Red Fez Publications was founded in 2002 by author Leopold McGinnis (with the vital support of his writing group: David McGinnis, Joan Hoekstra, Rita Simpson & Louisa Sunstrum) out of frustration with the myopic, status-quo/academic complex driven lit-industry. It was originally intended to be mostly a site for fiction. In these poetry laden days, we laugh at such sentiments!

It’s main goal is to bring light to underground and under-recognized writers and writing. Another major goal was to harness the dark powers of the internet to provide a more personal way of looking at writing – and so we’ve categorized our ‘journal’ in database style, so readers can search for work in their interest area – from mystery to sex to subversion. If you haven’t already, check out the poem dervish, too! We aren't obsessed with copyright either. Of course, you can't plaigerize or make money off of our work...but you can feel free to print out, download or share our stories with your friends. It is also hoped that readers who enjoy the works they read here will print them off and read them somewhere, mail them to their friends.

We have purposefully adopted a databased styled format so that we don’t get into the ‘issue’ mentality, and to allow for all types of writing. Though our main submissions seem to be in the realm of so-called ‘literature’, Red Fez was founded with the expectation that we would accept and publish interesting and original fiction in all categories (even new and undiscovered ones!) from Science Fiction, to Drama, to Literary. Our publications are cross referenced so you may find a story under both 'Mystery' and 'Fantasy'. If you like it, you can find it here. There is no snobism towards writing genres here. If it's good and we like it, we'll print it - even more commercially popular genres like Fantasy, Horror, Mystery and Romance.

Our main focus is originality and quality. We’re not concerned with marketability or what other sites are doing or if you’ve been published before. Far too many unique and original stories just die because commercial presses won't print anybody or anything that hasn't already been 'proven' by lit journals too afraid to publish outside of their narrow, academic stream.We want ‘new cliches’ to quote yogi berra. The commercial market thrives on variations on the same...we thrive on the new, innovative. But quality is important too. We don’t just want crazy, we want crazy with a point, or well-told crazy.

Red Fez is also for authors, so if you enjoyed an author, buy their books, or send them an email!

Red Fez is the following people:

Aidan Hailes - Fiction Editor:
Aidan Hailes, fiction editor, has lived in Edmonton, Canada his entire life, and has been paying for that fact his entire life. When not reading, writing, or working, he plays video games, hangs out with his wife, or dreams of building oversized computers that can calculate the exact nanosecond Mother Theresa was conceived. Arigatou.

Michele McDannold - Managing Editor:
Michele McDannold is the Managing Editor of Red Fez, mostly because she just likes to say Red Fez but also because she thinks it is the most groovoid place to sling your literary shazizzle. Besides keeping busy with all things Red Fezzery, there's some publishing that happens with a little press called Rural Messengers. You can check it out at ruralmessengerspress.com.

Leopold McGinnis - Founding Editor:
Leopold is the founding editor (and current hanger on) of Red Fez, which was originally a product of literary isolation, an extended bout of unemployment and an awkward conflation of cynical disgust for the state of literary affairs and a youthful optimism for change. He has much junk in his trunk, some of it has even been published. And not just by himself! He is the author of three novels (The Red Fez, Game Quest and Bad Attitude) and also a founding editor of Outsider Writers. You can find more of his writing and weirdness over at his blog (leopoldmcginnis.blogspot.com) and is very well-rounded for a serious nerd.

Sergio Ortiz Rivers - Assistant Editor:
Ortiz has a B.A. in English literature from Inter-American University, and a M.A. in philosophy from World University. His poems have been published, or are forthcoming in: Autumn Sky Poetry, The Smoking Poet, The Acentos Review, Poesia, Words-Myth, and over 100 other journals and anthologies. His chapbook, At the Tail End of Dusk, was published in October 2009 by Flutter Press.

Rob Taylor - Poetry Editor:
Rob Taylor is the Poetry editor. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. In addition to his work with the Fez, Rob runs One Ghana, One Voice, Ghana's first online poetry magazine. He has published two chapbooks, Child of Saturday and splattered earth. He sometimes posts new poems on his website or his blog, spread it like a roll of nickels. In his free time, Rob is a back-up Power Forward for the Chinese National Basketball Team.

R. W. Watkins - Assistant Editor:
Watkins is a poet, essayist, indie publisher and social critic who resides in Newfoundland, Canada. He doesn't take nicely to far-left and far-right social agendas, and is currently sporting a Zappaesque 'tache and soul patch. In a recent top-ten list of most beautiful Canadian women, he listed Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 9-year old daughter Rachel at no. 10 in a bid to make the PM even more paranoid than what he already is. The Comics Decoder website is his latest online venture. Watkins's MySpace site. Watkins interviewed by Michele McDannold for Outsider Writers.