Sunsets and Silencers

Founder and Editor of Opium Magazine, Todd Zuniga, agreed to an interview (with us!), discussing his successful literary endeavors, from the live-reading series and the literary death match, to the nature of Opium's online and print versions. The theme was literary and online magazines and Opium's place aside others contributing to the ever-changing literary media culture today. Enjoy!

Q: What kind of reader is Opium produced for? In other words, what is
your vision of the perfect audience for the journal?

I think Opium's built for people that love being surprised in a way that doesn't make them laugh, exactly, but sends their synapses into a light, connecting frenzy so they feel a rush of dopamine. We love stories that surprise, and love people that love stories that surprise.


Q: What percentage of the submissions you receive in poetry and fiction
actually get published in the journal?

Our online site has, lately, turned into a showcase of our contest stories that didn't make the finalists (or go on to win) since so many of them are so good, and promoting our different events.

So that makes it a bit tougher to break in (but I'd say about 10% of what we're sent). And the magazine takes about 5% of what we're sent.


Q: Opium seems to be very aware of how literary art is interacting with other visual media. What do you see as the relationship between the visual and language arts? Do you think more literary journals should work to integrate their visual work with the writing they publish?

This is a big question, and tonight in Brooklyn I'm doing a presentation on "The Future of Reading," which will cover bits and pieces of this question. Also, I launched a site on Jan. 1--EatPizzaintheShower.com--which is my way of combining visuals and text without having to write a story I'd edit sixteen thousand times before I felt it was ready. Anyway, our goal at Opium is to get people to read the magazine, and I think it's arrogant, nowadays, to expect people to want to open a literary magazine and read a page full of text-only just because the editors and designers of that magazine think they should. We want to continually invite, invite, invite people to read. For us, it's all about entry points: our estimated reading times lure people, our visuals do, and we create our titles in a curious font, which I hope helps, as well.


Q: Do you think writers should collaborate more with other artists? What are some of the benefits of this collaboration, in your opinion?

Yes. Definitely. Especially in terms of creating stories for the web with interactive or artistic elements. But that's a lot of work, and writing is enough work on its own. I still believe writers should write first, and worry about the other stuff after. But once they feel like they've accomplished certain personal goals (completing a collection-sized manuscript? a novel? getting an agent?), collaboration will only help them open up the ideas they already have, and advance ideas they don't know they have yet.

Q: Opium does podcasts, cartoons, live readings. Where do you see Opium going next?

The problem with me answering this question is that if I take a swing at answering, it would ignite all kinds of new projects, so it's risky. For now, we're very keen on turning the Literary Death Match into a global reading series (we're doing it in Beijing on the 15th of March, and in London and Paris in September, along with LA, Denver, NYC, SF, Boston, Chicago and beyond this year), evolving the print magazine so it continues to surprise people, finding a hardcore designer on the cheap that can bring our website to something we're not just really proud of, but excites people, and launching of two long-promised sites: OpiumLive.com (based on our new Opium Live interview series), and launching OpiumStudio.com, a cartoon and art gallery that's coming this year. (I'm attaching our About Opium thing to explain some of this stuff, too).



Q: What would you recommend to young writers who are looking to publish in your journal?

Read, read, read. Write, write, write. Send us your very best. I think younger writers think, I wrote a great story, so now I'll go down the list of major story publishers, and put The New Yorker and Atlantic at the top. Don't bother. The top should be McSweeney's and One Story (because they pay, and are great, and open to new work), after that I'd put Opium and a handful of others right at the top (Hobart, Canteen, New York Tyrant, Hayden's Ferry Review, though I hope I'm not making enemies by listing so few). Beyond that, take a chance with your next story, and send us that one. If it doesn't dazzle by sentence two, we're already bored, and expect our readers might be, too.

Q: What do you want people to know about Opium?

We have big plans, but we--like everyone concerned, literary or artistic--are at risk of going away (STORY Magazine, my all-time favorite, went away in 2000, which saddened me greatly). Subscribing to us is a way to encourage our continuation. Also, the contests we run serve to support us, and I love all three of them--they rotate--because they inspire new work: our 500-Word Memoir Contest, our 250-Word Bookmark Contest and our Shya Scanlon 7-Line Story Contest.

Q: Any advice for Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary?

Opium's about to be a 501(c)(3), so save your soul, Tim, and donate! Or sneak us an NEA Grant. If so, we'll pay for your next haircut.

Q: Plane? Train? Automobile?

I whip around the world as often as I can--just finished a book about it called PASSPORT. So, plane. Haste means more time once you're there.

Q: Favorite video game? Old? New?

Ico on PS2. Flower on PS3. And I'd say, now-gen, I'm an Xbox 360 guy.

Q: Least favorite word?

Dumpy.