Introducing the Premium Print Edition of Carve

This fall, digital is going print. We’re introducing a new Premium Print Edition of Carve to be published alongside our online stories. The fall 2012 issue will be the premiere issue. The Carve you know and love online isn’t offering any less. The Premium Print Edition is just a companion that offers so much more.

Why? Isn’t print dying?

At Carve, we believe both digital and print are here to stay, but with different purposes. 

Digital is social; print is personal. We want our readers to enjoy sharing and commenting on our stories, but for those of you who are left wanting something more, something personal, we offer our premium print edition.

Features of the Premium Print Edition:

Reader’s Voice
A featured short essay from readers like you on how a previously published Carve story moved or changed you. Dedicated to the small percentage of readers who read Carve purely for pleasure.

The Stories & Fast Facts
Each new issue will feature the same stories we publish online, but subscribers get the bonus of discovering the Fast Facts:

-how long ago the author began writing the story
-how many months the story sat in our reading queue
-how many rejections the author received from other publications
-how many drafts they went through before finally getting published

All of this will appear above the story in an at-a-glance view.

What We Talk About
Interviews with the contributors for that issue, with insight into their writing process, the origin of the story, and who influences them and their writing. Every conversation will be unique, and we won’t ask everyone the same questions. It’s a great way for writers and readers to learn more from those whose writing they admire.

REJECT!
Every writer gets rejected, but nobody wants to brag about it. We’re changing that. This feature will highlight a story that was rejected by Carve Magazine, but went on to get published elsewhere. Why did we reject it? What changes did the author make, if any? All is revealed and discussed in-depth, including snippets of the rejected draft compared alongside the published one. (You can submit your Reject! piece now.)

Something More
Each issue will feature a special section that’s something more, and it will be different in every issue. Maybe an additional story, a piece of flash fiction, poetry, or even an essay. Like the other features, it’ll be exclusive and available only to our premium print edition subscribers.

The premiere issue this fall will also feature the winning stories of the 2012 Raymond Carver Short Story contest and will be a celebration of Raymond Carver. Look for the special, exclusive content, including:

• A look at Raymond Carver and his legacy and influence on the short story form.

• Excerpts from an interview with Tess Gallagher conducted by our founding editor, Melvin Sterne.

• Comments from the guest judge of the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest on what made the winners stand out and earn the prize. 

When Can I Subscribe?

Right now. Subscribe today for our low first-year charter subscriber rate of $29.95 for four (4) issues delivered to your door. The regular subscription rate will be $39.95 (+$5 for Canada and +$15 for international) so lock in your low rate and 25% savings for the first year now - it’s for a limited time only. 

We’re using Paypal for Subscription services so you have more control. No annoying renewal notices with the auto-renew feature. Update your address or cancel anytime by logging into your Paypal account. 

Jump to our updated Subscriber page now to get started.

We hope you’re as excited as we are about our forthcoming Premium Print Edition of Carve. For more information and forthcoming previews, check back on the blog or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

UPDATE: We’ve unveiled the cover of our premiere issue. Check out the illustration of a familiar face with a new twist.

Carve Contributor Sarah Terez Rosenblum's Debut Novel Published

Sarah Terez Rosenblum, whose story “What You Miss” placed in our 2012 Esoteric Awards and was published in our spring 2012 issue, has published her debut novel, Herself When She’s Missing from Soft Skull Press. It is now available to order from Amazon.

Herself When She’s Missing is post-modern in form (lists, 3x5 cards, even the occasional screenplay), but classical in theme: a tale of a girl desperate for something like, but not quite, love. (Here at Carve, we love a mix of old and new.)

Sarah’s novel has received rave reviews, including one from Carol Anshaw, author of Carry the One.

This is love as darkness, passion that hollows one out and leaves only a husk behind. If they make a movie of this, Leonard Cohen will sing the theme song. A compelling read for anyone who has ever fallen victim to this particular form of insanity. Which is to say, nearly everyone.

