How in the Sam Hill?

We want flash, short fiction, & poetry that feels lived in, not visited. If you spent three hours reading about Bronze Age bread ovens just to understand why your character complains about the food, or if you read someone’s dissertation on Victorian sewer systems to better grasp the source of conflict in your 900-word story, then you’re our kind of writer.

What we’re not after is costume drama. We don’t want stories that treat the past as set dressing for a plot that only makes sense in 2026. We want prose & poems that inhabit the past & send up something that makes sense to a contemporary reader. Beyond that, we’re easy: whatever era, whatever form, whatever degree of fidelity to the historical record. Just make it good as SAM HILL.

Regarding historical representation: We want work that engages seriously with period speech & regional dialect. We won't publish work that leans on caricature. If a piece is strong but the dialogue isn't working, we may come back with notes rather than a decline. Here is a list of resources on historical dialect you may find helpful.

• SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN.
• All submissions should be sent through Duosuma.*
• Send one submission at a time. Wait to hear back before sending another.
• Work should be original & previously unpublished.†
• Simultaneous submissions encouraged.
• We respond in about four weeks, hopefully much sooner. For themed calls, you may not hear back from us until after submissions close. If it’s been longer than three months, email us at samhillreview (at) gmail.com.
• Cover letters are nice. Include a third-person bio and your Cool History Thing. You write historical fiction, so know what we mean. Please also give us a heads up if your piece deals with sensitive historical topics.
• We can’t pay (alas!), & we’re currently online only. There may be print in the future.
• If we accept your piece, our goal is to publish it within four weeks.
• You retain all rights to your work. Republish it anywhere. It is yours. All we ask is that you credit The Sam Hill! Review as where it first appeared.
• Formatting: .doc, .docx, .rtf, .pdf, or .txt. Include your name & email at the top of the first page.
• AI/LLM POLICY: We do not use AI to evaluate your work, and we do not accept submissions created by or with AI. Those who submit AI generated writing will be subject to fictional TARRING & FEATHERING in an editor's private story.

* While we don’t accept submissions by mail, we would almost certainly make an exception for manuscripts written on cuneiform tablets or papyri.

† We will consider reprints from dead publications (RIP Copperfield Review).

• Under 5,000 words preferred. This is not a hard limit. Novel excerpts welcome if they stand on their own.
• Double spaced Times New Roman or similar font. Name & email on the first page.
• Any era, any place.
• Genre elements welcome: historical horror, mystery, speculative, whatever you’ve got, so long as the work engages with the past. We’re probably not the right home for historical romance or costume drama.
• If your word count exactly matches the year your story takes place in, we will be extremely impressed, & we will look favorably on your work. Watch for special calls.

• Send up to three short poems per submission (in the same document), or one longer narrative poem up to ten pages.
• Format however you want. Name & email on the first page.
• Any era, any place. Any form: received forms, free verse, prose poems, whatever you’re building that doesn’t have a name yet… performance art instructions based on third-century celestial events? That would be fun!