JUNE 2026: NO MAN'S LAND

Fiction Guidelines | PRINT ISSUE

Theme Overview

The Western—or its spiritual descendants. Stories set in lawless spaces where justice is personal, survival is uncertain, and civilization is either a distant memory or a distant hope. This is our first print issue: we want fiction that earns the paper it's printed on.

What We're Looking For

  • Protagonists operating beyond the reach of law or institutional order
  • Frontier settings (historical, contemporary, or speculative)
  • Justice taken into one's own hands—with all the moral weight that carries
  • The tension between freedom and lawlessness, civilization and wildness
  • Characters shaped by harsh landscapes and harsher choices
  • Stories where the land itself is an antagonist

Settings We'll Consider

  • Historical American West
  • Contemporary border regions, remote territories, lawless zones
  • Neo-Western (modern settings with Western themes and aesthetics)
  • Space Western, post-apocalyptic frontier
  • International frontiers (anywhere law doesn't reach)

We're Not Looking For

  • Revisionist Westerns that exist only to critique the genre
  • Cowboys-and-Indians stereotypes or romanticized colonialism
  • Gunfights without stakes or character development
  • Settings that are "Western" in aesthetic only, without the thematic weight
  • Protagonists who are outlaws without moral complexity

Specs

  • 5,000–30,000 words total, structured in 1,500–2,500 word episodes
  • Submit first 7,500 words plus synopsis
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FICTION SUBMISSION – JUNE PRINT – [Your Title]

AUGUST 2026: FORBIDDEN RELATIONSHIPS

Fiction Guidelines

Theme Overview

Desire that crosses lines. Connections that society forbids, families reject, or circumstances make impossible. This issue explores what people risk for intimacy and what happens when they refuse to stay in their prescribed lanes.

What We're Looking For

  • Relationships that defy social boundaries, expectations, or taboos
  • The weight of secrecy and the cost of exposure
  • Desire as transgression—characters choosing connection over safety
  • Power dynamics that complicate intimacy
  • Consequences that matter (not just titillation)
  • Emotional complexity—these aren't simple romances

Relationship Dynamics We'll Consider

  • Affairs and betrayals with real stakes
  • Class, status, or social divisions that make connection dangerous
  • Relationships across enemy lines (political, familial, professional)
  • Age-appropriate but socially unacceptable connections
  • Queer relationships in hostile contexts
  • Intimacy that violates professional or ethical boundaries

We're Not Looking For

  • Erotica without narrative substance
  • Relationships where "forbidden" means illegal for good reason (minors, coercion)
  • Romance novel conventions dressed up as transgression
  • Shock value without emotional depth
  • "Forbidden" relationships that face no real obstacles or consequences

Specs

  • 5,000–30,000 words total, structured in 1,500–2,500 word episodes
  • Submit first 7,500 words plus synopsis
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FICTION SUBMISSION – AUGUST – [Your Title]

SEPTEMBER 2026: BEST SERVED COLD

Fiction Guidelines

Theme Overview

Revenge—patient, calculated, and served with precision. This issue wants stories about characters who don't forgive, don't forget, and make their enemies pay. Bonus points if food, cooking, or culinary culture plays a role.

What We're Looking For

  • Protagonists pursuing revenge with intelligence and planning
  • The long game: vendettas that unfold over time, not hot-blooded violence
  • Moral complexity—revenge that costs the avenger something
  • Culinary settings or food culture as backdrop (optional but welcome)
  • Satisfying payoffs that don't let the protagonist off easy
  • The psychology of grudges: what keeps someone burning for years?

Revenge Scenarios We'll Consider

  • Professional destruction (ruining careers, businesses, reputations)
  • Personal vendettas (family betrayals, broken trusts, stolen lives)
  • Institutional payback (against systems that wronged the protagonist)
  • Culinary revenge (the restaurant industry has no shortage of enemies)
  • Inherited grudges (finishing what someone else started)

We're Not Looking For

  • Revenge without consequences for the avenger
  • Targets who are cartoonishly evil (complexity makes revenge interesting)
  • Violence as the only form of payback
  • Protagonists who are righteous without being compromised
  • "Revenge bad, forgiveness good" morality tales

Specs

  • 5,000–30,000 words total, structured in 1,500–2,500 word episodes
  • Submit first 7,500 words plus synopsis
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FICTION SUBMISSION – SEPTEMBER – [Your Title]

OCTOBER 2026: BARGAINS WITH THE DARK

Fiction Guidelines

Theme Overview

Supernatural transactions. Characters who negotiate with forces beyond the ordinary—and face the consequences. This issue explores what people will trade for power, knowledge, love, or survival, and what happens when the bill comes due.