Soft Skull Press also released a book trailer which we’ve posted here:

The book was just released last week, so it’s fresh off the press. I’m looking forward to reading it myself, as I just ordered it today. Sarah will be embarking on a tour across the country this summer. Stop by and support her if you’re in the area on these dates:

June 12   Firecat Gallary 7 p.m.   Chicago IL

June 14   Boswell Book Co. 7 p.m.   Milwaukee WI

June 18   The Booksmith 7 p.m.   San Francisco CA

June 20   Skylight Books, 7:30 p.m.   Los Angeles CA

June 29   The Book Cellar 7 p.m.   Chicago IL

July 5   Charis Books and More 7 p.m.   Atlanta GA

August 18   A Room of One’s Own 7 p.m.   Madison WI

To learn more about Sarah or the book visit her website or Facebook page. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Founding Editor Melvin Sterne publishes debut novel, Zara

Melvin Sterne founded Carve in 2000 and served as editor until 2007. We are forever grateful for his willingness to entrust Carve in our hands! He has recently published his debut novel, Zara. He offered to share some words about his novel:

Zara tells the story of a young prostitute in Bombay, India, who, after having started a legitimate business to purchase her freedom, and being cheated in the process, resorts to blackmail to find help to claim her rightful earnings. When the cell phone with the incriminating photos is seized by a police commissioner, and he, in turn, is murdered and the phone stolen, Zara, a poor, illiterate Muslim woman, must team with a rich, literate, Hindu policewoman to solve the murder and retrieve the missing phone. This means, of course, setting aside some serious personal differences (both women have “issues”), and along the way, discovering much about themselves, their past, their weaknesses, and, ultimately, their strength.

I like the novel for three good reasons. I try, in the way that Graham Greene wrote, to touch on serious social issues, but in way that is both academic and entertaining. I’d like to think that it is a book that transcends genre in this way — that it is both intelligent in the subject it takes on, but a fun read, as well. Second, the book is based on many of my experiences and observations in Bombay — a fascinating world unto itself — where many of the ordinary rules of society that we, in the west, take for granted — just don’t apply. And, finally, Zara herself is based on a woman I met in Bombay, and her life story (save the fictionalized events that make up the novel) are absolutely true. She was sold into child labor at 6, and into prostitution at 20 or 21. 

Zara could be any one of millions of women in sexual slavery today. And yet, strange at is may seem, she never accepted the label of “victim.” She was strong in ways that were remarkable, yet touchingly vulnerable in other ways. She was very human, yet something more. What struck me most about her was her demonstration of faith and courage. Through no fault of her own, she could be killed in her home town for being a “sinner,” literally, a rape-victim. And, as a non-virgin, she would never marry or have a normal family life. But she chose to remain in a brothel because it was the only way she could earn enough money to set aside a dowry for her little sisters so that they would not have to undergo the same fate. I was struck by the image of “saint and sinner” side-by-side, and by Jesus’s words, “No one has greater love than this: That he should give his life in behalf of his friends.” Zara did that in real life, and from the day I met her, I felt her story deserved to be told. The only question was, How? It took me four years to write Zara through its many drafts, and even when “finished,” several more to polish it and find a publisher in these difficult times. Zara was published by Ink Brush Press (www.inkbrushpress.com/) and can be purchased through any local bookstore, or purchased online from Amazon. 

If the story’s grabbed your interest, purchase it today!

Pre-order The Doula, Bridget Boland's debut novel

Bridget Boland’s debut novel, The Doula, is now available for pre-order from Amazon. It will be released September 4 from Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster.

Boland is the guest judge of this year’s Raymond Carver Short Story Contest.

We specifically asked her to guest judge because she is a debut novelist, and we like to highlight the importance of recognizing first-time authors and their contributions to the literary landscape.

Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (and also a guest judge of the 2007 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest) has this to say about The Doula:

Bridget Boland has written a powerhouse of a debut novel. The Doula takes an unflinching look at some of the worst calamities that can befall a life, and shows us the grace and redemption that can grow out of our darkest moments. Never sentimental, but with real compassion that rings true on every page, Boland takes us on a hard-fought journey toward genuine wisdom.

We look forward to reading the debut novel from Boland and hope you’ll join us in supporting debut novelists

Pre-order The Doula today.