Meet the Review Crew: Interview Editor Erin Caldwell

Each week we will be featuring one of our many talented interns here at Superstition Review.

Erin Caldwell is the Interview Editor at Superstition Review, an undergraduate English major, a nanny, and a barista. After her graduation form ASU in May, she plans to go on an extended whirlwind national tour playing bass guitar with her band Dogbreth. During her tour of the US, Erin hopes to complete a collection of poems and short stories that are expected to be printed by local Phoenix press, Lawn Gnome Publishing. Right now, Erin’s main career goal is to create extracurricular writing workshops and literary magazine programs for children and teens in rural and urban areas.

Living through a nomadic childhood, Erin found a sense of stability in her book collection. A lifelong fan of fiction and poetry, her favorite books as a child were The Phantom Tollbooth and Where the Sidewalk Ends. Her tastes have grown to include works by Truman Capote, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, JD Salinger, and Joyce Carol Oates. If she had to choose one book to read for the rest of her life, it would probably be To Kill a Mockingbird or Nine Stories. Drawing upon these influences, Erin writes essays, stories, and poems based on her own experiences.

Her favorite aspect of the small-press literary world is being able to read work from famous authors and emerging writers side-by-side. Ploughshares, Tin House, and The Believer are her top magazine picks. Through her time with Superstition Review, she will get to interview new and established authors printed in such publications. These conversations will give insight into the literary world by the people living in it.

Meet the Review Crew: Corinne Randall

Each week we feature one of our many talented interns here at Superstition Review.

Corinne Randall is a Poetry Editor for Superstition Review for the second time. She is a junior at Arizona State University studying Creative Writing with a concentration in Poetry for her major and Communication for her minor. She is a native of Framingham, Massachusetts…an old, historical town about 20 minutes from Boston. After graduating from ASU, Corinne hopes to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing-Poetry at ASU or NYU.

Corinne has been writing for a good portion of her schooling career. It became apparent in 8th grade that she had a talent for writing poetry when she had a poem published in Celebrate! Young Poets Speak Out. Along with writing poetry, Corinne loves reading and watching movies. She has a love for the arts. If she had to read one book for the rest of her life it would be J.D. Salinger’s famous novel Catcher in the Rye. She fell in love with it when she was required to read it her sophomore year in high school, and has read it twice since.

Corinne became interested in Superstition Review while looking for internships her sophomore year in college. She had the opportunity to look at past issues of SR and decided that the wonderful works of all different kinds of art the magazine featured was something she wanted to be a part of. She believes that having to opportunity to read the poetry authors send in for submissions has enhanced her ability to write her own poetry. She has enjoyed the two semesters she has worked for the magazine and hopes to continue as an intern for the rest of her time at ASU.

Meet the Interns: Stacie Fraser

Interview Editor Stacie Fraser is in her senior year at Arizona State University. She is studying English Literature and will be graduating in May. All of the years spent attending classes at ASU she has also been working for Sparky’s Stadium Shop located on the Tempe Campus. After graduating, she hopes to apply her skills learned throughout college and her time at Superstition Review, to a career in editing and publishing. This is her first semester working with Superstition Review.

1. What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

I am an Interview Editor at Superstition Review. I am responsible for selecting authors to interview for our page. My position has me selecting authors, emailing them and asking them if they would be willing to be interviewed for our magazine. I then create a list of interview questions specifically for that author.

2. Why did you decide to get involved with Superstition Review?

I applied to Superstition Review because it is a great learning opportunity. It also allows me to become more familiar with lesser known authors.

3. How do you like to spend your free time?

I love spending my free time outside in Arizona’s beautiful sunshine, running and swimming. I also love going to the movies with friends and reading novels.

4. What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

I would also like to experience everything that the fiction section editor’s have to do at Superstition Review. I am very interested in editing novels for a career.

5. Describe one of your favorite literary works.

I am a huge fan of Salman Rushdie. His novel The Moor’s Last Sigh is one of his best works. Moraes Zogoiby, also called Moor, is the narrator who ages twice as fast as normal humans. The novel is full of magical realism, hybridity and allegory.

6. What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Blood on the Forge, by William Attaway, for a Protest Literature course. When school is not in session, I enjoy reading books by Janet Evanovich. Her works are much lighter and easier to read than most of the novels recommended for my college courses. Even though I am an English Literature major, I have not read some great classics. Once I graduate I plan to start at the top of my list and read many famous authors like Emily Dickens and J. D. Salinger.

7. Creatively, what are you currently working on?

I am currently toying with the idea of writing fiction short stories. In the past I have written poetry, but all of my writing has been for personal accomplishments, not publication, and will most likely continue that way for a while longer.

8. What inspires you?

My personal drive for success and happiness is my biggest inspiration. I want to be able to handle whatever life throws at me.

9. What are you most proud of?

I am most proud of my college education. Graduation in May will be the best achievement I have accomplished so far. I cannot wait to continue with life and hope to be on a successful career path.

10. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years I hope to be working in San Francisco, or some west coast city, for a publishing company as an editor.

Meet the Interns: Christina Arregoces

Art Editor Christina Arregoces is a freshman studying English (Creative Writing) at Arizona State and is a student of Barrett, The Honors College. She is a writer for The State Press weekly podcast and recently had two of her short stories selected for publication in the 2011 spring edition of Lux literary magazine. Upon graduating in 2014, she hopes to attend law school and pursue her dream of becoming a lawyer, while continuing to cultivate her love of writing. This is her first semester at Superstition Review, and she is looking forward to every moment of it.

1. What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

My position with Superstition Review is Art Editor. As one of the Art Section Editors, I am responsible for reviewing pieces by various artists whose work will be featured in the seventh issue. My responsibilities include corresponding with contributors.

2. Why did you decide to get involved with Superstition Review?

I love to read and write creatively and I hope to one day have a career as a publisher. So as soon as I heard about Superstition Review, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I knew it would be a great opportunity for me to get a sense of what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I can’t wait to begin to delve into it.

3. How do you like to spend your free time?

I’m a huge reader; it’s a rare day that I don’t have my hands on a book for at least half an hour or so. I also love to spend time with my best friends and just relax with my roommate.

4. What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

I’d like to try out the Fiction Editor position. As a reader and a writer, I’d love to get the chance to read submissions and stumble upon stories that I’ve never come across before.

5. Describe one of your favorite literary works.

I really can’t tell you how excited I was for this question. My all time favorite literary work (and it was difficult making my list, but this novel just tops all others) is The Book Thief, a novel by Australian author Markus Zusak. Though I’ve read dozens of books about the Holocaust, I’ve never in my life come across a book like this. The story follows a little girl named Liesel, her adopted family, and her friendship with a Jewish man hiding from the Nazis in her family’s basement. But the story isn’t told through her eyes; Zusak’s narrator is none other than the surprisingly-human Death himself. The book is beautiful and heart breaking and the moment I picked it up, I fell in love with it. To this day, no other book has ever affected me so much.

6. What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. I like to break up novels with short stories, so after I finished Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, I moved on to Salinger. I’m only on the fifth story but I’m already sad the end is so close.

7. Creatively, what are you currently working on?

I typically like writing short stories, so I’m currently working on a longer one that I’ve been writing for months now.

8. What inspires you?

My past mainly inspires me. People, places, moments that I remember, as well as stories I’ve heard from family and friends. I love the moments I see day to day; from interactions between people on the sidewalk to snippets of conversation that make no sense until the holes are filled in with words.

9. What are you most proud of?

Right now, I’m most proud of a writing contest I won for a short story that I submitted. As a newly published writer, every publication opportunity that comes along excites me like crazy.

10. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years, I see myself smiling and writing. Hopefully, I’ll be working as a publisher, surrounded by words and books, with several more stories on their way. I’d also love to buy a dog; I plan on getting a pug and naming him Doyle.

Meet the Interns: Melissa Silva, Interview Coordinator

melissasilva_0Melissa Silva is a Sophomore at Arizona State University majoring in Economics and International Relations.

Superstition Review: What do you do for SR?

Melissa Silva: I’m the Interview Coordinator. I organize potential authors to interview, contact the authors and then become the communication link between the editors and authors.

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

MS: My ENG 102 teacher recommended I become involved.

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

MS: The interview section. I like hearing about how the authors developed each character and where the whole idea had its origins.

SR: Who is your dream contributor to the journal?

MS: Jonathan Safran Foer. He wrote Everything is Illuminated and I love his writing style. His characters are always very beautiful and complex. The format of his novels are always a little out of the box.

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

MS: Because I’m a business student I think an admin job like advertising or funding would be a really great challenge to try out what I’ve learned and get some real-world experience.

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

MS: I’m excited to see who the authors are that are going to be interviewed for the next issue. I’m hoping to be able to contact some of the names that I’ve read and loved.

SR: What was the first book you remember falling in love with and what made it so special?

MS: The first book would probably the collection of Winnie the Pooh tales my mom had from when she was younger. Now that I look back on it the lovable characters were just simplified versions of personalities I encounter now. But I loved how unique and special each character was to Christopher Robin.

SR: What are you currently reading?

MS: I just finished Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. It’s a collection of short stories. Her writing is so exact and realistic but somehow it draws a lot of emotion and sympathy from the reader for her characters.

SR: What artist have you really connected with, either in subject matter, work, or motto?

MS: I remember I read JD Salinger’s Franny and Zooey while I was going through a hard time. The idea of someone who would help you rationalize out of your own mind trap was a beautiful idea.

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

MS: The title of the class would be “Getting through the Labyrinth.” I remember in the book Looking for Alaska, after the suicide of one of his students, the teacher assigned the class to write a paper on how to get through the labyrinth that is life. They would look into their sources of happiness–religion, texts, friendship, etc–and create a strategy. Finding those things that have meaning and applying them to your own life would be the goal of the class.

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.