Logo of Atlas and Alice literary magazine
Closed for submissions
Guidelines
scroll up arrow

Scroll up

back to browse icon

Back to Browse

Closed for submissions

Guidelines

"It’s that kind of intersection—in the case of our title, between literature and science—that interests us. We like things that meet, conjoin, dance, rebound, explode. Bring two things together; see what happens. "

"It’s that kind of intersection—in the case of our title, between literature and science—that interests us. We like things that meet, conjoin, dance, rebound, explode. Bring two things together; see what happens. "

Vibe

Send us your best but less intimidating

Response Time

160 days

Acceptance Rate

8.7%

  • Payment

    No

  • Fee

    No

  • Simultaneous submissions

    Yes

  • Previously published

    No

  • Expedited response

    No

  • Available in print

    No

  • Provides contributor copies

    No

  • Examples online

    Yes

  • Active on social media

    Yes

Accepted genres

6 genres

Fiction

Max words: 4000

Max pieces: 1

We want to see your self-contained stories (novel excerpts only if they can stand alone).

Flash Fiction

Max words: 1000

Max pieces: 3

Got something shorter? We like flash. For fiction, send us up to three pieces, each less than 750 words

Nonfiction

Max words: 3000

Max pieces: 1

We strongly prefer content that feels grounded and specific. Evoke a particular place, a particular time. Dig deep into what makes home “hom...

Flash Nonfiction

Max words: 1000

Poetry

Max pieces: 5

3-5 poems (and no more than 10 pages per submission).

Hybrid

No specific limitations

Fiction

Max words: 4000

Max pieces: 1

We want to see your self-contained stories (novel excerpts only if they can stand alone).

Flash Fiction

Max words: 1000

Max pieces: 3

Got something shorter? We like flash. For fiction, send us up to three pieces, each less than 750 words

Nonfiction

Max words: 3000

Max pieces: 1

We strongly prefer content that feels grounded and specific. Evoke a particular place, a particular time. Dig deep into what makes home “hom...

Flash Nonfiction

Max words: 1000

Poetry

Max pieces: 5

3-5 poems (and no more than 10 pages per submission).

Hybrid

No specific limitations

Statistics

We're able to provide them because you use our tracker!
You're the best!

Track submission

64

Total submissions tracked

160 days

Average response time

8.7%

Average acceptance rate

1 days

Fastest response time

535 days

Slowest response time

How to submit

Process

We use Submittable.

Cover letters

Cover letters: We all hate writing them, don't we? So consider them unnecessary. All we want from you is a short bio and your contact email. If you have something interesting to say, want to mention a piece we published that you like, or how you found out about the magazine, by all means do. If you're just including the same old "My work has been published or is forthcoming from..." then, we encourage you not to write a cover letter.

Eligibility

No specific eligibility requirements

Formatting

For prose, include the total word count at the beginning of the document. Please format submissions in 1 document.

Rights for published work

Atlas and Alice acquires first serial rights, but those rights revert back to you, the artist, upon publication. We kindly ask for acknowledgment for subsequent reprints of your work.

Additional info

We welcome subs from underrepresented writers. This includes (QT)BIPOC folks and writers based outside North America and the UK. Two of our editors have a soft spot for lyric pieces. “More of a seismograph, less of a timeline. I like the fragmented, the segmented which unapologetically doesn’t seek to be whole,” as one of the assistant CNF editors paraphrases Sarah Fawn Montgomery. We strongly prefer content that feels grounded and specific. Evoke a particular place, a particular time. Dig deep into what makes home “home,” the origin of names, etc. There are a few things we DO NOT WANT: 1) your Covid stories (unless you have a particular, unique experience), 2) philosophical musings, 3) boozy expat travel stories, 4) second person breakup stories. If you have a submission that does not fit in the traditional genres, you have our immediate attention. We’re open to various forms of multimedia work.

About the Magazine

Founded in 2013 | United States

A&A takes its name from the ATLAS and ALICE experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. These experiments look to explain some of the most fundamental characteristics of the universe. For instance, ATLAS contributed to the discovery of (what we think is) the Higgs Boson. Although the names of these experiments are technically acronyms, we find it beautiful, ironic, compelling that they also share names with two eminent literary figures. Our Purpose: It’s that kind of intersection—in the case of our title, between literature and science—that interests us. We like things that meet, conjoin, dance, rebound, explode. Bring two things together; see what happens. Among our favorite intersections are pieces that resist genre classification (think prose poems, think flash fiction, think _______), crossovers between the arts and sciences, opposites attracting, likes repelling, anything that confronts and, in confronting, reveals. Think of the weird image you see of yourself in the mirror. (Ugh, how disturbing.) But who cares about our definition of intersection. We want to learn about yours. Work originally published at Atlas and Alice has appeared in multiple year-end Best Microfiction and Best Small Fictions print anthologies, the yearly Wigleaf Top 50, and as finalists for Best of the Net.

Masthead

We currently list only main editors, more will be added later! If you are an editor, you can edit your masthead in our admin panel :)

Benjamin Woodard

Editor-in-Chief

Brendan Todt

Founder

Liz Ann Young

Poetry Editor

Whitney Bryant

Fiction Editor

Cathy Ulrich

Fiction Editor

Lindsey Danis

Creative Nonfiction Editor