Let’s say you’re a young (blue-eyed, snotty, snarky) writer who just doesn’t bloody write like this or this, for example (not that you don’t have tremendous respect and admiration for people who do). Your education cost nearly $200,000, and you realize that you still have no idea what post-modern means, aside from the fact that it probably means Not You.
Nevertheless, you’ve a pile of short stories on your desk (or desktop, as the case may be), and all of them are looking for a home. None of them are sci fi or romance or anything genre-specific. Most of them do not suck.
Where would you submit them? You’ve looked at Adirondack Review and McSweeney’s (duh), but you’re not sure about anything, and you’re also really bloody stressed out (because you’re moving really bloody far next month), and you need help.
So… Help?
Natalia A. 
Dear natalia. I have no idea…. Can you publish them in a volume? I’m hopeless. On another subject… Where are you moving to – back to Kyiv or just elsewhere in the States?
Dubai, actually. Well, if everything goes according to plan.
Wow, Dubai. I have a couple of friends here who have moved from the Emirates (Dubai and Abu Dhabi) to here. In winter. Imagine the difference. Anyway, good luck with the preps – moving freakin’ sucks. To put it eloquently.
Cant help but- I can relate. Dubai is not so bad to live in, comparatively speaking. Good luck.
Hi, Natalia, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about publishing short stories, and have no specific recommendations, but don’t people often start off by publishing in less prestigious venues? You can submit them to McSweeney’s or wherever, but it’s probably highly unlikely they’ll accept them. Not a reflection on the quality of your work, just the reality of trying to publish in extremely competitive journals. But if you publish a few stories in second tier publications, you can start to build a reputation (or something), and I imagine — though, again, I can say nothing from actual experience– that it becomes easier to publish the more you’ve already done it. It probably also makes it easier to get a collection published. Sorry I can’t be of much help.
Meanwhile, good luck with the move. No taxes, right?
I think you’re absolutely right. I think I’ve had a hard time finding a small journal that’s a right “fit,” more than anything.
No taxes, yeah, but I’ll probably be stuck in Ukraine until the end of the summer. It may be a good opportunity to finish some ongoing writing projects and bond with the fam, though.
No harm in submitting them to the top-tiers, is there? Do it. Why aim low?
Moving to Dubai, oy vey…
Came back to say, I read about half of the first story you linked to and you write better (he’s not even in the same league) — take it from a former literature grad student.