Submissions

Memphis Gothic is now accepting fiction submissions from current and former Memphis area residents only. Please include with your electronic submission a statement describing your Memphis area contact, including where you lived and how long you lived here. Authors with a strong Memphis connection will be given more consideration than those who only spent a brief time living in the area.

Memphis Gothic also prefers stories with a strong Memphis, Mid-South, or Southern element, especially if the author does not currently live in the area. A regional element is not a requirement, but we do wish to offer a good mix of fiction featuring regional stories. We have a strong preference for Southern Gothic stories set in the Memphis area. Otherwise, we are open to good stories of any length in any genre, including horror, science fiction, detective/mystery, etc.

The Memphis and Mid-South region includes the following counties: TN - Shelby, Fayette, Tipton; MS - Desoto, Marshall, Tate, Tunica; AR - Crittendon

Memphis Gothic has no budget and therefore cannot offer payment for publication of your stories. Should a budget be magically bequeathed to us by a generous benefactor, this situation will change accordingly and after the celebration party. Until then, this blogazine is an occasstional labor of love.

Memphis Gothic exists to promote regional authors and their work. If you know or know of an author who has had fiction or poetry recently published, please let us know (with a link!) and we'll post a note about it.

Send your fiction submissions and author news to jeffdotcrookat gmail.com.

You, Dancing by Corey Mesler

Poetry by Corey Mesler at Bloody Bridge Review.

If you are a Memphis author or poet and you've just had a poem, short story, or book published, let us know and we'll post about it here. Send us an email to jeff dot crook at gmail dot com.

The Golden Age of Memphis Literature

The other day while talking to Corey Mesler, I joked that perhaps we are living in a golden age of the Memphis literary scene and nobody knows it.

Then I thought, what if we are?

Thus this blog was born, to discover if there really is a vital, vibrant literary scene in Memphis.

So I'm looking for writers and poets living and working in the Memphis area. That is to say in Memphis and the surrounding counties - Shelby, Fayette, Tipton, Desoto, Marshall, Tate, Tunica, and Crittendon. If you know anyone, help me find them by posting a comment.

But what is a writer or poet? We can't include everybody. I'm using a fairly standard measure. A writer or poet is someone who has published either a book or three shorter works at a place that has an established editorial process, with actual editors and publishers. In other words, another person actually wanted to publish your work and hopefully paid you for the privelege. This leaves out self-publishing in all its forms.

So when you post your author or yourself, try to include a link to a biography or to the author's work, and let's see just how many of us there are!