LAMMERGEIER IS CLOSED TO SUBMISSIONS AT THIS TIME
send bones, pls
Thank you for deciding to submit to us! All work should be sent via email with the author’s last name and the title and genre of the submission as the subject of the email (Example: “Smith, Awesome Story, Fiction" or "Lopez, Five Poems, Poetry"). Your work should appear both in the body of the email and as an attached .doc, .docx, or .rtf file. PDF files may only be used for work that requires special formatting.
Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but please send a follow-up email with your name and the title of your submission in the subject if your work has been accepted elsewhere. We do not accept unsolicited reprints. Allow 8 weeks for us to get back to you, then feel free to send a follow-up email.
Please wait one month after hearing back from us before submitting again unless we asked to see more of your work. If you have been published with us, please wait at least a year from your publication date to submit again.
Our open reading periods are as follows: January-March, May-July, and September-November. Issues are published triannually in April, August, and December. Submissions received during closed months may not be read until we open again.
We love creepy lit; we don't love creepy people. Please avoid sending rude responses to rejections.
Our address is lammergeiermag [at] gmail [dot] com. Take a look at the genre guidelines and payment info below before submitting.
FICTION
Give us stories with strong bones: characters raw and bleeding, and plots wrought with thoughtfulness and heart. Bring us the lives other storytellers have forgotten and the narratives the world has not yet seen, or not seen enough. In form and content, we want fiction that defies expectations. Send us poems disguised as prose, genre stories that make us question what literature can do, and sentences too beautiful to read just once. We’ll devour them all. Submissions may include one story of up to 5,000 words or up to three flash pieces of 1,000 words or less.
POETRY
We seek poetry of contradiction: the poetry that finds the intimacy in the grotesque, the grotesque in the intimate, the vulnerability and fist fight. Send us work with language that crackles, work that makes us gasp and wonder how we survived this long without it. Send us work you worry about sending anywhere else. Send us work with talons. Please submit up to five poems in a single document. We can’t wait to read them.
NONFICTION
Nonfiction is defined by its relationship to other forms of genre, a weird, liminal space that pulls and eschews fiction and poetry. We want work that embraces the indefinable, an organism that breaks all attempts at classification. We want your lyrical micro-memoirs, your essays on unexpected obsessions, and pieces that just won’t fit any display case. Submit either one piece of up to 5,000 words or less or up to three flash pieces of 1,000 words or less.
HYBRID
Have a piece you think doesn't quite fit into the previous three categories (or is a combination of said genres)? Feel free to send it in as hybrid. Submit either one piece of up to 5,000 words or less or up to three flash pieces of 1,000 words or less or equivalent audio/visual material. (Hybrids will be considered with nonfiction submissions for featured writer submissions until further notice).
RIGHTS & PAYMENT
EXPEDITED RESPONSES
If a submission is accepted for publication we acquire First North American Serial Rights, First Electronic Rights, and Electronic Archival Rights, unless otherwise agreed to, this means your work must not have been previously published in a journal, magazine, book, or serial publication, including those on the web and social media. When we accept your work, we have the right to publish it first. Once we do, the reprint rights return to you, meaning you can publish the work elsewhere in print or online as long as you acknowledge Lammergeier as the place it first appeared. Lammergeier also acquires reprint rights, allowing us to reprint the work in our promotional material, as well as in future anthologies, etc.
We regret that we cannot pay all contributors at this time. However, our editors select one work of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction/hybrid each issue to receive a $25 honorarium via PayPal. Winners will also be interviewed for the Lammergeier blog.
Selecting just one fantastic piece in each of our genres isn’t easy, and we look forward to the day when we don’t have to make that decision. Until then, however, we hope this award shows our commitment to our authors and our appreciation for all the fantastic work sent our way.
Note: We now require expedited submissions to include the word "Expedited" in the subject of the email. Expedited submissions that do not do so aren't guaranteed to receive the quicker turnaround. We appreciate your understanding.
We offer expedited responses during our open reading periods in exchange for donations to these groups: RAICES, a non-profit organization that provides free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees; the Navajo Water Project, an Indigenous-led non-profit that brings running water to homes in the Navajo homes; the First Alaskans Institute, a non-profit dedicated to uplifting Alaska Natives and their communities through various public policy, community engagement and leadership projects; and finally, any bail fund or mutual aid organization working to provide community assistance in place of policing. All you have to do is attach a screenshot of your receipt (there is no minimum on the donation and you can donate to one or more organizations) along with your submission, and we'll make a decision on your work in two weeks or less. Regular reading responses are also available as per norm, but we hope you will join us in supporting refugees and migrants whether with us or through other avenues!