Fiction, Essays, Poetry, Artwork…

eckleburg

Fiction
Jack Boot
AJ Atwater

Poetry
The Price Is Right at Night Tries to Give Away a Tesla Cybertruck
Jen Karetnick

Fiction
Driving a Cybertruck
Max Talley

EDITORIAL

“What Martin Luther King, Jr., recognized about hi

Was watching the original SCREAM, again, because e

Enjoying THE PRICE IS RIGHT AT NIGHT TRIES TO GIVE

CURRENTLY

Events

Eckleburg, Gargoyle and Boudin at the Lord Baltimore for AWP 2026

The Editors

Join Eckleburg, Gargoyle and Boudin at AWP 2026 for an evening of readings, food and drink at The Lord Baltimore on Friday, March 6, 2026 from 6 to 9. Readers ... Read More

Groove

BREAKFAST | Dove Cameron

Groove

... Read More

Fiction

Jack Boot

AJ Atwater

Jack Boot, thin as a rail, black hair to his waist, red bandanna on his head, a joint of dank from my stash in his guitar-playing hands, says to me ... Read More

Poetry

The Price Is Right at Night Tries to Give Away a Tesla Cybertruck

Jen Karetnick

A 2024 National Poetry Series finalist, Jen Karetnick is the author of 12 collections of poetry, including Inheritance with a High Error Rate (January 2024), winner of the 2022 Cider ... Read More

Fiction

Driving a Cybertruck

Max Talley

"I'd like to clear up some misconceptions now that I'm the proud owner of a Tesla Cybertruck. First off, Jesus Christ, I am not an incel! I have sex a ... Read More

Fiction

Other Nora

Nora McGann

When I got the call, I was sitting on the couch with Lucia, our dog. It was late afternoon the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I was boiling cranberries for the dinner ... Read More

Fiction

Sand Dollars

Jenn Stroud Rossmann

"Sand dollar is a funny name, if you’re a Corpus Christi kid who’s never seen dollars be anything but green-printed paper. When you dig them out of the shallows you’re ... Read More

Fiction

SKATE GUARDx

Derek Updegraff

Three laps in Callie’s cruising to the sounds of her thoughts since the bosses don’t allow earbuds while working. On Wednesday her therapist said, “Write your thoughts down, Callie. Write ... Read More

Fiction

Greater and Lesser Students

Angela Townsend

"Vassar assigned you an ID based on your first initial and last name. Eight hours after flooding my mother’s shoulder with tears, I was shooting billiards with A_Student...." Angela Townsend ... Read More

Fiction

Amphibian

Grace Dixon

The two of us lay sprawled in his bed, his white calf socks the only item of clothing between us.… ... Read More

Events, News

The Center for Jewish History: One Day in October

Rae Cline

I attended a viewing of One Day in October at the Center for Jewish History. The Center features an exhibit dedicated to The Paper Brigade, heroes saving the written word ... Read More

Fiction

The Artist

Meilyn Woods

I. Warm vanilla and Queen Helene. Silky, yet rough, gliding against him with profound ease as long painted fingernails scraped his back. They weren’t like the ones he usually saw on ... Read More

Fiction

Clutch

gpourciau

I heard Quinn’s voice in my left ear while browsing tables at the annual library book sale. She was a friend of a friend of my wife’s. I’d met her ... Read More

Fiction

Julie

Eleanor Levine

After I left Edison, I was surprised to see Julie again. / I saw her in a bookstore in Jerusalem. She had that distinct blonde hair that struck my soul ... Read More

Poetry

Turkey Point

Shontay Luna

Halfway through the woods is the checkpoint. / With eyes in search of / mainstream clues. / Take me to Turkey Point.... by Shontay Luna ... Read More

Fiction

Headline News

Elizabeth Rosen

“'Is it bad that this kind of headline – ‘Great White Shark with Red Mouth Washes Up on Beach in Rare Incident’ – is what gets me through the day?' ... Read More

Poetry

Elements of my Grandmother’s House

Shontay Luna

The fiberglass bedspread that was pink with a raised, white floral design. Earliest lesson; avoid skin contact with it at all costs.... by Shontay Luna ... Read More

Fiction

Blue

Christopher Thomas

“What is your favorite color?” Cora asked, partially wrapped in twisted sheets ... Read More

