Issue #4 – Call for Submissions
The Incongruous Quarterly is seeking submissions of unpublishable poetry, fiction and art for our fourth issue.
The deadline for submissions is November 13th, 2011.
Poems, fiction and art can be considered “unpublishable” for reasons like content, length, form and subject matter. But what about work that cannot be published in a print magazine? Where does it fit, and how?
We are seeking literary and artistic work that takes into account, and advantage of, the fact that we are an online publication rather than a printed one.
We’re interested in figuring out what we can offer our contributors and readers that a print publication might not be able to. We are not bound by concerns of page or word count; we can feature audio and video files, hyperlinks, any kind of image, downloadable files, interactive or collaborative works, as well as our usual, more basic format of simple text or image on a page. We love work that explores, exploits or messes with different media and the boundaries between them is awesome; work that doesn’t do any of that stuff (more “traditional” stories and poems) but is concerned with the same ideas or themes we’re interested in (innovation, communication, connection, alienation, etc.) is great too.
Above all, we are looking to learn things. Surprise us. Challenge us. Show us something new.
Fiction submissions should be sent to incongruousfiction@gmail.com
Poetry submissions should be sent to incongruouspoetry@gmail.com
Submissions of art, or queries of any kind, should be sent to incongruousquarterly@gmail.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f99PcP0aFNE
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Guidelines
Please read these before you submit something. If you don’t follow them, we can’t read your work.
What We Want
The Incongruous Quarterly likes fiction and poetry. Every issue has themes, guest editors and official deadlines, but we’re always reading and will gladly accept submissions between calls, as well as submissions off-theme.
We particularly like the following things:
Unpublishable stories and poems. Look over here or read through our past issues if you’re not sure what this means. If your work doesn’t belong anywhere else, then it very well might belong with us.
Work that’s been rejected by other magazines/websites/newspapers/journals/etc. We can’t promise that previous rejections will get your piece into the Quarterly, but stuff that’s been rejected by other people tends to be the kind of stuff we like (as long as it’s good).
Submissions on theme. You don’t have to do this, but it’s always nice when you do. You can find out about themes in our calls for submissions (which will be posted at the top of this page whenever they exist), through our newsletter, facebook page or twitter.
Previously unpublished writers. We like nothing more than reading really good work by someone who’s never been published before, so don’t be shy.
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What We Don’t Want
Bad writing. We’re probably not interested in poems that look like cats, uninteresting pornography, Billy Collins, etc. Use your best judgment. You’re smart and we trust you.
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How We Want It
The Incongruous Quarterly reads blind. Because we are low both on funds and organizational skills, our reading system is complicated and clunky and in order for things to work you absolutely must format your submission according to these guidelines.
In the body of your email, please include the following things:
- Name
- Story title
- Contact information
- Bio
Attach a copy of your submission with no name or contact information anywhere in the text. We prefer .docs or .pdfs.
If your submission isn’t formatted this way, we won’t be able to read it. And not being able to read your work makes us sad.
Simultaneous submissions are fine. Work that’s been published elsewhere is not our favourite. We don’t have a word limit.
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Where To Send It
Make sure you send your work to the appropriate section editor.
Fiction – incongruousfiction@gmail.com
Poetry – incongruouspoetry@gmail.com
Nonfiction pitches, section ideas, art, general inquiry – incongruousquarterly@gmail.com