Blood Orange Review — Fiction (general submissions)

Overview
Blood Orange Review is a literary journal whose fiction editors frame their aesthetic in deliberately anti-taxonomic terms: an array of subject matter—space, futurism, strange worlds, alternative histories, romance, cyberpunk, steampunk, "whatever punk you desire"—judged on craft-related merits rather than adherence to the conventions of any sub-genre. The operative claim is a leveling one: good writing is good writing. For the submitting writer, this signals a reading practice oriented toward sentence-level control, structure, and imaginative conviction rather than fidelity to market categories. The journal states explicitly that it seeks to publish and support writers of all genders, identities, races, orientations, and ethnicities. That commitment is editorial rather than decorative; it indicates a submissions readership attentive to voices and perspectives historically underrepresented in speculative and literary fiction alike. The call is for general submissions, not a contest, and no prize is attached; what the journal offers is publication and editorial support of the work itself. The practical terms are unambiguous. Fiction submissions are capped at 5,000 words and must be uploaded as a single, double-spaced document with a .doc or .docx extension. A submission fee of $3.00 (USD) applies. The deadline is April 2, 2027. Writers should treat the format requirements as non-negotiable: a manuscript that ignores them asks an editor to do clerical work before literary work, which is never an advantageous first impression.