Sonoma County Literary Update

Calls for Submissions: July 2020

If you have a call for submissions or a contest of interest to Sonoma County writers, send it to editor@socolitupdate.com. Calls for submissions are listed in chronological order (earliest deadlines first).

For a current list of calls for submission from around the country, as well as deadlines for writers’ contests and awards, conferences and residencies, and literary magazine and small press databases, visit the Poets & Writers website.

Duotrope is a searchable database of over 2100 current markets for short fiction, poetry, and novels/collections in all genres. Available to paid subscribers only ($5/month or $50/year).

The New Pages Big List of Literary Magazines. Focuses on literary print and online magazines, listed A to Z. Also check the Calls for Submissions page.

Creative Writers Opportunities List. This former Yahoo group posts calls for submissions and contest information for writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction at: https://creativewritersopps.blogspot.com

Everywriter Resources. This site is packed with articles on how to get published and other writing resources, and a searchable database for journals and magazines, literary or genre, with submission opportunities. Everywriter also publishes articles, fiction and poetry on the site. (Register to submit.) https://www.everywritersresource.com

Literary Magazines is a facebook page where members (including journal editors) post calls for submissions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/40165782786

If you’d like to explore more options to get your writing out of the drawer and into print, check out the information at the companion website: http://wordsintoprint.wordpress.com.

Be sure to check the ONGOING calls below. A number of journals accept submissions year-round (listed in alphabetical order).

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Call for Submissions: The Petigru Review

Deadline: July 31, 2020
The Petigru Review is looking for surprising stories, poems, essays, and first novel chapters for our annual online literary journal. We are especially interested in supporting diverse and emerging voices. Submissions close 7/31/20 or when we hit 500 submissions. www.thepetigrureview.com

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California Quarterly POETRY CONTEST

Submissions Accepted March 1st – July 31, 2020

$100, $50, $25 awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Places,

Plus Publication in the California Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 4 (2020 Winter)

Winners will be announced in September

Kaecey McCormick is the 2020 Contest judge. She is an author, artist and educator who was named 2018-2020 Poet Laureate for the City of Cupertino. She holds degrees in Anthropology & Psychology from UCLA and the U of Maryland, and an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood Univ. Her poetic work has been featured in numerous journals & anthologies. Her recent chapbook, Pixelated Tears is currently available and her book The Creativity Blueprint is forthcoming in late 2020.

Upload your poems and pay reading fees at:

http://www.californiastatepoetrysociety.org

OR

Send a cover letter with all poet information and a list of the sub­mitted poems, one copy of each poem with no poet identification to:
CSPS Annual Contest Chair
3371 Thomas Drive
Palo Alto, California 94303

Reading fees: Members, $3.00/poem; Non-members, $6.00/poem

80-line (two-page) limit/poem

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WOW! Women On Writing Q4 2020 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest

Deadline: July 31, 2020

Seeking creative nonfiction essays on any topic (200 – 1000 words) and in any style–from personal essay and memoir to lyric essay and hybrid, and more! The mission of this contest is to reward bravery in real-life storytelling and create an understanding of our world through thoughtful, engaging narratives.

Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints are okay; simultaneous submissions okay; reprints okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally.

Limit: 300 entries.

Prizes (20 winners!):
1st Place: $500, publication, interview, and gift card good for one item from CreateWriteNow’s Store
2nd Place: $300, publication, interview, and gift card good for one item from CreateWriteNow’s Store
3rd Place: $200, publication, interview, and gift card good for one item from CreateWriteNow’s Store
7 Runners Up receive $25 Amazon Gift Cards, publication, interview, and gift card good for one item from CreateWriteNow’s Store
10 Honorable mentions receive a gift card good for one item from CreateWriteNow’s Store

Entry: $12 entry fee; critique option for an additional $13

https://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php#EssayContest

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Sleet Magazine Call for Winter Submissions

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Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts

Seeks submissions till August 15.

Grist publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and craft essays in print and online.

For more information on our submission guidelines, please visit: www.gristjournal.com/submissions

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Qu: a literary magazine

We are now open for submissions until August 15, 2020!

Payment Upon Publication: $100 per prose piece, $50 per poem or visual art. Contributors will also receive one copy of magazine.

Submission fee: $2

http://www.qulitmag.com/submit/

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WOW! Women On Writing Summer 2020 Flash Fiction Contest

Deadline: August 31, 2020

Guest Judge: Literary Agent Erica Christensen with the Metamorphosis Literary Agency

Seeking short fiction of any genre between 250 – 750 words. The mission of this contest is to inspire creativity, communication, and well-rewarded recognition to contestants.

Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints are okay; simultaneous submissions okay; reprints okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally.

Limit: 300 entries.

Prizes (20 winners!):
1st Place: $400, publication, interview, and $25 Amazon Gift Certificate
2nd Place: $300, publication, interview, and $25 Amazon Gift Certificate
3rd Place: $200, publication, interview and $25 Amazon Gift Certificate
7 Runners Up receive $25 Amazon Gift Cards, publication and interview
10 Honorable mentions receive $20 Amazon Gift Card
Top 10 stories are published in the WOW! Women On Writing e-zine, and contestants are interviewed on WOW’s blog, The Muffin.

Entry: $10 entry fee; critique option for an additional $10

https://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php

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Parhelion Accepting Fall Submissions

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ONGOING CALLS:

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The Bakery Is Looking for Poems

The Bakery is a new online journal featuring a new poem every Monday through Friday, at www.thebakerypoetry.com. The Journal  launched in July and is looking for poems.

Submission Guidelines:
Send 3-10 of your best poems in a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file. Put Poetry Submission in the subject title of your email and send to bakerymagazine (at) gmail.com. No need to send a cover letter. Just make sure your contact information appears either in your email or in the attachment.

Simultaneous Submissions are accepted, but please let us know as soon as any of your poems have been accepted elsewhere. No previously published poems. However, poems published on your personal website, blog or social network page are acceptable. If your poem is accepted, The Bakery asks that you remove your poem from your site for at least one month after publication.

The Bakery is also interested in poetry book reviews, both full collections and chapbooks. If you would like to submit a review, please send a query email with the title “Book Review Query.” Include in the body of the email the title of the book, a sample of any written reviews or critical work, and your contact information.

The Bakery also features art work each month. If you are interested in having your art featured, please send up to 5 JPGs attached an email with your contact information and the subject title: Art Submission.

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Blue Mountain Press Accepting Book Manuscripts

Blue Mountain Press, the book division of Blue Mountain Arts, is accepting manuscripts in the following categories: gift books, personal growth, teens/tweens, family, relationships, motivational, and inspirational. Mail manuscripts to: Blue Mountain Press, P.O. Box 4219, Boulder, CO 80306. Request proposal guidelines or e-mail queries to BMPbooks@sps.com. Please add Sonoma somewhere in the subject line so we know you found this posting on the Sonoma County Literary Update website.

Please note: We are not accepting works of fiction, rhyming poetry, children’s books, chapbooks, memoirs, or books that promote a specific religion.

There is no deadline for submissions.

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C&R Press: Call for Full-Length Manuscripts

C&R publishes fiction, short stories, poetry, essays, memoir and mixed genre work, with an aim to highlight female, minority, LGBT,  immigrant, progressive and submerged voices. Recent titles include While You Were Gone by Sibyl Baker, Ivy vs. Dogg: With a Cast of Thousands! by Brian Leung and Dark Horse by Kristina Marie Darling, as well as a collaboration with the Women’s National Book Association on Women in the Literary Landscape.

Our website is www.crpress.org, and you’ll find the link to our
submissions guidelines here: http://www.crpress.org/submissions/.

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California Quarterly: Call for Poetry Submissions

California Quarterly is the poetry journal produced by the California State Poetry Society, with 50 pages of poetry per issue. The publication features a rich variety of work from poets nationwide as well as from other countries. Published four times a year, submissions are accepted year round. Guidelines are as follows: Submit up to 6 poems at one time, include name and address on all pages of poems (with 2-page maximum), SASE for response, unpublished poems only, and foreign poems with translations encouraged. Simultaneous submissions accepted. Send poetry submissions to:

CQ Editors
Post Office Box 4288
Sunland, California 91041

CQ is now accepting poetry submissions year-round through submittable. See the submissions page at: www.californiastatepoetrysociety.org/publishing-with-us

You may also order a copy of the latest issue at www.californiastatepoetrysociety.org.

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Carbon Culture Review

Carbon Culture Review is a journal at the intersection of new literature, art, technology and contemporary culture.  We define culture broadly as the values, attitudes, actions and inventions of our global society and its subcultures in our modern age. Carbon Culture Review is distributed in bookstores throughout the United States annually by Media Solutions. CCR will also showcase a digital online issue with original monthly content updates on the web.  See: http://carbonculturereview.com

WHAT DO WE PUBLISH?
We publish quality poetry, short stories, other literature and artwork that connect in some way with modern technology. We prefer work that is edgy, offers new perspectives, challenges traditional genres and modes of expression and moves or excites us.

