Fall + Winter 2021

Scott finally pulled the trigger just before his world closed up shop for good, a deceptively warm New York City day in late winter of 2020. A damp ocean breeze, temperatures in the mid-fifties, enough to cadge faint hope. Even flowers were fooled; crocuses burst their brown barricade, only to collapse from the cold hours later. Read More

Submissions Now Open

It is with great excitement that we announce we have resumed reading for the Fall 2021 issue! If you currently have a submission with us it is being considered for the upcoming Fall issue. Please see our Submissions Guidelines for further details.

Fall 2019

“The same morning I found a dead little song bird
out walking my dog in the neighborhood
and the moon high in the western sky was oh so full
when on the next street over
I saw something falling slower than anything I ever had seen
and wondered first if it was a leaf” Read More

Summer 2019

“Birdie doesn’t talk anymore, but Roscoe can still hear her. After fifty years together her voice finds him, escaping through the cracks of her fiberglass box and traveling up those feet of dirt and over the soil horizon to whisper advice and recollections and perturbed admonishments into the white-tufted privacy of his cochlea.” Read More

SPRING 2019

“The restaurant faces Central Park and we choose to sit outside in the warm fall evening. Potted banana trees are placed to afford each table an illusion of privacy. Joan is laughing at something I said when the shooting starts.” Read More

Winter 2019

“I left a stone on my grandfather’s grave today.

It would have been common practice if not for
His grave being the Danube, icy river,
And the marker a pair of shoes and a plaque” Read More

New Year’s Writing Contest

In celebration of our second year publishing, we are bringing back the New Year’s Writing Contest! Submissions are open now through January 15th.

Accepted Genres: short fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry
First prize: $100, as well as publication in our Winter 2019 issue, and a mystery prize(???)!

All contest submissions will also be considered for publication in our Winter 2019 issue.

See our submissions page for info on how to enter.

FAQs:

Q: Is there a winner for every genre?
No – submissions from all genres are welcome, but only one overall winner will be chosen.

Q: When will the winner be announced?
The first prize winner and two finalists will be announced in early February.

Q: Will runners up be published in Rumble Fish Quarterly?
Runners up will be considered for publication in the Winter 2018 issue, but only the first prize winner will receive automatic publication.

Q: What’s the mystery prize?
Okay, you got us. We didn’t tell you last year, but the jig is up. Everybody knows the mystery prize is [classified].