Deadline: July 31st, 2025
Payment: $150
Theme: works of literature that intersect with Taco Bell

My kids make books all the time for fun. Both of them want to be writers and artists when they grow up. I feel like this is my fault. I’ve made it look too fun. They bring me their stacks of pages, begging for the stapler, as if the stapler contains magical powers, as if the act of binding together the book is what makes it real. I staple three neat clicks and I’ve made it look real. Something more real to pretend with, at least.

We are back, pretending to make our literary magazine again. We are the Taco Bell Quarterly, a Prestigious Literary Magazine that is opening for submissions on 4/20/25.

We are looking for prose, poetry, art, and beyond for our eighth issue, which will be available to read for free online, and to buy in print in the late fall. We will pay $150.

What are we looking for: works of literature that intersect with Taco Bell

Does it have to be about Taco Bell? Does it have to mention it? It’s the Taco Bell Quarterly. The joke is that it’s our only guideline. Also, we do not have any guidelines. We have no rules. You can say whatever you want. We have an aesthetic. We have a vibe. Read our last 3 issues especially to get a sense of the direction we’ve been going in.

But also, yes, it can and should be about Taco Bell too, because that is the joke of the literary magazine, in which every piece has a recurring product placement. Because life might happen in a Taco Bell, or with a Taco Bell logo in the background for a moment. That moment of product placement may be chosen sincerely, sarcastically, however you see fit to tell your story and land in The Taco Bell Quarterly. Why that moment? Why are you telling that story? It’s probably not the Taco Bell.  And we’re not Taco Bell. We’re just the strangers in the background listening in on your conversations. Tell us a good story.

We are interested in presenting pieces that are in conversation with one another, and often the mention of Taco Bell is the tiny thread that connects these larger stories.

What are we interested in promoting alongside Taco Bell? the gender ideology, trans rights, Free Palestine, Black Lives Matter, and also my asshole* I’m going to take this out

Send us your war plans, stories, poems, art, comics, scientific research banned by the government, manifestos, Spanish language pieces, sea shanties, deep dives, recipes, games, and other things that would scare the Dandy and make him puke in his top hat.

TLDR: we’re like the Paris Review but with bean burritos

Prose: The sweet spot we usually publish is 500-2500 words, but we’re open to considering up to 4k words.

• Short stories for when my attention span which has been whittled down 1.2 seconds by the internet and weed. Why are you making this up, ask yourself with a violent shaking of the self
• Flash fiction yes of course we love it and we love you
• Creative Non Fiction: moments, essays, hybrid autofiction undefinable art as self, realizations, peer reviewed studies, primal screams
• CNF but it’s longer, more involved, and needs editing. Pitch me in email in a paragraph, but you’re  going to have to look up my email, impress me with your bylines, or have an idea that is so good that I can’t say no, which is equally as difficult as just pitching it to a general submission pile. Choose your own adventure.

Poems: someone said about one poem in our last issue  (paraphrasing) “I want to write like this but then I don’t think anyone will get it, but TBQ gets it, so I should just do it”

Actual editorial guidelines: 1-4 poems, yeah fine, and there can be 5 or 6 if you’re undecided. Try me. The 5th one you almost left out because of some dumb guideline is the one I’m going to like the most.

Art/Visuals: Art that touches. Art that jumps off the page and touches. The touch the feel of cotton the fabric of our lives. Whatever is the opposite of art in hotel rooms. Unexpected art. Found art. No AI bullshit. We will shame you in front of cool writers.

Comics: Our comics have been fucking amazing and honestly could have been published literally anywhere else so we have no idea why their artists chose us. Send us something distinct, in your style, make it pop, give it narrative; we’ll take pencil pen watercolor digital. Send us stuff that TERFS wouldn’t re-tweet and weird teenagers would like on Tumblr.

Things That Are Not Literary:  Smut, romance, aliens, elves, serial killers, detectives, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and beyond. We want to publish more, but we are also looking for Literary writing. Whatever that means to you. – see Rae Wilde in TBQ6 for a good example of something that worked.

Other: I want to find Waldo trying to escape the pit of hell. Think outside the bun / think outside the crossword puzzle. RPGs. I would love to see an old school board game across two pages.

Deadline: The last time we were open we got 3k subs in just a little over 3 months, so we will not be open that long. We will probably cap about 1500 subs, so we may be open for a month -ish? If you miss the cap, you can always email it. Don’t stress. We’re barely a real lit mag.

The chalupa rises from the dead and opens 4/20. Bring us your stacks of pages and say, Publish me Daddy!

https://tacobellquarterly.submittable.com/submit

-TBQ (Mick, Axel, Tanya)

Via: Taco Bell Quarterly’s Submittable.