Call for Submissions on Theme of "Surprise": South 85 Journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South 85 Journal will be open to general submissions January 24 ~ March 13 for its Spring/Summer issue through Submittable: South 85 Submissions Page. Additional reading periods will be announced for 2026.

ISSUE: SURPRISE US | UNTHEMED 

• Surprise: an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, or thing

• Surprise: the feeling caused by something unexpected or unusual

• What you hope will happen, what you dread will happen, what happened

• A surprise return, surprise departure, surprise attack; you were caught by surprise; it came as no surprise; that element of surprise

• Or truly surprise us: your piece has nothing at all to do with surprise! (We mean it…that’s legit.)

• Surprise us with your wit, your wisdom, your wild, your restraint; surprise us with form, image, metaphor; your character said/did/thought what?!; show us anew that thing we’ve seen 1000 times, or show us that thing we never knew we’d want to see.

• The possibilities are endless, and we want this theme that’s unthemed to feel open to countless interpretation, introspection, and examination. As always, we’re eager to read what you come up with.

Submission fee = $3

• We will publish novel excerpts, provided they can stand on their own. We do not publish genre fiction or children’s stories. We encourage you to read archives of South 85 Journal and acquaint yourself with the material we publish before submitting your work. We encourage the use of a content warning if necessary, in consideration of our manuscript readers.

• Type should be no smaller than 12-pt. font. Please use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial, and refrain from script or “flowery” lettering.

• All work will be considered for our Editor’s Choice Award of $100, which be given to ONE piece in the issue.

• Submissions should be saved in Word or Rich Text format.

• Number pages consecutively, double space, and use margins of at least one inch.

• Place your name, email address, and word count in an upper corner of the first page.

• We do not solicit work; each published piece comes to us through Submittable. 

More information here.