Unusual Calls for Submissions

Third Edition of The Midnight Diner Submissions are Open!
The Midnight Diner is a hardboiled genre anthology with a Christian slant. No restrictions on God, no restrictions on reality. Didactic preachy works are dismissed unceremoniously; we're looking for high quality works that are uncompromising in craft, content, and quality. More here.

Deadline for O'Connor Work Extended to October 31, 2009
Shenandoah announces a special issue centering on the works of Flannery O'Connor in celebration of the journal's 60th anniversary. The editor seeks essays, poems, short stories, reviews, photographs and other artwork about, related to or in honor of the fiction and life of Ms. O'Connor. Any queries about particular submissions should be directed to rodsmith(at)wlu.edu (replace (at) with @). A prize of $1,000 will be awarded to the best O'Connor-related work published in the issue, which is planned for Fall, 2010. More here.

The theme of the February, 2010 issue of the online poetry magazine Snakeskin is WORK, including housework, homework, yard work, paid work, any kind of work. Please send the guest editor up to six poems on the topic. No previously-published poems. Simultaneous submissions are allowed. No attachments; poems should be in the body of the email. The deadline is December 1. Jessy Randall, guest editor, February 2010 issue of Snakeskin Email: jessyrandall(at)yahoo.com (replace (at) with @). More here.

American Book Review Call for Submissions - Bad Books
Richard Ford once said that it takes as much effort to produce a bad book as a good book. And as disheartening as that sounds, what Ford’s assertion might raise, and what most everyone who has attempted the task of a book-length work already knows, is the notion that effort alone does not ensure a book’s success, and that there are probably more ways for a good book to be overlooked than a bad book to never make it into print. That said, what constitutes a bad book? Is it an overrated “good” book? Can an otherwise good author produce a “bad” book? Is the badness in style, in execution? Or is it in theme or outlook? In the spirit of such focuses as 100 Best Last Lines of Novels and Why Teach Creative Writing? and the most recent Fiction’s Future, American Book Reviewseeks entries for consideration in an upcoming “Bad Books” focus. Whether it’s a novel, memoir, collection of poems, how-to or self-help book, select a book that you think belongs on the “Bad Books” list and accompany it with a two hundred and fifty word essay illustrating just what’s bad about it. Submissions are due by Nov. 1, 2009. More here.

Persona Poem anthology seeks Persona Poems
The editors are pleased to announce a call for submissions for A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry. We are seeking poems that work within the literary tradition of persona poetry: poems written as dramatic monologues, whose speakers employ masks, or whose character and voice are different from the poet's own. Please submit up to 5 unpublished poems. We will also consider poems whose rights have reverted back to the author. All submissions will be accepted electronically. Please send an email to the editors at facesanthology(at)gmail.com (replace (at) with @) with the poet's name and "Submission for Persona Anthology" as the subject line, with the poems as an attachment. Submissions will be accepted October 1, 2009 through January 1, 2010.

Online journal seeks work for an issue on "Hope and the Economy"
The Other Journal seeks submissions of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction for our upcoming issue on Hope and the Economy. Our deadline has been extended from September15 to October 15, 2009. All submissions should be sent via email to submissions(at)theotherjournal (replace (at) with @) with "TOJ Submission" written in the subject line. More here.