(a Press 53 publication)
ISSUE 193, april — june 2021
Announcing . . .
Now Open for Entries
2022 Press 53 Award for Poetry
For an outstanding, unpublished poetry collection
Publication . $1,000 Advance . 50 Copies
Open April 1–July 31 . Details Here
Welcome to Issue 193 of Prime Number Magazine!
Here you will find recent winners of our free 53-Word Story Contest, and poetry selections by our guest poetry editor Meg Eden and short fiction selections by our guest short fiction editor Dennis McFadden. You’ll also meet our guest editors for Issue 199: Terri Kirby Erickson (poetry) and Dennis McFadden (short fiction).
Browse our selections for this issue by clicking on the photo or the title of the poem or story. Enjoy!
Winners of our FREE monthly 53-Word Story Contest
It's free, it's fun; the winner gets published in Prime Number Magazine and receives a free book from Press 53.
Get the new prompt for this month’s competition here.
Prompt for our winners below in parentheses: Write a 53-word story about (_____)
January 2021 (digits): “New and Improved” by Darcee A. Freier
February 2021 (a draft): “What She’s Having” by Rachel Jager
March 2021 (a fossil): “Underground Fugitive” by Ada Young
Guest Editors' Selections
Each issue, we ask our guest editors to select their favorite poems or stories from those submitted during our open submission period. Submissions are free and only accepted through Submittable. Here are the guest editors for Issue 193, April-June 2021 (submissions were open Oct-Dec 2020).
Guest Editor for Poetry
Meg Eden
Meg Eden is the author of Drowning in the Floating World, a collection of poems that immerses us into the Japanese natural disaster known as 3/11: the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Meg’s father has worked in Japan for more than half her life, so she considers Japan her second home. Her work is published in many magazines. She teaches creative writing at Anne Arundel Community College and the MA program at Southern New Hampshire University. She is the author of five poetry chapbooks and the novel Post-High School Reality Quest (2017). She runs the Magfest MAGES Library blog, which posts accessible academic articles about video games.
Guest Editor for Short Fiction
dennis mcfadden
Dennis McFadden grew up in Brookville, a small town in western Pennsylvania very much like the fictional Hartsgrove of Jimtown Road, winner of the 2016 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction. A graduate of Allegheny College and a retired project manager for the state of New York, he lives and writes in a cedar-shingled cottage called Summerhill in the woods of upstate New York. His stories have appeared in dozens of publications including The Best American Mystery Stories. His first short story collection, Hart’s Grove, was published by Colgate University Press in 2010. In 2018 he was awarded a Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony.
Meet Our Guest Editors for Issue 199,
October-December 2021
(Submissions are open now through May 31 at Submittable)
Terri Kirby Erickson
Guest Editor for Poetry
Dennis MCFadden
Guest Editor for Short Fiction
prime number
: any integer other than 0 or ± 1 that is not divisible without remainder by any other integers except ± 1 and ± the integer itself (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary)
In literature: poetry and prose that is distinctive and unique (Prime Number Magazine)
Prime Number Magazine is a Press 53 publication, founded by Clifford Garstang and Kevin Morgan Watson on July 17, 2010, beginning with Issue 2 and continuing in prime numbers.