A literary journal of safety and danger. We place a special emphasis on the Midwest, but even more emphasis on amazing writing and art. We aim to display aesthetic ambition as well as the work of authors and artists who are under-represented in the Anglophone literary world.

We want everybody to get weird and enlightened and learn and fall in love and have superpowers. We want to surprise and delight and horrify and provoke. Storm Cellar is not a distraction but a cure for boredom.

Two to three issues per year in print and ebook editions. Free samples up weekly-ish.

From its 2010 origin as a writers’ workshop and regional ’zine for the Champaign-Urbana area, Storm Cellar has sought out the best writing and visual art to share with the world. Its scope rapidly widened to include artists and anglophone writers from across the U.S. and internationally. From Vol. II No. 2 — the “Women” issue — onward, it has tackled substantive topics, directly or indirectly. But Storm Cellar is not wholly serious; whimsy and humor are recurring features in its pages. The magazine has come to embrace broad conceptions of quality in writing, an interest in nontraditional forms, themes, and styles, and risk-taking. In 2014 Storm Cellar‘s headquarters relocated to Milwaukee, and split to St. Paul & Philadelphia in 2016. A poem from Storm Cellar will be published in the Pushcart anthology for 2017.

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Storm Cellar

They gave me wonderful and useful feedback on a flash piece, which I then used to revise and submit elsewhere, and got the piece published. I let them know, and they were very happy. All in all, a great experience interacting with them.

Shorter than 1000 words/No more than 5 pages

Force Majeure Flash Contest

Force Majeure Flash Contest for Flash  2025

Up to 20 images (files), any medium, subject, style.  Print edition interior is grayscale on uncoated paper, no larger than 5"x7".  Ebook edition is color, and larger where appropriate.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.

Art, Photographs, & Images

Up to 5 poems, 400 lines/15 pages total. 
  All poems in one document, each beginning a new page.
  We're open to anything. Show us something new.
  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.

Storm Cellar

Rest in Peace Storm Cellar (2011-2025)

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