Introducing Peremen Magazine

On Change, by Trygve Rasmussen

HELLO, FRIENDS & COMRADES

and welcome to our new print & digital magazine!

Without desiring to sound haughty, Peremen calls itself the magazine introducing change into the visual & literary arts. What do we mean by change, you, reader, may be wondering? Let us begin with a word. The word Peremen comes from the Russian—most memorably, the Soviet rock-band Kino’s song Peremen—and means ‘change’. Of course, few today could deny that Peremen—change—is much needed in all the art world, which has stagnated considerably, grown bored of itself, and thus has become far too internal, reactionary, and able to speak only to itself, rather than introduce any real change to the world, as it once used to. Peremen Magazine shall publish the artists—poets, essayists, painters, etc.—who are as interested as we are in introducing this change and who want to give a considerable blow, if not deliver defeat altogether, to all that is boring, indistinguishable, worn out, reactionary, and life-denying in the arts.

The chief consequence of this philosophy, so far as you, artist and reader, are concerned, is that we’re not interested in retellings or imitations of Shakespeare, footnotes to Emerson, or a reproduction of a painting by Klimt. We want artists willing to endeavour towards the heights of creativity and newness reached by Shakespeare, Emerson, and Klimt in their creative lives.

Our attitude is one which realises that there is a future as well as a past, but that the former is the one humanity is advancing towards, and that the latter offers us a great many examples of how we might begin to explore that future and change things up to such a point that no one shall any longer feel so frightened about it all that they feel they must run back towards the past, as no one in that past—Shakespeare, Emerson, or Klimt—thought even for a moment to do! We don’t want to wander frighteningly into a cave of the future, but carve out its top and shine our own lights into it!

THEME

The inaugural theme for the magazine is change. I suppose that you and I both suppose this is natural enough! After its inauguration, one ought to keep in mind that change will remain the sort of ethos, mood, or spirit of Peremen Magazine.

So far as both the theme and spirit of change goes, we do not talk only, in mentioning change, of the change we think of when our mind compares the typewriter with the laptop. We talk also of the very spirit of change within man’s spirit, which is that Promethean thing that causes him to always go forward rather than backward, to the complaint of all those people who wish him to stay as he is or regress. Certainly, friends, keep that in mind!

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As shall always be the case for the magazine, we don’t desire to assign a task so much as inspire through suggestion. So, no hints, friends… just a word: change. So long as you, too, are a friend, rather than enemy, of Peremen and all the good that comes therefrom, we shall probably find you agreeable, and we shall view your art from this height of agreement. If you are not a friend of change, but had rather humanity remain in the boring dark of stagnation . . . there are about one-million or so publications which you can submit to!

GENERAL NOTE ON CREATION

We are not, it must be said, in any manner opposed to ‘the weird’, ‘strange’, or call it what you might. Indeed, we are its friend and its comrade against what is stale, mediocre-but-traditional, or compliant with the philosophy of the day. After all, did not it seem strange to the Greek carving impressions of men to see the orthodox sculpture of Greece become refined and realistic; did not it strike the unnamed mediaeval craftsman-painter as mad that some people were introducing themselves as artists and giving the world a totally new art based on beauty rather than mere theological utility; and does not it seem strange to the tired, art-minded reactionary of today that someone would dare create something new, and thereby fulfill humanity’s greatest fate: that to introduce change into the world we have been given—that is, to re-light a flame where we no longer find it burning? If you have a flame in you and the will to ignite the world in order to introduce positive and necessary change to it, please submit your works, no matter how much shunning or praise they have hitherto been given!

A DIGITAL AND PRINT MAGAZINE

Successful submissions will be published digitally and in whatever volume, or issue, of the magazine is currently being prepared. The only works above this law are the winners of the Peremen Prize, which will be published exclusively in the print magazine alone.

THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE MAGAZINE

Each issue of Peremen Magazine will include works created in four different artistic mediums from two different branches—visual & literary. These are essay, verse, prose fiction, and visual art.

TWO BRANCHES, FOUR MEDIUMS

SHORT FICTION

Naturally, a magazine only has so much real estate in terms of pages, and so the fiction we should most like to publish is short but not so short or, more importantly, hasty, that it fails, to quote Poe in his The Poetic Principle, to produce a profound or enduring effect. Nevertheless, if, somehow, you manage to write a thing of 100 words which produces that profound and enduring effect, do not fear that it is too short for us, but submit it and let us see.

Your short fiction can be fun or filled with profundity, mysterious or straight-forward, or anything else you like, so long as it is written well, matches our theme, and is written by an author whose spirit and convictions regarding change are friendly to our own.¹

So far as word count goes, for now we are most interested in works below 2,000 words.

POETRY

Up to three poems can be submitted by any one artist.

