Call for themed submissions: the "freak" issue (creative writing only - we do not accept academic writing) Puerto del Sol is seeking work which engages with the theme of freak. Freaking, to freak, to be freaked. A freaky thing. Freak has a past: a rotten one. Freak as a scorn, as a label tied around necks by hierarchy, ableism, transphobia, racism. Freak as pushback. Freak getting freaked the freak up. The grotesque growing despite. Revel in it. Leather-clad tunnel vision. Maximalism. That house in the woods we all want to see. Who is brave enough to look? And let me see your browser history. What are you hiding? What is it that lives behind those walls, under the skin, in the darkest corner of the attic? Are you freaked out? Are you feeling freaky? Why are we hiding? What is out there? The freak issue: unexpected, bizarre, unfolding against perceptions. We want work that grapples with the origins, adaptations, reclamations, and mutations of freak. Give us more than surface level. Take off the mask. Or put one on. Show us the layers of freakiness, the good & the bad & the nuanced. Subvert our expectations. Freak us out. Please. We're begging. 

We're open to fiction, nonfiction, flash fiction, poetry, hybrid, experimental, and multimedia creative projects. Prose pieces should be no longer than 5,000 words and poetry submissions should include between 1-5 poems in a single docx or doc file.

Themed submissions close on November 17 and accepted work will appear in our Spring 2025 print issue.

About our literary journal Puerto del Sol has been publishing creative writing (& sometimes art) since the 1960s. It is a fully student-led literary journal managed by MFA students at New Mexico State University. Through the years, our journal has garnered a reputation as one of the top university literary journals in the Southwest and our amazing contributors and long-time readers stretch worldwide. As such, we continue to stay dedicated to providing a forum for inventive and fresh prose, poetry, reviews, criticism, and artwork; we strive to publish the voices of emerging and seasoned creators while seeking to uplift and promote work that presents authenticity, sincerity, and consideration. We also recommend reading our most current issue(s), or works from our online archives, to collect a sense of the content we are interested in and have recently published. To stay up-to-date on all things Puerto del Sol, check out our website puertodelsol.org & follow us on Instagram and X @puertomag To submit your work, please visit our Submittable: https://puertodelsol.submittable.com/submit