Popshot 21 – the Dream Issue

I dreamt I had a poem published in Popshot then woke up and found I really did!  A quarterly magazine of flash fiction, poetry and short stories mouth-wateringly illustrated by more than 20 cutting-edge artists – that’s what dreams are made of.

Each issue of Popshot works to a theme and draws submissions from across the globe. I find myself returning to old issues time and time again. It’s a picture book for adults with imagination and flair – a genuine treat to read, pulsing with the unexpected.

The current (Dream) issue is headlined by Hodder author Lydia Ruffles. There are haunting stories about hemiplegia, a giant squid and a Texan ghost by Jeremy Adam Smith, Jenny Holden and Joe Giordano ; flash fiction by Alice Ash and Jack Somers; as well as poetry by Claire Booker, Rachel Bower, Jo Brandon, Helen Cox, Michelle Marie Earl, Audrey Molloy and Emma Tilley, among others.

Plus so many gorgeous illustrations – among my favourites Adamastor Studio’s depiction of my poem ‘Butterfly Night’ (see above); Elisa Puglielli’s neat block work; the fluid lines of Joanna Layla’s ‘Chosen’; black & white pointillist portraits by Renzo Razzetto; Charlie Davis’ ravishing colour palette; and the surreal impact of Jorn Kaspuhl’s work. Not to mention those cute otter cubs gambolling over front and back cover by Vector That Fox.

A £20 subscription buys you four issues a year plus free access to Popshot’s digital archives of more than 500 stories.  Can you afford to be without it?

Editor Laura Silverman and Art Editor Alicia Fernandes operate submissions windows and would love to see your work (words or visual) as soon as the next theme is set.

For updates go to @popshotmag, or email hello@popshotpopshot.com, or visit: Popshot Magazine

Popshot gets ‘Curious’ with Fiction, Poetry and Illustration

A man in a blue gabardine and trilby is walking through a yellow wall. Curious?

Then buy a copy of Popshot (issue 14) and follow the trail of weird and wonderful things within its latest pages. From tales of deep sea mysteries and time-loops to poems on blue hen’s eggs, leeks that rustle and planetary stalkers, Popshot will have your eyes popping.

Poets featured in the ‘Curious Issue’ include Claire Booker, Rosie Garland, Nancy Carol Moody and Catherine Venn. And there are great stories from Danielle Carey, Jane Wright and Dan Coxon among others, including a brilliant imagining by Rob Stuart on what might happen if humans create a super-powerful artificial intelligence. Be surprised. Be very surprised.

And of course, the glorious illustrations (17 in all) make Popshot such a joy to hold in the hand or view on screen.  Colour-rich or monchrome, figurative or pop-art, there’s something for every taste – each one a potential collectors’ item.

Popshot editor, Jacob Denno, selects short fiction and poetry from thousands of submissions, then hands them over to cutting edge artists to absorb. Once they’re all fired up, it’s down to the drawing board!

It’s a dream come true to know that my poem ‘Clair de Lune’ has inspired an evocative illustration by Mathieu Persan which appears along side it in the magazine. There’s something mesmeric about that moonlit scene that keeps drawing me in.

For more information on Mathieu Persan’s work, please check his website at: www.barbudesign.com

Other illustrators in Popshot’s Curious issue  include Joey Guidone, Alys Hobbs, Kate O’Hara and Carolina Burdon. The cover illustration (top) is by Jörn Kaspuhl at kaspuhl.com.

Popshot continues to grow a community of readers, with copies of the magazine now available in 22 countries. If you want to see why, have a flick through a few spreads here in the Curious Issue.

You can buy a single issue for £6 + p&p or subscribe for £10 a year and get issue 14 as your initial copy, followed by the next two issues over the coming year, plus free access to the digital edition which contains every issue Popshot have ever published.

Popshot Magazine – Calling all Time Travellers!

Grab yourself a copy of the latest Popshot Magazine for poetry, fiction and artwork that will send you spinning into the future and back.

Be prepared to lose your bearings! 

Issue 12 is peppered with poems on the theme of time, including work by Claire Booker, Zelda Chappel, Aki Schilz, Jim Stewart-Evans, Roddy Williams and Barbara Wojtowicz.

Short fiction is mesmerisingly macabre this issue. Try the twists and turns of The Many Deaths of Michael Finch by Ben Whitfield or the chilling And the Glass Cold Against his Face by Thomas Chadwick. I can particularly recommend Christopher Kennerley’s The Schleepen Plan for a morally dubious solution to not enough hours in the day.

Last, but not least, luxuriate in colour and concept as you pause to enjoy the wonderful illustrations by artists such as Glenn Harvey, Tavis Coburn, Nader Sharaf, Frederik Rättzen (above), Ray Oranges (below) and Miranda Meeks.

Edited by Jacob Denno, Popshot is an illustrated literary magazine that lands twice a year on the doormats of people sensible enough to have a subscription. It’s also available at  good bookshops across the globe, or online at www.popshotpopshot.com

Submissions of poetry, flash fiction or short stories are accepted on special themes each issue. Previous themes have included journeys, birth, love, power and childhood. Details of the next theme will be up on the website in December.

Claire Booker in Popshot Magazine

It’s been on the Observer’s ‘Cool List’. It was named “one of the fresh breed of literary magazines” by The Independent.

Issue Eight of Popshot Magazine

It’s Popshot Magazine!  A visual feast of illustration, flash fiction and poetry, beautifully designed on top quality paper.

Issue eight offers a rich mix of words and artwork on the theme of ‘Birth’ and includes two of Claire Booker’s poems.  Buy a copy, you won’t regret it!

http://www.popshotpopshot.com