F.A.Q.S

How do I submit?

Email your submission to menacesubmissions[AT]gmail[DOT]com. Please attach your submission as a .DOC, .DOCX, or .PDF file using a standard serif font. For art, music, or film submissions, submit as .JPGs or .MP4s.

In the subject line of your email, please indicate the category to which you’re submitting. EXAMPLE: “Fiction for Menace”

What should and shouldn’t be in my submission?

In the body of your submission email, please include the title of your piece(s), word count (prose only), and a brief third-person bio (<100 words with your pronouns included), and content warnings (if applicable). That’s it. We don’t want anything else. If you like what you’ve seen of M E N A C E, we like compliments, but those not required. If you are accepted for publication, we reserve the right to edit your bio.

Please do NOT include any verbiage in your email to explain your submission, whether about theme, topic, inspiration, or mission. Let your work speak for itself.

When addressing the editors, do NOT include what you assume to be editor genders or titles. EXAMPLES of appropriate editor addresses: “Dear Editors” or “Dear Menaces” or “Dear Sophia, Disha, Stacia, and Michaella.” Any submission addressed to “Ms. X” or “Miss X” or “Mrs. X,” will be disregarded.

What kind of work do you want to see?

We want your best speculative work. Speculative, for us, can mean many things. It can mean weaving unreal elements into a version of our world, writing in traditional genres like science fiction and horror, or it can mean imagining new structures, new paradigms, new ways of being.

We welcome work that incorporates other languages without translation into English, as we consider such work to be speculating about a world and language beyond the language of empire. We point you toward the poetry of Jimin Seo, Zeina Hashem Beck, Emily Lee Luan, and Mosab Abu Toha for examples of such work.

At this time, we are not accepting translations of works published elsewhere. We will consider work written entirely in another language if (1) it is an original and unpublished piece written by the submitting author and (2) it is accompanied by a translation of said work into English.

Please read our current issue and our mission to understand more of what we seek.

We also share what we seek on Instagram.

What do you mean by “transgressive”?

Our interest in work that is “transgressive” does NOT mean that we want to read work that is unnecessarily traumatizing. We reject work that uses trauma purely for shock value, especially if that shock value comes at the expense of non-cis-male people or people of color. We accept work that realistically centers the experience of the survivor. We are not interested in Hollywood redemption arcs. We are interested in how to actually survive.

Our interest in work that is “transgressive” DOES mean that we want work that features the erotic, but NOT work that features the pornographic. If you do not yet understand the difference, we direct you to Audre Lorde and suggest that you do not submit until you read her work.

What kind of writers and artists should submit?

Anyone who feels they are making speculative work, or anyone who feels their work fits our mission, or anyone who reads the list of art and artists in our mission and says, “These feel like my work.”

We publish both emerging and established contributors, including contributors who have never published work before—and we are honored that they chose us.

We always want work from writers and artists who identify as queer, BIPOC, female, transgender, nonbinary, disabled, or neurodiverse, or anyone else who is working from the margins as if they are the center. Because they are.

M E N A C E has a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech. We are not interested in work that is racist, sexist, misogynist, ableist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, transphobic, etc.

Do you accept simultaneous submissions, multiple submissions, previous submissions to M E N A C E, or previously published work?

We accept simultaneous submissions. Please indicate that it is a simultaneous submission in your submission email and let us know immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere. Please respond to the original submission email noting the withdrawal and the title of the piece to withdraw. Do NOT send us a NEW email explaining the withdrawal.

We do not accept multiple submissions. Please submit to one genre and wait to hear back before submitting again. Any multiple submissions will be disregarded.

We do not accept revisions of previous submissions to M E N A C E unless we have expressly requested a revision from you. Please do not send us revisions of work we have already passed on.

We do not accept previously published work, with the exception of previously exhibited art that does not have a permanent installation or any restrictions on appearing in print with M E N A C E.

What is your AI policy?

We do not accept content generated or edited by AI.

How soon will I hear back?

We will respond to all submissions for the Autumn 2025 issue by October.

How do you select work?

All work is considered by at least two editors before receiving a final decision. All pieces accepted for publication receive approval from all four editors.

We aim to respond to submissions as quickly as possible, but we are entirely run by four volunteer editors with full-time jobs and writing careers outside of M E N A C E. If it’s been a while since you’ve submitted and you haven’t heard back, consider that a good sign: We’ve liked an aspect of your work, and we’re deliberating on whether it’s a fit for the next issue.

After I receive a response on my submission, how soon can I send new work?

If we pass on your work, wait three months before sending new work unless we expressly request to see new work from you. If we accept your work, wait six months before sending new work unless we expressly request to see new work from you.

Any work that is sent earlier than these periods will be disregarded.

What happens after acceptance?

Upon acceptance, we request First North American Serial Rights for publication. Following publication, all rights revert back to the author. If you publish your work as part of a collection, we ask that you credit M E N A C E as the place your work first appeared. 

Do you pay contributors?

We cannot pay contributors at this time, but we hope to do so in the future.

If we accept your work, you are a part of our community. We want to hear what you’re up to next. We shower our contributors with much fanfare on social media for their publications in our magazine and elsewhere. Send us updates on what you’re working on beyond M E N A C E, so that we can read it, share it, sink our teeth into it. Let’s build a benevolently menacing world together.

Are you on ChillSubs and Duotrope?

Yes. Track your submission and rate us on ChillSubs and Duotrope.

Do you offer feedback?

Yes. If you would like feedback from our editors, including in-text markups and a 1-2 paragraph overall response, we offer the following tip jar submission options.

Make payments via PayPal to menacesubmissions[AT]gmail[DOT]com, and indicate your feedback request within your submission email.

• 1-3 poems — $30

• Flash (fiction or CNF) — $15

• Fiction — $30 for work under 5k words, $50 for work between 5k-10k words