Storm Cellar

Fiction

Max words: 5000

Max pieces: 1

More-compact stories tend to do better (compact =/= short). We like it hot, we like it cold, we like it hard and fast, we like it slow and gentle, we like it traditional,* we like it experimental. We like it anonymous, don't care about a title page. We like it 12pt Times New Roman, double spaced.

Flash rules

Max words: 1000

Max pieces: 4

Nonfiction

Max words: 5000

Max pieces: 1

Lyric(-al) and narrative(-ish) essay, form-blending & genre-bending, personal-ized history and memoir-that-expands-to-larger-issues: we're talking creative nonfiction. No academic studies, no lit crit. The internet's filled with short nonfiction, so surprise us.

Flash rules

Max words: 1000

Max pieces: 4

Submit in the "Flash" category, put a note in the cover letter if you want us/magazine readers to know your piece is nonfiction.

Poetry

Max lines: 400

Max pieces: 5

No more than 15 pages total in a 12pt font. We're open to anything. We like surprises. We're not super in love with greeting card sentiments/prosody, nor these topics: cats, coffee, booze, birds. Of course, a poem is its own best case for its awesomeness.

Art

Max pieces: 20

Though we want to see things different from what we've published so far, our main criterion is whether we dig what you're laying down. We tend to prefer striking compositions and contrasty texture. We like, but by no means require, series and projects. We suggest you use the title of the image (if any) as the filename. We can handle most common file formats, but see below about file types. Friendly advice about file size: Whatever size/format you upload, we suggest having originals available at 300dpi/1800px wide minimum (we prefer at least 600dpi/3000px wide for covers), in a lossless format like .tiff, uncompressed .png, or .ai. If your originals are smaller or .jpeg, that's fine: don't blow them up unless your Photoshop fu is strong.

Photography

Max pieces: 20

Though we want to see things different from what we've published so far, our main criterion is whether we dig what you're laying down. We tend to prefer striking compositions and contrasty texture. We like, but by no means require, series and projects. We suggest you use the title of the image (if any) as the filename. We can handle most common file formats, but see below about file types. Friendly advice about file size: Whatever size/format you upload, we suggest having originals available at 300dpi/1800px wide minimum (we prefer at least 600dpi/3000px wide for covers), in a lossless format like .tiff, uncompressed .png, or .ai. If your originals are smaller or .jpeg, that's fine: don't blow them up unless your Photoshop fu is strong.

Translations

Submit translations in the appropriate category (poetry, flash, CNF, fiction) following the category guidelines. We strongly prefer shorter rather than longer works. Previously published items only, no self-translations. Translators are responsible for obtaining, for works not in public domain, both original-language rights and English-language rights, for both USA serial printing and for worldwide ebook distribution, prior to submitting.

Hybrid

Max words: 5000

Max pieces: 1

Describe the hybridity of your work(s) in the cover letter. You must submit in one of the poetry, flash, creative nonfiction, or fiction categories.

Review

We have no particular interest in single-book reviews per se. For "reviews," what we really want are essays — submit them in the CNF category. Try to be as concise as possible, given the ideas you are trying to convey (why do in 1800 words what you can do in 800?). You do not have to be nice. The more creative the review, the better. The less expected the review subject, the better — think a sweet corn festival or a new model of talking toilet or the concept of the arc of history or even a comparison of three translations of Gargantua and Pantagruel if you can make such a thing entertaining. If a "review" is formally inventive or funny, even better. No amazon verified purchaser/goodreads power user type bullshit.

Anything

Yeah but so you have to submit in one of the genre categories, and use your cover letter to tell us, like, what we are looking at.

Comics

Submit in the Images/Art category. 20 pages max. We are so, so picky about these, please don't get down if we are not into it. Whatever you send should look good in grayscale.