What We're Looking For

  • Protagonists who engage with supernatural forces by choice, not accident
  • Bargains, deals, and pacts with real costs
  • The psychology of desperation—what makes someone reach for the forbidden?
  • Supernatural elements grounded in human emotion and motivation
  • Consequences that matter: no free lunches from the other side
  • Dread that builds through implication, not just spectacle

Supernatural Territory We'll Consider

  • Deals with devils, demons, or entities that trade in souls
  • Hauntings that demand something from the living
  • Folk horror and old bargains coming due
  • Psychic or occult powers with prices attached
  • The dead who want something from the living
  • Curses, blessings, and the fine print on both

We're Not Looking For

  • Jump-scare horror without psychological depth
  • Supernatural elements as window dressing on mundane plots
  • Protagonists who stumble into horror passively
  • "It was all in their head" cop-outs
  • Gore and body horror as substitute for dread

Specs

  • 5,000–30,000 words total, structured in 1,500–2,500 word episodes
  • Submit first 7,500 words plus synopsis
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FICTION SUBMISSION – OCTOBER – [Your Title]

NOVEMBER 2026: FAMILY SECRETS & DEFYING LEGACY

Fiction Guidelines

Theme Overview

The family as trap, inheritance as curse, legacy as something to escape. This issue explores characters who refuse to become what their bloodlines demand—and uncover the secrets their families buried.

What We're Looking For

  • Protagonists who reject inherited roles, expectations, or identities
  • Family secrets that resurface and demand reckoning
  • The weight of legacy—wealth, name, trauma, or tradition
  • Generational conflict with real stakes
  • Families as systems of control (not just difficult relatives)
  • The cost of breaking with blood

Family Dynamics We'll Consider

  • Dynasties and the pressure to continue the line
  • Inherited businesses, criminal enterprises, or family "trades"
  • Secrets that were supposed to stay buried
  • The black sheep who sees what others won't acknowledge
  • Chosen family vs. blood family
  • Return of the estranged for funerals, weddings, or crises

We're Not Looking For

  • Family drama without stakes beyond hurt feelings
  • "Dysfunctional family" as quirky rather than damaging
  • Protagonists who ultimately reconcile and accept their inheritance
  • Secrets that are shocking but don't change anything
  • Trauma tourism—suffering without purpose

Specs

  • 5,000–30,000 words total, structured in 1,500–2,500 word episodes
  • Submit first 7,500 words plus synopsis
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FICTION SUBMISSION – NOVEMBER – [Your Title]

DECEMBER 2026: ART OF THE CON

Fiction Guidelines | PRINT ISSUE

Theme Overview

Grifters, con artists, heists, and long games. Stories about characters who survive by deception, who build elaborate schemes, and who understand that the real trick is making the mark feel smart. Our December print issue demands fiction as crafty as its protagonists.

What We're Looking For

  • Protagonists who deceive for survival, profit, or justice
  • Cons with real architecture—setups, turns, and payoffs
  • The psychology of deception: what makes a good liar?
  • Marks who aren't simply victims (complicity, greed, hubris)
  • The costs of living behind masks
  • Reversals that play fair with the reader

Con Artist Archetypes We'll Consider

  • The grifter running short cons to survive
  • The heist crew pulling one last job
  • The long con artist building a years-long scheme
  • The impostor living someone else's life
  • The con gone wrong (when the mark isn't what they seemed)
  • The reformed grifter pulled back in

We're Not Looking For

  • Cons that cheat the reader with information withheld unfairly
  • Protagonists who are simply smarter than everyone else
  • Victims who deserve it because they're greedy (lazy morality)
  • Heists that are all planning and no character
  • "Lovable rogue" without genuine moral complexity

Specs

  • 5,000–30,000 words total, structured in 1,500–2,500 word episodes
  • Submit first 7,500 words plus synopsis
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FICTION SUBMISSION – DECEMBER PRINT – [Your Title]