the voice I heard, trembling yet powerful, was that of Mamie Till Bradley, Emmett Till’s mother, telling the horrific story of her son’s murder. It was a life-changing moment for me. Eventually I would develop and implement several oral history projects of my own. In my oral history work—interviewing, writing, and teaching—I experienced over and over the joy that comes from helping interviewees re-live times in their lives, dramatic and ordinary, and come to recognize the value and beauty of their own stories. This work sparked an enduring belief in the importance of sharing our truths through storytelling and ignited an intense desire to listen for the voices that too often go unheard.

Some of those unheard voices had been calling to me since my childhood. Growing up in the family homestead built by my Italian great-grandfather in 1917, every space I entered, every wall and window and banister I touched, connected me to those who had come before. Every door in this house of many doors whispered secrets and I was compelled to listen. Relatives who had long since moved on from this house were still here in the worn spots on the front porch steps and the indentation in the wall left by a doorknob after an angry slam. They were in the knicks in the porcelain sink and the stains in the clawfoot tub. They were in the creaks in the floors and the frayed ropes in the double-hung windows.

Over the years, I have read a wide variety of historical novels and non-fiction histories and biographies. I love immersing myself in another time, imagining myself there, and walking in the shoes of the real people who lived through events we usually only understand from a distance. The books I looked to for inspiration for my own writing are those that look back to explore the history of a place, an event, a community or a family in a way that artfully reveals the hidden threads connecting the story to the contemporary narrator and reader. I don’t make a sharp distinction between fiction and non-fiction; I have found both capable of beautiful lyrical prose and poignant storytelling. 

Two classics stand out for me: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Annie Dillard’s An American Childhood. I have found myself hypnotized by Scout’s reflective voice looking back on her own childhood and the history of her community and family while her rhythmic prose has immersed me in the foreign world of the not-so-long-ago South. Annie Dillard’s reminiscences have a more familiar quality that resonate with my own family stories. Her deeply-layered narrative not only paints a portrait of the author but also of a particular time and place in our country in a way that allows the contemporary reader to sense the currents of connection that run throughout all of our stories.

Before the MFA program, revision was tortuous for me. Over the course of the two years, I came to see the process of revision as the place where the real writing happens—where I figure out what it is I am trying to say. I have always been praised for my ability to describe places, people, and events with such detail that readers feel they are there. But in the program, I learned that those descriptions must be in service of something—they must contribute to the piece’s knot of meaning. Both my descriptions and my narratives have improved as a result.

Working on the staff of The Good Life Review gives me an opportunity to read an array of nonfiction writing and use what I have learned in the MFA program to critique brand new works by fellow writers. My favorite part is the end of the review process when a submission is selected and I allow myself to imagine the author getting the notification that their piece is being published. 

For all its difficulties, and the truly hard work that it is, the writing life IS a “good life.” As writers, we are free to put whatever words we choose on the page—and know that no one on the planet can put them together in exactly the same way.  

When I am not reading or writing, I serve as a Pastoral Care Leader and co-chair of the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission for my Episcopal Church. I am also on the board of the Harriet Tubman Boosters (Tubman lived the last 50 years of her life in Auburn, NY).  

Debra Rose… Thank you taking the time to share about your life and writing and for your work on the journal. I appreciate your efforts as an editor also the organization and communication skills you bring to the team. I’m glad we met!!

Cheers,
~Shyla

PS. More about Debra Rose and all of our TGLR editors is available on the Masthead.

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Issue #13 ~ Autumn 2023 is Now Live!

Lucky #13 ~ Autumn 2023 is Now Live!

October 17, 2023

Today we are honored to present the wonderful work of a truly stellar line-up of authors and artists in our latest release, Issue #13 ~ Autumn 2023.

We’re grateful for all the writers who sent us their stories, essays, and poems and recognize that our organization could not exist without their passion for creating and their courage to share.We’re eager to showcase and celebrate the twelve pieces included in this issue as well as artwork from a number of talented artists. A little bit about each can be found in the editor’s note.

This note also very briefly touches on an idea we are taking for a spin for our Winter issue – Our first ever “Best Of” anthology! We’ve got exciting plans brewing for 2024 and this anthology is just the start. Here are a few other noteworthy items:

  • We are increasing payment again this year and as of the Spring issue, we will be offering contributing authors $75 per piece ($100 for two). The submission window is open now if you want a chance to get in on this action.
  • We’ll also now be offering payment of $50 for artists whose work is used on the cover of our seasonal issues.
  • We’re in the throws of securing judges for our 2024 HoneyBee Prize. That opportunity will open on November 15th.
  • Plans for the 2024 AWP writer’s conference are coming together, including a party and reading co-hosted with world renowned independent publisher, Red Hen Press.

