Posted by Juliana Schicho, GD Fiction Reader for 5.1
Issue 5.1 of Gandy Dancer marks the transition into our fifth year of publication for our magazine, out since 2012. Our covers may have changed over the years, but our core literary mission remains the same: to connect students SUNY-wide through literature and art. Published twice yearly, we receive submissions from schools all over the SUNY school system. We publish one accepted alumni submission per issue in our postscript section. Our magazine has grown since our first publication to include all sorts of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and art. The writing in Gandy Dancer is varied in terms of style and theme and it reveals the diversity of SUNY students.
Our poetry ranges from more traditional-form poems such as Alexis Hamlin’s Without a Home to contemporary selections, like Savannah Skinner’s Our Disillusion in Three Acts. Each poem in Gandy Dancer has its unique style and imagery, cultivating a rich poetic landscape.
Fiction in Gandy Dancer varies from Allison Geise’s Bones, a short, visceral piece to the more traditional form of Christa Lubanski’s Flitting Hope, and cover stories ranging from a slice of life dramas, to romance stories, to darker themes.
In terms of creative nonfiction, John Chapman’s There Isn’t A Word covers family loss and Jeremy Jackson’s How Much is a Teacupful? recounts the story of Phineas Gage. The creative nonfiction in Gandy Dancer examines family and relationships, the struggles of the narrator, as well as historical topics, and more.
Gandy Dancer has published many great writers since it began as an online journal in 2012. Along the way, we’ve grown and changed, for instance beginning a print journal in our second year. A great deal of work goes into the magazine by both students of the class, who take on the jobs as section editors, managing editors, and readers, as well as our professor, published author and Chancellor’s Award for Excellence winner Rachel Hall. Through our combined efforts, and with submissions from across the SUNY system, we put together two issues a year. Here’s to many more years of Gandy Dancer’s issues, and more SUNY submissions being recognized for their hard work.
Want to contribute to issue 5.2? Submit before February 24th, 2017! Please check out our Archives to view our past issues.