Call for Submissions: Neon and Smoke

What We’re Looking For

Neon & Smoke is a home for bold fiction. We’re especially drawn to: 

• Stories that move. Not just emotionally, but narratively. Give us stakes. Give us story.

• Stories that mean. The kind where a sentence lands and you need to sit with it for a second.

• Stories that sound. Bold voices. Quiet voices with teeth. Characters who command attention.

• Stories that blend. They might wear the clothes of genre—revenge, horror, speculative—but underneath, they’re about something deeper: grief, identity, morality, transformation.

• Fresh perspectives. We elevate marginalized voices, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and incarcerated writers—but we welcome all voices.

• Unforgettable characters. Give us flawed humans (or monsters) navigating strange, beautiful, or broken worlds.

• Emotional resonance. We love stories that linger—whether from laughter, heartbreak, terror, or awe.

• Emotional range. Give us sorrow and joy. Stillness and chaos. Anger, love, weirdness, release. We want fiction that reflects the full spectrum of being alive.

• Clarity with depth. We value accessibility. You don’t need to write for a panel of editors. Write for the reader who feels it in their chest.

What We’re Not Looking For

• Fiction that relies on harmful stereotypes or gratuitous violence without narrative or emotional purpose

• Work so abstract or insular that it leaves readers adrift—if the meaning is buried under a dozen metaphors and only visible to the writer or a lit journal editor, it’s probably not for us.

• Stories that dwell in a single emotional register without transformation. We've read enough grief without movement, rage without reflection, or sorrow without spark.

Submission Categories & Guidelines

Flash Fiction

• Submit 1 story up to 1,000 words (1,100 if it earns every word).

• Standard manuscript format (.doc, .docx, or .pdf).

• We do not accept reprints.

• Simultaneous submissions are allowed—just notify us immediately if your piece is accepted elsewhere.

Payment: $20 flat rate for accepted original stories.

Poetry Submissions

• Submit 1–2 poems totaling no more than 60 lines or 600 words.

• We prefer work that fits on 1–2 printed pages.

• The theme is a guide, not a rule—surprise us.

• Submit as a single .doc, .docx, or .pdf file with no identifying information.

• No previously published poems (online or in print).

• Simultaneous submissions allowed with prompt notification upon acceptance elsewhere.​

​Visual Art

• Submit up to 3 original, unpublished pieces.

• Include only high-resolution files.

• Do not include any identifying information in the files or file names.

• We accept photography, illustration, digital art, collage, and mixed media that fits the Neon & Smoke aesthetic.​

Rights

For accepted work, we request First North American Serial Rights and First Online Rights

All rights revert to the author or artist upon publication. We ask for credit as the original publisher if the work appears elsewhere in the future.

Submit your work here. 

Deadline: Dec. 31, 2025