Poetry

For The Love of A Fictional Character

Shontay Luna

Heart beats like a butterfly, / whimsical and delicate. / Dancing at his touch.... by Shontay Luna ... Read More

Fiction

A Cover Letter from One Marginalized Soul to the Career-Making Gods of Hollywood

Zoé Mahfouz

I am in pain. I am from an ethnically ambiguous background, an underrepresented community, and my mom was an immigrant from the Middle East. I mean, she is an immigrant. She’s ... Read More

Poetry

Fancy Dinner Paradelle

Shontay Luna

Shades and shadows shimmer quietly. Shades and shadows shimmer quietly. Against silhouettes of refulgent backgrounds. Against silhouettes of refulgent backgrounds. Silhouettes of shadow shimmer vibrantly. Backgrounds against refulgent shades quietly ... Read More

Fiction

In This Pond

ajacono

The water is cold against my bellybutton and I’m afraid a waterborne parasite will swim up my urethra. I cup a hand over my crotch. I’d never have thought a ... Read More

Essays

No More Baby Carrots: The Scam of Weight Loss

Heather Wyatt

This morning I found myself weeping, well, sobbing quietly while looking out the window as my toddler sat in my lap drinking milk and watching Bluey.... by Heather Wyatt ... Read More

Fiction

The Turn of Season

Taylor Melia Elyse Mahone

He watched the couple through their window until it went dark then stumbled back into the shadows of his driveway and through the moving drift of the banana trees and ... Read More

Poetry

Dream of Didi

Shontay Luna

The night was on edge, / for I thought of her and.... by Shontay Luna ... Read More

Fiction

Happy Ending

Claire W. Zhang

It was a Tuesday afternoon when Ellen Wong decided to try the newly opened massage parlor five minutes’ drive from home. She heard it was cheap. Daughter at school, husband ... Read More

Gallery

Ira Joel Haber

Ira Joel Haber

Ira Joel Haber was born and lives in Brooklyn. He is a sculptor, painter, writer, book dealer, photographer and teacher. His work has been seen in numerous group shows both ... Read More

Selfie Interview

SELFIE INTERVIEW | Glen Pourciau

gpourciau

Glen Pourciau's fourth story collection, Under, was published in September by Four Way Books. His stories have been published by AGNI Online, Epoch, New England Review, New World Writing Quarterly, ... Read More

Fiction

Eighth Grade

K. A. Polzin

There was almost no way to get money. Fay, the Cat Lady, sometimes had a returnable Coke bottle or two to give away if I asked—the large size, twenty cents ... Read More

Gallery

Negative Chess

Ivan de Monbrison

Art is for me the only answer in our modern world to the question of death and the fragility of human nature. Through the ages human beings have used the ... Read More

Fiction

Ashley, Kelly, and Courtney

Michael Czyzniejewski

My wife told me she was going out with Ashley, Kelly, and Courtney, that she’d be getting some drinks, doing some dancing, that she wouldn’t be home late, “… unless ... Read More

Fiction

Lunch with An Astronaut

Shanda Connolly

“Lunch with the Astronaut of the Day,” the sign said. Adult: $100, child: $50, 11:30 and 1:45. Mirian signed up for the 11:30 slot.... Shanda Connolly ... Read More

FEATURED RECOMMENDATION

Table Talk & Second Thoughts: A Memoir in Flashes by Michael Martone

Enjoying Michael Martone‘s Table Talk & Second Thoughts (2025), a delightful memoir in flashes released from Cornerstone Press. The opening piece, “Trains: Tuscaloosa, 2010,” recounts a moment that Martone shared with Adrienne Rich two years before her death: “She asked about the train trestle she’d seen crossing the Black Warrior River. I told her that the L&N, the GM&O, and the Southern all had depots here….”

Submit Your Fiction, Essays & Poetry

Eckleburg accepts previously unpublished and polished prose up to 8,000 words year round, unless announced otherwise. We accept essays and poetry, too. No multiple submissions but simultaneous is fine as long as you withdraw the submission asap through the submissions system. During the summer and winter months, we run our Writers Are Readers, Too, fundraiser when submissions are open only to subscribers. During the fall and spring, we open submissions for regular, unsolicited submissions. Submit

Join us for creative writing workshops in fiction, essays, poetry and more.

