"we were happy under our dictator, unaware of the world, mistaking tadpoles for fish, skinning rabbits, stealing molasses from freight trains" kandazinguri's "Arafats in D" trampset.org/arafats-in-d-2…

"when the beluga shows up and offers me her child / first i have to learn the sign language for no and sonar for madness" clif's "off to saint lucia" trampset.org/off-to-saint-l…

"Because the sky still hangs its blue between the bombs. Because your mother’s voice is a compass needle trembling north." O. Michael Emerald's "Reasons to Stay Alive When the World Burns" trampset.org/reasons-to-sta…

"I pretended Johnny Cash was my father and my father, like Johnny Cash, was finally dead so I could finally forgive him all the ways that he’d been mean and dismissive to me" Benjamin Drevlow's "The Ghost of Johnny Cash Sings of Fire" trampset.org/the-ghost-of-j…

"I reach for it — the hand, the bloom, she disappears — fucile is a gun, a letter away from futile." st. teddy's "Dreambreak (Stanza Means Room)" trampset.org/dreambreak-sta…

"Do not let them into your heart, she tells me, a single child hoping for a friend, a teenager dreaming of her first boyfriend. Their love is like poison." Lisobel Tang's "China Dog" trampset.org/china-dog-68e3…

"I remember a story he wrote about seaglass, followed by the words of Dybek whispered as foreplay. It isn’t easy to fall in love. There has to be strangeness." Avra Elliott's "Strange Like Me" trampset.org/strange-like-m…

What a month we had! We're still furiously reading through subs, so thank you for trusting us! Our August stats: 741 subs received 7 accepted 0.94% acceptance rate

What Scott said.... ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Hunger Mountain is now open for submissions for Issue #33! We accept fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Consider us fans of both boundary pushers and traditionalists alike - we just want to be wowed. Submissions close December 1st. hungermtn.submittable.com/submit

Our Best of Net nominations have been filed!

Our Sept stats: 371 received 7 accepted 1.89% acceptance rate Consider subbing. We pay $30/piece. Free sub option always. Guidelines here > trampset.org/submissions-6e…

Writers with short story collections, submissions are open for the W.S. Porter Prize. I look forward to reading your work. Winning collection receives $1k + publication by Regal House: regalhousepublishing.com/the-w-s-porter…

Friends! I'd love to add some new volunteer readers for both Fractured Lit & Uncharted Mag. It's a great way to see what's being written and eventually published today! I've heard from so many former readers about how it has helped their own writing!

We can't wait to read your work! variantlit.com/submit

Get those subs in before we close until 2026! Maybe I'll write a little. Probably I'll do more reading than writing. Definitely I'll carry my fave chicken around & have an argument in my head if I should buy her that chicken leash off Amazon & prance her up & down the road. 🐔

Our Oct issue drops this Fri! Reminder we will be shutting down to subs once we have our Dec issue filled (there's still plenty of room!). Consider subbing to us!