LET’S GET PHYSICAL
UPDATE The zines for this series have been selected and will be rolling out over the first half of 2024. In addition to Anna K. Crooks’ collection girl poems, BRUISER is proud to announce the remaining zines in the series:
- Cutting Promos, a collection of erasure poems constructed from iconic wrestling promos by the Oklahoma City poet Josh Shepard. Read two of them here.
- Founders Day, a short story by the Philadelphia writer Arzhang Zafar. Longtime BRUISER readers may remember his excellent story “Academic,” which we nominated for the 2023 Pushcart Prize.
- Saturn Returns, a mixed media zine by Los Angeles photographer and poet Ashley E. Walters.
- Foul Black Rookeries, a collection of short stories by Baltimore horror/crime writer David Simmons, whose 2023 collection Ghosts of West Baltimore Brian Evenson described as “visceral and grounded, but with a kind of ineffable strangeness wound into it.”
- one more day on earth together & no more days in hell alone, a collaborative work from Baltimore poets and consummate bruisers Kelly Xio & Aeon Ginsberg.
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BRUISER has existed as a web-only entity for one full year. Now it’s time to expand into the material world with our first physical releases: BRUISER ZINES.
The first series will showcase polished works by individual authors. We’re looking for small collections of poetry, short stories, essays, experimental forms, even comics—anything that will work within the format (check the guidelines below for more details). Submissions with strong thematic cohesion will be greatly preferred.
Our first zine will be a collection by Baltimore’s earnest, hilarious Anna K. Crooks, whose poems trace patterns of meaning through the mundane in clear, naturalistic strokes. Read her previously published “hole poems” and stay tuned for more details.
- Each zine will be released in an initial limited edition of 100.
- Zines will be 40 pages or less, with color covers and black & white interiors.
- Zines will cost $10.
- Authors will receive ten copies and an even split of all profits from the first two months of each print run.
- Authors are welcome to sell their own zines and can purchase additional copies at cost.
Submission Guidelines
- Length requirements
- Prose: 8000ish words (single piece or sum of multiple pieces)
- Poetry: 20-35 poems (depending on length)
- Comics/anything else: 40 pages or less
- Pitches for in-process or projected projects are welcome, but final acceptance is contingent on the quality of the finished manuscript
- No simultaneous submissions
- Previously published work can be included as part of a collection
- Submit PDF, Word or Google doc via email to [email protected] with ZINE SUBMISSION in the subject line
- Submissions open August 15 - September 15
- All acceptance notifications sent no later than November 15
- Rejection notification/feedback provided by request only
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