Sonoma County Literary Update

Calls for Submissions: November 2026

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).

TeamAndMore maintains an Open Call page listing anthologies seeking stories across multiple genres.

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.

Chill Subs has a database of over 3,000 literary magazines, easily sorted by genre, fees, payment, etc., and includes a submission tracker. It is free to use (after registering). Paid memberships include weekly curated lists of agents and other publishing opportunities. See: chillsubs.com

Submittable maintains a list of current calls on its Discover tab at https://manager.submittable.com/opportunities/discover. Many publications only accept submissions via Submittable. To do so, you will need to sign up for a free Submittable account.

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.

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

Facebook Groups Dedicated to Literary Calls for Submission (updated 7/1/2024):

• Call for Submissions: Literary Journals and Writing Contests: facebook.com/groups/643605400236835
• Calls for Submissions (Poetry, Fiction, Art): facebook.com/groups/35517751475/
• Calls for Submissions | Publication Announcements | Literary & Visual Arts: facebook.com/groups/submityourwork
• FOR AUTHORS! Calls for Submissions: facebook.com/groups/685134431617626
• Literary Magazines: facebook.com/groups/40165782786
• Literary Magazines and Writing: facebook.com/groups/literarymagazinesandcontests
• Submissions: Magazines and publishers: facebook.com/groups/1271611216242410
• Open Submission Calls for Short Stories: facebook.com/groups/OpenSubmissionCallsforShortStoryWriters
• Writers Post No-Fee Calls for Submissions: facebook.com/groups/58414389316
• Writing Contests: facebook.com/groups/356176357900488
• Flash Fiction (mostly posts by published authors and some calls): facebook.com/groups/1430827117170824
• Microfiction (prompts and submission calls): facebook.com/groups/3318062628305009

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

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Trio House Press Scott King Award in Eco-Poetry

Submissions are open from August 1 to November 7, 2026.

Trio House Press is pleased to sponsor the inaugural Scott King Award in Eco-Poetry, judged by Anna Lena Phillips Bell.

Scott King was the founder of Red Dragonfly Press, which operated from 1996 – 2026, and was acquired by Trio House Press. To honor the memory of Scott King, who published many poetry books centered on eco-poetics, nature, and rural themes, Trio House Press is launching the Scott King Award in Eco-Poetry in 2026, a semi-annual contest which will also begin a new imprint centered on environmental and ecological titles at Trio House Press: Red Dragonfly Books.

Poets are encouraged to submit manuscripts centered on eco-poetics, nature, and/or rural themes.

Award: $1,000, publication, and 25 books
Entry fee: $25 per manuscript

Detailed guidelines and submission: triohousepress.submittable.com/submit

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The Penn Review

Our Fall Reading Period for submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and art will run until November 9.

Please submit up to 5 poems, 3 short stories or nonfiction pieces at one time. As a general rule, fiction and nonfiction pieces should not exceed 2500 words in length. Read previous issues here:  pennreview.org

Submit: thepennreview.submittable.com/submit

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pangryus: stories that connect

Pangyrus literary magazine (pangyrus.com)  is dedicated to making unexpected connections across a wide range of ideas, arts, genres, and geographies. Our name combines Pangea (the world continent) and gyrus (the folds on the cerebral cortex of the brain), with a deliberate echo of “papyrus.”

We publish a mix of opinion pieces and reviews, poetry, comics and visual art, memoir and fiction, twice a week online, and twice a year in print. We’re looking for work with a strong point of view that takes us into surprising spaces. We pay all our authors, with a current rate of $30 per accepted piece. Deadline: November 15.

Submit here: pangyrus.submittable.com/submit

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Variant Literature

Publisher of poetry, fiction and nonfiction (variantlit.com)

To be considered for our Winter 2027 issue please submit before November 20.

Submit up to 5 poems; or one piece of flash prose, 750–1,200 words, or a connected series of exactly three micros, 250–400 words each; or one literary fiction or speculative fiction piece of 1,200–5,500 words.

Submit here: variantlit.submittable.com/submit

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Writory Story Contest

Submit an original story of 100 to 3,000 words by 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Any genre welcome.

The judging panel reads your story blind, names removed, and scores it out of 100 against the published five-part rubric.

Entry fee: $8, top prize $100.

Details and submission link: writoryofficial.com/short-story-contest

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BRIDGE Annual Journal

Deadline: November 30, 2026

BRIDGE, an independent arts journal based in Chicago, is currently seeking submissions for its V26 N1 Journal and BRIDGE Magazine. We welcome submissions in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction, visual art, cultural criticism, design, and hybrid work from established as well as emerging writers and artists. We are especially interested in work that embraces the world and continues, however subtly, the ongoing global conversation about culture and society that Bridge has championed from its beginning in 1999. We also accept reviews and interviews, which we publish throughout the year on our online magazine, bridge-chicago.org. To learn more, visit our submissions page.

