About
We are a literary journal celebrating…wait for it…formal art.
Rhyming poetry. Poetic, lyrical fiction. Highly structured nonfiction.
Visual art in the classical tradition. That kind of thing.
This is not the cool kid’s table in the cafeteria. Welcome to the stuffiest part of library.
Submit
WHAT to submit:
Poetry
We want rhyming poetry. The rhymier, the better. Extra points if you channel the Romantics.
We are theoretically open to structured blank verse. But be forewarned: The syllabic construction
and line structure must be extremely tight. Emphasis on “verse” rather than “blank.”
No free verse. No “visual” poetry. No “prose” poetry. If you have to ask if it fits, it doesn’t.
Fiction
Any length under 6,000 words will be considered, but realistically, closer to 3,000 will increase your chance of acceptance. No minimum word count, as we welcome microfiction and flash.
As to genre, we generally prefer literary fiction, but we don’t automatically rule out sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and the like. We’re fans of Mary Shelley. If it’s gothic and poetic, send it our way.
We’re not too picky about the content; we’re VERY picky about the form. If it could be described as “experimental” or post-modern, we’re unlikely to be impressed.
Non-fiction
Philosophy essays, reviews, short memoirs, etc. Just as long as it’s formal. No stream-of consciousness.
Visual art
We love paintings. Our ideal submitter would be Caravaggio, but he’s presumably busy (we hope in purgatory).
Drawings are very welcome.
With drawings and paintings both, we’re much more likely to accept semi-abstract than fully abstract. We love Dali and Escher. We’re also happy to get realistic portraits.
While we respect digital art as a medium, it’s low on our priority list. If submitting digital art, classical content will increase your likelihood of acceptance.
For photography, the more formal, the better. Interpret that as you will. Photography is also low on our priority list.
Absolutely no AI art.
Send us as high a resolution as you can. We’re not too particular, as long as it looks good.
HOW to submit:
Send us an email with one of four subjects: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Visual Art.
- Up to five short stories.
- Up to five pieces of non-fiction.
- Up to ten poems.
- Up to ten pieces of visual art.
We chose those specific numbers so that if you want to submit the maximum in each category, it will come to a total of thirty pieces, and we like evenness. Yes, these things are slightly arbitrary.
If you decide to submit to all four categories, please send us four separate emails. All pieces—in all categories—must stand alone, so that we can choose as many or as few as we like.
For writing, word doc is easiest. We suggest Times New Roman, 12-point font. But as long as it’s immediately legible, we’re slightly flexible.
You retain the right to your own work, but please credit us as the original publisher. We retain the right to archive your work, credited to you.
No need for a cover letter or artist statement; work should speak for itself. Do include a short bio, though. ~100 words.
Simultaneous submissions are fine. Reprints are welcome, as long as you give credit to the original publisher. No deadlines at the moment; we’re on a rolling basis until we get our first issue out.
WHO should submit:
Anyone 18 or over!
Additional info:
Do you nominate for prizes?
We plan to nominate for The Pushcart Prize, and possibly Best Small Fictions, Best Microfictions, and Best of The Net.
Do you have print editions?
As of now, we’re online only.
Do you pay your contributors/charge for submissions?
No (sorry) and no (you’re welcome). We’re amateurs in the classical sense, doing a labor of love for free. We make no profit, and lose a small amount of money maintaining our ad-free
website.
Finally: Who are we, you ask?
A small group of anonymous aesthetes.