Our editorial fellow, Anes Ahmed, is considering fiction for our December 2025 issue. Here's what he's looking for: 

For the curation of my issue, there will be no themed call, as I personally find themes somewhat restrictive. Rather I seek all types of fascinations, panoramas, and menageries. But, if it is of any value, I find myself chronically obsessed and drawn toward subversion, lingual and historical experimentations, as well as certain archetypes within prose—the destructive despot, the vanishing artist, the beautiful revolutionary, the anti-flaneur employee, the lost citizen, the consequential progenitor, the animate insentience, & the brief lover. Additionally, stories whose settings, characters, and telling exists outside the mythological container that is America are particularly welcome. The ideal word count would be 3,000 to 4,000 words, but if you're a rule breaker like me, you'll break whatever rules necessary to tell the full truth of your story.

SHORT STORIES should generally be under 8,000 words. Our editors love writing that stretches our imaginations and ways of thinking, surprises, makes us laugh, moves us, is formally interesting or challenging, defies genre, explores the confusing or uncomfortable, introduces us to new writers, thinks globally, has a distinctive voice, cares about the world, and does not assume white people are literature’s default characters.  

NOVEL EXCERPTS will be considered with great enthusiasm. Th editors will publish at least one novel excerpt from a novel-in-progress in each issue of Shenandoah, with a note from the author about their process and what it’s like to be in the middle of a big project. They know writers at this stage need support, and would like Shenandoah to be a place where they can get some. These excerpts need not function like a short story.

We’ll only consider one submission per author at a time (no multiple submissions in different genres, please), and will delete multiple submissions without reading them. Please decide what you’d like us to read most, submit that, and wait for a response before submitting additional work. Submitted work should be previously unpublished in English. Work simultaneously submitted elsewhere will be considered, but we ask that you withdraw the work immediately if it is accepted (and congratulations, by the way). 

Due to the limited space we have in each issue, we’re asking previous contributors to wait five years before sending us new work. We are thrilled to celebrate our contributors successes, please do keep in touch with publications and updates so we can help champion work in world!

This portal is for COMICS submissions only. Any other genre will be declined without being read. Please see the Submit page on our website for reading periods in all genres. COMICS, considered by editor Chris Gavaler, can be in black and white or color and should be submitted as PDFs. 

Chris will only consider one submission per author at a time (no multiple submissions in different genres, please), and will delete multiple submissions without reading them. Please decide what you’d like us to read most, submit that, and wait for a response before submitting additional work. Submitted work should be previously unpublished in English. Work simultaneously submitted elsewhere will be considered, but we ask that you withdraw the work immediately if it is accepted (and congratulations, by the way).