Trace Fossils Review positions itself as a refuge for work that resists ease. The editors state plainly that they seek material that is difficult to comprehend, difficult to put on paper, and difficult to submit—a curatorial stance that privileges formal risk and emotional possession over polish or accessibility. The journal publishes quarterly, with four submission windows per year; this call falls within the Winter period, closing November 1, 2026. There is no submission fee. The review's editorial promise is one of custodial care: they will treat submitted work as they would an old house—tenderly, with open ears, and with the knowledge that it will never be truly theirs. This language signals a reading practice oriented toward resonance rather than acquisition, and it suggests that accepted work will be handled with a sense of stewardship rather than mere publication. The editors, Jessie and Ellie, frame submission as an act of trust, and their guidelines reflect that register. For fiction writers, the opportunity is a place in a quarterly publication whose stated genre is difficulty itself. The review does not specify length limits or thematic categories beyond fiction, including short stories and flash fiction. What it does specify is temperament: work that feels hard as stone, that leaves the reader possessed. Writers whose practice leans toward the intractable, the obsessive, or the formally unsettled will find the clearest fit.