Issues

Eckleburg No. 22

Eckleburg is a literary and arts journal publishing original works from both emerging and awarded writers, poets, artists and musicians including Roxane Gay, Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Stephen Dixon, Moira Egan and David Wagoner. Eckleburg No. 22 curates a beautiful selection of traditional and genre-bending creative nonfiction, poetry, art and fiction featuring our Gertrude Stein Award winner, Judith Goode.

What others are saying about Eckleburg…

“Being a good lit citizen means supporting lit pubs. Donate. Buy. I’m going to show some #AWP17 mags that you need to support… @NoTokensJournal, @EckleburgReview, @open_letter.” Meakin Armstrong (Guernica)

“The most exciting and adventurous and gutsiest new magazine I’ve seen in years.” Stephen Dixon

“Refreshing… edgy… classic… compelling.” Flavorwire

“Progressive….” NewPages

“Eye-grabbing… fun… bold… inviting… exemplary.” Sabotage

Listed among Wigleaf’s Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions 2012

“Eclectic selection of work from both emerging and established writers….” The Washington Post

Literary Burroughs D.C…. the journal cleverly takes its name from the The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald….” Ploughshares

Proud member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses.

The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review was founded in 2010 as an online and print literary and arts journal. We take our title from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and include the full archives of our predecessor Moon Milk Review. Our aesthetic is eclectic, literary mainstream to experimental. We appreciate fusion forms including magical realist, surrealist, meta- realist and realist works with an offbeat spin. We value character-focused storytelling and language and welcome both edge and mainstream with punch aesthetics. We like humor that explores the gritty realities of world and human experiences. Our issues include original content from both emerging and established writers, poets, artists and comedians such as authors, Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Stephen Dixon, poets, Moira Egan and David Wagoner and actor/comedian, Zach Galifianakis.

Currently, Eckleburg runs online, daily content of original fiction, poetry, nonfiction, translations, and more with featured artwork–visual and intermedia–from our Gallery. We run annual print issues, the Eckleburg Reading Series (DC, Baltimore and New York), as well as, the annual Gertrude Stein Award in Fiction, first prize $1000 and print publication, guest-judged by award-winning authors such as Rick Moody and Cris Mazza.

We have collaborated with a number of talented and high profile literary, art and intermedia organizations in DC, Baltimore and New York including The Poetry Society of New York, KGB Bar, Brazenhead Books, New World Writing (formerly Mississippi Review Online), The Hopkins Review, Boulevard, Gargoyle Magazine, Entasis Press, Barrelhouse, Hobart, 826DC, DC Lit and Iowa’s Mission Creek Festival at AWP 2013, Boston, for a night of raw comedic lit and music. We like to promote smaller indie presses, galleries, musicians and filmmakers alongside globally recognized organizations, as well as, our local, national and international contributors.

Rarely will readers/viewers find a themed issue at Eckleburg, but rather a mix of eclectic works. It is Eckleburg’s intention to represent writers, artists, musicians, and comedians as a contemporary and noninvasive collective, each work evidence of its own artistry, not as a reflection of an editor’s vision of what an issue “should” be. Outside of kismet and special issues, Eckleburg will read and accept unsolicited submissions based upon individual merit, not theme cohesiveness. It is our intention to create an experience in which readers and viewers can think artistically, intellectually, socially, and independently. We welcome brave, honest voices. To submit, please read our guidelines.

Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away. —The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

WRITING WORKSHOPS | Fiction, Poetry, Essays & More

Writing Workshops

COMING SOON

The Eckleburg Workshops: Online Writing Workshops

Eckleburg offers noncredit online writing workshops in fiction, poetry, essays, short stories, the novel and more. The writing workshops are intended for writers who want to focus on craft in an encouraging, professional, diverse environment.

All writing workshops are work-at-your-own-pace. When you are ready for individualized feedback—developmental edits, line edits and endnotes—submit your work. Our instructors have graduate degrees and professional publication experience in their writing workshop focuses and are happy to meet participants at whatever writing stage and focus participants find themselves. Participants may complete assignments anytime. We are open to English-speaking and writing participants both locally and globally and encourage gender and cultural diversity with a focus on historically marginalized voices.

