Call for Submissions: Specter Magazine's Hip-Hop Issue

Hi folks. I'm guest editing a special themed issue of Specter Magazine.

From the submission guidelines:

Submissions for Specter Magazine's first themed issue, The Hip-Hop Issue, are now open. We're looking for fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and art/photography which embodies a hip-hop aesthetic. 

Find more details and submit here (bottom of the page).


Deadline is April, 30, 2012
I'll be doing periodic updates about the issue here: The Specter Collective

Submit away!

Rion Amilcar Scott, MFA '08
Datsun Flambe
Forgotten Tunnel TV

Hey hey

You know that thing where you write a story and then you put it in an envelope or you attach it to an email or you upload it to some fancy submission site and then you wait and then you get rejected and then you repeat from above until BAM you get accepted and then you get published and then you write an email to the blog letting us know so we can brag about your fabulosity to the world?

It's that time again. September 1st has hit and the floodgates have opened - just some of the journals that are dying to read what you've got:

-Iowa Review
-New Ohio Review
-VQR
-Caketrain
-Cold Drill (opens 9/15)
-Shenandoah
-Meridian
-Washington Square
-Witness

And you're still reading this post and therefore not submitting stuff...why? Huh.

Miscellania...

Various bits and pieces of writing news to ease you back into the world before the semester begins (unless, of course, you never left to begin with):

-Check out the recent SF Chronicle online, featuring a review of The Convalescent by alum Jessica Anthony (who will also be reading from her novel at this year's Fall for the Book Festival)as well as Alan's review of the new Thomas Pynchon book

-Boulevard had just opened for their short fiction contest, deadline 12/31 - this one offers a free subscription with the entry fee (ok, so not really free)

-Zoetrope: All Story is still accepting entries for their fiction contest, judged by Yiyun Li, who will be Visiting Fiction Writer this Fall at Mason


-And more contests from Black Warrior Review, Gulf Coast, and - yes - even Good Housekeeping

And don't forget - most lit mags are open to submissions either now or in just a few weeks - get those stories ready and sent out!

Cell Stories

You may have studied cell theory, the concept that all life is made up of cells; read The Count of Monte Cristo, certain action of which takes place in a dark cell; or heard of the cell phone novels, written by people tapping on cell phone keys on their commutes to work and whose pen names, like Mone and Mika, are made up of few syllables.

OK, forget all that. Daniel Sinker, who teaches journalism at Columbia College in Chicago and blogs about media for the Huffington Post, has developed Cell Stories, which will deliver a story to iPhones, iPod Touches, or other mobile devices each day for free.

So. Send your work. All sorts: 1500–2000 words of fiction, creative nonfiction, personal narrative, or literary journalism, Sinker just requested that it be good. Here's an article about it. Submit to: stories@cellstories.net. (And, no, these Cell Stories, by Lilly Zhang, aren’t the same thing. But go there, too.)

Electric Literature

Electric Literature, a bi-monthly anthology of short fiction, has put out its first issue. You might want to check it out, and . . . submit something there. (Really, read the submissions page.)

Submit Here, Too: SFWP

Submit to the 7th Annual SFWP Literary Awards Program: the deadline for this year’s program is July 15, with a $1,750 grand prize and two $1,000 runnner-up prizes. The top three winners will be considered for representation by the Irene Goodman Agency. Entries are 25 pages or less of prose fiction or nonfiction; see here for more guidelines.

SFWP, the Santa Fe Writers Project, is also looking for authors (fiction, nonfiction, and book reviews) to submit work to their literary journal: http://sfwp.org/. As a previous post noted, SFWP published Alan Cheuse’s novella The Fires, and its founder, Andrew Gifford, was featured in the Washington Post Magazine.

Submit Submit Part 2...

More places to submit this summer...

The Collagist, a new monthly online journal accepting fiction (flash, short stories, novel excerpts), non-fiction, poetry

Zoetrope All-Story's Fiction Contest opens July 1st

Glimmer Train's Fiction Open Contest, deadline June 30th

let us know about your publications...

Submit Submit Submit (in a good way)

Summer's almost here, but in the words of one of our beloved faculty members, "Writers don't take vacations!"

In the spirit of that instruction here are a few journals/contests that are still accepting submissions (although the deadlines loom near for some). And yes, some of these are big names - but ALL of you are awesome writers! Send it out!

New Letters Deadline May 18
McSweeneys
Paris Review
North Dakota Quarterly
Glimmer Train
Alaska Quarterly Review (Deadline May 15)
CakeTrain
Virginia Quarterly Review (Fiction Only Deadline May 28)
Agni
Barrelhouse
Hobart
Fence Magazine

And one more!
The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition for Emerging Writers - extended deadline May 15

Ok! That should be enough to get you started. Why are you still reading this? Go out and submit! Let us know about your publications! Go!

Budgeting for Contests

As we move deeper into contest season, I'm curious to know how much you are budgeting for contests. It seems that most contests these day require a $15-20 entrance fee. How do you determine which contests to go for? How do you decide which are worth your money? And are you submitting for contests now?

Hayden's Ferry Review

Hayden's Ferry Review is reading new submissions.

Here's a note from the editor, Beth Staples.

Hayden's Ferry Review is looking for prose, poetry, and visual art for its upcoming issue themed The Grotesque. Work should explore the humanity, beauty, and reality of the literary grotesque - the monstrous, the unusual, the abnormal. Postmark deadline: January 15, 2008.

Send to:

Hayden's Ferry Review
The Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Arizona State University
Box 875002
Tempe, AZ 85287-5002