I recently discovered the site FictionFeed.net. I love the idea of this site because it gives smaller publications a "second wind" by promoting and analyzing their work. Using "curators" to suggest and comment on the fiction, FictionFeed.net encompasses a wide range of literary magazines, spreading the word about lesser known (but up and coming) short fiction. Most recently they have featured stories from Matchbook, Animal Literary Magazine, and People Holding.
FictionFeed.net, which began in 2014, was started in order to share the internet’s very best short stories and flash fiction from other journals. The founder, Eric Hawthorn, is a reader and writer living in Philadelphia whose stories have appeared in such journals as LIT, decomP, Monkeybicycle, Spork, and Timber.
The commentary on the site is positive, analytical and smart. An example of this is the write-up of the story "A Good Ache" by Amanda Miska. The "Curator" writes:
"Particularly effective, in my view, is the emotionally fragmented ending, which the author holds to her story like a prism to magnify and crisscross the competing emotional charges of the previous paragraphs. Like an envoi in poetry, the ending of this story comments on while also resolving (resolving in a decidedly open-ended way, I must add) the preceding narrative. Sure, all stories rely heavily on endings, and endings are arguably as difficult to write if not tougher to write than opening lines. But the emotional stakes become so much higher when we’re talking flash fiction, since this form is so short that the final sentence, as a load-bearing structure, becomes exponentially more crucial than in longer works.
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In order to give more information about the site, I have quoted or appropriated many of their policies and interests below.
-The site is an aggregator, a place to sift through the countless stories published each month on literary sites both renowned and obscure, revealing that undiscovered gem of a story that deserves wider recognition–and perhaps even the chance to go viral.
-FictionFeed.net does not republish any copyrighted work from internet fiction sites but rather provides external links to the content’s existing home.
-They are always on the lookout for new stories to feature on the site that are innovative and original and unique. They want to see something different.
-Stories that fall under categories like micro and flash fiction are usually preferable, but they’ll read longer short stories as well. If the piece is more than 2,000 words, they are less likely to be featured.
-Genre-wise, they are open to mainstream “literary” fiction as well as historical, SF, fantasy, noir/crime, erotica, surrealism, fairy tales, and experimental stuff that blurs the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction/essay/poetry/etc.
-Where a story is published has no bearing on whether or not the story is featured on the site. They are open to obscure journals.
-FictionFeed is always looking for new curators to share their favorite stories from online journals throughout the internet. They are particularly interested in people with a thing for genres, but anyone who wants to become a contributor is welcome.
-To become a curator, email FictionFeed at info@fictionfeed.net and simply ask. In your email give a description of yourself, what you like to read, what (if anything) you like to write, and whatever else you think they should know. Curators are unpaid.