Guestbook

A print zine of speculative prose that lives in melancholy.

No happy endings. No overt cruelty. Just the gray ramblings of wayward souls scrawled between the lines of a college-ruled notebook. This is where your work comes to rest.

Issue One

Silt

silt /sɪlt/ noun

1. Fine sediment deposited by water or wind, composed of particles smaller than sand and larger than clay

2. That which remains after the current has moved on

3. The accumulation of what was carried but never arrived

We are reading speculative short fiction, flash fiction, poems, and limited artwork for our debut issue.

Short Fiction

Up to 5,000 words. Speculative work only: horror, weird fiction, fabulism, the uncanny, the liminal, the strange. We want stories that ache. Submit one story per reading period.

Flash Fiction

Up to 700 words. Same as above. Submit one piece per reading period.

Poetry

Each issue of Guestbook opens with a single poem as its foreword. One slot. One poet. The poem should set the table for everything that follows. Submit up to three poems for consideration. We'll choose one.

Art

We accept limited black-and-white artwork to accompany published stories. Think margin doodles, notebook sketches. Work that looks like it was drawn in class while someone else was talking. Submit up to three pieces.

Cover Letters

                    Write your cover letter as if you were signing a guestbook at a stranger's funeral. Title, word count, and a brief bio are all we need beyond that.
                

The Fine Print

Simultaneous submissions welcome. Withdraw immediately if accepted elsewhere.
No multiple submissions. One sub per category per reading period.
No reprints. No previously published work, including on personal blogs or social media. We want to be first. This is where your work will live and die.
$3 reading fee per submission.
Payment is $10 per acceptance plus one contributor copy.
Once you've been accepted, you can never submit again.
We ask for First North American Serial Rights (FNASR). Rights revert back to the author upon publication.
Response times: Everyone will receive a response within a month after the submission deadline closes.
Submission window: Submissions open APRIL 1. Submissions close JUNE 1.

Sign the guestbook →