Deadline: October 21st, 2017
Payment: 3¢/word, minimum $5, maximum $25 for previously unpublished poetry or prose and a $5 flat payment for reprints. Flat $10 payment for art
Note: Reprints Allowed

During this reading period we are specifically interested in horror-themed metafiction, poetry and art*
for our Samhain (Halloween) issue.  Submissions do not have to be overtly scary (humor is fine)
but MUST draw on the tropes of horror writing—monsters, myth, masks, fear, the grave and beyond,
twisting dark passages, brooding skies, and things that go bump in the night—while ALSO adhering
to our general guidelines (see below).

We DO NOT WANT generic genre fiction—we want self-aware stories and poems, and/or writing about writing.

Submissions that engage the senses in celebration of the season will receive special attention.

Please note: we are not fans of graphic gore, blood content, or gratuitous violence.  Send that somewhere else.

*We will consider non-fiction on any theme for this issue (does NOT have to be horror-related)

Be sure to read the guidelines (below) to get a sense of what we want and how we want it.
The submission window is narrow and the issue is already mostly full.  Work that breaks the rules
or does not fit our milieu will not have a snowball’s chance.  You have been warned.

Please read all of this before submitting. 

No, really.

Editorial Focus: Riddled with Arrows seeks (short) metafiction and metapoems, and writing that celebrates the process and product of writing as art. No restrictions on genre or form, so long as the work is about writing, straight up, or comments on itself (consciously or not) in interesting and meaningful ways..  (What is metafiction? We’re so glad you asked…)

Genre/Style: We prefer tight, clean (as in no typos), vivid, evocative writing.  Spare the purple prose. We are open to all genres and styles.  Literary? Yes.  Fantasy/Sci-Fi? Absolutely.  Horror? Ok. Experimental? Surprise us. Erotica? Maybe, but keep it between adults and make sure it is organic to the story.  In short, don’t be misogynistic, homophobic, racist, or a bigoted asshat of any kind.

Fiction/Metafiction – Your fiction may be dreamily unaware of itself as a written artifact or gleefully and openly meta.  All that really matters is that it be about writing, or be reflective of itself in some central and meaningful way.  Fiction that simply features characters who happen to be writers doing nothing writing-related won’t cut it.  We will consider microfiction as short as a few sentences (but are you sure that’s not really a poem?) and stories up to 1500* words (though the sweet spot is probably somewhere between 500-1000).

Max wordcount is FIRM.  1501 words is too many.  Trim it, or we’ll reject it.

Poetry/Metapoetry – You may submit up to four poems at a time (two-page maximum length per poem, to a total of eight pages of poetry max per sub). As with fiction, poems may be overtly or subtly meta–though poems that merely use the words “poetry”, “poem”, or “poet” as  metaphor are probably not meta enough. We crave poetry that celebrates (or grieves for, or rages against?) poetry itself.  We are also interested in poetry that uses language, form, and other neat tricks to comment on itself, no matter the topic.  We favor free verse but admire well-crafted formal and metric poetry.  Rhyming poetry is fine, too, but for the love of Pablo, please be sure your rhymes are organic and interesting (as opposed to forced and clichéd).

To write in rhyme
is not a crime
but is easier said than done.
Give it a try
and I’m sure you will find
that like-sounding words are hard-won.

-SCWinward

Non-Fiction – Riddled with Arrows is primarily a market for poetry and fiction, but we will consider creative non-fiction and informative essays in keeping with our meta-aesthetics.  We hesitate to define exactly what we’re looking for, but we know we DO NOT want how-to articles or personal essays that would be at home in any typical craft magazine or website aimed at would-be writers.  We are particularly interested in non-fiction that plays with language as culture, language as art, language as an evolving and even sentient thing.  We want semantics and lexicons and discourse, philology, graphology, slang, libraries, magical tomes, alphabets, idiolects and interviews–go wild. Humor and oddity a plus. Max 1500 words (we’ll consider longer but please query first–fiction pay rates apply).

