Downstate Story 2010 is available and already generated a newspaper story

PEORIA -- Read the inside story on Downstate Story, Peoria's literary magazine, now in its 19th year.

It's in the Dec. 13 issue of the Pekin Times. 

Vol 19 is now available.  Here's the news release:

 

Ten new short stories by Illinois and Midwestern writers, illustrated with original art, are featured in the 2010 edition of Downstate Story, Peoria's only literary magazine.

            The downstate Illinois writers in this issue are Pepper Bauer of Mapleton; Connie Stepe of East Peoria, Dennis Shannon of Morton,  and Don Axt, Jessica Frasca and Norman Kelly, all of Peoria.  

            Illustrations are by Ed Levene of Peoria and Amy Frasca of Champaign. Other writers are Marie Anderson of LaGrange; Robert Herzog of New York, NY; Richard Holinger of Geneva, Il., and Kelly Robinson of Evansville, Ind.

            Published by Downstate Story, Inc., an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, the magazine aims to present original fiction by Illinois writers and writers with ties to Illinois and the Midwest as a quality alternative to today's mass-market publishing.  It costs $10 and is available at bookstores and gift shops, or can be ordered from the publisher or website.

            The publication makes an interesting gift from the region, and is easily mailed.

 

To buy it, visit the website, www.wiu.edu/users/mfgeh/dss -- where there's a handy mail-in coupon and a list of retail stores that carry it.

In this internet age it remains a print publication -- so you can mail it to non-computer friends or carry it in a pocket on a trip or to a waiting room. 

  More information:    

 

      DOWNSTATE STORY,   Vol. 19,   THE FACTS

 

1.  Limited edition. Probable collector's item. Original art.  

2.  Politically correct.  Contributors paid for their work.  No government funds used.  Union printer.

3.  Something for everyone.  Stories reflect diversity of authors, and include romance, horror, fantasy, mainstream fiction.

4.  Promotes quality reading.  Content  realistic but not X-rated.

5.  Promotes Illinois and Midwestern writers and artists.

6.  Unusual concept for the arts.  Provides outlet for local writers and artists to reach

local audiences.

7.  Original work.  None ever published before.

8.  Quality work.  Stories and art comparable to work in Harpers,  Atlantic, The New Yorker.

9. No poetry. -30-

 

-- Elaine Hopkins