top of page
All My Stories
All Posts
Whereabouts Book Review
by Vidya Hariharan Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel Whereabouts (2018) explores a haunting sense of ‘homelessness.’ It was originally written by Lahiri in Italian and later translated by her own hand into English. Lahiri is a Bengali writer raised in the U.S.A. by Bengali immigrant parents, and in 2012 she relocated to Italy. Neither English nor Italian are her primary languages or mother tongue. However, she is at home in both languages. In this novel, homelessness is understood as a
Vidya Hariharan
Apr 12
The Radiant Dark Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 4.5/5 stars ★★★★⯪ The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva (to be published April 2026) is a generational story of mother-and-daughterhood that starts with Carol in 1980 as she holds her first days-old child when a message is intercepted from Ross 128b, an exoplanet 11 light-years away in another galaxy. She raises her two children in the shadow of the Rossians and of the back-and-forth messages between Earth and Ross 128b. Her daughter, Rosanna, is so inspired
Catalina Bonati
Mar 22
Mother is Watching Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2.75/5 stars ★★★☆☆ Mother is Watching by Karma Brown (to be published March 2026) is a literary sci-fi horror novel which focuses on Mathilde, or Tilly, and her art conservation job. In the near future, she receives the opportunity to restore the last artwork of a deceased artist named Charlotte Leclerc who used human body and insect parts as part of her paintings. However, as she becomes pregnant and becomes part of the MotherWise organization, the paintin
Catalina Bonati
Mar 15
We Call Them Witches Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.75/ 5 stars ★★★⯪☆ We Call Them Witches by India Rose-Bower (to be published April 2026) is an apocalyptic folk horror tale centering around Sara, a young 17-year-old with a large family of three younger siblings, an older sibling and their wife, and a mother. They move around the country in search ground that is safe from witches, which seem to be primordial monsters taking the shape of the surrounding landscape who attack and dismember humans for consum
Catalina Bonati
Mar 5
Refugium Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.75/5 stars ★★★⯪☆ Refugium by Eric Nicholas (2025) is a novel set in the Pleistocene, where several different types of pre-humans co-habitate as they take refuge from the Toba super-eruption aftermath in Sumatra. Set in an unspecified area of lower Asia, an Homo Erectus named Last is the lowest-ranking person in the tribe who must make do with scraps but who is sustained by the love of his little brother. The Erectus tribe is beset by a tribe of Homo Deni
Catalina Bonati
Jan 5
The Cold Visitor Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.75/5 stars ★★★⯪☆ Jonathan Butcher’s The Cold Visitor (published October 4, 2025) is a haunted house and cosmic horror novel that centers on the marriage of Sally and Herbert, who have reached their twilight years and now live in the retirement village of Heaven’s Sent. Sally comes from an accursed family who every half a century must complete a gruesome ritual in order to keep a demonic cosmic monster at bay, and the time has now come for the ritual to be
Catalina Bonati
Nov 16, 2025
Willow Rose Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.25/ 5 stars ★★★☆☆ Willow Rose by M. Kevin Hayden (to be published October 28 2025) is a short novel of...
Catalina Bonati
Aug 26, 2025
Eminence Front Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.25/5 stars ★★★☆☆ Eminence Front by Rebecca Rowland (to be published January 20, 2026) is a psychological horror...
Catalina Bonati
Aug 25, 2025
The Midnight Muse Review
by Catalina Bonati 3/5 stars The Midnight Muse by Jo Kaplan (to be published March 10 2026) is a mushroom horror and body horror novel...
Catalina Bonati
Aug 13, 2025
The Glowing Hours Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2.25/5 stars The Glowing Hours by Leila Siddiqui (to be published in 2026) is a paranormal historical story that...
Catalina Bonati
Jul 28, 2025
The Cut Line Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3/5 stars The Cut Line by Carolina Pihelgas (out in February 2026) is the English translated version of Lõikejoon,...
Catalina Bonati
Jul 27, 2025
The Living Sea of Waking Dreams Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3/5 stars Richard Flanagan’s The Living Sea of Waking Dreams (2020) is about three adult siblings whose mother is on...
Catalina Bonati
Jul 22, 2025
Linghun Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.5/5 stars Linghun by Ai Jiang (2023) is a short novella of light paranormal horror. Wenqi and her family have moved...
