Check out our list of what we think are pretty nifty literary mags that are currently open for submissions.

If you have a literary journal that you’d like featured here, shoot us an email and we’ll give you a peek.

Em Dash

Their site: http://emdashliterarymagazine.com

What they’re about: Em Dash Literary Magazine is a quarterly  online literary magazine that publishes exceptional writing and art with an emotional impact and vivid imagery—work that leaves us with our own figurative em dash.

What we think: Still a relatively young journal, Em Dash has a lot going for it – a dedicated editorial staff, a killer masthead journal, and plenty more. They’ve been featured on a couple of top notch literary magazine websites (Duotrope, Every Writer’s Resource, etc.) and we’re sure they aren’t stopping there.

The Squalor Review

Their site: http://squalorreview.com/

What they’re about: The Squalor Review is an online-only journal dedicated to featuring great literature and art from anywhere in the world. An entirely-free resource, we seek to generate interest in emerging writers and artists amongst the online community. While we remain determined to help promote new and upcoming writers and artists, we are also determined to publish great work from previously-published and established writers and artists, and hope that this effort will provide us and our readers with the proper materials for the creative mosaic we wish to accomplish with each issue.

What we think: Another new literary mag, The Squalor Review offers writers from all walks of life the opportunity to get their voices heard! Though their website is a tad plain, I believe that with submissions of artwork and literature from readers like you, their world will rocket into places they didn’t expect! Show these guys some love.

LORE

Their site: http://www.lore-online.com/

What they’re about: We will consider short stories that can be classified broadly as belonging to the Horror, Science Fiction or Fantasy genres. Expand our horizons, challenge or fine-tune convention. We love well-done genre blending and bending, too, like John W. Campbell, Jr.’s “Who Goes There?,” H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains of Madness,” Philip K. Dick’s “The King of the Elves,” and C.S. Lewis’s “Space” trilogy. Other authors whose work we enjoy include Jorge Luis Borges, Harlan Ellison, R.E. Howard, Shirley Jackson, M.R. James, Brian McNaughton, Clifford D. Simak, Clark Ashton Smith, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

What we think: A really awesome, well-established lit mag, LORE is all about innovation in genres that are filled with cliches. Turning from the YA tropes of shining vampire boyfriends and shallow, large-jugged women, LORE sets its sights on convention-challenging work that inspires new insights into worlds we thought we knew.

The Gravity of the Thing

Their site: http://thegravityofthething.com/

What they’re about: The Gravity of the Thing is an online quarterly literary magazine that publishes writing and poetry that works to affect change, that entertains and challenges—that does its fucking job. Stories occur in many mediums, so every issue presents a variety of short stories, poetry, flash fiction, six-word stories, and photography. Experience serves the writing, it doesn’t earn publication—the words do. We publish writers of varying experience, with unvaryingly substantive words.

What we think: Pretty intense stuff over here at The Gravity of the Thing. However, I think it’s appropriate given the name of the lit mag itself. A very serious art form takes place in this journal, and I believe that it’s well worth a look if true elegance fits your style.

The Abstract Quill

Their site: http://theabstractquill.com/

What they’re about: Dedicated to quality fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and artwork — The Abstract Quill looks to publish the best and most promising works of past and future generations. We consider all genres and are always on the hunt for compelling non-fiction work. Speculative, dystopian, and literary work are particular areas of interest to the Editors.

What we think: This lit mag brings some really great work to the table. Not only are the covers for all of their journals phenomenal, but in each journal they include a rather high profile interview with a writer or artist that is currently in the spotlight (such as Isaac Marion who wrote Warm Bodies). It’s a really fantastic idea that I hope will catch on with other journals out there whose dense prose sometimes tends to push readers away.