Crack The Spine is an online and print journal. They publish four print issues a year and 52 electronic issues. They seek to publish strange literary works in a number of different forms, including flash fiction, micro-fiction, poetry, short stories, personal essays, and book reviews.
Crack The Spine has an easy to navigate website that is well laid out and easy on the eyes. Their print journal is nice as well. All the work that is chosen to be published seems to initially be published online and then that work is collected and the best of it is published again in a quarterly print anthology. So if your work is accepted, it will be considered for two publications.
None of the work they publish exceeds 4000 words in length so it is good to keep that in mind. They only accept submissions through the online submission manager Submittable. They accept about a quarter of the work they receive which is not surprising considering how many issues that they put out a year.
Crack The Spine responds to most submissions within two months, and their editors are good at communicating with writers throughout the submission and publication process. The editors are really interested in publishing writing they like, so try to entertain or engage. They are not interested in publishing anything that is too graphic, or violent, unless their is an underlying reason for the violence.
Before submitting it is best to read a couple of pieces from the most recent issue of Crack The Spine, this should help you get a better feel for what you should submit. If you are ready to submit or you just want to learn more please visit their website here: http://www.crackthespine.com/submissions