Our instructors are award-winning and published authors and hold degress from/taught at the Iowa Writers Workshop, Iowa’s International Writing Program, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Brown, Harvard, Columbia, New School, New York University, SUNY, Portland, San Diego State University, New York University, Bennington, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, the University of Oregon and more. They live in Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Ankara, San Diego, LA and Denver. Several of them are award-winning and with books out. They have been interviewed and published in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, The Nervous Breakdown, The New York Times, Salon, and more. What our instructors share is an eye for innovative storytelling with solid narrative structure as well as a focus on personal voice. Learn more about our individual instructors. More Questions? Visit our FAQs Page.

Methods

Each work has its own strengths and needs, successes and focus areas. I approach each new work with an eye toward individual voice so that the work can take on a life of its own that focuses on your intentions. Below, you’ll find a link for submission guidelines and submitting your manuscript. As we move through your work, we’ll look at the following:

- What is the intention for the work, as communicated on the page and as is essential to the main characters?
- What is the authentic voice of the narrator, and how can this be brought out thoroughly and to the work’s best interest?
- What is your authentic voice and how can this be coupled with the needs of the narrative voice?
- Developmentally, how can the character arcs and the overall narrative be brought to fuller realization?
- Linguistically, how does the cadence, syntax and repetition in language support the overall artistry of the piece?
- Mechanically, are the choices being made in the overall best interest of the authentic narrative voice?
- What can be strengthened from word choice and comma usage?

Thank you for joining us at The Eckleburg Workshops. I promise to honor your hard work and talents.

How intensive is the Eckleburg Writing Workshops schedule?

You will be able to log in and complete the weekly writing prompts, readings, discussion prompts, etc. as it best fits into your schedule, whether you are at home or traveling. The online visual structure of the course makes it easy to read and respond via your desktop, laptop and smartphone. Submit work for individualized feedback when it is convenient for you and your project.

How do I register for the Eckleburg Writing Workshops?

Begin by clicking on the workshop link you would like to take. Next, click on the CART link and you will be taken to the payment portal where you can pay by credit card or Paypal. You can CANCEL at anytime with a click.

The Eckleburg Gallery

Eckleburg Gallery

eckleburg gallery

About The Eckleburg Gallery

Since 2010, we have been an online, print and pop up gallery space for contemporary and international artists, including event installations in Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Boston and more. We seek to share provocative art forms in all media through intimate, intellectual moments in which aesthetics and ideas entwine. We are committed to providing artists an international platform to explore voice, context and form in canvas, sculpture, performance, digital media, intermedia, video, technology and more. We encourage all aesthetics with gender and diversity awareness.

SUBMIT TO THE GALLERY | VISUAL & INTERMEDIA ARTWORK

Send us a link for your online portfolio that includes all the works (at least 3, 10 or more even better) that you would like us to consider for the Gallery. You can also send a 100 to 200 word bio. If accepted, we will request attached, high resolution jpegs of the chosen works.

Music, Film and Arts Commentary | Send a YouTube link via email along with a short 100 to 200 word bio.

SUBMIT

RIGHTS & COMPENSATION

RIGHTS | If accepted, you are granting Eckleburg first North American serial, promotional, non-exclusive anthology (online and possibly print), and archival rights. Copyright reverts to the author upon publication. If the piece is subsequently published in another venue, we ask you to source Eckleburg as first publication. All fiction, poetry, nonfiction and visual art submissions will be considered for our annual print. Authors of works that are accepted for the print will be contacted by the editors.

PAYMENT | Print contributors receive a free copy. Print contributors who are also Eckleburg award winners receive award prize money up to $1000.

RESPONSES | Response times usually run three months or longer; however, we sometimes respond within the day. If we haven’t responded by six month’s time, please contact us here.

AWARDS | Editors will nominate works at appropriate times through the year. Individual authors/poets who are nominated will be contacted privately.

WITHDRAWALS | Please withdraw your submission through your personal Submittable account created upon submitting. This is your personal account and Eckleburg editors do not have access to it.

THE SELFIE INTERVIEW | All contributors past, present and future are invited to complete The Selfie Interview. The Selfie Interview is also open to contributors as well as readers/writers who have not been published at Eckleburg. Share your Selfie Interview with our 10,000+ and growing Eckleburg community.

ECKLEBURG BOOK CLUB | Open to all writers, readers and contributors. (Currently not accepting self-published titles.) Submit to the Eckleburg Book Club and share your title with our 10,000+ and growing Eckleburg community.

EVENTS LISTING | Open to all writers, readers and contributors. Have a reading coming up? A gallery showing or performance? Shout it out to our 10,000+ Eckleburg community.