Baring the Device: Ethics in Publishing

The Gravity of the Thing’s editors have compiled a brief list of articles that relate to ethical practices in literary publishing. Here are a few ways writers, editors, and publishers are critically analyzing literary craft and publishing processes.

Sweet Cherries | Zdravka Evtimova

"Theo watched the thin, long thread of a woman. The more he studied her face, the more he suspected she was not all there. The most amazing thing about her was her appetite. She constantly ate..."

The Shadow of Dorothea Politis | Maria Kassandrou

"The figure distorts and changes size according to the position of the lamp in relation to a particular spot on the floor, close to the far left corner of the room, where there should be a woman sitting. But there is nobody there..."

In Exchange | Chelsea Utecht

"...the rumors of the crone were whispered on the periphery of my life. It was a sharp intake of breath, my mother then too tired and weak to cry out, that pushed me past hope and into desperation..."

Untitled Poem | Mykyta Ryzhykh

"Buried under the grass is a home for worms and insects / The buried has no room for error..." Mykyta Ryzhykh publishes internationally in both Ukrainian and English.

Paradoxes, Borders, and Tragedies | Lillie E. Franks

"The prison warden says to the prisoner, 'You will be executed sometime during the next week. It will be on a day you do not expect.' The prisoner concludes that they cannot be executed on the last day of the week, or they would expect it..."

Prom | Sam Leuenberger

"the setting sun scribbles reddish equations on your back / and even though it's probably impossible to lock eyes with the divine / the littlest things do."