November 2025 – Andrew Careaga

Friday Five: Z.H. Gill, editor of Burial Magazine

‘I want the fancies and the unclean to coexist at Burial because I like a lot of different kinds of writing.’

Content warning: strong language that some readers may find offensive.

On this, the day after Z.H. Gill‘s least favorite holiday (as he himself acknowledges), I am filled with gratitude to introduce you to Z.H., the founder and editor of a relatively new online literary journal, Burial Magazine.

Z.H. Gill

It’s been fewer than six months since Burial arrived on the literary scene like a thunderbolt hurled from Mount Olympus, erupting in a strange purple glow marked with white text of startling, brash, and often stunning, often unconventional prose and poetry. With its text-heavy, minimalist design and powerful writing, Burial is a distinctive niche in the world of online literary magazines.

When Z.H. isn’t working on Burial, Z.H. is working on his own writing and filmmaking. Based in East Hollywood, California, where he lives with Hans the Cat, Z.H.’s writing appears in X-R-A-Y, Minor Literature[s], Pithead Chapel, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and elsewhere.

Friday Five: inspirational quotes for writers and other humans

Are you stuck in a rut? Need some motivation and inspiration? Maybe this a great list of quotations from notable writers, artists, filmmakers, and others can help. This list comes from the good people at MoonLit Getaway literary magazine. Here are five of my favorites from that list (although I could have listed many more).

Don’t risk missing 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. Give this list a read.

Flashback fiction: ‘Lower Strata’

Revisiting a short story published a year ago today.

One year ago today, my short story “Lower Strata” was published by the literary magazine Spillwords.

This story was based on something I’d started about 25 years ago. It is influenced a bit by my years working in the restaurant business. Over the summer of 2024, I pulled it out of the dusty digital files and reworked it a few times before sending it to Spillwords.

Friday Five: grand openings

How powerful first lines can draw your reader into your story.

One lesson the professors at journalism school drilled into my head was the importance of crafting a compelling first paragraph (aka the lede in news parlance).

The opening paragraph is the most important element of your story. It must grab readers’ attention and get them to read more, so it must be finely crafted and honed to its sharpest possible point.

The same applies to more literary writing–whether a novel, a short story, or a creative nonfiction essay. These five opening sentences from some recent stories and essays do a good job of hooking the reader. Each example below comes from The Pushcart Prize XLIX: Best of the Small Presses 2025 Edition. And while there are other notable pieces I could have pulled from this anthology, I chose these five because they are great and because you can also read them online, for free.