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Opium100: A Century of Literary Humor announced! |
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by Todd Zuniga
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3:25 |
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Opium Magazine is turning 100. Well, sort of.
To celebrate our 10th print issue, we're going to morph Opium10 into “Opium100: A Century of Literary Humor.” Our goal is to collect the stories, poems, cartoons and artwork we would’ve published had we been around for the last 100 years, the greatest “literary humor” told since 1901 (Opium launched in 2001 online).
But it doesn't stop there. Not only are we tackling this past century (all those stories we've read and loved), but we're going to nose-dive into the upcoming century, too, by publishing new stories, poems, cartoons and artwork that will serve as the best literary humor of the future century.
Our ultimate aim for this anthology — which will be hard-covered and gorgeously designed by Opium’s own David Barringer — is to obliterate the sometimes-heard notion that humor and Literature-with-a-capital-L don’t mix. In our eyes, there’s humor, beauty and heartbreak in some of our favorite writing — a big reason why we started Opium in the first place.
So, here’s where you come in (three ways to play!):
1. Send us your favorite literary humor of the last 100 years: stories, poetry, cartoons or artwork. Send along the title, author, and, if you have it scanned or otherwise, the text. Email it all to Opium100 Recommendations. Also, please include a short paragraph (no more than five sentences) about why what you're recommending is memorable or important to you. Our goal is to work our backends off to publish many of the recommendations we receive. When that’s not possible, we'll publish your praise for the stories, all in the name of creating a go-to compendium for writers who want to discover the best literary humor ever written.
2. Send us your new, brilliant story overflowing with "literary humor." Up to 6,000 words. Make us laugh and maybe break our hearts (ideally both). When you submit, make sure to tag your story "Opium100" — the newly added "genre" in our submission system. We'll be focusing on stories from this inbox for the time being. Note: Feel free to withdraw old submissions and resubmit them to this folder, if they're rip-roaring and genius.
3. Send us your old, brilliant story overflowing with "literary humor." Up to 6,000 words. Tell us when and where it was published, and email it to Opium100 Recommendations. We'll be hunting for 2nd Serial rights.
In short, send us a story so wonderfully smart and funny that our guts bust and we tinkle our trousers (and again, we don't mind the heartbreaking fall). If you make the cut you'll be amongst some serious literary all-stars who dared to mix literature and humor the way Grandma dared to mix chocolate and peanut butter. We're asking you to send your bravest, fiercest, crudest, strangest, and most profoundly epic pieces of fiction. Just make sure its humorous.
And please help us spread the word. This is unlike any project we've undertaken before, and we most definitely need your help.
Todd Zuniga is Opium's founding editor, and the president of Opium for the Arts. His fiction has appeared in print and online. He lives between Paris and couches all over the United States.
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