In addition to our 2019 Print Issue, we are publishing three writers’ work per week on our Carbon Culture Review website. Our publishing imprint Carbon Books is seeking full-length submissions Poetry, Lit Fic, Quality Genre (no Fantasy), Memoir, and Essay. We’ve already selected two books and would like to acquire 2-4 more by September. Carbon Culture Review is a journal at the intersection of new literature, art, technology and contemporary culture. Check out our website at: carbonculturereview.com

More details at: https://carbonculturereview.submittable.com/submit

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Send your Essay, Poem, or Short to The CHILLFILTR Review

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Spread Art and Philanthropy by Submitting to COVID LIT

Deadline: Rolling
COVID LIT is a new online lit mag that gives the middle finger to COVID-19 by publishing, promoting, and spreading art, poetry, and prose using the disease’s name. What sets us apart from other magazines? Simple: instead of paying us a submission fee, all submissions must be accompanied with a minimum $3 donation to a nonprofit of the artist’s choosing. Our goal is to publish weekly online content and, eventually, a print anthology, so send your best work and use your creative superpowers for good! Visit www.covidlit.org today and help those who desperately need it.

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Flash Fiction Magazine

Flash Fiction Magazine champions original, creative and engaging works of fiction, which run between 300-1000 words in their entirety. The stories can be of any genre but the emphasis should be placed on a complete story, where there is conflict and character development. FFM is always open for submissions. It is free to submit and although, they are based in California they accept stories from anywhere in the world.

There is no payment for stories published on the website but they pay $40 per story accepted for their anthologies and the best story of every month receives $100.
For guidelines and to submit your story please use the link: https://flashfictionmagazine.com/subs

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Foundry Open Call for Poetry

General submissions are always open for free.

Foundry publishes a range of styles and forms, from short lyric poems to prose poems and longer narratives. We are drawn to poems that feel as much as they think.

We are committed to inclusivity and warmly welcome submissions from marginalized voices. We will not consider work with sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, or able-ist content.

Please submit 3-5 original, previously unpublished poems through Submittable. All poems should be included in a single .DOC/.DOCX or PDF file with one poem per page (eight pages maximum). Enter a cover letter with a brief third-person bio in the space provided by Submittable.

We read year-round and publish new issues in March, June, September, and December.

Foundry pays $10 per poem. More guidelines and submittable link at: www.foundryjournal.com/submit.html

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Ginosko Literary Journal’s Call for Submissions

Accepting short fiction & poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, social justice concerns, spiritual insights for GINOSKO LITERARY JOURNAL.

Editorial lead time 1-2 months; accept simultaneous submissions & reprints; length flexible, accept excerpts. Receives postal submissions & email—prefer email submissions as attachments in Microsoft Works Word Processor or Rich Text Format. Copyright reverts to author. Read year around.

Publishing as semiannual ezine. Check downloadable issues on website for style & tone: www.ginoskoliteraryjournal.com
Use latest version of Adobe Reader.

ezine circulation 6000+. Website traffic 500-750 hits/month.

Also looking for books to post on website, spoken word recordings, and links to exchange.

Ginosko (ghin-océ-koe) To perceive, understand, realize, come to know; knowledge that has an inception, a progress, an attainment. The recognition of truth by experience.

Member CLMP.

Ginosko Literary Journal
Robert Paul Cesaretti, Editor
PO Box 246
Fairfax, CA 94978

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Harvard Square Editions Accepting Novel Manuscripts

Harvard Square Editions, an alumni run independent press, is accepting manuscripts. There is no deadline for submissions. Guidelines: http://harvardsquareeditions.org/contact-page-2. Email queries to: submissions@harvardsquareeditions.org

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HeartWood Literary Magazine Call for Submissions

Brand new online literary magazine, in association with the Low-Res MFA at West Virginia Wesleyan College, publishes twice yearly in April and October.

We accept submissions year round through Submittable, and welcome previously unpublished poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, from both established and emerging writers.

Please note: We do love Appalachian voices, but we enthusiastically encourage writers from all backgrounds to submit.

We are interested in writing that pushes into, dares to reveal, its own truth, that takes emotional risks, that gets to the heart of the matter. Simultaneous submissions are fine, provided you notify us if the work is accepted elsewhere.

