Welcome to Roses and Wildflowers! We are pleased to announce that we will be accepting submissions in the following areas:

* Short Fiction: 1,000-7,500 words. We will select up to 4 stories for each issue.

* Poetry: Up to 40 lines, lyric or narrative poetry on a mythopoeic theme. We will select 1-3 pieces per issue. Payment:.. We will publish one poem per author each issue. Epic pieces and “slam” works are not being considered at this time. Shorter, lyric poetry is best.

* Songs: We can include musical offerings on our website. Send queries.

* Artworks to accompany fiction and poetry are welcome. For information about each issue’s needs, please send a query.

Please follow us on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/groups/3523058367962366 and join our community on Discord https://discord.gg/q9CC6b3D

Send submissions to: “RW SUBMISSION” [email protected]

General Guidelines or what we are looking for:

One hard and fast rule: If it’s not mythopoeia, it’s not for us.

What is mythopoeia? Mythopoeia

Mythopoeic Literature

We define this as literature that creates a new and transformative mythology, or incorporates and transforms existing mythological material. Transformation is the key — mere static reference to mythological elements, invented or pre-existing, is not enough. The mythological elements must be of sufficient importance in the work to influence the spiritual, moral, and/or creative lives of the characters, and must reflect and support the author’s underlying themes. This type of work, at its best, should also inspire the reader to examine the importance of mythology in his or her own spiritual, moral, and creative development.  – The Mythopoeic Society, https://www.mythsoc.org/about.htm 

Issue themes and Publication Dates

We publish 2X per year on the following dates:

Spring 2024: February 29 (March 1)

Autumn 2024: September 20

Themed issues:

Spring 2024: “Into the Wild” Submissions closed.

Autumn 2024 Theme: Walking Away

Submissions open September 2023, closing when the issue is filled.

Cover letter: Please include your contact info and whether you are writing under a pen name. Tell us if this is a simultaneous submission or a translation. You do not need to include your publication information, paypal address, or bio. We will collect that information upon acceptance.

Poetry: Send up to 4 lyric or narrative poems, up to 40 lines each, attached as an MS Word document (.doc). We will accept 1-3 poems per issue. Shorter, lyric poetry is best. Epic pieces and “slam” works are not being considered at this time. Please send your contact info in a cover letter. Payment upon acceptance. MS Word .doc only.  No PDFs, RTFs, ODTs, webpages, or shared doc links. Do not place your poems in the body of an email.

Art: Send a query with your contact information and a link to your portfolio.

Rights: We request one-time, first electronic publishing rights. All rights will be retained by the creator. We simply ask that when / if published elsewhere, acknowledgment is given to its first appearance in “Roses & Wildflowers”, Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theatre, Date, V#, and N #.

If a “Best of” or Collected Anthology is published, publication rights will be renegotiated for that publication.

Fiction

We like: 

We want to see intelligent prose with sound and logical world building and interesting character arcs. Whether character or plot-driven, give us compelling protagonists and believable antagonists. We like re-imagined fairy and folk tales (new and imaginary), solarpunk, cozy spec fiction, fantasy, science fiction (including climate fiction), urban fantasy, eerie tales, and dark fantasy. If you send us magical realism (https://writers.com/what-is-magical-realism-in-literature) be sure that you are well versed in what that is. We like innovative ideas about societal structures and norms, all wrapped into great storytelling. We like new takes on ghost stories, steampunk, space operas, or the quests of heroes, heroines, and fools. And while it may sound cliché, we like really good stories that make us wonder, or laugh, or cry, or feel everything all at the same time. Your editor has a fondness for writers that aspire to poetic prose that jumps off the page and sings. NOTE: Submissions are open to everyone, everywhere in the world, but we can only edit fiction in English (British and American).

It will be important to consider the issue theme when submitting your work.

We don’t like: 

• No graphic or gratuitous violence or sexual content. NO “furry,” “kink,” or other porn, softcore or otherwise.
• No fan-fic.
• Diatribes against any ethnic group or race, sexual preference, or gender will be automatically rejected.
• No allegories, biblical or otherwise.
• Submissions that have no relation to the issue’s theme.
• We do not publish reprints.
• Let us know if this is a translation.
• No AI-generated works. Let us know if the work is AI-assisted (for example if an AI program corrected your spelling) and what percentage of the work AI assisted with. If it’s more than 1% it’s not for us. No exceptions.

Hard sells:

Horror, body mutilations, vampire/werewolf romance, teen sex, sword & sorcery, and epic fantasy (GoT or LotR-style). Plots that involve a deus ex machina outcome. Anything over 7,500 words. Proofread your submissions and then proofread them again.

Simultaneous submissions are OK, but please tell us up front and, if you place your work somewhere else, please let us know right away. No multiple submissions.

Payment: We will select up to 3 stories per issue and, because of a very generous donor, we will be able to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 per story, via PayPal or by old school check in the mail.

Poetry: $5 per poem

Art: TBA

Payment upon publication.