The Masters Review is excited to introduce September Selects, a special free submission opportunity occurring each weekend throughout the month of September! Each Friday at 12:01 am until Sunday at 11:59 pm, we’ll open a call for submissions of a particular type. Each weekend’s submission call will be different! From each weekend, our reading team will select our favorite story to publish in February. This first weekend we’re looking for sudden stories! You can find the full details below, and on our Submittable page this Friday morning.
Like all of our submission opportunities, September Selects is open to any author, new or emerging, who has not yet published a novel with a major press. Multiple and simultaneous submissions are welcome and encouraged! The winners in each Select category will have their story published on our site, along with a Submitter Spotlight profile, and will earn a $200 prize.
General Guidelines:
- In September Selects, we’re looking for full stories. No excerpts, snapshots, works-in-progress, fragments, novel chapters, etc.
- Multiple submissions are encouraged, but each submission must be submitted separately.
- Submissions must be previously unpublished
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We accept fiction and narrative non-fiction. We do accept a variety of genres and styles, our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft. We want to be wowed. Bend genres, experiment with structure, and write your heart out. But please, send us polished work. Our aim is to showcase writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. Send us only your best.
- Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history and a short bio.
- Winners will be notified by the end of the year.
- For submissions that request an editorial letter, a significant portion of the editorial letter fees go to our feedback editor, according to the rates established by the EFA.
Weekend-Specific Guidelines:
Sudden Stories (9/2 – 9/4)
- We’re looking for your best fiction and CNF between 1,000 and 2,000 words
- All submissions must be at least 1,000 words and no longer than 2,000
- We’re open to all styles, genres and forms, provided the above restrictions are met
Hermit Crabs (9/9 – 9/11)
- Submit your best prose in borrowed forms
- Lists, letters, board game rules, message board posts, meeting minutes, diary entries, text messages, emails—any experimental or unconventional approach to narrative form is welcome
- Submissions of up to 7,000 words will be considered, but shorter is likely better (say, around 3,000 words)
Stories in Second Person (9/16 – 9/18)
- Submit your best prose—fiction and CNF—told in the second person
- We’re NOT looking for first person-direct address
- Submissions up to 7,000 words will be considered
Anti-Love Stories (9/23 – 9/25)
- With this final weekend we’re bucking the Valentine’s Day tradition and celebrating anti-love
- The winner of this submission call will be published on the 14th of February
- Submit your best stories, fiction or CNF, that fit the theme of anti-love: breakups good and bad, celebrations of single life, or however you want to interpret this idea
- Submissions up to 7,000 words will be considered