Catalina Bonati
Jul 14, 2025
Asa: The Girl Who Turned into a Pair of Chopsticks Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.75/5 stars Asa: The Girl Who Turned into a Pair of Chopsticks by Natsuko Imamura (2024) is a collection of three...
Catalina Bonati
Jul 8, 2025
Safe Ground Book Review
by Setareh Ebrahimi Safe Ground was published this year, by a well-established woman of many talents, Rosie Johnston. Rosie is a poet...
Setareh Ebrahimi
Jun 24, 2025
The Ruby Demon Book Review
by Catalina Bonati The Ruby Demon: A Western Horror by Oscar O’Rourke is Western story in which Jack, a teenager, is on the trail with...
Catalina Bonati
Jun 1, 2025
Gun Island Book Review
by Vidya Hariharan Amitav Ghosh’s 2019 novel Gun Island (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) explores the concept of threshold space and...
Vidya Hariharan
May 18, 2025
Incandescence Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 4/5 stars Incandescence (2022) by Mehreen Ahmed is a story encompassing several interconnected forbidden love stories...
Catalina Bonati
May 1, 2025
I'm Afraid of Men Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 4.75/5 stars I’m Afraid of Men (2018) by Vivek Shraya is a non-fiction creative essay that details parts of her life...
Catalina Bonati
Apr 24, 2025
And Shall Machines Surrender Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2.75/5 stars And Shall Machines Surrender (2019) by Benjanun Sriduangkaew is a short hard science fiction novel about...
Catalina Bonati
Apr 15, 2025
Articles
The Morning It Started
by Elizabeta Žargi That summer I was travelling through Europe on an Interrail ticket — a month of trains and no fixed schedule beyond a language course waiting in Ljubljana. I had already spent a week in Malmö, made a delayed stop in Hamburg after sleeping through it once, then gone down to Geneva to visit Milena. Eventually I returned to Vienna, where I was staying with Gregor and Sandy. They were also planning to attend the course in Slovenia. I was meant to leave on the 2
Elizabeta Žargi
Apr 5
Dreaming of Kalbarri
by Meredith Stephens “Wake up! If we don’t get going now it will be too hot!” urged my fiance Alex. I couldn’t understand why we had to leave for Kalbarri National Park at 5:30am in darkness. Was it really going to get that hot? We quickly arose and headed to the car for the long drive. By the time we arrived, the day was breaking and we were among the first tourists to arrive at the famed Nature’s Window. We made our way along the trail to the window where international tour
Meredith Stephens
Nov 2, 2025
Between Two Skies: An Egyptian Heart in Albany
by Walid Abdallah When I first arrived in Albany, New York, in the winter of 2014, I felt as if I had stepped into a painting. The air...
Walid Abdallah
Oct 13, 2025
Reviews
Whereabouts Book Review
by Vidya Hariharan Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel Whereabouts (2018) explores a haunting sense of ‘homelessness.’ It was originally written by Lahiri in Italian and later translated by her own hand into English. Lahiri is a Bengali writer raised in the U.S.A. by Bengali immigrant parents, and in 2012 she relocated to Italy. Neither English nor Italian are her primary languages or mother tongue. However, she is at home in both languages. In this novel, homelessness is understood as a
Vidya Hariharan
Apr 12
The Radiant Dark Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 4.5/5 stars ★★★★⯪ The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva (to be published April 2026) is a generational story of mother-and-daughterhood that starts with Carol in 1980 as she holds her first days-old child when a message is intercepted from Ross 128b, an exoplanet 11 light-years away in another galaxy. She raises her two children in the shadow of the Rossians and of the back-and-forth messages between Earth and Ross 128b. Her daughter, Rosanna, is so inspired
Catalina Bonati
Mar 22
Mother is Watching Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2.75/5 stars ★★★☆☆ Mother is Watching by Karma Brown (to be published March 2026) is a literary sci-fi horror novel which focuses on Mathilde, or Tilly, and her art conservation job. In the near future, she receives the opportunity to restore the last artwork of a deceased artist named Charlotte Leclerc who used human body and insect parts as part of her paintings. However, as she becomes pregnant and becomes part of the MotherWise organization, the paintin
Catalina Bonati
Mar 15
Short Stories
Summoning Up Bella