Complete Submission Details can be found on our website: http://www.heartwoodlitmag.com/

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Mastodon Publishing

Mastodon Publishing, a new full service indie publisher, publishes a spectrum of literary voices, with the goal of bringing diverse and uncensored writing to life in many shapes and forms. We also welcome upmarket and commercial manuscripts, including non fiction and special interest items (cookbooks, academic, YA, genre and others). We have two titles so far: A Diet of Worms by Eric Rasmussen and Life During Wartime by Katie Rogin, with four more due out this fall.

We love ideas and imaginative minds, creative minds, and technical minds: anyone with good thoughts and good writing. We want to bring as diverse and uncensored a catalog to life as we can, through print and digital, from short books to large books, technical to creative. Mastodon is Thoughts Made Real.

Mastodon is currently open for full-length submissions in all categories. Our website is www.mastodonpublishing.com and our submittable page: https://mastodonpublishing.submittable.com/submit.

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Night Shift Radio Wants Your Stories

Do you have a story you’d like us to feature on The Storyteller Series? Then we want to here from you! Please note – As our Editor is currently the only person reading submissions and our word count target is rather large, we will only be accepting submissions from the 21st through the 28th of each month.

What do we want? Engaging stories. Real people writ large on the page. Anything that reads with tension and excitement. Fiction, non-fiction, memoir; it’s all okay. Just no fan fiction, please. We may read it, but we won’t publish it. We choose two stories to publish each month. One story will be chosen for the Full Cast Audiobook treatment; that author will receive $50 for audio rights and non-exclusive print rights. A second piece will be chosen for our mid-month print only piece. The author of that piece will be offered $25 for exclusive worldwide electronic rights for 120 days. Guidelines and email link at: https://nightshiftradio.com/submissions

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Occidental Center for the Arts (OCA) Book Launch Series Guidelines: Call to All Writers

1)  All genres considered: Fiction (Novel, Novella or Short Stories), Non-Fiction, Poetry
2)  Preference given to local Sonoma County writers or material about Sonoma County.
3)  Books should be published within past twelve months. Author may read from and sell other previously published pieces.
4)  Preference given to authors with hard copy, rather than e-book.
5)  Application Procedure: Send sample of 2-3 chapters of prose; 5-10 pages of poetry. Include brief bio and any writing credits. Send to Occidental Center for the Arts website: occidentalcenterforthearts.com, and/or hard copy to OCA, 3850 Doris Murphy Way, Occidental, 95465, with “Attention: Book Launch Committee”.
6)  This is an on-going series: Submitted work will be reviewed by Book Launch Committee. Writers are notified as soon as possible.
7)  One or two writers are featured at each reading. Short reading along with book sale and signing. Each author is encouraged to create his/her launch with its own unique signature.
8)  If self-published, author provides books for the Book Launch/signing event. Authors with major publishers will arrange with OCA on how books (those sold at launch) will be obtained.
9)  Authors agree to donate a percentage of book sales (at least 10%) to Occidental Center for the Arts.
10) OCA will publicize the event but writers are expected to publicize through their social networks and e-mail lists.

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PANK Magazine and PANK Books

[PANK] — PANK Magazine and PANK Books, Pankmagazine.com, the Little Book and Big Book series, fosters access to emerging and experimental poetry and prose, publishing the brightest and most promising writers for the most adventurous readers. To the end of the road, up country, a far shore, the edge of things, to a place of amalgamation and unplumbed depths, where the known is made and unmade, and where unimagined futures are born, a place inhabited by contradictions, a place of quirk and startling anomaly, [PANK], no soft pink hands allowed.

Please visit our page for submission info: https://pankmagazine.com/about-2/

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Pithead Chapel: A Monthly Online Journal of Short Fiction

Pithead Chapel is a small, independent journal out of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, run by people who love to read and write fiction.

At Pithead Chapel, we’re looking for engaging stories told in honest voices. Most of all, we want to feel something. We want to reach the last word and immediately crave more. We want your story to leave a brilliant bruise. Send us your best work and we’ll do our best to get your voice heard. Sorry, we’re not into genre pieces (e.g., science fiction, horror, fantasy, and romance).

If you write short fiction, please consider visiting us and submitting some of your work: http://pitheadchapel.com

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Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine: Open Call

Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine seeks tight, gripping prose and poetry.
We use Submittable and all submissions need to come through that system so our first-reader staff can evaluate them as a team.
https://postcardpoemsandprose.wordpress.com/

Postcard Poems and Prose publishes 8-10 poems and 4-5 flash fiction features online each month (120-200 poems and short prose pieces annually).

Reading period—January 1 thru December 31. (Open submission call)
We judge each piece on its merit rather than author biographical information.

