Submissions are now closed.
What We Talk About When We Talk About It
Darkhouse Books seeks submissions for the third installment in its Riff literary series, What We Talk About When We Talk About It: Variations on the Theme of Love.
Send us your best poetry or prose on this very broad theme.
What is love, anyhow? You can love your partner, your friend, your country, your dog, cat, rat, your local library, your family, yourself. You can love money, liquor, food, wilderness, or the dive bar on the corner. What does love make people do? What will people give for it? What will they steal? Does the razor love the wrist as a baby loves the breast? Where does sex figure in all of this? Does it?
What we love and do not love:
- This series leans toward the literary while welcoming all genres, so long as the author has paid close attention to craft.
- We are not looking for standard romance, but if you think your romance will win our love anyway, send it.
- Send us work that stands out because of its excellence, of course, but also because of its creative take on the theme and on the craft of writing. Take a risk and do it with panache!
- When it comes to prose, the editors prefer short and tight, but if you write long and you can prove us wrong, you’re in.
- We will accept reprints so long as the piece was published more than a year before you submit it, and you are submitting in accordance with the previous publisher’s guidelines, and ours.
- Maximum length is 5,000 words; there is no minimum.
SUBMISSION Requirements:
Format your piece in 12-point Times New Roman or Courier, double spaced, with initial 0.5” indents, and 1” margins. Poems do not have to be double spaced.
Send your manuscript as .doc or .docx. PLEASE DO NOT SEND IN ANY OTHER FORMAT.
Submit no more than five poems and/or two prose pieces. Submissions may be emailed to submissions@darkhousebooks.com, and should include the word Love in the subject line. [Submissions are now closed.]
Submissions will be accepted from November 10, 2018 through midnight (PST) February 28, 2019.
Payment to contributors is 50% of the royalties divided equally among the authors.