YELLOWKNIFE - One of the creators of a new online fiction magazine will celebrate the launch of the website in town this weekend.

Jared Young, originally of Yellowknife, is one of three friends putting together the magazine LWOT (Lies With Occasional Truth) and assumes the role of managing editor.

Jared Young, managing editor of new online magazine LWOT (Lies With Occasional Truth), invites Yellowknife writers to submit their fiction. The magazine will be launched this weekend. - Laura Power/NNSL photo

Young, who now lives in Ottawa, Ryan Ross of New Brunswick and Russell Shears, who lives in New York, aim to make life easier for Canadian writers by providing them with an online magazine that Young said is accessible to everyone.

Other online journals have a narrower audience, he said.

"Essentially the only people reading these journals are writers trying to get their stories into the journals," he said.

To make the LWOT web site more interactive for readers and writers, a service called "write match" was added to the site. Users answer a few questions about themselves and are paired with someone who may be a suitable match - but not necessarily for dating. Young said this helps people find others on the same wavelength who may be able to help them with editing.

"It's all about building a community of people," he said.

The creators of LWOT play around with the theme of fiction. The "a century of LWOT" portion of the website traces the magazine's fictional history.

He explained the difficulties in getting published in Canada these days, ranging from magazine sales to geographical challenges for those living away from the country's major publishing centre: Toronto.

"I really want to take the focus away from Toronto," said Young, who has never lived there.

Another geographical challenge is the long-distance work Young, Ross and Shears have been up to in preparation for the website launch.

"We've just been doing this online... which is difficult at times but it's kind of working out," said Young.

Young said he would like to see some content from Yellowknife in the quarterly magazine.

"Yellowknife suffers from being so isolated, and I think there's a lot of really talented people living here that might not get the chance to have their work read by a wider audience," he said.

In the first issue, one of the writers being published is Yellowknifer Matt Windle. Windle, who has been studying at Memorial University of Newfoundland and has a knowledge of the Atlantic fishery, has kept with the theme of fiction with an essay about the booming East coast cod fishery.