Let there be gall enough in thy ink.
Twelfth Night, III, ii, 50
♠ ♦ Danse Macabre ♥ ♣
is committed to expanding the creative landscape of the literary web. Our central editorial criteria is the overall imaginative effort you deploy to transcend prevailing orthodoxies. The narrative contours of magical realism, world poetry, and Mitteleuropean kunst und kultur are especially appreciated.
- all forms of poetry (limit 3 per submission), including translations
- all manner of fiction, including novel excerpts
- travel narratives, humour, & creative non-fiction beyond the workshoppe norm
- book & music reviews (query your proposed subject to us)
- scholarly takes on cultural matters consistent with our m.o.
- art & photography (Send .jpegs of at least three pieces with your query; we heart large portfolios.)
Though we may not be able to offer you detailed comments on your submission, we do promise to read everything you send with care and consideration. Our response time is rarely over a month. Follow-up queries are not discouraged.
A priori submission...
Read the magazine first. If you're interested in seeing your work appear here, knowing what we do (and how we like to do it) is a positive, pro-active first step to joining our growing family of writers. Having a sense of our magazine's vibe, our toponymy, and what both suggest about our preferred content goes a long way into clarifying whether you ought submit to us. Think Diaghilev...
Paste your work in the message area. Be aware that OfficeLive often translates large bodies of text into single-spacing - and de-translates other areas, esp. tabs. (It's a Microsoft thing, you'd guess.) For fiction submissions, we highly recommend: Left justified, single-spaced original texts double-spaced between paragraphs as well as lines of dialogue. Save as an .RTF file in MS Word, then paste into our form. Zip files awake evil angry spirits in our system; they will be deleted unopened.
For our poetic clientele, clear stanza breaks are a must. Be warned that playful or mad tabs may not survive intact.
Finally, do tell how you found us...and don't forget to include a brief bio paragraph w/current domicile, credits, et al, when you submit! If we're interested in your submission, we're just as interested in sharing a little bit about you with our worldwide readership. An omitted bio creates a new string to keep track of in the middle of a time-sensitive and staff-limited environment, and may result in a delay - or omission - of your work.
We accept unthemed submissions year 'round only via the form below...
Please do not send your submissions or attachments to the above address
in lieu of, or in addition to, our form below.
We publish pieces with first electronic rights. This essentially means that pieces in Danse Macabre have not been published elsewhere in electronic format. If your submission has been previously published, please indicate this in your submission with wheres & whens.
We are always happy when contributors reprint pieces first published in DM. However, we require three month exclusivity on pieces we publish, starting from the initial publication date. We also request attribution on any reprinted pieces, stating that it was first published in Danse Macabre.
We accept simultaneous submissions, provided that this is clearly stated with the submission and that we are promptly notified if a given submission is accepted elsewhere.
All work submitted to Danse Macabre must be the property/work of the submitter. As owner of said work, you retain all subsequent rights to the work while allowing DM upon submission the right to publish (and archive) said works in one to three electronic issues.
We reserve the right to withdraw our offer of publication at any time.