Prick of the Spindle is a literary journal that is open to forms in both traditional and experimental modes, with a special bent toward fresh and innovative voices using language in unique ways. We read for issues year-round. If you are interested in being considered for publication in Prick of the Spindle, please take care to read the guidelines for submitting your previously unpublished work.
The online edition of Prick of the Spindle is published quarterly. Online content is also made available for the Kindle magazine incarnation of the journal. The print edition of Prick of the Spindle is published biannually.
There is no reading fee for the online edition, and submissions are accepted year-round (for reading fees for the print edition, please see the end of this page or the submission manager guidelines). We do send a courtesy e-mail notifying authors that we have received their submission; if you do not hear from us with a decision within three months of submitting, please feel free to send a query.
Submit to the Online Edition of Prick of the Spindle using Submittable, our submission manager.
Submit to Prick of the Spindle - Print Edition
You may submit up to five pieces per category. Entries should be in a single attachment, and include a brief 3rd person bio. Submissions should be formatted to read title first, writer name, then text body. Please do not use text smaller than 12 point or any unnecessary formatting, such as excessive bolding and italics, unless it is inherent to the spirit of the work. Fiction submissions should be double-spaced with only one space between sentences.
We are open to publishing fiction varying in length from flash to novelettes (which are 7,500 to 17,500 words). Longer works should be directed to our print component, Aqueous Books. We are seeking reviews in the realms of academic literature, fiction, and poetry. Reviews can consist of works of literary criticism, book reviews, and academic analyses or essays.
We allow simultaneous submissions only on the condition that you notify us immediately if your work is accepted for publication elsewhere. We work very hard to maintain high standards of excellence, and expect the same level of professionalism from all who submit. Upon acceptance, Prick of the Spindle acquires first (electronic) serial publication rights, after which the copyright reverts to the author. When you submit, you do so with the understanding that your work will be archived on the site. If you have been published within our virtual pages, we ask that you wait a year before submitting again. However, if you submit and your work is rejected, you may continue submitting once per (quarterly) reading period.
We do not publish children's or young adult fiction, and we tend away from genre fiction, unless it is especially well-written with a particularly contemporary flavor. To give yourself the best chances of acceptance, read the journal to get a feel for what we like before submitting.
Please direct general questions and inquiries for reviews and interviews to pseditor (at) prickofthespindle (dot) com. We generally do not review self-published works.
To submit art, visit our submission manager (see link above). Artwork will be initially considered for the online galleries; please indicate whether you are interested in having your work considered for cover art in a future issue. To submit podcasts, please submit in an e-mail with accompanying description to pseditor (at) prickofthespindle (dot) com.
To submit short films, please e-mail the link where the film can be found or a .mov file around 30 minutes or shorter to pseditor (at) prickofthespindle (dot) com. In general, we are seeking films with an experimental or indie quality that emphasizes storyline or visual elements. We are open to different varieties; if you are unsure whether your work is a fit, send it on anyway. We'd be happy to have a look.
Electronic submissions are encouraged; however, postal correspondence (please include self-addressed, stamped envelope or e-mail address for reply on submissions) may be directed to:
Prick of the Spindle
P.O. Box 1180
Covington, LA 70434
If you are submitting by mail, please indicate whether you wish to submit to the online or print edition of the journal. Keep in mind that it is free to submit to the online journal (a quarterly publication) but that if you wish to submit to the (biannual) print edition, you must include the appropriate fees. Fees for the print edition are as follows:
Poetry: $2, up to 5 poems
Fiction: $5, one story
Nonfiction: $5, one story
Essays & Articles: $5, one essay or article
Reviews: free
Drama: $5 one dramatic work
Art:
$2, up to 5 pieces
Checks or money orders should be made payable to Prick of the Spindle.
If you are interested in reviewing one of the books on our review shelf for an upcoming issue, please contact pseditor (at) prickofthespindle (dot) com with your previous reviews and publications, mailing address, and the name of the book requested. Limit one book per request.
