Iron Horse Literary Review

Mission Statement

We’re a horse of a different color!

In 1999, we established Iron Horse Literary Review in order to provide another forum for the literary arts in Texas: one of our main goals is to raise critical opinion about "regional" writers. Regional literature is not solely restricted to cowboy stories or rural settings, though many regional writers address such matters. But like all skilled writers, regional authors handle their material in an artistic manner, shaping universal meaning from their topic and setting. Unfortunately, many Texas and southwestern writers have difficulty placing their work in publications that also publish renowned mainstream literary writers. At Iron Horse, we hope to juxtapose regional writers next to the more recognized mainstream writers, thereby increasing the attention regional writers receive and thereby showcasing the quality of their work in a deserving fashion. For example, in our Spring 2000 issue, we included the work of three Texans and two transplanted Texans next to the work of such respected writers as Frederick Busch, Jeffrey Harrison, Sydney Lea, Bobbie Ann Mason, Kent Nelson, Richard Shelton, Virgil Suarez, Henry Taylor, and others. We’re sure you would enjoy and respect the works of our Texans in that issue: Laurie Champion’s interview with Bobbie Ann Mason, Kathleen Hart’s "Irrational Acts," Roger Jones’s "Gravestones Without Names," Barbara Lau’s "On Hearing Robert Creeley Read, 1994," and Jim Sanderson’s "The Golden State." In the years to come we will continue to offer Texas artists a platform from which they can share their talent.

Our second main goal is to offer a journal that supports writers, publicizing their work as much as possible. Writers seeking a spot in literary journals face incredible odds: even as a new literary review, we’re receiving 70-80 manuscripts a week, and we only publish approximately 30 poets, 8-10 fiction writers, and 0-4 non-fiction writers a year. I would like our contributors to know how much we appreciate their work (what an honor to publish it!), and we hope the only reason they feel "fortunate" to appear in our pages is because they know how hard we work to support their careers. Therefore, two features we include in Iron Horse are our extended contributor notes and a column, "News from Past Contributors." Our contributor notes offer biographical information about our writers, but they also allow our writers to discuss their work habits and the process by which they created the pieces that appear in our journal. In “News,” we update our readers about the successes our past contributors have recently experienced and where their current work can be found.

Iron Horse also features a special advertising program. Our ad space (all complimentary) is now reserved solely for advertising books released by our contributors (those appearing in Iron Horse within the last two years), for other journals willing to swap ad space with us, and for bookstores that have agreed to stock our journal. In this manner, we hope to offer a service to writers, publishers, other journals, and stores who carry literary magazines.

For our readers, we host a subscription drive once a semester. New subscribers as well as old subscribers renewing their enrollment qualify to win autographed book packages, bookstore gift certificates, and free subscriptions. Readers should look for our announcement in the back matter of each issue or in the mail. For those readers subscribing from our website, we offer a free gift issue to a friend or library located within the United States. To ensure that our readers have a voice about our content, we print a column especially for them—"Letters to the Editor." Our readers should feel free to mail us any comments about our recent issues, and we will publish the most interesting and well written ones. Comments can be sent via e-mail or standard mail.

Finally, the one feature of which we are most proud—the feature that most prominently and immediately distinguishes us—is our logo, layout, and cover design. Our logo and layout have received numerous compliments, and our covers continue to make our journal look sophisticated. The editorial board, and myself in particular, owe Charles Patterson, a free-lance graphic designer working in Fort Worth, a sincere thank you for his continued artwork and design.

We hope you enjoy our website and will consider subscribing to Iron Horse Literary Review.

Jill Patterson

Editor

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