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On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides Vol. 1 Review
by Catalina Bonati 4/5 stars ★★★★☆ On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides Vol. 1 (to be published August 2026) by Marina Lisa Komiya and translated to English by Diana Taylor is a Japanese post-war manga that focuses on the lives of Haru and Yori, two lovers who have been parted by the war and try their hardest to come to terms with their separation and continue with life in war-torn Japan as best they can. The manga starts with a preface by the author which is
Catalina Bonati
Jul 14
Agnes, We're Not Murderers! Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2/5 stars ★★☆☆☆ Agnes, We’re Not Murderers! by Jessica Alexander (to be published June 16, 2026) is a short, experimental novel about the spectre of Mary and her haunting of Agnes, a manor, a convent, and an inn. It takes place in an ambiguous Gothic European setting. The book is written in an experimental form that takes its inspiration from Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. Some of the text is written in red rather than black, and there are footnotes
Catalina Bonati
May 14
The Story Eaters of Yamm Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2.5/ 5 stars ★ ★ ⯪ ☆ ☆ The Story Eaters of Yamm by Kevin Hincker (to be published 17 June 2026) tells the story of Larry Palczewski, a struggling science fiction writer living at home with his mother. Larry becomes involved with Sky Company, a business urgently hiring science fiction writers to address imagined scenarios of alien invasion. He becomes the leader of the Alien Invasion Cohort, and their inanity provides humor for most of the story. At home, hi
Catalina Bonati
May 12
Our Sister's Keeper Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2.75/5 stars ★★★☆☆ Our Sister’s Keeper by Jasmine Holmes (to be published June 9, 2026) is the story of Thea, who moves with her husband Kid to the prosperous all-Black town of East Cobb, Mississippi, where hauntings, called “groanings”, pursue only the women of the burg. At the same time, Marah works as one of the town’s “carriers,” which is a woman who has been denoted to experience men’s burdens and to take them on as her own, relieving the men of trauma
Catalina Bonati
May 7
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
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
Letter 26 Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2.5/5 stars ★★⯪☆☆ Jacob Moon’s Letter 26 (2024) is a thriller that centers around Abby, a dietitian who is abducted by a serial killer who is focused on collecting corpses from women whose first letter of their jobs eventually make up the whole alphabet. Detectives Randall and Tan are on the trail of the elusive PK (Profession Killer) and must find Abby before her time runs out. The strength of this book lies in its truly disturbing ambiance and in the kill
Catalina Bonati
Dec 11, 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 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
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
On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides Vol. 1 Review
by Catalina Bonati 4/5 stars ★★★★☆ On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides Vol. 1 (to be published August 2026) by Marina Lisa Komiya and translated to English by Diana Taylor is a Japanese post-war manga that focuses on the lives of Haru and Yori, two lovers who have been parted by the war and try their hardest to come to terms with their separation and continue with life in war-torn Japan as best they can. The manga starts with a preface by the author which is
Catalina Bonati
Jul 14
Stress in Plants: The Hidden Half Book Review
by Catalina Bonati Stress in Plants: The Hidden Half (2023) edited by Rishikesh Upadhyay is a non-fiction anthology of shortened scientific papers or essays that revolve around biotic and abiotic stresses of plants and their effects on the plant itself as well as agriculture and environment. This book is not for the casual non-fiction reader. Specialized knowledge is required to understand these essays and as a layman, one must google most things. It starts with an introducto
Catalina Bonati
Jul 8
Agnes, We're Not Murderers! Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2/5 stars ★★☆☆☆ Agnes, We’re Not Murderers! by Jessica Alexander (to be published June 16, 2026) is a short, experimental novel about the spectre of Mary and her haunting of Agnes, a manor, a convent, and an inn. It takes place in an ambiguous Gothic European setting. The book is written in an experimental form that takes its inspiration from Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. Some of the text is written in red rather than black, and there are footnotes
Catalina Bonati
May 14
Short Stories
The Perfect Fit
by Malkeet Kaur Had Alina scrolled to the end of the agreement, she might have paused at the phrase “lifetime strategic partnership,” puzzled by how it echoed a job offer more than a love story. But she hadn’t scrolled. She was too mesmerised by the glass sneaker to notice anything else. The glass sneaker arrived nestled in a velvet-lined biometric case, escorted by two silent security officers in immaculate suits. Adrian Vale hovered behind them, tech investor and real estat
Malkeet Kaur
4 days ago
Funnel
by Erin Jamieson I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be inside of a tornado. Unlike the minor earthquake here a few years ago, most of the time, you know a tornado is coming. You watch meteorologists tracing it as it gathers speed. The sky becomes strangely quiet. I’ve heard the air even tastes different. You know it’s coming, and you can’t look away. With my mom, it was like that. I should’ve known better. You’d think someone obsessed with storm tracking could have
Erin Jamieson
Jul 23
Artificial Elvis
by Kimberly Moore A cruel coincidence caused this moment in which Hunter stood between the bathroom door and his bedroom entrance, cornered by his stepfather, Cal. Hunter was moving toward the bathroom where he was preparing for his late-afternoon gig, and Cal was leaving the bathroom on his way to work. Hunter crossed his arms. “If they’re serious, they can postpone this interview.” “Why should they postpone for you, when I had to pull strings to get you in?” Hunter’s stepfa
Kimberly Moore
Jul 5
Poetry
Bar Quiz
by Paul Bavister We formed a team for the quiz that played to our strengths: geography, politics and film. We called out to the quizmaster, who shuffled his papers under a slow-turning fan. Then he started: Who is having an affair with who? Who is secretly in love with who? Why have things grown cold between you? At first we laughed, but when we saw the empty sheet on the table in front of us, we started filling out the answers, and this sudden honesty was a quiet, outward br
Paul Bavister
2 days ago
Inner City Blues
by Kirsty Niven If we leave the windows open at night, we can hear the chaos of the city playing out like the sea captured in a seashell. The wash of the cars on gushing roads, the serenading of un-spayed cats— drunken cackles a jazz style percussion. Saturday’s soundscape skips like vinyl, silence interrupted with each party’s end. Arguments float upwards, helium balloons, until each overinflated ego pops explosively. Gotham grunge trickling down the drains, until shop shutt
Kirsty Niven
3 days ago
After the Sirens
by Malkeet Kaur Sirens flare, slicing the morning open, their wail flooding the city. Metal throats spill grief, red lights bleeding across windows and skin. We watch how quickly life slips away, no warning, no reason. The newspaper arrives, thin and useless, headlines failing to explain. Names printed in tight columns, too small to hold the weight of what we’ve lost. The sirens bloom again across the sky. A child scuffs his shoe through dust, the playground empty, swings sti
Malkeet Kaur
6 days ago
Art & Photography
Submission Guidelines
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We do not publish homophobic, transphobic, racist, or misogynist works of any kind.
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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.
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Art and photography must be uploaded to an email and must NOT be shared as a Google Drive document.
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Prose must be less than 3,000 words.
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Poetry must be less than 3 pages, single-spaced.
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We respond to submissions within the span of two weeks.
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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.
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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.
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