The Gotham Guillotine

Submission Guidelines for Issue #3: Gothic Marxism

Capitalism is a horror story, centuries-long. It is a plague that zombifies its disciples. It crushes your body and rots your mind. It is the beast. 

For the third issue of The Gotham Guillotine, our theme of Gothic Marxism is not a prescription, but an invitation. We call on contributors to take elements of the Gothic—the graveyards, the abandoned houses, the shadowy ruins—and bridge them with socialist ideas.

What worlds have been rendered impossible due to capitalist hegemony, and how might their echoes haunt us? What scraps might remain of a world ravaged by unrestricted exploitation and imperialism? What irrational ideas might be repurposed as building blocks for a brighter tomorrow? 

For this issue, we want to be spiritually disemboweled, drawn and quartered by the four horsemen of the apocalypse, pushed into a dark woods never to escape, locked in the highest tower in the land, and, above all, to be scared. 

We’re very happy to announce that contributors to Issue #3: Gothic Marxism will appear alongside these fantastic writers whose amazing work inspired this issue’s theme: 

• Gretchen Felker-Martin: author of Manhunt, Cuckoo, Black Flame, and the forthcoming Chimera
• Jon Greenaway: author of Capitalism: A Horror Story: Gothic Marxism and the Dark Side of the Radical Imagination and co-host of the podcast Horror Vanguard
• Alison Rumfitt: author of Tell Me I’m Worthless and Brainwyrms
• We’re also gonna be interviewing China Miéville, author of Perdido Street Station, The City & The City, and the forthcoming The Rouse

Comrades, do yourselves a favor and buy all their books.

Submissions will be open from July 16, 2026 to September 16, 2026.

Best of luck, comrades. Be afraid, be very afraid.

General Submission Guidelines

Ask yourself one question before reading any further: Am I a socialist?

We created The Gotham Guillotine because contemporary socialist artists needed a platform to share their work.

So are you a socialist? If so, read on! If not, may I introduce you to the Marxist Internet Archive?

Before submitting anything, check out Issue #1: Comrades and Issue #2: The People’s Magazine to get an idea of what we’re looking for. 

You don’t need to be based in New York to be published in The Gotham Guillotine.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, Chill Subs, and/or X for updates!

Formatting 

For Issue #3, we’re switching over to Shunn Modern Manuscript Format with the caveats that you do not need to list your address and phone number.

The file name of your submission MUST be: [Title of Your Piece]_[Your Last Name]. Ex) The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793_Kropotkin

PDF only!

Bio

In the submission form, you’ll need to submit a 2-4 line bio that will appear with your piece.

We are cool with pen names because, you know, Lenin. But we internally need to know your real name to prove you aren’t a bot or a Nazi or a Nazi bot.

Our Vibe

We love all genres. Our first issue ranges from comedy to tragedy, sci-fi to literary. Just make sure your submission is socialistic, okay? 🙂

If you think your story needs a content warning, please include one. 

Please don’t send us bigoted and sexually violent work.

Short Stories

Up to 5,000 words.

We don’t have a word count sweet spot, but any submission over 3,000 words needs to earn those extra words.

We love flash fiction, comics, and one act plays!

Poetry

Please submit up to 5 poems in one PDF. Your poems collectively should not exceed 10 pages. 

Arts Criticism/Essays

Up to 5,000 words.

We don’t have a word count sweet spot, but any submission over 3,000 words needs to earn those extra words.

We want socialist critiques of art, not artistic critiques of socialism.

There are plenty of amazing socialist publications that will publish your economic, philosophical, and historical manuscripts. We are not one of them.

Art

We love art and need some for our magazine. If you’re a graphic artist or a painter or a photographer or a whatever, send us 5 pieces of your socialist art. It may appear in our next issue! JPG/JPEG only! 300dpi too!

If we like what we see, we may ask for more. But for now, please just send us up to 5 pieces.

Editing

Please copyedit your pieces. Variant spellings are fine. Misspellings aren’t.

Payment

The Gotham Guillotine is a labor of love. When we can afford to pay people, we will.

Reprints

The work you submit must be your own and must not be published anywhere else. If the source it was published in no longer exists and the piece is no longer available online, please mention this in the comments section of the submission form. 

AI

We will know if you used AI. It’s very, extremely—obvious. Please don’t. If you do, you’ll be banned from submitting for life.

As of May 2026, two writers are now banned from The Gotham Guillotine for AI usage.

Spellchecking software isn’t what we mean by AI. Please use spellcheckers.

Multiple and Simultaneous Submissions

Multiple submissions are only okay for Art and Poetry, not Fiction and Essays. Translation: you can submit up to ten pages of poetry or five pieces of art, but not ten short stories or five essays. You can only submit one short story or one essay. You cannot submit to multiple genres.

Simultaneous submissions are great! Just send us a message using the contact form if your piece has been accepted anywhere else. Congratulations! See you next time!

Response Time

We will be responding to submissions around a month after the final deadline (September 16, 2026). This is subject to change if we get a ton of submissions.

If you don’t hear back from us a month after the final deadline (September 16, 2026), please send us a message using the contact form. 

Rights

Your words are yours. We ask that if you publish something in The Gotham Guillotine that you wait six months before republishing it elsewhere.

If you do republish it, please let us know. If your work is anthologized or collected, please credit us and let us know so we can congratulate you!

Ready to Submit?

Fill out this google form!