Meet the Review Crew I

Content Coordinator for Poetry and Nonfiction: Ashley Maul

Once, she was asked to list five books she’d bring with her on a deserted island and without fail her answer remains: Harry Potter and the Goblet of FireThe Scarlet Letter, a collection of Allen Ginsberg’s poetry, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Billy Collin’s The Trouble with Poetry. Her favorite reading reflects her own writing style – a combination of youthful fancy and shenanigans mixed with sarcasm and adult confession.

Like many students so close to graduation, she is unsure of where the future will take her, but she is very interested in the publishing industry and imagines a career that allows her to telecommute as an editor for a posh literary magazine or book publishing company. With a history in bookstore management and an avid thirst for reading and writing, there is little she can imagine that can combine her interests so perfectly.

Art Editor Arjun Chopra

Arjun started working with Superstition Review over the past summer as a guest contributor with his blog series, “Dispatches From Delhi.” Despite being relatively new to the world of editing/publishing, Arjun finds his position intellectually stimulating and instrumental in giving him his first glimpse into the actual working side of writing. He finds his work to be a comprehensive learning experience in meshing creativity with professionalism, an invaluable skill of those who strive to make a living through their writing, a skill he is glad to have the chance to practice.

When not in class, doing homework, or compiling graduate application materials, Arjun enjoys spending his free time reading novels and poetry collections, writing, watching movies, skateboarding, and listening to a wide variety of different music.

Advertising Editor Brooke Passey

Along with her reading load for class, Brooke tries to read one recreational book a week. To stay motivated she posts weekly book reviews on her blog brookepassey.wordpress.com. She also loves horseback riding and spends her spare time training and teaching riding lessons. In the 15 years that she has been riding she has only fallen off a horse once—when she was reading a book while sitting on her horse bareback. Although she loves both hobbies she has since decided to keep them separate. After graduation she plans on pursuing a career where she can use her writing skills during the day and her riding skills in the evening.

Fiction Editor Abbey Maddix

Superstition Review is Abbey’s first experience working with a literary magazine and hopefully the first stepping stone to a career in the editing and publishing world. She finds the position demanding but educational, particularly informative when it comes to thinking about her own future career as a writer. Her work centers on fiction of all forms, exploring genres and forms and her own limitations. She enjoys pushing the boundaries of her comfort zone and enjoys exploring the question “What does it mean to be human?” from both a literary angle and a scientific one.

On Abbey’s “favorites” bookshelf there are the works of Kurt Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman, Italo Calvino, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, although she’d like to expand her experience with contemporary literature. Although she has a difficult time understanding poetry, the works of Pablo Neruda and Tomas Tranströmer have managed to win her over.

Meet the Interns: Andrew Larsen, Poetry Editor

andrewlarsen_0Andrew Larsen is a Junior at Arizona State University majoring in US History and English with a concentration in Creative Writing: Poetry.

Superstition Review: What do you do for SR?

Andrew Larsen: I am involved in nearly every aspect of the publication process for the Poetry section of Superstition Review. I solicit authors, read submissions, and select pieces for publication. I also am involved with interviewing poets for Superstition Review.

SR: How did you hear about or get involved with Superstition Review?

AL: I heard about this opportunity through several professors at Arizona State University.

SR: What is your favorite section of SR? Why?

AL: My favorite section of SR is probably the poetry and art section because, obviously, I find these art forms compelling.

SR: Who is your dream contributor to the journal? Talk about him/her.

AL: My dream contributor to the journal is J.D. Salinger. His candor and relevance in his short stories gave him acclaim and notoriety. For an incredible 20th century author to submit to the literary journal that I worked on would be quite an honor.

SR: What job, other than your own, would you like to try out in the journal?

AL: I’d like to try out the nonfiction section because it would be a completely new experience for me to work with nonfiction submissions.

SR: What are you most excited for in the upcoming issue?

AL: I’m excited to read the submissions of the authors.

SR: What are you currently reading?

AL: I am currently reading Henry Kissinger’s detailed history of modern international diplomacy titled Diplomacy.

SR: What are some of your favorite websites to waste time on or distract you from homework?

AL: I revert back to Daytrotter to read music reviews when I am stuck doing homework.

SR: What would be your dream class to take at ASU? What would the title be and what would it cover?

AL: I would love to take a UD course on the influences of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. ENG 415: Harry Potter, a Mythology would discuss the relationship between the series and the iconography, symbolism, and literary motifs that Rowling uses to create her narrative. This all sounds less nerdy in my head.

SR: What are your feelings on digital medium?

AL: I am a contemporary Luddite. In my opinion, this notion of systematic “interconnectedness” with concepts like the internet and computer chip leave us further displaced from ourselves and each other.

Making it Big — Big Screen?

It seems like everything gets made into a movie these days. This is a visual, media-fueled era we are living in.

The current collegiate generation, for example, has grown up with J.K Rowling’s hit Harry Potter series in both book and movie form. Not to mention all supplementary video games and fan-made materials.

Before us, George Lucas’ Star Wars took the screen–did you know the film was originally intended to help promote sales of Lucas’ book of the same name? Instead, the film madly outshone the books and made a great impact in how we view movies today.

Today’s tweens are anticipating Arizona’s own homegrown Stephanie Meyer’s hit novel series Twilight to be released in movie form. Love it or hate it, Meyers has made an impact on American youth culture.

Clearly, an excellent way for an author to gain a following and visibility is through the film industry. Among the headliners in today’s contemporary literature circles is Chuck Palahniuk–author of Fight Club, a book and a cinematic cult success. Accordingly, another one of his novels, Choke, has also been made into a film.

Among writing manuals and guides, the hardest step for many writers is the first–actually sitting down and writing or typing out your ideas. Having the determination to sit it through and devote the necessary time and focus into getting those ideas down onto paper or a file. This step is the most important step that the aforementioned authors took into making it big time. As a strategy for finding this focus, Chuck Palahniuk suggests an “egg timer” trick.

“Two years ago, when I wrote the first of these essays it was about my “egg timer method” of writing. You never saw that essay, but here’s the method: When you don’t want to write, set an egg timer for one hour (or half hour) and sit down to write until the timer rings. If you still hate writing, you’re free in an hour. But usually, by the time that alarm rings, you’ll be so involved in your work, enjoying it so much, you’ll keep going. Instead of an egg timer, you can put a load of clothes in the washer or dryer and use them to time your work. Alternating the thoughtful task of writing with the mindless work of laundry or dish washing will give you the breaks you need for new ideas and insights to occur. If you don’t know what comes next in the story…clean your toilet. Change the bed sheets. For Christ sakes, dust the computer. A better idea will come.”

This tip, and more, are featured on Palahniuk’s website. Keep a look out for more writing tips and updates on our next news blog.