CROSS-GENRE:
* The Ampersand Review, Issue 7
* Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies, Vol. 43, No. 1, April 2012
* La Reata Literary Magazine, Vol. 2, Issue 8
* Remembrances of Wars Past: A War Veterans Anthology by Henry F. Tonn [nonfiction, fiction, poetry] (Fox Tracks Publications)
NONFICTION:
* Project Conversion: One Man. 12 Faiths. One Year. by Andrew Bowen (Fourth Gate Books)
* Impossible Loves: Essays by Erin McNellis (Rock Paper Tiger Press)
FICTION:
***This list includes all titles currently in circulation from Aqueous Books. See the list of books and reference publication dates to guide your selection. Books without links to author pages are no longer in circulation.***
* The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up by Jacob M. Appel (Cargo Publishing)
* Brothel by J. Boyett (Fiction Advocate)
* The Tragedy of Fidel Castro by João Cerqueira (Green Leaf Books)
* Homegirl! by Ryder Collins (Honest Publishing)
* The Darkened Corner by Tom Hamilton (Philistine Press)
* Beasts & Men by Curtis Smith (Press 53)
POETRY:
* It is Especially Dangerous to Be Conscious of Oneself by Jeff Alessandrelli (Swollen Language Kills)
* The Mimic Sea by Erica Bernheim (42 Miles Press)
* The Man Who Killed Himself in My Bathroom by CL Bledsoe (Ten Pages Press)
* Sky Sandwiches by John F. Buckley (Anaphora Literary Press)
* Poets' Guide to America by John F. Buckley & Martin Ott (Brooklyn Arts Press)
* Chinese Blue by Weyman Chan (Talon Books)
* Cat. by Mark Cochrane (above/ground press)
* Split Personality by Cathryn Cofell and Karla Huston (sunnyoutside)
* Renegade//Heart by Lisa M. Cole (Blood Pudding Press)
* The Odicy by Cyrus Console (Omnidawn Publishing)
* Poisonous Beautyskull Lollipop by Juliet Cook (Grey Book Press)
* Melancholia (An Essay) by Kristina Marie Darling (Ravenna Press)
* Petrarchan by Kristina Marie Darling (BlazeVOX [books])
* Mimesis, Synaptic by Laressa Dickey (Miel Books)
* The Neighborhood We Left by Andy Fogle (Finishing Line Press)
* Sheer Indefinite by Skip Fox (UNO Press)
* Russia in 17 Objects by Julie Gard (Tiger's Eye Press)
* Harm by Hillary Gravendyk (Omnidawn Publishing)
* F IN by Carol Guess (Noctuary Press)
* Messages by Piotr Gwiazda (Pond Road Press)
* The Body Double: A long poem by Jared Harel (Brooklyn Arts Press)
* There is Another Poem, in Which the News is Erased and Rewritten by Zachary Harris (New Michigan Press)
* Black Tulips by José María Hinojosa, Translated by Mark Statman (UNO Press)
* We Have With Us Your Sky by Melanie Hubbard (Subito Press)
* Blue Trajectory by Janelle Elyse Kihlstrom (Dancing Girl Press)
* After the Firestorm by Susan Kolodny (Mayapple Press)
* Call the Catastrophists by Krystal Languell (BlazeVox [books])
* Insane in the Quatrain by Bradley Lastname (The Press of the 3rd Mind)
* The Coldest Winter on Earth by David Dodd Lee (Marick Press)
* The Nervous Filaments by David Dodd Lee (Marick Press)
* Midnight's Marsupium by Michael Leong (The Knives Forks and Spoons Press)
* Underlife and Portico by Michael Lynch (Aforementioned Productions)
* Specks by Michael McClure (Talon Books)
* Prelude: Selections from a Collaboration by Christine McNair and Rob McLennan (above/ground press)
* No Silence in the Field by Rachel Mennies (Blue Hour Press)
* True Stories from the Future by A. Molotkov (Boone's Dock Press)
* Discovery Passages by Garry Thomas Morse (Talon Books)
* Pretty Tilt by Carrie Murphy (Keyhole Press)
* Grim Series by Kristine Ong Muslim (Popcorn Press)
* Our List of Solutions by Carrie Oeding (42 Miles Press)
* Memory Future by Heather Aimee O'Neill (Gold Line Press)
* Tangled Shadows: Senryu & Haiku by Elliot Nicely (Rosenberry Books)
* Captive by Martin Ott (C&R Press)
* Keep by Deborah Poe (above/ground press)
* from unincorporated territory [Saina] by Craig Santos Perez (Omnidawn Publishing)
* Aerial by Bin Ramke (Omnidawn Publishing)
* Last Verses by Jules Laforgue, Trans. Donald Revell (Omnidawn Publishing)
* America Plops and Fizzes by Andrew Rihn, with artwork by David Munson (sunnyoutside)
* Three Novels by Elizabeth Robinson (Omnidawn Publishing)
* Plainsight by Justin Runge (New Michigan Press)
* Cadillac Men by Rebecca Schumejda (NYQ Books)
* Angels & Beasts by Claudia Serea (Phoenicia Publishing)
* Our Rarer Monsters by Noel Sloboda (Sunnyoutside)
* My Funeral Gondola by Fiona Sze-Lorrain (Manoa Books/El Leon Literary Arts)
* One Perfect Bird by Letitia Trent (Sundress Publications)
* Soot by Jeff Walt (Seven Kitchens Press; No. 5 in Keystone Chapbook Series, Co-Winner of 2009 Keystone Chapbook Prize)
* Autobiography of Fever by John Sibley Williams (bedouin books)
* A Pure River by John Sibley Williams (The Last Automat Press)
* Pointed Sentences by Bill Yarrow (BlazeVOX [books])
* Davie Street Translations by Daniel Zomparelli (Talon Books)