browse the 42opus archives

Average bakery sales per day

Any year, there are over 6,000 retail bakeries across the United States totaling to over $3,000,000,000 in sales combined. This company is averaging around $450,000 each as its total sales per bakery. The biggest corporations generate 75% of this $3...

art

32 masterpieces

In the beginning 42opus ran original art alongside the writing; we were especially interested in digital art: pieces created either entirely through a computer or heavily manipulated on a computer after traditional origins. However, we haven't published any new works of art since Vol. 3, No. 1 (March 2003).

authors

532 writers

Browse the full alphabetical list of contributors.

classics

142 oldies

The focus of 42opus is new writing, but we like to revisit classic work as well. Some of these pieces were selected for their timely relevance to holidays, some were selected to run nearby similar new work, but most were selected just because they're good. Includes: fiction, nonfiction, poetry.

editors' select

55 favorites

Begin here. If you're browsing 42opus for the first time, start with the Editors' Select. These are our favorites. Many of them have won awards and recognition elsewhere; all of them should have. New Editors' Select are added at a rate of one story and two poems every three months. Nonfiction is added sporadically. We love this little collection and hope you will, too. Includes: fiction, nonfiction, poetry.

fiction

133 tales

You know—exposition, character, dialogue, narrative arc… We haven't received as much fiction as we've wanted in the past so now we're almost begging for it: do you write short stories? Send us some. Includes work filed under short story, fiction, flash fiction, classic, among other labels.

nonfiction

46 articles

Not entirely made up, so far as we know… Includes work filed under letter, classic, review, essay, letter from the editor, poetry, review of poetry, poetic theory, travel writing, among other labels.

quarterly issues

37 issues

Nowadays, new work is added to 42opus a few times a week, but once we published four times a year. Issue numbers continue for the sake of organizational and archival cleanliness. List all issues or go to the contents of the latest issue.

poetry

732 poems

Written in verse rather than prose? Showcasing an intensity or beauty of language more characteristic of the traditions of verse than of prose? Includes work filed under prose poem, classic, among other labels.