If you're a writer, you know that speculative or fabulist fiction can sometimes get a bad rap. The assumption is that a magic-centered story is all plot and no substance, or all strange and no literary merit. It's true that escapism and craft is a difficult balance to strike. At Inglenook Lit, we celebrate writers capable of character development, varied syntax, rich description, and a confident command of tone and voice. At the end of the day, good craft is a vehicle for mysticism: a ship on which to face into mystery, exploring the unknown.
There are many homes for writers of the literary fantastic to shimmer and shine. Here are our nominations for today's best literary journals for magical realism and speculative genres:
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Founded in 2005 by Kate Bernheimer (acquired by Wayne State University Press in 2012) Fairy Tale Review is an annual literary journal where fresh fairy tales splash onto the pages with raw, risky, and diverse angles. After digesting just one edition, it becomes obvious why work from Fairy Tale Review has been selected for inclusion in dozens of anthologies. In keeping with imagery of lush red apples and golden locks of hair, each issue of Fairy Tale Review is given a color-themed name. This literary journal accepts fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.
Launched in 2018 at NonfictioNOW in Phoenix, Speculative Nonfiction is now eight issues deep. Under the wing of editor Leila Philip, this is a journal of nonfiction concerned with the figurative over the literal, ambiguity over knowing, and meditation over reportage. Submissions are tasked with the lofty goal of initiating a new dialogue about the duty a writer has to truth versus fiction. The curated artwork in Speculative Nonfiction adds to each issue's richness.
Founded in 2018, Emergence is a mixed-media publication specializing in audio, documentary, essays, fiction, poetry, and visual arts. The annual print edition of Emergence features a collection of essays, interviews, poems, artwork, and photo essays. These are substantial issues featuring several hundred color-filled pages. Some issues even come with soundtracks available as limited-edition vinyl. While themes are generally geared toward ecology, culture, and spirituality, Emergence does leave room for speculative fiction. For example, Volume 4 is dedicated fully to a theme of shifting landscapes that are creating a liminal space where boundaries between humans, animals, landscapes, history, and prophecy are blurred.
Founded in 1982 as the Orion Nature Quarterly, Orion continues to be an important voice in cultivating authentic American writing. While the publication primarily publishes works with a focus on nature, certain editions tilt towards speculative nonfiction. For instance the Summer 2024 Swimming Lessons: Staying afloat in our flooded future edition offered a body of work focused on speculating how mankind might both protect itself from and learn to live with a future where flooding becomes more common.
A well-established pillar on the American literary scene, Conjunctions is a biannual journal founded by Bradford Morrow in 1981 that publishes experimental, genre-defying work, often blending literary fiction with magical realism and surrealism. This prestigious journal is published by Bard College. In addition to being the first (or early) publisher of renowned and award-winning authors like David Foster Wallace, Richard Powers, Ben Okri, Peter Cole, and William T. Vollmann, Conjunctions is also a home for Joyce Carol Oates, Gabriel García Márquez, Margaret Atwood, and John Ashbery. From time to time, pieces pop up from speculative and horror authors like Carmen Maria Machado, Jonathan Lethem, Peter Straub, Kelly Link, and Brian Evenson.
Gramarye is the Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction's literary journal for folklore, fairy tales, and fantasy. Published since 2012, the winter/summer magazine is adored by both academics and literary lovers. In addition to introducing the world to masterful new folktales from both established and emerging authors, Gramarye features bold scholarly reviews of recently published works in the folktale realm.
Grimoire Magazine is an online literary publication focused on the dark arts. Editors Jessica Berger, Annah Browning, and Brooke Wonders spearhead the publication of themed issues annually. These velvety, dark collections include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, and works that fall under the genre of "boundless." Pieces featured in the magazine are moody, witchy, and unapologetic. There are also really fun, insightful interviews with authors talking to other authors that pop up in issues from time to time. For example, Mar Romasco-Moore interviewed Alisa Alering for the release of Alering's Smothermoss in July of 2024.
Apex Magazine is a bimonthly digital zine that publishes dark science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror short fiction. Each edition offers a well-rounded variety that might include original fiction, flash fiction (micro stories), essays, and reviews. For lovers of "weird" and boundless fiction, Apex Magazine delivers mind-opening works that are as surreal and shocking as they are strangely beautiful.
Augur Magazine was started in 2017 for writing that has "uncommon perspectives, and brings together the often disparate realms of literary and genre fiction." It's a publication that embraces the liminal, i.e. stories that blur the boundaries between speculative and realist fiction, with a strong emphasis on inclusivity and representation. The magazine prioritizes voices from Canada and Indigenous communities and seeks work that challenges genre norms by blending literary and genre sensibilities.
Launched in 2000, Strange Horizons is a weekly magazine about speculative fiction that prizes literary depth, innovative storytelling, emotional resonance, and inclusivity. Pieces on their journal include fiction, poetry, reviews, essays, interviews, roundtable discussions, and art. Works published in Strange Horizons have gone on to be recognized by Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy.
A newer arrival among literary reviews, Folklore Review publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and flash (micro) stories seasonally. Folklore Review was born in defiance of the fact that critics claim speculative fiction lacks the quality of realism. An anti-gatekeeper publication, this magazine welcomes stories with gnomes, fairies, fauns, and other surreal and magical entities alongside more grounded-in-reality pieces.
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