This is the last call for submissions for issue number 4, which we hope to have finished in the next two weeks. We are still reading fiction, non-fiction, and poetry to be included. Please review our guidelines before sending your work.

As this will complete our first full cycle of publishing for the year, which coincidentally coincides with Spring Festival, we have decided to ask for submissions of black and white photos from Spring Festivals past. All photo submissions can be made to the same e-mail address: tctype[at]gmail[dot]com. Please include a caption and short photographer bio.

Well not quite that season. We’re referring to Spring Festival, which is still a couple months off. Coincidentally, we’re planning to release Terracotta Typewriter #4 around the same time. We’ll have a launch party with dumplings, baijiu, and plenty of fireworks to scare off the demons and neighbors. OK, we’re joking about the fireworks, but we will be celebrating Spring Festival in style.

The point is, we want your Spring Festival stories and poems. We’re interested in the most amazing/unusual/humorous/ridiculous/entertaining Spring Festival experiences to be included in issue 4. So, think back to that first time you drank baijiu, played mahjong, set off firecrackers in the house, drank more baijiu, and ate the dumpling containing the lucky jiao coin…which you accidentally swallowed because you had too much baijiu.

Try to remember your stories and send them to us at tctype@gmail.com for consideration in the next issue.

[Note: this contest has been extended. We are still accepting entries.]

Thanks to the folks at Other Press for donating a review copy of The Beijing of Possibilities by Jonathan Tel for our first contest. We have decided to tie this book giveaway in with our Get Over the Hump writing prompt.

Going with the title of the Jonathan Tel’s collection of short stories, we want you to write about the possibilities (or impossibilities) of China. Feel free to use a specific city. Remember, this is just a theme, you may stretch the (im)possible to however you see fit. We know there are a lot things that are (im)possible around China…like seeing a bear in a tutu riding a unicycle with a monkey on its back through the Forbidden City. Go ahead and use this theme in a story or poem–whatever form you feel fits your ideas.

Now for the contest specifics and mumbo-jumbo. Beginning today and ending at midnight EST on August 31, 2009, you may submit your story or poem. The best submission will win a copy of The Beijing of Possibilities and will be published in the next issue of Terracotta Typewriter. All other entries will be considered for publication. Only ONE entry/submission per person.

Send your submissions to tctype[at]gmail[dot]com. Use the subject line: [your name], Contest. And include a brief biography (in case we decide to publish it). Don’t forget to give your work a catchy title. All entries that do not follow the guidelines will be deleted.

The winning poem or story will be selected by Terracotta Typewriter. The decision of the publication is final. The winner and others chosen for publication will be notified via e-mail.

For those of you who don’t want to enter the contest or cannot wait to win a copy of the book, you can also order it online (there’s even a Kindle edition).

We would like to remind everyone that we are still open for submissions. We are looking for a wider variety of work than we had for the first issue. We would especially like to see more short fiction in the future.

Our target date for the second issue is July (we’re doing our best to make this a quarterly literary journal).

Read the submission guidelines before sending us your work.

Keep up the creativity.

Related posts: Faking It, On a Shoestring

Since it’s becoming trendy to throw shoes at foreign dignitaries (see Dubya and Wen), we at Terracotta Typewriter would like to jump on the bandwagon.

We are now looking for submissions that have a connection to China as well as something to do with shoes (or even shoe laces). We’ll even accept shoe-related faux-moir with Chinese characteristics. All submissions must still adhere to our guidelines.

If you feel the need to throw a shoe at a politician, please do it from the safety of a story or poem–we don’t like seeing writers getting arrested.

This is Terracotta Typewriter‘s first call for submissions. If you have any work that fits our guidelines, we encourage you to submit it. Our target date for the first online issue is the end of February/early March 2009 (the beginning of the Year of the Ox). Please e-mail all submissions to tctype@gmail.com

Please be aware that while we are seeking our first submissions for publication this site will remain under construction as we would like to improve the aesthetic design of the page. Please be patient as we upgrade our image.