A note on the submission review process:
Submissions to Rock & Sling are read by undergraduate students at Whitworth University. Materials screened with a yes are passed to genre meetings, which are led by trained student assistant editors and faculty genre editors. Pieces that move through those meetings reach monthly packet meetings where they are considered by the faculty editors and trained assistant editors.
Student editors enroll in a rigorous course in content and developmental editing and beginning in fall 2020, a training in diversity, equity, and inclusion. All faculty editors have similar training, to ensure from beginning to end our screening process is fair and equitable, and all editors and readers are aware of how their biases factor into the decision-making process.
Editorial Staff:
Thom is an associate professor in the English department at Whitworth University and teaches a variety of creative writing, literature, and publishing and editing courses. His poems have appeared in Ascent, Redivider, Smartish Pace, Sugar House Review, and elsewhere. His books include A Visitor’s Guide to North Dakota, No Secrets to Sell, and most recently, What the Sky Lacks.
The work I prefer rarely takes a single form. It is often work that blurs traditional lines, either culturally or structurally. I want the magazine to embrace complexity, to be afraid of nothing, to push our understanding of ourselves and the ways we think about literature. I like art that takes risks, but still remembers to be good art.
Julie is senior development writer at Whitworth University and editor of Whitworth Today magazine. She also serves as the craft-essay editor for Brevity. She is the author of a memoir, The Solace of Stones: Finding a Way through Wilderness (University of Nebraska Press). Her essay, “Shadow Animals,” appeared in The Georgia Review (the essay received a Special Mention in The Pushcart Prize XXXIX: Best of the Small Presses and was nominated for a National Magazine Award). She holds an MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University.
I love being part of the Rock & Sling crew as the journal’s creative-nonfiction editor. A great day is when I read a submitted essay that surprises me with fresh language and an assured voice, and that seeks to deepen a question rather than simply answer the question, and does so with honesty and authenticity.
Jake Andrews
Jake is an assistant professor in the English Department at Whitworth University where he teaches a range of creative writing and literature courses. He was a Teaching-Writing Fellow at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and before that he taught theology at universities in the U.K. His story, “Tu quoque,” won the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, and his novel, Fiat Vita, was an honorable mention in competition for the James Jones First Novel Fellowship.
I look for stories that are precisely that: stories first, whose significance, or “meaning,” only appears in retrospect, ones that make me feel something before they make me think something. For me, great stories are grounded in place, with full-blooded characters who experience the world as it is, not as it should be. Perhaps the characters are quiet, introspective; perhaps they act rather than speak or think. What I want is to forget I’m reading and be caught up in a world so real, so well imagined, that–-after finishing-–I need a moment to reorient myself to life off the page.
- Assistant Fiction Editor: Meagan Kaloostian
- Assistant Poetry Editor: Sakina Vidyarthi
- Assistant Nonfiction Editor: Megan Necochea
- Assistant Managing Editor: Brenden Cochran
For questions, send email to rockandsling@gmail.com
About Whitworth University
Since 1890, Whitworth has held fast to its founding mission of providing “an education of mind and heart” through rigorous intellectual inquiry guided by dedicated Christian scholars. Recognized as one of the top regional colleges and universities in the West, Whitworth University has an enrollment of 2,700 students and offers 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. In recent years, Whitworth has enjoyed record levels of student enrollment and retention, the strongest financial position in the university’s history, and increased external visibility.
Whitworth University’s 200-acre campus of red-brick buildings and tall pines offers a beautiful, inviting and secure learning environment. More than $83 million in campus improvements have been made over the past decade, including a new center for the visual arts, a landmark general academic building, three new residence halls and several outdoor athletics facilities.
In all of these endeavors, the university seeks to advance its founder’s mission of equipping students to “honor God, follow Christ and serve humanity.”
Rock & Sling 
Just a question: Would you accept reprints from older literary journals if acknowledgments were in order?
Joanne,
We are only accepting unpublished material at this time, sorry.
thom
Hi. A month ago I subscribed to Rock And Sling. I’m so excited! I can hardly wait for my first copy! Will it come soon?
Should be in your hands a little after the first of the year. Thanks for subscribing!
Are you still publishing short fiction? There’s no section for it on your submittable page.
Howdy
sorry, but i didn’t know how else to contact you.
I must withdraw my poem TROY, NEW YORK
I’m looking forward in hearing from you regarding the rest of my work.
Have a good day,
Joshua Michael Stewart
Wanted to let you know that one of the poems I submitted on November 11th, “Devil Born,” has been picked up elsewhere. The rest of the submission remains available.
Happy Holidays
I believe you found my submission “Bottled Water” to be not a good match for your publication. However your automated submission manager fails to indicate same.
I see you have a place to “subscribe,” but I’d really like to buy a couple of copies of the last journal. How do I go about ordering copies?
I can email you an order form, Winnona.
Hi Thom: How do we go about changing addresses for current subscribers? I think I forgot to do that and may have missed the last issue…
You can email our managing editor directly: Annie Stillar, at astillar@whitworth.edu.
This is a question for the editors: do I have to be on Facebook to submit poetry? I don’t like Facebook. I’m old and private. Is the account I sign up for on the site just for you for submission purposes, or is it a sign in to the “f word?” thank, Bonnie Thurston
Hi. On April 1, 2012 I ordered and paid for a copy of Rock & Sling. I still haven’t gotten it. Sorry to post this publicly, but I didn’t know how else to contact you. Would really like to receive the journal!
Where did you place the order, Mia? Email me at tcaraway@whitworth.edu and we’ll get it figured out.
On 5/5/12 I submitted 5 poems for your consideration. I just heard this morning that “For All That Is” and “Elected Silence, Sing to Me” have been accepted for publication. The other three are still available. They are, “This Long Novitiate,” “The World Will Be Saved by Beauty,” and “Seed.”
