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 Speghetti Western pastiche
- 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
- 5,000–10,000 words
- Submit the whole manuscript plus synopsis
- Subject line: FICTION SUBMISSION – JUNE PRINT – [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 stakes or 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
- 5,000–8,500 words total, structured in 4 episodes
- Submitthe whole story plus synopsis
- See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
- Subject line: FICTION SUBMISSION – SEPTEMBER – [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
- 5,000–8,500 words total, structured in 4 episodes
- Submit whole story 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
- 5,000–15,000 words total
- Submit whole story plus synopsis
- See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
- Subject line: FICTION SUBMISSION – DECEMBER PRINT – [Your Title]