South 85 Journal  is reading fiction, flash, poetry & CNF for our Spring/Summer theme issue:  BORDERS | BOUNDARIES | LINES.  Reading period closes on 3-10-25.

South 85 Journal is accepting general submissions from JANUARY 15, 2025, to MARCH 10, 2025, for its Spring/Summer issue through Submittable: South 85 Submissions Page. Additional reading periods will be announced for 2025.

THEME ISSUE: BORDERS | BOUNDARIES | LINES

• What are the lines we cross, the lines we never cross, the lines we only now dare cross? How do borders affect our movements, our ways of viewing worlds and cultures? When must boundaries be respected, when broken?  

• First in line? Follow the line? Toe the line? Line up? Do a line? Speak your lines? Telephone lines?
• Cross a boundary? Respect a boundary? Set a boundary? The boundary waters? Look at a paper map and see…?
• Slip through the border? Protect the border? Skirt the border? Behave in a borderline fashion? Put that decorative border around your photo of…?
• The possibilities are endless, and we’re eager to see what you come up with!

• Fiction submissions should be between 1000 and 4000ish words. Please include word count on your  first page. For fiction that is fewer than 1000ish words, please submit to the flash category.  

• Nonfiction submissions should be no longer than 4000ish words. Please include the word count on the first page of your ms.

• Poetry submissions should contain no more than 3 poems, up to 6 total pages, one poem per page.

• Please send only one submission per category (Poetry, Fiction, Flash, and Non-Fiction) during each reading period.  You are welcome to submit to multiple categories. Include the title of your work in your file name.

• We will publish novel excerpts, provided they can stand on their own. We do not publish genre fiction or children’s stories. We encourage you to read archives of South 85 Journal and acquaint yourself with the material we publish before submitting your work. We encourage the use of a content warning if necessary, in consideration of our manuscript readers.

• Reading fee = $3

• Type should be no smaller than 12-pt. font. Please use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial, and refrain from script or “flowery” lettering.

• All work will be considered for our Editor’s Choice Award of $100. which be given to ONE piece in issue.

• Submissions should be saved in Word or Rich Text format.

• Number pages consecutively, double space, and use margins of at least one inch.

• Place your name, email address, and word count in an upper corner of the first page.

• We do not solict work; each published piece comes to us through Submittable.

• Converse MFA students and faculty are not permitted to submit work to South 85 Journal.

• We accept simultaneous submissions. If your submission is accepted elsewhere, please promptly withdraw your work via Submittable.

• Please include a professional bio of 50 words or fewer written in the third person with your cover letter. 

South 85 Journal does not publish work which has been previously published, either in print or online. Our reply time is typically six to eight weeks. If AI has been used in the creation of the work, please indicate so.

We acquire exclusive first-time Internet rights only. All other rights revert to the author at publication, but we offer formal, written reassignments upon request. Works are also archived online. We are unable to pay for submissions, however thanks to an anonymous donor, ONE piece in the issue will be awarded the Editor’s Choice Award of $100. We ask that whenever an author reprints the work that first appeared in our pages, South 85 Journal be given acknowledgment for the specific work(s) involved.