Outlook Springs, Issue 1 Spring 2016

by Danielle Badra, Monica Byrne, Peter Markus

Inaugural Issue of Outlook Springs: From the Interdimensional Press of Langston Brumbletooth

192 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2016

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great alternative to the usual fare! Not elitist, yet very discerning. Few pieces about Quiet Snow (the snow in Outlook Springs would likely emit an EEEEE of pain as each googly-eyed flake fell to the ground) or Happy Trees (unless, of course, we're talking anthropomorphic trees). It was as if NONE OF the editors had the list of Key Literary Terms built into the Submittable account as a spreadsheet of requisite criteria. Go Outlook Springs, go!

[Jack Shoegazer · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the fiction editor, I am biased, but shit, this is a good magazine with lots of stories full of love and death and hilarity and heartbreak. Plus, there's at least two interdimensional beings advertising for your allegiance and imps arranging the page numbers. Also, book club questions at the end for discussion after your book club reads/licks/burns its pages.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous fun with lots of intriguing, strange, and well layered stories. A delightful read!

[Sara Codair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outlook Springs is definitely worth reading. It contained, beautiful, strange and thought provoking poetry and prose. I expected more of the fiction to be speculative, but wound up enjoying the more realistic pieces as much as I enjoyed works of science fiction, fantasy or magical realism. I tend to skip over the poetry in publications, but I enjoyed every piece published in Outlook Springs, though I will admit, a few more stories and a few less poems would have been better.

I did love the images and fictional advertisements! Those cracked me up and made me smile, and I was particularly thankful for them when the followed a more serious piece with a sad ending.

I kind of wish the ink goblins really existed in the this dimension.

I'm looking forward to the next issue. :-)

[Tall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heather Pierce's The World Was at Our Feet stands out in this clever collection of fiction, poems, and tid bits. Structure, sequence, and vulnerable souls... just a few of my favorite things.