For writers and artists

Submissions

Three calls are listed. Every term the magazine publishes is on this page, in full, including the two paid options and what we pay you.

Open calls

Each window is printed as the call states it. These are our open and upcoming calls.

Annual Love Issue

Opens soon

Oct 1 – Oct 30, 2026

This call is for all our hopeless romantics. The ones who believe love can arrive in a moment and, quite frankly, those who say fuck love.
We call those folks hopelessly unromantic.
You're invited too.

We want the bliss and the heartache.
We want the erotic and the intellectual.
We want the love that saves us and the love we probably should have left alone.

We don't want black-and-white love. We want love that sits in gray. We want messy, complicated shades, and absolutely Black love.

Tell us about when the gay became straight and the straight became gay. Tell us about the ten men who boarded a rocket ship only to discover there are no women on Venus.

Give us strange love.
Give us bad luck.
Give us love that makes us cry.
Just give us love—however you understand it.

PS. We interpret love broadly. Romantic, platonic, familial, sexual, obsessive, lost, found, regretted, imagined... we could go on.

Genres
Fiction & Poetry
Publication
February 2027

Flash Fiction

Open now

Opens August 16th - September 20th

We’re drawn to stories that grab us from the first line and don’t let go.

Make us hold our breath.
Make us laugh.
Make us horny.
Make us uncomfortable.

Then take us deeper.

We want flash that breathes and bleeds. Characters who move—who choose, change, fight and sometimes fail. Submit through our Duosuma portal below.

Length
Submit 1 story up to 1,000 words (1,100 if it earns every word).
Files
Standard manuscript format (.doc, .docx, or .pdf).
Payment
Payment: $20 flat rate for accepted original stories.
Reprints
We do not accept reprints.
Simultaneous
Simultaneous submissions are allowed—just notify us immediately if your piece is accepted elsewhere.
Also
Feedback Fiction is always open. See below for more information.

Visual Art

Open now

August 15 - October 1st

Theme: Soulful Things

Soulful Things are the things we remember. They touch us, carry us, stir us. We feel them deeply—in faces, in eyes, in the way music curls around us.

Show us where the soul lives and breathes. Show us the intimacy of life. The people, music, objects, and moments that give us life. The things that linger long after the moment has passed.

Files
Include only high-resolution files.
Also
Submit up to 3 original, unpublished pieces.
We accept photography, illustration, digital art, collage, and mixed media that fits the Neon & Smoke aesthetic.

Submit through Duotrope

Duosuma is Duotrope's submission manager, so the two names in our older guidelines mean the same place. If anything on that page contradicts a call above, the call above is the one we will honor — and tell us at neon@neonandsmoke.com so we can fix it.

Submission guidelines

Per-category terms (length, format, payment, reprints) are on the cards above. What follows applies to everything you send us.

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.

Rights

For accepted work, we request

  • First North American Serial Rights
  • 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.

Optional Add-Ons

Expedited Response – $5

Want to hear back more quickly? Receive a response within 2–3 weeks by adding $5 at submission.

Note: Payment does not influence our decision to publish your work.

Feedback Fiction – $10

Curious how your story or poem landed with us?

For $10, receive a brief, personalized response that includes:

  • A summary of your work’s strengths and opportunities
  • Thoughts on how your submission landed with our editorial team
  • Light commentary from the editor who reviewed your work

This is not a developmental edit or line-by-line critique—it’s a candid reflection from our editorial lens. Choosing this option does not influence our publication decision.

How to Submit

  • Submit your work through our online portal: Duotrope.
  • Include a brief cover letter (no bio required unless you'd like to include one).
  • Expect a response in 6–8 weeks, unless you’ve selected expedited review.
  • We evaluate submissions holistically based on character depth, plot, pacing, genre fusion, voice, and impact.

We can’t wait to read what you’ve been working on.

Check out our stories to see what we like, and then bring us your best misfits.

Because we are Neon & Smoke, half-genre/always lit.

Expect a response in 6–8 weeks, unless you’ve selected expedited review. Submissions go through our Duotrope listing.

Before you send

Read what we have already published before you send. Start with the archive, or the current issue.