stephen king

Meet the Interns: Sean Carstensen, Prose Team Manager

Superstition Review

seancarstensen_0Senior English Literature Major Sean Carstensen is the Prose Team Manager for Superstition Review.

Superstition Review: What do you do for SR?

Sean Carstensen: It’s my responsibility to function as a liaison between the prose editors and management of SR. The Prose team as a whole is responsible for selecting the works to be published in the upcoming issue; my role in the team is to keep sight of the larger picture and assist the prose editors in any way I can while simultaneously working to streamline communication within the SR team.

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

SC: I found out about Superstition Review through an English Department email encouraging students to apply for the internship. It sounded like something I would be interested in, so I applied and decided to take a summer course which would prepare me for a management position in the Fall 2009 issue. Being involved in publishing a literary journal was more appealing to me than the traditional types of internships.

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

SC: My favorite section of SR would have to be the poetry. The density of meaning and ambiguity of the poems is what separates them from prose: I can read a fiction/nonfiction piece once through and feel as though I have a solid idea of the message; poems are completely different. The first read through a poem familiarizes me with the meter and structure, but the meaning often remains uncertain and ambiguous even after several reads.

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

SC: I feel like Stephen King would be an extremely interesting interview. After reading previous interviews, I would want to ask him about his writing process because it sounds different from traditional methods which emphasis planning and structure; King incorporates a degree of spontaneity and oftentimes does not know how his main plot conflicts will be resolved.

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

SC: Blogging has always been something I’d like to try out and I think that it would be exciting to be responsible for an ongoing blog about Superstition Review. I think that a lot of potential readers will first find out about SR through the blog, and I believe that maintaining the page would be an intriguing combination of journalism and marketing.

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

SC: I’m really hoping to discover some new writers through the open submissions. I know that we’ll receive quality work from the solicited submissions, but I would be thrilled to see some unsolicited work make its way into the final issue as well.

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

SC: One day my fourth grade teacher started reading us a book called The Phantom Tollbooth and I was absolutely transfixed. Later that day I happened to see the same book in my older brother’s room, so I stole it and proceeded to finish the entire thing. The mash up of wordplay, riddles and rhymes in the story of a boy named Milo were completely overwhelming and unlike anything I had seen before.

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

SC: I would have to say Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray was an eye opening read, but it’s really Wilde’s criticism that I connect with: the notion that an observer deduces meaning from art by contributing part of their self to the work was new to me.

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

SC: A class on Aleister Crowley–I’ve read some less than complementary things about him, but have never actually read any of his work. I believe someone once called him “the wickedest man in the world” and I would be interested to see what a writer has to say to earn such harsh criticism.

SR: Do you write? Tell us about a project you’re working on.

SC: I have recently reconnected with three of my old friends from high school and we’re trying to start mailing a journal between the four of us; we’ll be able to reflect on how much has changed in four years while staying touch with one another in a unique fashion.

Meet the Interns: Timothy Allen, Website Designer

Superstition Review

timothyallen_0_0Timothy Allen, Website Designer for Superstition Review, major in Writing for Literature & Film. He is a senior this semester.

Superstition Review: What do you do for SR?

Timothy Allen: I make sure the website is properly formatted and looks good, and that all of the content from our various authors and artists is properly displayed.

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

TA: This is my second semester at SR. I heard about the class through an e-mail last year and thought it sounded interesting for experience, since my intent–back then–was to possibly get into website designing as a career.

SR: What is your favorite section of SR?

TA: I would have to say Art, because it takes more creativity and work on my part to get it all displayed properly; it’s logistically interesting.

SR: Who is your dream contributor to the journal?

TA: Stephen King. There isn’t much to say about him that you don’t already know, except that he’s a master at what he does.

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

TA: The Wizard Children of Finn by Mary Tannen. I just liked the way the story took two kids from this ordinary world and put them in a somewhat extraordinary one.

SR: What are you currently reading?

TA: I’m currently reading the 5th book in the Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, and will also soon be starting on the Rose of the Prophet trilogy by the same authors.

SR: Do you write? Tell us about a project you’re working on.

TA: I am currently (after a seven-year hiatus) starting to work on a couple of fiction novels again. One, about a little boy who learns that he can sing miracles into existence, and another about a group of people who’ve decided they’ve had it with America’s “decline” and move off to an island to start a new, better society.

SR: Tell us about an art project you’re working on.

TA: I’m currently designing and building three other websites besides SR, including my own site at Angel Author, a site for a business idea that my friend has for Blast’n Beans, and a site for my capstone project in my major.

Approaching Release Date & Newsletter!

Superstition Review

Our genre editors are coming out with final picks for the second issue of Superstition Review, which should be web-ready and published within the next few weeks. At the moment, the non-genre design editors (such as myself and Connie Hackathorn) are presently toiling away editing photographs and non-content pages–materials such as headshots and biographies for this release of our magazine.

Among the most interesting things I’ve learned over the course of my study of writing and publishing, through this internship and in general in this literary year of my life, is that writers are largely self made and self advertised. My best friend is an actor–upcoming, and thus stuck at the whims of agencies and directors. An actor, for the most part, has to work to fit up to a certain look and keep presence at particular appearances. Performing professions are paid to have a look. For writers, it’s a privilege and a perk, if not sometimes a burden.

From what I’ve learned of the writing world, a publisher will often distribute and do some advertising for your book, but for YOU, as the writer, you’re responsible for being witty on your own book tours, setting up your own signings, and proving–without agency assistance, that you are completely awesome.

This is an example of writers being awesome in public.
This is an example of writers being awesome in public.

And face it, you are. This photograph illustrates famous writers Greil Marcus, Josh Kelly, Robert Fulghum, Roy Blount, Jr., Barbara Kingsolver, Dave Marsh, Jerry Peterson, Stephen King, Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Joel Selvin, Matt Groening, Tad Bartimus, Amy Tan, and Kathi Goldmark–courtesy of photographer Tabitha King–showing off their attitude and charm. This collective of writers is known as the Rock Bottom Remainders and they perform as a rock band when they’re not churning out incredible, insightful, and exciting written word.

As a writer, some of the most important advice I’ve gotten, namely from G. Lynn Nelson at Arizona State University, is simply to “write real.” Be yourself. Be authentic. Even if something never happened, don’t act as if it isn’t true. As writers, it is our job to make our fantasies and memories true and engaging. Hopefully, if you are a writer, like myself, you enjoy this process of creation as well.

We here at Superstition Review enjoy sharing this experience with you.

In addition to our published magazine coming out, we are also releasing two issues of a newsletter detailing what it is we do here and who we work with–artists and interns alike.  We hope you can join us in receiving these updates to your e-mail inbox. Please sign up at the main Superstition Review website or leave a comment here for more information.