Submission Guidelines SmokeLong publishes flash fiction up to 1000 words. The SLQ aesthetic remains an ever-changing, ever-elusive set of principles, but it most likely has to do with these kinds of things: language that surprises narratives that strive toward something other than a final punch line or twist pieces that add up to something, oftentimes (but not necessarily always) meaning or emotional resonance honest work that feels as if it has far more purpose than a writer wanting to write a story We have a special place in our hearts, more often than not, for narratives we haven't seen before. For the more familiar stories—such as relationship break-ups, bar scenarios, terminal illnesses—we tend to need something original and urgent in the writer's presentation. We are all writers at SLQ, and we try to be sensitive to the nature of submitting your work—which we realize is often your very private and important selves—to strangers. We so appreciate your entrusting us with your submissions, and although author names and bios are available to us, the staff rarely, if ever, accesses this information before reading each piece. In short, we want what all readers want from you—something sincerely and uniquely yours, something that stands up to rereading and lingers in our consciousness long after. Please submit your story using our online submissions form. Please spare our tired old eyes by including two returns between each paragraph. Seriously, some of us have deteriorating vision, and all of us have short attention spans. Break up your paragraphs with two returns and we will be eternally grateful. We publish on a quarterly schedule, with publication dates mid-March, mid-June, mid-September, and mid-December. Submission periods for each issue vary fairly wildly. Submissions are almost always open, however, for whichever issue is next to be filled. You may send your submission anytime. Our intent is to respond as quickly as possible. Please allow us up to four weeks to inform you if we have accepted your work for publication. You will usually hear from us much sooner. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. Please inform our Editor immediately at dclapper@smokelong.com if your work has been accepted somewhere else for publication. Multiple submissions are accepted. Please note one caveat: it is generally best to submit one piece at a time, as each author tends to have his or her own distinctive style. Reading three consecutive submissions by the same author often works against the writer. NEW: Please send no more than two (2) pieces per submission period. We are not interested in works previously published in online magazines. We do not consider pieces published only on your personal web site or blog to have been previously published, so we will consider those. We are interested in pieces that have only previously appeared in print, but only by solicitation. Online Rights: If we publish your work, we require exclusive electronic rights to it for 3 months and non-exclusive rights indefinitely so we can include it in our online archives. Print Rights: We require non-exclusive print rights, for potential annual anthologies and promotional materials. All other rights remain yours.