SUBMISSION GUIDELINES By the very nature of what it is to be human, body encompassing soul, everyone is on a spiritual journey. Rock & Sling is a literary journal created to give forum to that odyssey. In order to focus the travail of spirituality, we have limited Rock & Sling to literature/art that explores or nudges up against a Christian point of view. Hoping to disentangle from platitudes and didacticism, preachy tales with tidy answers, Rock & Sling is open to doubt and human frailty. The very nature of spirituality--unseen yet felt, or at the very least considered in the intellect--embodies tension and conflict. Hope can be defined by its antithesis. While soliciting edgy poetry/prose/art, Rock & Sling is not open to racism, sexism, religious prejudice or other self-serving egocentrisms. Rock & Sling views other religions as valid, but we limit inclusion of such only inasmuch as these religions intersect a Christian point of view. We publish writing with broad or explicit associations to Christian faith or its history including fiction, nonfiction (including creative nonfiction and memoir), poetry, translations, interviews, critical reviews of books, music, and film, and scholarly articles by qualified authors. Historically, art has been one of the most potent communicators of faith. Rock & Sling also publishes art and photography. General Guidelines Please read Our Vision before submitting. U.S. writers: Submit by regular mail (as opposed to email) and include SASE for reply and/or return of your manuscript. Any submission with inadequate return postage will be recycled. We accept email submissions only from writers living outside the U.S. International writers: Please contact us at editors@rockandsling.org for electronic submissions instructions. Electronic submissions from U.S. poets or those who fail to request and follow our instructions will be deleted unread. No devotions or testimonies. Simultaneous submissions accepted if so indicated. Please notify us immediately if a piece is accepted elsewhere. Rock & Sling acquires first NA serial rights. Contributors receive two copies of Rock & Sling. Translations must include original and proper permissions from publisher of original. No previously published work. All reprints in Rock & Sling are solicited. Rock & Sling is published twice yearly, December and June. Submissions accepted year round. Response time is usually less than six weeks, unless we are considering your work. Generally, January and July will be the months that final decisions are made. You might say that not hearing from us is a good sign. With permission, Rock & Sling publishes authors' email addresses in the contributor notes to promote community among writers and readers. Please include your email address on each submission. Prose Submit up to two short pieces (under 5000 words each) or one longer piece at one time. Prose pieces MUST include word count. Due to space constraints, we prefer pieces under 5000 words, but longer pieces may be accepted if exceptional. We will not read anything longer than 10,000 words. Poetry Submit up to five poems at one time. Formal verse is discouraged unless experimental. Rock & Sling wants complexity of thought and emotion, but not esotericism to the point of inaccessibility. Rock & Sling readers are not necessarily writers. 60 line maximum (longer pieces may be accepted if exceptional). Art Except for cover art, Rock & Sling publishes black and white artwork only. Regular mail submissions: Submit slides, not original art work. Mark name, size, media, direction (up), and date completed on each slide. Include return mailer with adequate postage. Electronic submissions: Send digital photos or scanned artwork with a resolution of 300 DPI as email attachments. (Rock & Sling plans to add an FTP site in the near future). Acceptable formats are JPEG (with compression set to maximum quality) or TIFF (with no compression). Due to the unpredictability of cyberspace, we immediately acknowledge receipt of all electronic art submissions. If you don’t receive a response within seven days, please let us know. Artists will be notified of final acceptance or rejection according to our normal response times. Please include your name, address, phone, as well as the artwork’s name, size, media and date completed in the body of your email. Direct submissions to the address below.