TO SUBMIT: https://postcardpoemsandprose.submittable.com/submit

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The Rain, Party, & Disaster Society

The Rain, Party, & Disaster Society is a workshop-based online literary publication that strives to give representation to new ideas and thoughts, to challenge the reader and to question commonly accepted opinions, values, etiquette and ideas. Within our pages, you may find: works that tackle hot-button issues, works presented in a style that is out of the ordinary, works that present the reader with a question or debate, and works that break mainstream rules within their genre. All of the pieces you find on this site have been through our workshop process, during which the RP&D editorial staff works closely with contributors to hone their voice and help them to produce the best possible work for you, the reader, to experience.

We currently accept works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry every month between the 1st and the 15th. Please view our guidelines page for more information on submission requirements.

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Straylight: Call for Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction

Straylight, the literary journal of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, is calling for submissions of fiction and poetry for both our print magazine and for publication on our website. Our online edition (The Villa) is also calling for novellette and novella-length fiction submissions for serialization. We will consider any genre, but are looking for high-quality work. Submissions may be made electronically at https://straylight.submittable.com/submit. Find us on the web at www.straylightmag.com.

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The Sunflower Collective: Call for submissions (Rolling — all round the year)

The Sunflower Collective is looking for submissions. We celebrate the personal and the political — which we believe to be one and the same thing — in art. We would like to mention at the outset that we are not interested in art that does not take risks. We do not mind if you have a degree but we are unlikely to be impressed by it. Nor do we care which journals have published your work before. All we are interested in is something that sings for itself without any props, something that grabs us by our throat and refuses to let go, something that shakes us out of our complacent stupor. Give us something hungry, not bellyful; something beat, if you get our drift. We express our inability to publish anything that propagates either left-wing or right-wing fascism.

Please send us your poems, prose, artwork and photographs in the body of the mail at thesunflowercollectiveindia@gmail.com with the subject line mentioning your genre of Submissions. Do read the submission guidelines before sending your work.

Submission Guidelines:

1) Poetry: 1-5 poems (Around 5 pages of poetry in total)
2) Prose: 2000-3000 words ( Fiction/ Non Fiction/ Experimental/Memoirs)
3) Art work and Photographs/ Photo Essays (5-10 in JPEG format and must not exceed 250K in size )
4) Format: Poetry and Prose submissions to be sent in the body of the mail, unless there are specific formatting requirements from the author (Needs to be mentioned in the mail). Photos and scanned Artwork in zipped folders. Photo essays in MS Word with zipped folders of JPEG images separately attached.

Please send us your work in a single mail only.
http://sunflowercollective.blogspot.in/p/about.html

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Trainless Magazine

Trainless Magazine is now accepting unsolicited fiction and nonfiction. Nonfiction articles should stay relevant to our magazine’s theme of travel, athleticism, and culture. Fiction is much more open, as every world created through fiction presents a new “culture.” Stories ranging from 500-3,000 words are accepted. It would have to be an incredible, really unstoppable story to keep our readers reading after 3,000 words. More details at: http://trainlessmagazine.com/article/submit.html

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Transfigured Lit – Open Call for Flash Fiction

A new Flash Fiction Journal Rooted in Christ seeks stories of 1,000 words or less by Christian writers. All genres are welcome. Stories don’t necessarily have to be “religious,” but must not have any cussing, sex, etc. We are especially interesting in reading flash with a literary quality to it. Submit by email, no fee. See our submission guidelines for more info: https://transfiguredlit.wordpress.com/submit

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whimperbang

whimperbang, an online journal of artistic commentary, published three times a year, invites the submission of serious, directed artistic expressions that reflect or comment upon today’s world. All literary and visual genres will be considered. See our “Submission Guidelines” at http://whimperbang.com/submissions.

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WILDNESS

WILDNESS wants work that evokes the unknown. Now seeking poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Submissions on a rolling basis.
URL: readwildness.com

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Zymbol Open Call for Books

Zymbol is publishing books!!! Each book we publish will receive full distribution, a sponsored reading, an ad in our annual international newsstand edition of Zymbol magazine and copies of the book. Our open call is for all genres, approaches and subject matter and we’re looking for novels, short story and poetry collections. See: www.zymbolmag.com

Zymbol has opened submissions for our online edition and our 2019 print edition. Additionally, our new book imprint, Zymbol Books, is open and offering a book prize contest. The winning title will receive $1000, publication with a standard contract, and $3000 devoted to advertising and promotion. We will publish 2-3 books in 2019, chosen from the winning and runner-up titles. Find us at http://www.zymbolmag.com/.

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