Thank you, Sharron Singleton
Sharron,
I am not seeing any submissions from you on that or any other date. Please try resubmitting the poems that are still available.
Thanks,
thom
Oh, I went through your on-line submission manager but must have done something wrong. I’ll try again. Thanks for letting me know. Sharron Singleton
I’ve written a blank-verse narrative poem of 189 lines–too long to submit for your consideration?
David
Hi Thom:
I was just wondering about the status of my 5/1/12 short story submission – I accidentally submitted two, “In the Colony” and “The Coin,” and I wasn’t sure if that caused a problem.
Thanks for your time,
Stacy Barton
words@stacybarton.com
Hi, I had a poem, “Ghost Soup,” accepted by you in 2011. Can you let me know when it might appear? Thanks, Terry Wolverton, consulter@aol.com
My poems “Abstract Child,” “Harrowed in the Dusk” and “Splashdown” have been accepted elsewhere. The poems “Wasteland Ballad” and “Claim” are still available. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Richard King Perkins II
Hello,
I just finished an essay written in the spirit of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” but with a decidedly contemporary subject matter. Would you be interested in reading it? If so, what genre should I send it under?
Title:
“A Modest Proposal in This Post-Modern Age of Civility and Progressive Pragmatism for Preventing the Offspring Products of Rape and Incest from Destroying America”
Thanks,
Dennis Gillenwater
Most excellent to make contact with you this morning at AWP. I’ll swing by upstairs tomorrow to say hi.
What is your usual response time for fiction?
Dear Laurie,
I submitted five poems earlier this fall. However, recently I gave a public reading of two of them and realized that one needed some revision. Would you receive from me an edited version of “Near Pickering or An Ode to Lake Ontario”? If so, please let me know how I should send it to you.
All the best,
Lori Vos
I subscribed to your quarterly last year for my son, and we only received an issue in April of 2016. Why not the others???
Daniel Rice / Malcolm Rice
Hi! I submitted a fiction piece the beginning of November. I haven’t received anything back on it. I was wondering how long it takes to get feedback?
Hello and Happy New Year. I understand this public forum isn’t the most professional way to inquire about a submission, but I couldn’t find another link or way to contact you. My poem “In Praise of the Black Ghostbuster” was submitted on 8/5/2016. and I wondering if it is still under consideration with your publication. Be blessed.
Hello. I don’t know how else to inquire about my submissions. I submitted two poems on 8.25.16. They were “Fourth of July, 1998” and “First Day Out.” Just wondering if you’ve made a decision. Thanks so much.
Hello,
Sorry, I was not sure how else to make contact, but I noticed on Submittable that my piece “Philosophy on Ornithology” has been labeled “In-Progress” for several months now and have not yet heard back on it. My other works “Mixed Blessing” and “Apology” have also been “Received” for the same time as well. Just wanted to know about the current status of these poems.
Thank you,
Will McCabe
Dear Editors,
I submitted a trio of poems entitled ‘Birdsong I, Birdsong II and Birdsong III’ to Rock and Sling Magazine and last year on the 4th November 2016, I received the email reply below (from Professor Thomas Caraway) regarding my submission which I replied to directly and via Submittable. The submission is still showing as ‘in-progress’ in Submittable and in my reply, I stated that I would be more than happy for Rock and Sling to accept Birdsong III as a standalone poem for inclusion in the journal.
However, I have not as of yet received an update. Please could you inform me if you would still be happy to include Birdsong III in a future edition of Rock and Sling (as indicated by the editorial feedback below).
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards,
Juned Subhan (Mr).
I was just wondering if you would consider a short script/screenplay (no more than ten pages) in your list of work that blurs traditional lines. I have something that I feel may meet your magazine’s aesthetics, but I did not want to waste your time if the point is moot. Thanks.
Dear Poetry Editors,
You posted decisions on my other four poems two weeks ago. Is “Autumn Elegy” still under consideration as indicated on Submittable?
Many thanks,
Bruce Lader
Dear Poetry Editors,
I am having difficulty finding another way to contact you. I hope this is an acceptable way to inquire about submissions. I posted two submissions on October 22nd (“Early I Rise” and “Of Darker Days”) and haven’t heard anything back yet. This is the first time I’ve submitted anything to a print publication so perhaps this is typical. If you could let me know what a reasonable time frame is for acceptance or denial of submissions, I would be most appreciative!
Sincerely,
Gretchen LaSalle
Dear poetry editors,
I was unable to figure out on your submission page how to withdraw a single poem in a submission, so I apologize if this method of contacting you is inappropriate, but I have just had one of the five poems in my current submission, “Vinegar,” accepted by another journal and will need to withdraw it from your consideration.I hope you will continue to consider the remaining four poems.
Thank you.
Marjorie Stelmach
Editors,
Your Submittable page seems to suggest that prose submissions are open, but there is no button to submit prose…?
Editors, We have a similar question to Geoff Wyss. Are you currently accepting fiction submissions? There doesn’t seem to be a button for that. Thank you!
Hello
I received today my contributor copies of VOX (which is wonderful; thank you!). I noted that though the agreement did include “Travis the Bagging Clerk Knows What You’re About,” that poem isn’t included in this issue. I just want to clarify so I know whether to then send it elsewhere – is it slated for a future issue or has there been a change in plans to publish it? Best, Micki Blenkush
Rock & Sling
Thom Caraway, Editor-in-chief
Dear Mr. Caraway:
I could not find any other way to contact you.
I learned this morning a poem of mine, Septuagenarian Epiphany, was accepted elsewhere. I hope my other submissions are under consideration.
Peter Venable