Little Patuxent Review is a literary journal with a long-standing commitment to publishing fiction, poetry, and nonfiction of formal and emotional seriousness. This open call invites a single short story per writer, capped at 5,000 words, and imposes no submission fee. The journal's editorial stance favors work that is attentive to language, character, and the pressures of lived experience, rather than work that seeks novelty for its own sake. The submission requirements are precise and conventional: a .doc or .docx file, 12-point Times New Roman or equivalent, flush-left margins, and a header identifying genre, word count, author name, pseudonym if any, and complete contact information. A third-person bio of fewer than 75 words is also required. These are not arbitrary formalities; they signal a professional reading process and a respect for the reader's time. What the journal offers is publication in a respected independent review, with the editorial attention that comes from a small, curated operation. There is no cash prize and no entry fee. The reward is placement in a journal that reads submissions as literary work rather than as content. Writers should approach this call as they would a submission to any serious review: with a polished, self-contained story that stands on its own without explanatory scaffolding.