it's intimidating thinking about submitting your precious work to judgement, but all the rejections are worth it when you finally get that one glowing acceptance email that puts your anxieties and impostor syndrome to bed. but where do you submit? it can be incredibly overwhelming trying to find the right sites/journals/zines to submit to so i thought i'd create a little collection of places i have found to submit to and i will update it whenever i find new discoveries.
PROSE ONLY
The Fiction Desk
They consider stories between 1k words and 10k words, paying 25 GBP per thousand words for stories they publish and contributors receive two complimentary paperback copies of the anthology. (A submission fee of 5 GBP for stories which sucks)
Extra Teeth
Works of fiction and creative nonfiction between 800 and 4,000 words receive a 140 GBP payment upon publication in the magazine as well as two copies that feature your work. If your work is selected to published online, you get 100 GBP instead. A Scottish based publication that also offers mentorships to budding writers. (Free)
Clarkesworld
Fantasy and sci-fi magazine accepting submissions of fiction from 1k to 22k words, paying 14 cent per word. Make sure you read their submissions page carefully, it gives you a good idea of what they're looking for and what will get you one of those disheartening rejection emails. (Free)
Granta
Open to unsolicited submissions of fiction and non-fiction. Unfortunately they do charge a 3.50 GBP fee for prose submissions, but they do offer 200 free submissions during every opening period (1 March - 31 March, 1 June - 30 June, 1 September - 30 September, 1 December - 31 December) to low income authors. No set minimum or maximum length, but most accepted works fall within 3,000 and 6,000 words.
Indie Bites
A fantasy short fiction publisher looking for clever hooks, strong characters and interesting takes on their issues' themes. Submissions should be no longer than 7,500 words. You get an honorarium of 5 GBP for each piece of yours that they publish - it's not much, but yay money! (Free)
Big Fiction
Novella publishers (7,500-20,000 words) looking for self-contained works of fiction that play with things like the linearity of narratives, perspective, structure and language. (Free)
Strange Horizons
Employing a broad definition of speculative fiction, they offer 10 cents a word for spec fiction up to 10,000 words but preferably around 5,000. (Free)
Fantasy and Science Fiction
They publish fiction up to 25,000 words in length, offering 8-12 cents per word upon publishing. (Free)
Fictive Dream
Short stories from 500 words to 2,500. They want writing with a contemporary feel that explores the human condition. (Free)
POETRY AND PROSE
eunoia review
Up to 10 poems in a single attachment, up to 15,000 words of fiction and creative non-fiction (can be multiple submissions amounting to that or a single piece). It's free to submit to, and they respond in 24 hours (I can vouch for that).
Confingo Magazine
Stories up to 5,000 words of any genre and poems (a max of three) up to 50 lines. Free to submit to and offer a 30 GBP payment to authors whose work is accepted.
Grain Magazine
Another Canadian based publication also supportive of marginalised identities. They accept poems (max. of six pages), fiction (max. of 3,500 words) or three flash fiction works that total 3.5k, literary nonfiction (3,500 words) and queries for works of other forms. All contributors are paid 50 CAD per page to a max of 250. Authors outside of Canada will need to pay a 5 CAD reading fee but they do offer a limited number of fee waivers if this impacts your ability to submit.
BTWN
An up-and-coming lit mag looking for diverse works that play with genres, breaks the rules and is a little weird. They want what typical lit mags reject. Stories up to 7,000 words, non-fiction up to 7,000 words and up to 4 poems totalling no more than 10 pages, hybrid work, comics/graphics up to 5 pages, original periodicals up to 14,000 words of prose or 20 pages of poetry. (Free)
Gutter
Accepting submission in spring and autumn work that challenges, re-imagines or undermines the status quo and pushes at the boundaries of form and function. If your contribution is chosen, you get 30 GBP for your work as well as a complimentary copy of the issue. Up to three poems (no more than 100 lines), fiction and essays (up to 2,500 words)
Whisk(e)y Tit
This one's worth checking out just for their logo. They're looking for fiction whether it's short stories, flash fiction or novel excerpts up to 7,000 words, up to 5 poems, up to 7,000 word essays, screenplays and stage plays (can be full works or excerpts up to 20 pages). (Free)
FOR QUEER AND MARGINALISED WRITERS
Plenitude magazine
A queer-focused Canadian literary magazine accepting poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction. They define queer literature as create by queer people. (Free)
Lavender Review
Poetry written by and for lesbians. An annual Sappho's Prize in Poetry takes place every October. (Free)
AC|DC
"A journal for the bent", always open for submissions from queer writers of all experience levels. They lean towards dark and raw writing but are open to everything as long as it's not over 3,000 words. (Free)
Sinister Wisdom
A literary and art journal for lesbians of every background. They accept poetry (up to 5), two short stories or essays OR one longer piece (not exceeding 5,000 words), as well as book reviews (these must be pitched before they are submitted, (Free)
Queerlings
Open annually from Jan 1st to March 31st they publish short stories of any genre (up to 2,000 words), flash fiction/hybrid work (500 words), poetry (up to 3 poems per submission with a 20 line maximum on each) and creative non-fiction (2,000 words) written by queer writers. (Free)
underdog lit mag
Based in the UK, they focus on amplifying emerging and underrepresented writers. If you're female, POC, LGBTQ+, working-class or all of the above with a story of 100-3,500 words that fits their flavour of the month (the last flavour was Magical Realism) send it their way! (Free)
fourteen poems
London-based poetry publishers looking for the most exciting queer poets. You can send up to five emails to them within their deadlines and you get 25 GBP for every poem published.