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Feather Press Call for Poetry Manuscripts

Feather Press is reading full-length poetry manuscripts, 48 to 80 pages. If you have been carrying manuscript around, tending it, waiting for the right home, this is the invitation. Deadline: November 30, 2026

We are inspired by community, the visceral, the etheric, art, science, rawness, reality, and the unseen.

Full guidelines on the manuscripts page. The submission link goes live there shortly, so read them now and get your manuscript in order.

Guidelines here

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Midriff Magazine: Call for Pitches, Issue No. 1: Touch

Deadline: November 30. 2026

Midriff is a new independent print magazine for women in midlife. We’re smart, witty and a little exposed. Each issue follows one theme in two ways: inward (memory, desire, identity, grief) and outward (style, power, relationships, place). Our first issue is about Touch, both literal and metaphorical. That covers the hands we were raised by and the hands we hold now, the body as an archive, and whatever moves us. We want personal essays, cultural criticism, short fiction, reported features, poetry, photography and artwork from writers and artists in midlife. Women of color and writers holding marginalized identities are especially encouraged to submit. 

Pay: $50-$200. There’s no submission fee. Every contributor gets a print copy. Pitch here: https://tally.so/r/KYBEvK

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The Citron Review: A Journal of Brief Literature

We publish short poetry, flash fiction, micro fiction, and flash creative nonfiction. The essays and poems and stories in The Citron Review land all along the spectrum of human experience. They do what literature does best—tell us what it’s like to be human in new and different ways. citronreview.com

All types of fiction and creative nonfiction (memoir, essays, etc.) are acceptable. Submissions should be no more than one thousand (1,000) words. You may submit up to three (3) poetry selections per quarter. Submit up until December 6.

thecitronreview.submittable.com/submit

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West Trade Review

Published quarterly, we strive to put forth the best contemporary poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction (personal essays/memoir), and publish a mix of established and up and coming writers/artists. westtradereview.com

We offer free submissions during the first week of each month (April to December); otherwise, there is a $3 general submission fee. Submit by December 15.

Up to 5 poems. We want powerful imagery and enjoy the juxtaposition of images in interesting and unexpected ways. We look for fiction with a literary focus and prioritize characterization and psychological depth. No genre pieces considered. Most pieces we accept are typically less than 5,000 words. CNF: We are interested in personal essays, memoir, travel essays, and lyric essays of up to 6000 words.

Submit: westtradereview.submittable.com/submit

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ONGOING CALLS:

NEW  (10/1/26)! Writory Monthly Short Story Contest

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NEW (8/1/26)! Okay Donkey

Okay Donkey is a literary magazine that likes to read the odd, the off-kilter, and the just plain weird. We like work that’s funny, that’s sad, and that’s both funny and sad. We especially enjoy the experimental, the surreal, the magical realist, and the genre-bending.

We publish one new piece every Friday, alternating between flash fiction and poetry. We do NOT publish flash nonfiction. Please send us either one flash fiction or one batch of micros OR one poem per author, per submission period.

Okay Donkey Magazine has been a paying market since January 2024 and as of August 2026 we pay contributors a $25 honorarium for each flash fiction or poem that we publish on the site.

We open for free submissions on the 1st of every month but December and stay open until we hit our submissions cap. If we hit the submission cap, regular submissions will close and reopen on the 1st of the next month.

Detailed guidelines and submittable link: okaydonkeymag.com/submissions

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NEW  (8/1/26)! Writory Monthly Poetry Contest

Writory is an international poetry contest that runs every single month. Our monthly contests offer opportunities for both emerging and established poets to gain exposure and connect with a global audience. Submit your original poems in any language for a chance to win certificates, recognition, and cash prizes.

Submission fees: 1 poem, $5; 2 poems, $8, 5 poems, $15

Submit poems here: writoryofficial.com/submit

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

The CHILLFILTR Review strives to bring the best new art to a worldwide audience by leveraging best-in-class technology to create a seamless and immersive web experience. We welcome submissions from all walks of life, and all perspectives. We are committed to inclusivity and kindly welcome work from marginalized voices. All featured works will receive an honorarium of $20 per 1000 words and will be published online at The CHILLFILTR Review as well as on our Apple News Channel. Readers can vote for their favorites, and year-end “Best Of” winners will receive an additional $100 cash prize. Submissions accepted year-round.

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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: flashfictionmagazine.com/authors

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Flash Fiction Online

Beginning in January 2021, our submission portal for original and reprint stories will be open from the 1st to 21st of each month.