More about all of this coming soon.

In the meantime, we hope you will dive into all this issue has to offer and stay tuned for more feels and goodies from our Autumn contributors compliments of Christine Nessler’s, Author Q&A.

On behalf of our entire team, we thank you for visiting, reading, and supporting the arts!

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team

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2024 Best of the Net Nominations

2024 Best of the Net Nominations

September 29, 2023

Hello friends. Despite the “second summer” weather we are having in Nebraska this week, it is September and that means it’s “Best of the Net” season. Once again, we are aware other journals have had their nominations in for a while, but we work well under pressure so deadlines are great. To be fair, the noms were actually submitted yesterday which is two days ahead of when we pulled the trigger last year. That’s progress right?!

For those who don’t know, Best of the Net is an annual contest operated by Sundress Publications that is designed to elevate and celebrate a growing collection of writers and publishers who are opening the door to transformation through art, online. More about the contest can be found here.

This year we were allowed to nominate two fiction stories, two creative nonfiction essays, six poems, and three pieces of art published between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. For us, this includes work appearing in issue #8, 9, 10, or 11. With that, we’re thrilled to announce the following nominations:

  • Fiction
    • Where by Rhea Bryce ~ Issue #9 ✅
    • Who Takes the Bus in LA by Marc Eichen ~ Issue #10  ✅
  • Creative Nonfiction
    • Backwards and Blind by Helyn Trickey Bradley ~ Issue #8  ✅
    • Iowa Blues, and Greens by Summer Hammond ~ Issue  #10  ✅
  • Poetry
    • For Those of Us Forced to Flee by Jane Muschenetz ~ Issue #8 ✅
    • The Wax Poem by Andy Winter ~ Issue #9 ✅
    • This is How the Body Knows by Soon Jones ~ Issue #10  ✅
    • Migrant Wish by Moni Brar ~ Issue #10 ✅
    • Nikah by Sarah Aziz ~ Issue #10  ✅
    • Mugshot by Sara Burge ~ Issue #11 ✅
  • Artwork
    • Blooms of Hope by Marco Aversa ~ Issue #9  ✅
    • Scarred Beauty by Gerburg Garmann ~ Issue #10  ✅
    • Ocean of Stillness by Shrishti Tassin ~ Issue #11  ✅

I must say, narrowing this down gets tougher each year. We’re grateful to all of our contributors and want to wish a hearty congratulations to these fine writers and artists for being the best of our best.

Good luck snagging that prize!

Cheers,
Shyla Shehan & The Good Life Review Team

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Issue #12 ~ Summer 2023 is Now Live!

Issue #12 ~ Summer 2023 is Now Live!

August 4, 2023

“Put another dime in the jukebox, baby…”

It’s August. It’s hot. It’s muggy AF. But the trees are in full sway and today we are thrilled to announce the release of Issue #12 ~ The Honeybee Prize issue.

If you ever wondered what kind of village it takes to raise a little lit mag (or what’s up with that Joan Jett reference), the accompanying editor’s note for this issue does a pretty good job laying it all out. And if you’re curious just where to “dive in” to this latest issue, we’d definitely recommend checking out the artwork page first and then heading straight for Birds of Prey by Tiffany Promise. Her piece was selected as the winner of this year’s Honeybee Prize in Fiction by the one and only Roxane Gay!

After that, you can easily swim in any direction and find more fantastic stories and poems by other contributors to this delightful issue including two poems by Nebraska State Poet, Matt Mason PLUS writing from all the other winners and runners-up of this year’s contest. And be sure not to click away before you read the quirky-fun stage play, Purg City, by Milton Joseph or Ixim – a translation of Isabel Pascual Andrés’s poetry by Kiran Baht.

As we celebrate the “big reveal” of this issue, it’s also an opportune time to express how grateful we are to the writers and artists who trust us with their work as well as everyone who is tuned in to support our efforts here at TGLR.

On behalf of our entire team, we thank you for visiting, reading, and taking your time to dance with us!

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team

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The 2023 Honeybee Prize Winners!

2023 Honeybee Prize Winners

June 22, 2023

Hello friends and happy Thursday. We trust the summer solstice was a good one and now that we’re officially on the other side of it, we’re excited to announce the results of the 2023 Honeybee Literature prize! As previously mentioned, the competition was even more fierce than last year and we had to narrow the field to a short list of five to seven finalists in each of the three categories–poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction.

We’re extremely grateful to everyone who participated with special thanks going to this year’s judges – Roxane Gay, Rodrigo Toscano, and Hugh Reilly – who were wonderful to work with and generous with their time and expertise.

