Free State Review positions itself as a journal attentive to the texture of voice and the ethics of representation. Its fiction call is explicit about what it does not want: narratives so over-engineered that the human presence—the voices in the wind—becomes inaudible. The editors also signal a curatorial impatience with reductive character description, noting that they are 'getting annoyed' when a male character is first defined by profession and a female character by hair color. This is not a call for a single aesthetic, but for prose that treats language as a site of care rather than convenience. The journal welcomes any style or subject, provided the writing avoids objectifying language and remains open to a range of voices. The stated genres—fiction, Women, Non-Binary, LGBTQ+, Queer—indicate an interest in work that engages with gender and sexuality, though the call does not restrict subject matter to those themes. What matters is the execution: stories that are heard, not merely assembled. Upon acceptance, contributors grant First North American Serial Rights and the right to publish the work on the journal's website for up to six months after print publication. Rights revert to the author after printing, with a request that Free State Review be noted as first publisher if the work appears elsewhere. Simultaneous submissions are permitted if the journal is informed. Prose should be between 500 and 4,000 words. The reading fee is $3.50.