We are looking for complete 500- to 1000-word stories with crisp prose, well-developed characters, compelling plots, and satisfying resolutions. We want stories that engage our minds and emotions.

We publish across many genres, including speculative (science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and horror) and literary fiction. For more information on the type of stories we enjoy, please read a few issues and check out our “What We’re Looking For” page.

Flash Fiction Online pays $80 per story for first electronic rights for original (previously unpublished) fiction, with 6 months exclusivity, as well as a non-exclusive one-time right to publish the stories in an anthology

Submissions: https://ffo.submittable.com/submit

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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: 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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Murderous Ink Press — Crimeucopia Anthology Series

Proposed series of crime fiction anthologies initially slated on a quarterly publication.

Submission windows are: January 1 to February 28, April 2 to May 31, July 1 to August 31 and October 1 to November 30, 2021. Length between 1,000 and 10,000 words. Novel extracts considered, but pitch first.

Cover art — size is B-Format/Regular UK Paperback (129 x 198mm + bleed) — see website for vague theme details. High Res 300 dpi only for accepted work.

Please ensure that all submissions are of publication standard (i.e., not 1^st/2^nd raw drafts). This is not our day paying job, therefore do not have the spare time to line edit every piece.

Multiple submissions welcome (within reason), though simultaneous submissions not so much.

Reprints considered, but you must be able to show full ownership.

No real hard & fast themes — all publications will be on a ‘First Filled – First Published’ basis.

As we are self-financing, the payment isn’t great. However, it is payment on acceptance, rather than payment on publication. Payment is via PayPal, and a One Time Use Licence agreement.

Publication will be via IngramSpark and Amazon so as to cover as wide a distribution set as possible – based on 1 x paperback, and 1 x ebook – and artwork 1x paper cover, 1 x ebook cover, 1x thumbnail for website.

For more details see our website at murderousinkpress.co.uk/crimeucopia.html

Submissions via email attachment to submissions@murderousinkpress.co.uk with a subject line of SUBMISSIONS_Crimeucopia_<Your Name>_<Story Title>

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Neo-Mimeo Editions Open for Submissions

Sonoma County publisher Pat Nolan (of Nualláin House) wants your poetry manuscripts, preferably in a Word doc, maximum 20 pages, minimum 12 pages, at 16pt Courier Bold submitted to nuallainhousepublishers@gmail.com.  What is Neo-Mimeo? Per Nolan,

Mimeo reiterated here in the digital format recalls the tang of authenticity that purposed those endeavors, a more legitimate way of presenting work, not as commercial product but as unadorned entrée to necessary information which is essentially the definition of poetry.

For examples of what the final product looks like, see: nuallainhousepublishers.com/neo-mimeo-editions

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Pacifica Literary Review—General Submissions

Pacifica Literary Review accepts submissions of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction year round. Prose submissions must be under 5,000 words. Flash fiction submissions must be no more than 1000 words individually. Novel excerpts are acceptable, but must be able to stand alone. For poetry, please submit no more than three poems in a single document. For flash fiction, please submit no more than three pieces in a single document.

Our general submission period is open year-round with periodic closures in September, January, and May for editorial production. If the submission portals are down, we’re putting a new issue together and will re-open shortly. Simultaneous submissions are fine, as long as Pacifica Literary Review is notified immediately if the work is accepted elsewhere. We accept online submissions through our online submission system on Submittable: pacificaliteraryreview.submittable.com/submit

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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: pankmagazine.com/submit-2

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Penn Journal of Arts and Sciences: Submit Your Work to an Ivy League Magazine!

The Penn Journal of Arts and Sciences (PJAS) is a vibrant platform for individuals all around the world to share their scholarly and creative pursuits. The diverse voices amplified by our journal showcase creative articles, poetry, reviews, and art. With contributors from all walks of life, PJAS aims to cultivate a community rich with intellectual curiosity. The Penn Journal of Arts and Sciences accepts submissions on a rolling basis, with our next issue published in Summer 2024.

To submit to PJAS,  click on this form. A high-resolution attachment of artwork is required. You may also submit your file via email to  Sophie Kadan (sokadan@sas.upenn.edu). Include a description of the submission and a short biography. Be sure to title the subject line “PJAS Submission – Last Name, First Name.” 

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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).

At present, we only accept submissions under 4,000 words.  Because of Submittable’s costs and policies, we cap our submissions at 300 per month across all genres, and will close our windows early if we reach this cap, re-opening on the 1st of the following month.

If you write short fiction, please consider visiting us and submitting some of your work: 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.
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: 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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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.
sunflowercollective.blogspot.in/p/about.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: transfiguredlit.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines

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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 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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