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A year after it started,Out of Print,an online magazine for short stories,is part of a cluster to have discovered “the ease of the electronic”. Editor Indira Chandrasekhar,a research scientist who returned to India after stints in the US and Switzerland,says the idea arose out of attempts to “place her own fiction”,and find a platform for it. “Living here again was like a trigger that opened up a floodgate of dormant,if not always well-crafted,creativity. When I began trying to find journals and magazines in which to publish,it became clear that there was room for one more platform for short fiction in English,” she says. Out of Print stands out for its crisp design and striking cover visuals; it has featured the work of acclaimed writers like Anjum Hasan and KR Usha,as well as newer ones like Jahnavi Barua and Murzban Shroff. The magazine looks for writing “from the vast diversity of India,Pakistan,Sri Lanka,and the diaspora” in the belief that “contemporary voices,however individual,are informed to a significant extent by our common narratives”.

Among magazines that seek to add to the literary conversation online are Almost Island,Pyrta,Muse India and Pratilipi,a magazine in Hindi and English. Browsing through the websites — content is free on all — gives one a sense of the many voices of contemporary Indian literature not found in bookshops or publishing lists. Pratilipi,especially,is now a true success,with its issues having featured authors of several languages. “We do everything that the mainstream does not,” is how Hindi poet and editor Giriraj Kiradoo chooses to define the magazine he started in April 2008 with friend Rahul Soni.

The editorial vision behind most of the magazines is to go beyond what the mainstream considers popular literature.

Almost Island was started by novelist Sharmistha Mohanty and poet Vivek Narayanan in 2006 “to widen the conversation around literature in India,” and true to the medium of the internet,does not let geography limit its canvas. “We felt that the range of literature being read,discussed and celebrated in India,especially in English-speaking circles,was becoming extremely narrow,with British taste dominating and little or no place for work that wanted to take real risks,and make demands of its readers,” says Narayanan. The magazine features the work of a striking diversity of writers,from legendary Chinese poets Bei Dao and Ouyang Jianghe,the Italian prose writer Claudio Magris,the Hungarian novelist Laszlo Krasznahorkai,or the Slovenian poet Tomasz Salamun — as well as Indian writers like Joy Goswami and K Satchitanandan. The editors are confident that readers,especially the young,are interested in “less obvious,more oblique” writing. “We knew that an online magazine would have the greatest reach — that is,it would be more likely to find readers hiding in all the nooks and crannies of the world,including people who were stuck in quiet isolation,” says Narayanan.

Journalist and writer Janice Pariat says she started Pyrta “because it was the kind of online journal I wanted to see. Stylish,slick,interactive,brimming with creative content and design”. The online magazine began last June once Pariat returned from Delhi to Shillong as a platform for the work of local writers and poets,“as well as to bring together good writing,photography,etc from across the world,” she says. Though Pyrta has featured authors from the Northeast,including Tarun Bhartiya,Robin Ngangom,and Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih,it is not restricted to the region. Its first commitment remains verse. Pariat disagrees with the common belief that poetry has a limited audience. “Publishers often rue many things – ‘short stories don’t sell’ and neither does ‘poetry’,but the point is that an audience needs exposure to these genres to enjoy them,to cast away fears of poetry being difficult or the belief that short stories should have Jeffrey-Archer-twist-in-the-tale-type plots,” she says.

Chandrasekhar admits that most of her magazine’s readers are urban,and that the newness of the medium will take getting used to. “There is a clarifying of mind,a sharpening of focus that accompanies the ritual of opening one’s book,that is not easily replaced. However,I do believe that short fiction works in online form and carries its own levels of anticipation and eagerness,” she says. But by using a medium of the time,she surmises,“we may appear less intimidating to fresh writers,less ‘establishment’.”

As with all niche literary ventures,it’s the editorial rigour and how far it is sustained that matter in the long term — and there are lessons to be learnt from the Hindi lit scene online. But as of now,they make the literary landscape more interesting. “I’m excited that there’s a kind of ecosystem of journals out there. They all do something different from us but what I like is how the pieces of the puzzle fit together,” says Narayanan.