I-don’t-know-what-to-call-this – We will consider written work that does not fall easily into the above categories.  Surprise and delight us.  Check out these links for some of examples of things that have struck our meta-fancy lately.

Visual Art – We welcome and will consider all meta art* and art relating to the art of writing. Have a quirky comic panel about writing? Send it. A beautiful digital painting of your writing muse? Send it. A poem in elegant calligraphy? Send that too. Something that you’re not quite sure qualifies? Send it and let us decide. All artwork must be original and your own property – please do not share the art of others without their express permission (we’d much rather you point them in our direction if they have a piece you think fits RwA).

For examples of meta art, look here, here, and here.

Other Considerations

• Simultaneous submissions are fine, as long as you inform us immediately if your work is no longer available.
• Multiple submissions – no. We’re too busy for that nonsense.  Please wait to hear back on your prose or poetry before submitting again. We will consider up to three submissions per author, per reading period.  Any more than that will be kicked back to you unread.
• Submitting in more than one category – ok, fine, yes, as long as you follow all of the pertinent guidelines.
• Reprints are welcome, though preference will be given to work that is not available elsewhere (including your personal blog or Facebook page, etc). Please include previous publication details with your submission, and be sure that you retain the rights to anything you send us.  Again, we’re far too busy for nonsense.
• Re-submitting – We cannot consider work that has been previously rejected, unless we specifically ask for it.  Send us something new instead.  Keep writing.
• Riddled with Arrows celebrates diversity. We are open to any writer who can slay us with words.  We will make it our mission to remain inclusive and to broadcast ourselves as such.  Please help us spread the word across the literary landscape, and do let us know when we fall short of our target.

Rights & Rates

Riddled with Arrows Literary Journal seeks First Electronic Rights for original work and Reprint electronic rights for previously published work.  All work published in Riddled with Arrows will be archived for the life of the journal.  Authors may request that their work be removed after six months.

We believe authors and artists should be paid for their work.  We offer USD  3¢/word, minimum $5, maximum $25 for previously unpublished poetry or prose and a $5 flat payment for reprints.  For original visual art, we offer a flat $10 payment.

All payments will be issued through Paypal upon publication.

Poetry/Prose Submission Formatting

–>Please post all poetry and prose submissions in the body of an email.  If your work requires special formatting that is not supported by email, please query first for permission to send attachments.<–

This is Important: Please put the word SUBMISSION in the subject field of your email, followed by the genre of your work (poetry/fiction/non-fiction/other), followed by your name, like so: SUBMISSION: Poetry, [Your Name Here].

Cover letters are appreciated.  Polite cover letters particularly so.  Address your correspondence to Shannon Connor Winward, (no “e” in Connor, one “d” in Winward).  Dear Shannon is fine, too.  Dear Editor is okay, but shows you haven’t done your homework.

Include a brief bio with relevant publishing credits, if you have them, though we are more interested in your work than your pedigree.  Add a snippet of something unusual or relevant or fascinating about yourself, if you so desire.  We like unusual and relevant and fascinating people. We also like corny jokes.  It’s true.

We reserve the right to delete unread any submissions that do not follow these guidelines.  We also reserve the right to respond with snippy admonishments if we haven’t had our coffee yet.

Visual Art Submission Formatting

Please submit all artwork as a Jpeg (jpg) or PNG (png) file, with a size of 5mb or less.  Include a cover letter and bio as described above, addressed to Ro Molina, Visual Editor.

Response Times

Shannon is OCD about returning correspondence so you should expect to hear back fairly quickly on the status of your submission.  We may not send acknowledgments of receipt, but if you do not receive a response of some kind within two weeks, please query.

 

Did you read the guidelines?

Did you really?

Then SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO

ladytairngire @ yahoo .com

Via: Riddled With Arrows.