Without further ado, here are those results:

Fiction Winner:

Birds of Prey by Tiffany Promise

Here’s what Roxane Gay had to say about Birds of Prey:

Birds of Prey is a confluence of contradictions. There are events in a person’s life that are often joyful but as this economic story unravels, it is clear that there is no happy ending to be found here. Written with a bold and unique voice, this language-driven story about predator and prey is a masterful example of what flash fiction can be.

Runners-up:

The Language of Family by Hemmy So and Pretty Women by Blake Kinnett

Poetry Winner:

“For Kenny” by Kelsey Smoot

Here’s what Rodrigo Toscano had to say about “For Kenny”:

Too often these days, poems either lack sufficient words or phrases that culturally locate a text, or worse, they are overstuffed with such cultural markers. “For Kenny”, strikes a compelling balance between the two extremes. While the poem is plainly sympathetic to the subject of its portraiture (“Kenny”), it doesn’t lapse into simplistic sentimentality. A stoic attitude pervades the whole piece. And it is by way of this moral-ethical distancing that the reader is given space to imagine scenarios in their own life that call out for poetic treatment. But not so fast! Despite the poem’s narrative drive, expressed by an ardent commitment to finely wrought detail, akin to the beginning of a great epic novel, the last line, “I’m not sure that I do”, separates this poem from the legions of wannabe novelettes that litter most poetry journals. The cathectic rupture caused by the line is instant and irreversible, and resets all that came before it as an unrecoverable alternate reality. That is, our grimy readerly hands are kept at bay, as the poetic subject, narrator, and reader are all tossed up into midair. And where we land is on a newfound desire to live a more observant, more judicious, and ultimately, more compassionate life. And of course, “For Kenny”, leaves us plenty hungry for more poetic works by Kelsey Smoot.

Runner-up:

Ras Tafari Ghazal by Oak Morse

Creative Nonfiction Winner:

“Selfishly, I Planted Flowers by Rachel Sussman

Here’s what Hugh Reilly had to say about “Selfishly, I Planted Flowers”:

“Selfishly I Planted Flowers,” is a lyrical exploration of lifelong friendship. Insightful commentary like, “You can share what you love with anyone, but for scorn you need a trusted friend,” stopped me in my tracks and made me read the line again and savor its power and truth. I thought of my own best friend and what it would be like to lose him. Authentic anecdotes like pulling weeds in your pajamas, help this story ring true. The careful word choice, the judicial use of repetition, and the consistent and memorable metaphor of a flower garden resonate and make this story unforgettable. The final paragraph reminds us that there is a finish, an end to all things, and an inevitable new beginning. Sorrow and hope intertwined.

Runner-up:

Coyote by Nicki Orser

We also want to recognize two other poets who received honorable mentions for their work:
To Brother-Ghost on Halloween by Pell Williams
Amnesty Week by R.J. Lambert

Our congratulations goes out to all these fine folks for their amazing writing and to the winners for snagging those beautiful jars of honey!

We’re not done yet, though!! The best is yet to come as all of these award winning pieces will appear in our summer issue alongside two poems from Nebraska State Poet, Matt Mason, a stage play by playwright, Milton Joseph, and poetry by Isabel Andres with translation by Kiran Bhat. It’s gonna be so, so good and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team

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The 2023 Honeybee Prize Finalists!

2023 Honeybee Prize Finalists

June 1, 2023

Hello friends! Welcome to June and the start of summer. As everyone knows, summer is honey bee season and for all of us here at TGLR, that also means we’re gearing up to celebrate the highly anticipated results of our annual contest, the Honeybee Literature Prize.

This year we had 285 submissions across the three categories of poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction, and it was even tougher than last year to narrow down all the wonderful work we received to just a handful of finalists.

We’re grateful for everyone who sent us their stories, essays and poems and know that the contest judges – Roxane Gay, Rodrigo Toscano, and Hugh Reilly – have their work cut out for them in selecting the winners and runners up from this stellar lineup:

  • Contradictions of Being by Karan Kapoor
  • the come back by Simone Flynn
  • Ras Tafari Ghazal by Oak Morse
  • Amnesty Week by R.J. Lambert
  • “For Kenny” by Kelsey Smoot
  • Obit by Kait Quinn
  • To Brother-Ghost on Halloween by Pell Williams
  • The Riddle by Devon Parish
  • Selfishly, I Planted Flowers by Rachel Sussman
  • Coyote by Nicki Orser
  • First Wound by Natasha Chiam
  • Endangered by Margaret Lynch
  • Midway by Allie Dixon
  • The Year of the Self by Brittany Cortez
  • Pretty Women by Blake Kinnett
  • Birds of Prey by Tiffany Promise
  • Language of Family by Hemmy So
  • Allie by Addie Lovell

Congratulations to all the finalists for their fabulous poems, essays, and stories!! We will be announcing the winners and runners-up by the end of the month. Stay tuned…

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team