The Fiddleback

Literature

The Fiddleback reads year-round and is published bi-monthly. We do not accept multiple submissions (one genre at a time, please) or previously published work, whether in print or online. This includes personal blogs and social networking sites (yes, this does become an issue). Translations will be considered as long as all written permissions have been obtained from the author. Submit no more than one prose piece (fiction, nonfiction) at a time and no more than five poems. Simultaneous submissions welcomed and encouraged, though we expect to be notified immediately if your submission gets accepted elsewhere. Most submissions will receive a decision within six weeks, though writers under serious consideration may experience a longer response time. Please do not query until at least three months have passed.

All work must be submitted through our online submission system. All literature submissions must be attached as .doc, .docx, or .rtf formats. Include a bio somewhere in your submission. By submitting to The Fiddleback you claim sole ownership of the submitted documents and agree to have your work, if chosen for publication, archived indefinitely. All rights revert back to the author upon publication.

As an online venue, we have the freedom to publish work of any length and have no word count at this time. You can send us your novella for all we care, but we reserve the right to quit reading once the writing is not very good. We look for writing that pushes the boundaries of language, for writers who would never be clichéd enough to use the phrasing “pushes the boundaries of language.” We believe that strong writers are mindful of the words they hire to represent them and understand that infinitudes can be built or lost within the slippery confines of the sentence. We are tired of stories that don’t play for keeps, of writers who hedge their bets out of a deep fear they’ll screw up and tell the truth. Save that type of writing for your workshops and social clubs. It has no purchase here. We are more inclined toward the outlandish, toward the unsayable, toward the spectacle.

Poetry: We're open to poems written in any style or form—experimental, accessible, lyric, narrative, etc.—though we favor work that demonstrates intelligence, originality, attention to craft, and a connection to contemporary themes.

Fiction: We primarily publish short stories. Novel excerpts are accepted, but they must be self-contained. Flash fiction is also accepted with the understanding that we believe most flash fiction falls short of the mark. That being said, we do like to be proven wrong. We are masochistic like that. All prose submissions must be double-spaced. See paragraphs above for further details.

Nonfiction: We accept nonfiction in the form of creative nonfiction, essays, journalistic pieces, and excerpts from memoirs. Aesthetically, we're drawn to hybridity and experimentation, work that re-contextualizes both content and form so long as it exhibits purpose and control. We're equally interested in classic structures that are too good to be dismissed, work that vibrates like a divining rod, that settles in the spine. Submissions must be double-spaced. See paragraphs above for further details.

Book Reviews: We accept book reviews for all genres (poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction). Our only stipulation is that all reviews must written on books published in the last year or two and must be double-spaced. See paragraphs above for further details.

Music

We are interested in good, exciting, innovative, or just plain fun music. While the music editors are generally nerdy white guys who love stuff that nerdy white guys typically love, our tastes are much broader than our physical appearance and intellectual dispositions might suggest. As such, we are interested in all varieties of music, granted we like some less than others. That being said, we'd love to hear your rock, pop, indie, folk, hip hop, country, jazz, soul, electronica, drone, noise, metal, hardcore, grindcore, cookie-monstercore, cutecore, post-hardcore, etc.

Album Reviews: For your album to be eligible for review, send us a link to a downloadable file via our submission form. To send us a physical CD or record, contact us directly at music@thefiddleback.com. Make sure to specify pertinent information such as release dates and label affiliations. We might review streaming albums if it's something we really like, but more often than not, streams don't provide an ideal listening experience. Also, if you have any electronic press materials, feel free to send those along as well. Depending on the volume of submissions, we will not be able to publish reviews for every album submitted. We tend to review albums we like—no one benefits from negative reviews of non-major albums. That said, we will also be reviewing "major" and "important" releases, so if we don't review your album it doesn't mean we don't like it. Sometimes we just won't have room.

Submissions for Features: In addition to reviewing albums, we will also feature a band or artist in each issue. If you're interested in being featured by The Fiddleback, here's what we need from you:

• Samples of your music—a physical CD/record or downloadable file. This should be at least an EP's worth of material. Should we decide to feature you or your band, we will want permission to sample your music on the site in the form of an .mp3 file. This requires you to clear the sample rights with your label (if you're under contract) as well as send 2-3 mp3 files no later than a month prior to publication.
• A cover letter or press materials providing a sense of where you're from, what kind of music you perform, how you fit into contemporary music, and what you're currently up to, etc.
• 3-4 high resolution digital photos (we prefer JPEGs) of medium to large sizes so we can crop and trim as necessary. This is not to judge your appearance, but so we can post pictures in the feature.  
• Links to video footage—live performances, video clips, YouTube shit.
• A "discography" with key release information (year and label).

Please understand that we will only feature one band per issue, and often we will solicit those bands, meaning that the frequency of bands pulled from submissions for features will be incredibly low. If you are selected, we will contact you and set up an interview to talk about what the feature is going to look like.

By submitting music to The Fiddleback you claim sole ownership of the submitted files and agree to have your work, if chosen for publication, archived indefinitely. 

Art

Simply put, we publish artists whose work captures our attention and moves us in some way. Much of what we describe as our aesthetic tastes in the literature section also applies to the kind of art that attracts us.

Submissions for Features: Attach a .PDF of your work in our submission form or include a URL to your website/blog that hosts an ample selection of your work. DO NOT attach a single image. We publish artists who are either working on a particular project or whose work includes interrelated aesthetic decisions. Look through our previously published features to see if you'd be a good fit for the magazine. We can't express this enough.

Should we decide to feature you in the magazine, we will require the following:

• 5-10 high resolution images (we prefer JPEGs) of your work to include in our artist portfolio. If you are under contract with a gallery, we require you to clear sample rights with the various gatekeepers you're working with.
• A cover letter or press materials providing a sense of who you are and the kind of work you create.
• Links to video interviews, live performance clips, etc.

Please understand that we will only feature one artist per issue, and we often solicit hose artists, meaning that the frequency of artists pulled from submissions for features will be incredibly low. If you are selected, we will contact you and set up an interview to talk about what the feature is going to look like.

By submitting art to The Fiddleback you claim sole ownership of the submitted images and agree to have those images, if chosen for publication, archived indefinitely.