by Peter Newall Why the silverfish had to eat the only photograph I had of Bella I didn’t know. When I considered all the books and papers stuffed into shelves and cupboards throughout this old house, most of which don’t matter at all, it seemed grossly unfair that they had chosen this particular photograph. It was a head and shoulders shot of Bella. She was posing rather archly with a camellia tucked behind one ear, looking up at the camera with her thick blonde hair sprea
Peter Newall
7 days ago
Heirloom of the Wilting Jacaranda
by Maekawa Kirin You know… Grandpa Nathe was quite the tease. I can still recall those episodes vividly, in the same way this green tea paints itself in my mind from its lingering taste. Mostly bitter, but one I can stand behind. The peak of my frustrations toward him occurred at my graduation in the late spring of 2005. That day, the rain poured buckets, yet it was merely a gentle murmur compared to the thunder that erupted when Grandpa Nathe accompanied me on stage. I mean,
Maekawa Kirin
Mar 10
The Moon as Her Mother
by Hira Amir It all started the day when a team of doctors, wearing masks and lab coats, from the Institute of Animal Health came to their part of the village to announce the development of the new vaccine that fights various cattle diseases. All the village cows were to be injected immediately, the senior doctor said, no emotion behind his eyes; it is a government order. They had prepared in advance for the collective rebellion from the villagers. “We’re not letting these go
Hira Amir
Feb 26
Poetry
When Dad Was a Boy He Ate Rye Bread
by Lois Villemaire Buttered pumpernickel, bagels with cream cheese and lox. At the home of a friend he discovered white bread so delicious, he declared it tasted like cake. Mom did the daily cooking, cut up apples and oranges for snacks but on Saturday mornings to our delight, Dad might heat up a skillet of nova, eggs, and onions. Sundays afternoons he assembled sandwiches of lettuce, thinly sliced tomatoes, and cucumber on toast with mayo. He was a fan of Wheaties and ba
Lois Villemaire
2 days ago
Two Poems by Darrell Petska
by Darrell Petska Citified Is it need, or nostalgia, that sends a citified country kid harking back to memories molded of furrowed soil, mooing cattle and sun swept hayfields? Bucolic images slowly fade to a city’s concrete realities and passing throngs warned to keep off the grass, form single lines, keep right, or go one-way but whiffs of freshly mown hay or the plaints of newborn calves send a country-bred townie bruised by steel and stone, noise and foment back to t
Darrell Petska
5 days ago
Hammer
by Aidan Bernales Smirnoff piss in the face of Jesus Christ Leapt over in our pursuit of rundown rooms That bear no windows. We know to winnow The sheets upon the kiss of the lock and the key Or kiss our bedbug-bitten end. Ah, this city! Graffiti litanies line its fences. How they beckon me, Like the early-morning tsupers or those nocturnal Prostitutes who whistle for you. Birdsongs, I call them. And you’re quite raring to bargain, aren’t you? Strike up a conversation with th
Aidan Bernales
Apr 9
Art & Photography
Submission Guidelines
-
We do not publish homophobic, transphobic, racist, or misogynist works of any kind.
-
If the piece you wish to submit has italics or an image attached, please email us your submission at ultramarineliteraryreview@gmail.com rather than using the submission form.
-
Art and photography must be uploaded to an email and must NOT be shared as a Google Drive document.
-
Prose must be less than 3,000 words.
-
Poetry must be less than 3 pages, single-spaced.
-
We respond to submissions within the span of two weeks.
Submissions
Contact
Terms and Agreements
By clicking on the SUBMIT button, you are agreeing to the following terms:
a) The submission is an original work that has not been previously published.
b) You have obtained permissions by the third party involved if the submitted work contains intellectual property not attributed to your authorship.
c) By submitting, you guarantee you hold the rights to the work, and you grant Ultramarine Literary Review the rights to publish the submitted work. After publication, rights revert to the author.
d) Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but the author must let us know if their work has been accepted elsewhere prior to publication.
e) Submitted articles, reviews, and short prose fiction less than 1,000 words will be translated from English-Spanish of Spanish-English by Wix Translation AI along with manual translation by the editor. The author has the right to approve or deny translation.
f) Poems will not be translated unless the author supplies their human-written translation.
bottom of page