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General Submissions Closed Until 6/20/2021

General submissions will be closed from 4/20/2021 through 6/20/2021 in an attempt to allow us to catch up on non-themed submissions. The rate of submissions has outpaced our ability to read them, so until June 20th we will only be accepting themed submissions.

We apologize for the long response times, and hope that this closure will aid us in catching up and reducing our response times. We appreciate your understanding, and thank you for trusting us with your work.

~ Tamara Burross Grisanti, Editor-in-Chief

Submissions opening April 1st, 2021 for “Technophobia”

Announcing the theme for Volume 4, Issue No. 4: “Technophobia.” Give us your hashtag noir, your algorithms gone awry, your disinformation dystopias, your marketing monstrosities. Got a the-universe-is-a neuron-and-we-are-merely-synapses fantasia? Send it. We want your elegiac missives to the maverick bot you Twittercided. We crave your HTML sonnets coded in paranoia. From AI gone rogue, to parallel social media universes, we want your technologies of fear. Submissions opening April 1st, and closing July 4th, 2021. Submit your darkest digital delights!

Submissions now open for Vol. 4, Issue No. 2 – “Labyrinths”

Submissions for issue 4.2 (“Labyrinths,” 4.1.2021) are now open! In the mythical story, King Minos of Crete commissioned Daedalus to create a structure to contain the Minotaur, to hide its existence from the world.  Crete demanded “tributes” from other nations to feed the Minotaur. Theseus, one of the Princes of Athens, was one of these tributes. However, Ariadne fell in love with him and assisted him in navigating the labyrinth with her Golden Thread, enabling him to kill the Minotaur. The Labyrinth today is frequently used to evoke the Jungian concept of the “collective unconscious,” with the Minotaur at the center being symbolic of the shadow self. Theseus must cling to the thread in order to stave off the deadliest effect of the labyrinth: disorientation. Marie von Franz writes of the connection between the labyrinth and the subconscious: “The maze of strange passages, chambers, and unlocked exits in the cellar recalls the old Egyptian representation of the underworld, which is a well-known symbol of the unconscious with its abilities. It also shows how one is ‘open’ to other influences in one’s unconscious shadow side and how uncanny and alien elements can break in.” Here the Minotaur represents our repressed, dark, or perhaps evil aspect. For our “Labyrinths” issue, we are seeking work that interrogates the Shadow Self, that blurs the line between good and evil, work that confronts what really makes a monster.

Click here to submit!

Call for Short Story Editor!

Coffin Bell is seeking a third short story editor. Read 10-15 short stories per week, and vote yes or no for first round. Ideal candidate will be familiar with Coffin Bell‘s aesthetic and past publications, and be a reader and / or writer of dark literature. To apply, please send your resume / CV with relevant experience to coffinbelljournal@gmail.com along with a paragraph including your favorite Coffin Bell short story and why you think you’d be a great fit. Please use “APPLICATION: SHORT STORY EDITOR” for the subject line. This is an unpaid, volunteer appointment. We are accepting applications until November 14, 2020.