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AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought, Vol. 5 

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AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought
(a project of Lazuli Literary Group)
​
Latest Issue (online quarterly):
​Volume 7, Issue 1

READ ONLINE QUARTERLY

otherworld realism
[uhth -er-wurld] [ree-uh-liz-uh m]
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noun

1. a style of literature devoted to intellectual and imaginative pursuits that point towards a potential, evolved reality.
2. a genre that represents the known, often mundane world in an elevated or defamiliarising way through the use of linguistic craft, innovative language, or experimental structure; contrast with magical realism, which integrates choice plot elements into a conventionally accepted reality.
3. art and literature that evokes the space before clarity in which one must navigate the logic of intuition and instinct, alongside the duplicity of fact.
4. an approach illuminating a psychic space of process; a space of ambiguity, silence, and internal struggle.
5. the pre-dawn.

Word Origin
2017; coined by Lazuli Literary Group; first appearing in AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought, Volume One. ​

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SUBMISSIONS OPEN:

Lazuli Literary Group Writing Contest (Summer 2023)

PRIZE:
​
$500
+
publication in AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought

Deadline: August 23, 2023
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See guidelines

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Support our community of writers by joining our mailing list and receiving our quarterly newsletter! This  is the best way to meaningfully (for free!) show our contributors that there are many gracious eyes out in the world reading their work. You will also receive news on LLG/AZURE occasionally that will keep you posted on our print publications.

Keeping intelligent and delightfully experimental literature afloat is very important to us and we appreciate your support! 
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Norms we seek to brazenly flout. Please help us!

Here's a bit about how we hope to conduct our particular enterprise:

Our social media reticence

We would like for people to come to know of us through word-of-mouth: the organic, individualized transmission of our journal from those who have been meaningfully affected by it to those who might be.

We heartily believe our writers are talented and the quality of their work is its own advertisement—if we at least did not think so, we certainly wouldn’t have published it.

• *You can help by discussing (in-person) or forwarding links (free!) to AZURE stories that either meant something profound to you or gave you a hearty chuckle. 
• *You can keep a print copy of AZURE on your coffee table for your guests to flip through and discuss on the spot. Perhaps you can meet for one Sunday morning every year to discuss the new volume over brunch & lattes…
• *If they strike you as worthy of thought, you can use AZURE stories for your workshops, classes, or book clubs. Almost all of our stories are available for free online.
• *If finances allow, we’d love for you to buy our print volumes, as we consider these our true art objects.
• *We humbly entreat you to subscribe to our newsletter. We don’t send too many emails, but this is a way of showing that you are part of our “circulation number” and provides us a silent nod of support. Simply put, it makes us feel really good that all our efforts are not being subsumed into a black hole.

Time stamps on journals

We purposely label our journal in numbered volumes ("Volume One," "Volume Two," etc.) instead of dated ones ("Summer 2016," for instance). We consider each volume its own lasting, with-any-luck-timeless book for which the publication date seems to us a mere formality. Thus, we don’t formally designate (even in terms of ISBNs or ISSNs) our work as a series, but rather as independent books.

Administrative burdens on submitters

We understand that it’s frustrating to create different headers, footers, and formatting for different journals, especially for submitters who are expending time on writing as a labor of love for little or no money. Send us the document in whatever style you have it—if it’s in a font that’s difficult to read, so be it. You can either put your name or not put your name in the header. Any sort of spacing is fine. Numerous industries benefit from courting those who can follow guidelines—this isn’t one of them. It all comes down to whether we enjoy the read!

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