Froglifter Journal
A press publishing the most dynamic and urgent queer writing. Poets send in 3 to 5 poems (max. 5 pages), writers send in up to 7,500 words of fiction or non-fiction or three flash fiction pieces, and cross-genre creators send in up to 20 pages within the submission windows March 1 to May 1 and September 1 to November 1. (Free)
OTHER SOURCES
Short Stories: X | X | X
Poetry: X
Thinking about how Soren spent days alone in ruins of Katolis seemingly there by himself having not changed or cleaned his armor or even wipe the blood from his face until after everyone arrived.
I also want to know where everyone was before they moved to the lodge and what they were doing.
Was Hat still under the care of Opeli, nervously chittering when yet again Soren hadn’t returned from the ruins?
Did Barius try to comfort Soren the few times he got to see him and tried offer him some food?
Were the other members of the Crownguard worried about how long Soren was spending in the ruins even after they had gotten all salvageables and recovered the bodies?
its okay for others to misunderstand you and your intentions. it is inevitable actually
Watching as libraries and museums and history itself are put to the torch is harrowing and horrifying
I've been kind of obsessed with them since I watched the last season. I think Soren needed to be comforted by Corvus... They never really talked about what happened and it didn't sit well with me, so I drew this.
Expanding upon the idea I put in the tags of this post on my main blog.
Viren saw the monstrous part of himself in Claudia when she killed to revive him, and abandoned her because of it. Mostly I think because he saw it as a hurt he was causing and ran away. The same way he emotionally abandoned Soren as a child because seeing his son reminded him of the hurt he caused for his family. He COULD HAVE been on a path to forgiving himself. I think his attempts to reconcile with Soren and apologize (however poorly managed) were brought on by the realization of what he’d done to Claudia.
And we see him let go of the shame he was feeling (writing out the events that occurred, burning the letter when he realized he couldn’t put that burden on Soren). But he does not see himself as worthy of another chance. He views himself as a monster, and he views Claudia as a monster. That’s the part of himself he left behind for her.
He also left behind the part of himself that we saw in his dark magic fever dreams. The younger version of himself that believed there is always hope, that there is always another path forward. That people can change. We see that reflected -
(oh hey mirrors/reflections as a symbol: Leola and the sea of the cast out reflecting the night sky, the reflection of the full moon in the water of the nexus when Rayla went to rescue her parents from the coins, Ethari seeing Rayla in the reflection of the sword when she’s a ghost, the reflection of Soren in his sword when he “kills” Viren ((mmm I love these Soren Rayla parallels)) also YALL I think Claudia’s gonna die like WHYS Soren alone in his reflection!)
in Soren’s character arc.
Harrow, Runaan, and Viren were all prepared to accept death as justice for their actions. They all knew they were guilty of continuing the cycle of violence. Harrow stopped being ashamed and felt remorse for the actions he took and their effects. We can see this in his letter to Callum. He has regrets, but he believes the justice he deserves is death, not forgiveness.
Viren is finally coming to terms with his guilt and shame when he writes his letter to Soren. And he never delivers it because he sees it for what it is. But that doesn’t mean he’s fully prepared to let go (he never tries to reconcile with Claudia and I’d have to watch it again because it’s hard to tell at that point if he’d even want to. That man really just threw her to the wolves). His death is his final cycle into violence. Falling back onto the crux of dark magic - even if it’s to save people - and the dark magic literally requiring him to die. He’s running away into what’s safe and comfortable instead of overcoming that fear and trying a different solution even if it would be harder. He could have left with Soren and found an alternative (this is a narrative, he made this choice for. a. reason). His life to save Soren’s was not the only option, it was his choice.
Runaan was ready to accept death until Claudia decided he’d be better used for information. Which ends with him trapped in a coin (very similar to the way Aaravos is trapped in the prison for eternity). He had an opportunity to overcome the violence and listen to Rayla and Callum about the egg. But he chooses the cycle of violence again. And it’s what consumes him in his limbo. And then having the second chance to overcome that violence and accepting it is what saves him.
This is getting rambley and it’s getting late, but like - do you see my vision? Do you see the parallels? The themes? And so on and so forth
Bernard art that was originally vent art because I was feeling icky about my scars and felt like projecting onto my baby. I also made this ages ago and never postednit cuz i didn't know how it would be recieved. But anyway.
@steddie-week
Day four: familiar
Nicky was always meant to be stillborn. He was never supposed to live after birth, but Rio gave Agatha more time with him, and in turn he got more time with Agatha.
Whether it was implied or not, he was always the son of Death. He was always supposed to go home to his other mother. When Death finally beckoned him home that night, Rio wouldn’t allow him to join her until he kissed Agatha’s cheek. And he knew, instantaneously, to kiss Agatha not once, but twice.
Once from him, and once from Rio.
Though he was always meant to join Death at her side, Rio gave Agatha the chance to be his mother, too, and now I am a mess about it and will be thinking about this for a long time.
11/4 edit: Wow, y'all have completely overwhelmed me with your love for this little meta, so as thanks, I turned it into a bit of fic we can all cry together about. Read "Once (Twice) from Nicky" on AO3.