Welcome to Silk + Smoke, a new literary magazine, based in Scotland, looking for strange and absurd stories for our first online issue.
There are tons of literary magazines out there. Some with specific, niche themes, some that are open to all genres and styles (as long as its good), some that welcome submissions all year round, and some that have a short submission window where countless eager writers ping work their way.
Silk + Smoke will offer a home on this small corner of the internet for the oddities, the misfits, and the downright weirdos.
One of the most daunting things about submitting your work for publication is the feeling that you’re laying your soul bare and sending a little piece of yourself out into the world to be criticised, judged, and sometimes even mocked.
Overly-restrictive themes and stifling constraints that force writers to bend their preexisting stories to fit an awkward concept or completely change their signature writing style don’t help.
The objective of Silk + Smoke is to encourage writers to submit their work in its most raw, unapologetic, uncompromised form. If you exclusively write blackout poetry, great. If you write dense, obscure personal essays, we’d love to read it. If you write weird Beckettian scripts, send them over. If you write out-of-this-world, futuristic sci-fi written in a Scottish dialect and set in Aberdeen, fire it our way!
When you create something unique, personal, and something you’re proud of, it becomes your baby. So, what I’m trying to say is, we want your babies and your monsters. Warts and all.
Check out our submission guidelines to find out more about how to submit short stories, poems, scripts, and creative nonfiction.
If you have any questions or just want to have a chat, drop me an email at: email@silkandsmoke.com
I hope you enjoy the website and, if you do decide to submit, good luck!
– Sophie McNaughton
Silk + Smoke 