Although it is an unorthodox request, we ask that if you submit more than one poem, they all be related to one another in some way, rather than totally separate. And, of course, the same thematic necessities apply as much for poetry, unique and personal a thing as it often is, as they do for any other medium published in Peremen.

Although Charlotte Balladine, herself a poet and, I must offer, a very genius one, is the editor of poetry, do not think it necessary, as is so often the case, to match her style or in some way emulate it. Just write your poetry in your own voice and with your own spirit and strength, for your chances of acceptance and publication shall be infinitely higher if it is written thus. Of course, this applies for all other mediums & both branches.

We would most like to read verse of 50 or less lines.

ESSAY

Brevity is preferred in the essay category, though not so much that thoroughness of thought or beauty of language are surrendered on account of concerns about mere word count. The thing which matters most to us, of course, in your essay, is how well you’ve written it. If something matches our theme in every conceivable manner but is lousily written, it shall be no better to the magazine than a beautifully written diatribe against Peremen. So, if you write well and can even just imagine writing something whose theme somehow corresponds with that of Peremen, do write it and submit it, whether social satire like that of Mencken, rather personal reflection like that of Montaigne, recalling the spirit of Red Alert Two, or anything else—just write it well, keep change in mind while writing it, and make sure reading it is exciting!

While we don’t desire to enforce a word count for the essay, it being so diverse a thing so far as arguments and so on goes, we should most like to receive essays between 1,000 and 3,000 words. If, however, your essay breaks out of this orbit a little, still submit it. Always keep in mind that Peremen is a magazine, though, and so can only accept so much.

Also please keep in mind, to quote Poe again, the danger of ‘undue brevity’, which so infects the essay of today. You shall please me to the core of my heart if you develop your essay past the aphorism stage of development, so that it is one coherent thing, rather than a collection of sentence-length paragraphs making no real argument and giving but little, if any, pleasure or means for reflection to the reader as its thoughts unfold before them.

VISUAL ART

In terms of what we are willing to accept in terms of visual art, we are not so restrictive.

The choice of whether you submit your visual art with or without a write up is entirely yours. However, if submitted without, it is likely that we will write a brief word about it for you. Fear not, however, for if we are so moved by it to print it, we shall surely have good things to say!

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Sketching, Painting, & Graphic Design

If you want to sketch something as calm as an Atlantic salmon, by all means, do so, so long as it fits the theme of Peremen and, I might offer, excites one in some manner upon being viewed, either by its freshness, vitality, or whatever else makes it unique and, thus, a weapon of change. If you want to submit us a painting, the same rule applies, as it does also for a graphic design made by you from computer, or any other visual art.

Photography

One ought to especially keep in mind, if submitting photography, that the manner in which something is captured is often what lends it its power and its beauty. After all, photography almost always captures something which, for some person, is mundane and every day. The genius of the photographer is often to make this everyday thing beautiful for all people—including the person who would otherwise regard it as everyday—and give it vitality no matter its mundanity or excitement to some—that is, not to level it but to universally raise it. Think, for example, of Sebastião Salgado and his scenes of an entrancingly wild and otherworldly nature which must have been an ordinary sight for some farmer’s son or other. Think also of Robert Capa and war-photography. Even shocking scenes of war, for someone—for example, some hardened and begrimed twenty-some year old surrounded by the destruction of Europe by bombing and shooting and fire—are an everyday occurrence. In both cases, there are photographers who can capture what these people see every day, show it to them, and shock them thereby, by having created from their everyday life something so foreign to them, thanks to its mystical and powerful nature. So, focus not on how rare the subject of your photograph is—although, do not exclude something from our eyes for suffering an excess, in the common eye, of rarity!—but how rarely you’ve captured it and how you’ve managed to give it power!

If you can be so bold to, we would especially encourage you to include a write up with your photograph explaining why your photograph is of the spirit of Peremen. Keep also in mind the literary nature of this write up, for we shall also publish it if we find it well.

CONTEST!

Do you want to GET RICH QUICK?! There are, to be sure, worse ways to start than with fifty dollars in your bank account. It so happens that you can win those named fifty dollars by being selected as the creator of the best essay, short fiction, poem, or visual art. So, there are four prizes available, altogether, although one can only be afforded the Peremen Prize once per issue.

SUBMISSIONS

Submissions will be open till we have enough works to publish our first volume, which will appear digitally and in print. So, if you are a friend of Change!, submit your work at once to peremenpressandmagazine at gmail . com

DISCLAIMER (necessary enough)

The views of any contributor to Peremen Magazine, whether expressed in Peremen Magazine or anywhere else, do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of Peremen Magazine or those of any fellow contributors to Peremen Magazine.

1. We don’t want anyone to fake it!