General Guidelines for submissions:

There's just one thing to know and it's very important:

Your Cover Letter MUST contain your Southern Legitimacy Statement. 

If you don't know what that is, then you need to read The Dead Mule. Each bit of writing on the Mule (fiction, poetry, essay, creative non-fiction) begins with a few words about the author's Southern Legitimacy Statement. Everyone is south of somewhere, read the Dead Mule for examples. It's fun and simple. Write as little or as much as you'd like. Some people write multiple paragraphs. No more than 500 words or so.

This submission must be entirely human-generated; any content detected as being created by artificial intelligence (AI) will not be accepted 

Failure to include your statement means your submission is automatically declined. 

The rest of what you need to know: 

Attach your work as a .doc, .docx, .txt, .rtf or .pages in the area provided. 

SINGLE-SPACE. Double space between paragraphs. No indents or tabs necessary.

Not accepting poetry submissions at this time. 

Fiction, Flash Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Essays: Specific requirements included in the Submission Information for each category. 

Looking forward to reading your work. 

WITHDRAWING YOUR SUBMISION: Do this through the Submittable app, from within the submission. Change the status from Active to Withdraw. You really don't need to email or message us. Thank you.

 Dead Mule grants us first electronic and indefinite archival rights. All other rights revert to the author upon publication. Please credit Dead Mule as the first publisher if you reprint elsewhere; we like seeing our name in print, too. 

We are nothing if not for our writers! Thank you for submitting to the South's oldest online literary journal.

-The Mule Staff

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 What do yall think we'll be looking to publish? Anything you write that's worth reading. Not much to ask for, is it? Try to keep it under 2,000 words. If you don't know what the southern legitimacy statement is then you haven't read the Mule. Shame on you. Read it or at least take a gander before submitting.  

This submission must be entirely human-generated; any content detected as being created by artificial intelligence (AI) will not be accepted 

All double-spaced submissions will be rejected without being read or considered.
   Send us your finished work. Not a work in progress --we have grown weary of writers who ask for permission to edit their accepted pieces. If it's not ready, finish it and then send it to us.

   Attach your docx [etc, we use Apple computers, so you can send us a .pages file] in the area provided. It's simple. Try it. It's ok, or attach your .docx, .rtf etc in the area provided.
   You can do it! Submit to the Mule. 


Don't forget your Southern Legitimacy Statement. 


   We  want your stories. We know you got 'em.
   Talk to you soon ... looking forward to hearing from you.
   -Valerie MacEwan, Editor/Publisher
   The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
  If I have to tell you not to send porn or crass, fascist, racist bullshit, then you're stupid and you need to just go away. And politics? Don't even try. Religion? Yeah, we do some of that, it's the South, after all. Churches on every corner. Synagogues, Mosques too. ALL OF THEM. Plus NONE of them.

   If you really truly can't figure it all out, how to submit here on submittable, as a last resort, email me Valerie MacEwan deadmule @   gmail and I may be in a position to help, depending on mood, problems encountered, age of submitter, phase of the moon... or whatever suits our purpose on that particular day.


 

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 What do yall think we'll be looking to publish? Anything you write that's worth reading. Not much to ask for, is it? Try to keep it under 750 words. 

If you don't know what the southern legitimacy statement is then you haven't read the Mule. Shame on you. Read it or at least take a gander before submitting.  

This submission must be entirely human-generated; any content detected as being created by artificial intelligence (AI) will not be accepted 

All double-spaced submissions will be rejected without being read or considered.

 Send us your finished work. Not a work in progress --we have grown weary of writers who ask for permission to edit their accepted pieces. If it's not ready, finish it and then send it to us.

    Attach your docx [etc, we use Apple computers, so you can send us a .pages file] in the area provided. It's simple. Try it. It's ok, or attach your .docx, .rtf etc in the area provided.
    You can do it! Submit to the Mule. 


Don't forget your Southern Legitimacy Statement. 


    We  want your stories. We know you got 'em.
    Talk to you soon ... looking forward to hearing from you.
    -Valerie MacEwan, Editor/Publisher
    The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
   If I have to tell you not to send porn or crass, fascist, racist bullshit, then you're stupid and you need to just go away. And politics? Don't even try. Religion? Yeah, we do some of that, it's the South, after all. Churches on every corner. Synagogues, Mosques too. ALL OF THEM. Plus NONE of them.

