The latest in my irregular series of reviews of literary journals and genre magazines.
The creative writing department at the University of New Mexico has published Blue Mesa Review twice a year since 1989.
What They Say About Themselves: “We are committed to providing your work with a great home. We believe we are on the forefront of creating a lovely, readable space for great writing online and in print. At BMR we understand that literary magazines have a responsibility to writers, and we work hard to provide a space that you can feel proud to publish your work in. We also are constantly working to find creative ways to support writers financially; one such way being our Annual Summer Contest. As a magazine that receives no funding from our affiliated University, we are currently working on creating a payment structure for writers. We are a magazine run by writers, so we understand the financial burden that can come with creating beautiful work. We hope to ease that burden by supporting good writing in a practical way in the coming year.”
Issue Reviewed: 44 (Fall 2021)
Genre: Literary realism with speculative touches
One Story I’ll Remember Not to Forget: “Scorched Earth: The Legacy of the Globizent Affair,” by Kelly Neal. Written in the form of a near-future academic paper, the story analyzes an absurd conflict among employees at a corporation that produces nothing but pettiness. As a refugee from both academia and corporate inanity, I appreciated this dual satire.
Exploding Helicopters: Three Explosions. Not a lot of action, but the narrative voices kept me engaged.
Profanometer: Sonovabitch. A little more profanity than I’ve found in most literary journals, yet not excessive.
The Diligent Dilettante 