Interview with Solum Literary Press

In this feature we interview Riley Bounds, the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Solum Literary Press.

Interested in submitting work? See the end of this interview for more details. Current Biola students have a special opportunity to submit until September 20, 2020.

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What inspired you to begin Solum Literary Press?

Riley Bounds: My poetry and short stories have appeared in a few secular journals over the years, and after reading some of them, my friend Bart Cruz suggested we start our own Christian literary journal since there’s so few out there compared to secular journals. Once we started seeing a lot of grassroots interest in Solum Journal, we decided to go a step further and become a full press.

What makes Solum different from other literary and art publications? Why do you desire to pursue that niche?

R: One of the primary goals of Solum is to marry the best current literature with the best current analytic philosophy. We hope to put literature and philosophy in conversation with each other, and — in addition — to bring spiritual formation to a literary audience. We hope we can help introduce spiritual formation, which is undergoing its own renaissance, to a wider audience through Solum.

In addition, the breadth of work we publish is quite wide compared to other journals. We primarily publish poetry, but also short stories, nonfiction and spiritual essays, analytic philosophy articles, homilies, and visual art. We’ve basically run the gamut of established literary art forms to give the widest possible swath of Christian artists a voice.

R: Our preferred styles and genres are pretty unique in the field. In short stories, we prefer the stylistic conventions of Southern Gothic, postmodern, experimental, and country noir or “grit lit.” For nonfiction and spiritual essays, we prefer both personal/spiritual narratives and more scholarly work in the vein of Dallas Willard, Henri Nouwen, John Coe, Steve Porter, and others. For philosophy, we prefer work dealing with philosophy of religion, theological aesthetics, philosophy of mind, and philosophical theology.

R: There are very few literary journals out there looking for work in these areas (particularly Southern Gothic and country noir, and the analytic philosophy and spiritual formation essays we prefer), and even fewer looking to bring literature, philosophy, and spiritual formation together in the same place.

Who are some authors, literary voices, or other publications who have helped or inspired you in forming Solum Literary Press? How?

R: We have been absolutely stunned by the amount of help we have received from fellow writers and editors. D. S. Martin has probably been one of the greatest aids to Solum. He reached out to us after seeing our feature in Submishmash Weekly, Submittable’s newsletter, and asked if we would like him to tell his friends about Solum. Since then, we have been inundated with high quality submissions from both established and emerging poets. It is hard to overstate how much he has helped us, and we are so grateful.  

R: Another great help for us has been Heart of Flesh Literary Journal. Their editor-in-chief, Veronica McDonald, mentioned us in her recent interview with Duotrope, and she’s personally been a great encouragement to us. 

R: Finally, the folks at Ekstasis Magazine have also been very helpful. They found us early on, and we’ve been in touch with them since opening. Some of my work has appeared there, too.  

R: We have many authorial influences. Among poets, we are influenced by Todd Copeland, Margaret Avison, St. John of the Cross, and T.S. Eliot. When it comes to prose, we find Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O’Connor, James Joyce, and William Faulkner inspiring. And our top philosophy influences include William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland, David Horner, and William Alston.

What’s been the biggest surprise for the Solum team as you’ve worked on founding the publication?

R: It was really providential that we started Solum when we did. We’ve entered into something of a renaissance in Christian literature, with many wonderful publications like The Cresset, The Windhover, FORMA, Consecrate, Amethyst Review, Saint Katherine Review, Lost Pen Magazine, Barren Magazine, Psaltery & Lyre, Relief Journal, Poems for Ephesians, and Parousia Magazine (among others) all publishing incredible work from a Christian spiritual perspective. Perhaps the biggest surprise for our team was our discovery of this wealth of fellow Christian journals and presses — many of them almost as young as Solum — when we thought we were entering the field totally alone.  

R: In addition, so many things showed God’s hand in our opening. For one, we were immediately inducted into the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (C.L.M.P.) upon applying, and they were kind enough to promote us on their Twitter page. As mentioned above, we were also promoted by Submittable. Within minutes of opening, we had submissions coming in, and within twenty-four hours we’d reached multiple submissions in every submission category. All of this ultimately led to thousands of unique visitors to our site, hundreds of submissions, and hundreds of followers on our social media pages, all within two and a half months of opening. For a journal with no prior name recognition or affiliations, that seemed astonishing to us, and it was through no real effort on our part. We were carried by God and the ways he worked through those around us to support and further our endeavor.

What does Solum Literary Press look for in submissions? Is there anything specific new writers who wish to submit should keep in mind?

R: Our submission deadline for Biola and Talbot students is September 20th, 2020. Please email all submissions in one document to info@solumpress.com with the type of submission in the subject line (e.g., “QUERY — POETRY”). Limit to seven poems, one short story, one nonfiction essay, one philosophy article, one homily, or five visual art files per submission. See our submission guidelines for more details.

R: We accept both unpublished material and reprints. Simultaneous submissions are welcome so long as we are notified as soon as a piece is accepted elsewhere. We try to elevate as many voices as we can, but we’ll only do so within the parameters we’ve prescribed. We strongly encourage you to consider our submission guidelines and preferred literary styles before submitting. For example, we’re not looking for high fantasy, political narratives, or Y.A. material. Besides that, our main criteria for publication are a working knowledge of the form, some level of interaction with theology or the Christian life, and an intuitable quality of authorial sincerity and humility.