    If you really truly can't figure it all out, how to submit here on submittable, as a last resort, email me Valerie MacEwan deadmule @   gmail and I may be in a position to help, depending on mood, problems encountered, age of submitter, phase of the moon... or whatever suits our purpose on that particular day.


 

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Up to 2,500 words. Flash pieces, up to 750 words, are most greatly appreciated. We truly enjoy reading succinct, well-done quick-read pieces.

If I have to tell you not to send porn or crass, fascist, racist bullshit, then you're stupid and you need to just go away. And politics? Don't even try. Religion? Yeah, we do some of that, it's the South, after all. Churches on every corner. Synagogues, Mosques too. ALL OF THEM. Plus NONE of them. 

This submission must be entirely human-generated; any content detected as being created by artificial intelligence (AI) will not be accepted

SINGLE SPACED. All double-spaced submissions will be rejected.

What to send us?

We love a quick, down and dirty description of a place. Amuse us with a character study, set the scene and then wow us! It's such a challenge to ask for Southern writing in sparse phrases. But you need not write about the South. Y'all know we mean south of anywhere, not just the good old US of A.

While we love essays and stories about place, we'll consider whatever you send us. 

Attach docx etc in the area provided, just like an email attachment. Just like almost every Submittable do. If it's less than 500 words, you can try copy/paste method in the box provided for said endeavor. Good luck -- we'd love to hear from you.

If you absolutely, positively no way can figure out how to use Submittable, you can email me deadmule @ gmail. com and I will try to assist you. No guarantees. Submittable is pretty much an in-your-face process. Try it. 

And don't forget your Southern Legitimacy Statement. If you're not sure what the SLS is, that means you haven't read the Mule. So do so -- then submit.

Creative non-fiction:

Wikipedia helps out here -- Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as academic or technical writing or journalism, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service to its craft. As a genre, creative nonfiction is still relatively young, and is only beginning to be scrutinized with the same critical analysis given to fiction and poetry.

Nonfiction:

Again, Wikipedia will further explain what we're looking to read here:

Nonfiction or non-fiction is content (often, in the form of a story) whose creator, in good faith, assumes responsibility for the truth or accuracy of the events, people, and/or information presented.[1] A work whose creator dishonestly claims this same responsibility is a fraud; a story whose creator explicitly leaves open if and how the work refers to reality is usually classified as fiction.[1][2] Nonfiction, which may be presented either objectively or subjectively, is traditionally one of the two main divisions of narratives (and, specifically, prose writing),[3] the other traditional division being fiction, which contrasts with nonfiction by dealing in information, events, and characters expected to be partly or largely imaginary.

Nonfiction's factual assertions and descriptions may or may not be accurate, and can give either a true or a false account of the subject in question; however, authors of such accounts genuinely believe or claim them to be truthful at the time of their composition or, at least, pose them to a convinced audience as historically or empiricallyfactual. Reporting the beliefs of others in a nonfiction format is not necessarily an endorsement of the ultimate veracity of those beliefs, it is simply saying it is true that people believe them (for such topics as mythology). Nonfiction can also be written about fiction, typically known as literary criticism, giving information and analysis on these other works. Nonfiction need not necessarily be written text, since pictures and film can also purport to present a factual account of a subject.

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Up to 2,500 words. Flash pieces, up to 750 words, are most greatly appreciated. We truly enjoy reading succinct, well-done quick-read pieces.

If I have to tell you not to send porn or crass, fascist, racist bullshit, then you're stupid and you need to just go away. And politics? Don't even try. Religion? Yeah, we do some of that, it's the South, after all. Churches on every corner. Synagogues, Mosques too. ALL OF THEM. Plus NONE of them. 

This submission must be entirely human-generated; any content detected as being created by artificial intelligence (AI) will not be accepted

SINGLE SPACED. All double-spaced submissions will be rejected.

What to send us?

We love a quick, down and dirty description of a place. Amuse us with a character study, set the scene and then wow us! It's such a challenge to ask for Southern writing in sparse phrases. But you need not write about the South. Y'all know we mean south of anywhere, not just the good old US of A.

While we love essays and stories about place, we'll consider whatever you send us. 

Attach docx etc in the area provided, just like an email attachment. Just like almost every Submittable do. 

If you absolutely, positively no way can figure out how to use Submittable, you can email me deadmule @ gmail. com and I will try to assist you. No guarantees. Submittable is pretty much an in-your-face process. Try it.