Novel English magazine's contents cut back (4)
I believe the answer is:
emma
'novel' is the definition.
(novel by Jane Austen)
'english magazine's contents cut back' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'magazine's contents' becomes 'ammo' (I've seen this in another clue).
'cut' means to remove the last letter.
'back' is a reversal indicator.
'ammo' with its final letter taken away is 'amm'.
'amm' in reverse letter order is 'mma'.
'e'+'mma'='EMMA'
(Other definitions for emma that I've seen before include "heroine of novel" , "Flaubert's heroine" , "Jane Austen's fourth novel (1815)" , "Title of novel by Jane Austen" , "Titled heroine" .)