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Submissions are open December 16, 2024-January 31, 2025.

We will be considering work for:

  • Issue 5 (unthemed)
  • Issue 6 (theme: roulette)

Please read our submission guidelines here.

ON ROULETTE:

Games of chance, fate, the unknown. We’re interested in reversals of fortune, luck, the house. We like the glamor of old films and the lucky charm. Or consider roulette as a small wheel, an engraver’s tool, a stamp device. We are not interested in Russian roulette (thanks), but all else goes. Spin the wheel of your imagination and send us your best work.

Etymology

roulette (n.)

"game of chance involving a revolving disk on a table," 1745; earlier "small wheel" (1734), from French roulette "gambling game played with a revolving wheel," an extended sense; "small wheel," from Old French roelete "little wheel" (12c.), formed on model of Late Latin rotella, diminutive of Latin rota "wheel" (see rotary). An older name for this game was roly-poly or rouly-pouly (1712).
(http://www.etymonline.com/word/roulette)

Definition

roulette

noun

  1. a game of chance played at a table marked off with numbers from 1 to 36, one or two zeros, and several other sections affording the players a variety of betting opportunities, and having in the center a revolving, dish like device roulette wheel into which a small ball is spun to come to rest finally in one of the 37 or 38 compartments, indicating the winning number and its characteristics, as odd or even, red or black, and between 1 and 18 or 19 and 36.
  2. a small wheel, especially one with sharp teeth, mounted in a handle, for making lines of marks, dots, or perforations:
    engravers' roulettes; a roulette for perforating sheets of postage stamps.
  3. Philately. a row of short cuts, in which no paper is removed, made between individual stamps to permit their ready separation. (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/roulette)

Some History

In 1655, the first, crude version of the roulette wheel was created by the French mathematician and inventor, Blaise Pascal, in his quest to create a perpetual motion machine—or a machine, that once started, could not be stopped, and would run on its own mechanism. Others added to the invention, turning it into the classic rouge et noir casino game. It gained popularity with King Charles III of Monaco, who built a casino that housed a beautiful roulette wheel. He added a zero to the wheel. This tilted roulette in the house’s favor, and Charles’s kingdom expanded.

Submission Guidelines

  • -ette loves small form: prose poetry, micro and flash fiction. To get an idea of what we like, please read our latest issue. Before sending work, check out the theme.
  • Please send one flash or up to two micro fictions and/or prose poems (we do not accept poetry or nonfiction submissions at this time).
  • Total submission word count should not exceed 1,000 words.
  • Send your work as a PDF. Include your name and contact information on the first page. Number the pages. Use a common, 12-point font. Please double-space fiction. Prose poetry may be single-spaced.
  • Please include a short bio as well as your social media handles with your submission. 
  • Work submitted to -ette must be wholly original. Do not submit plagiarized or AI-generated work to -ette.
  • We take simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • Regular response times vary, but we try to respond within 1–3 months.
  • If your work is accepted for publication, we ask for first-time publication rights and the right to retain the work in our archives. If republished elsewhere, please credit -ette review.
  • We ask that writers only submit once per submission period. Contributors should wait six months to resubmit.
  • -ette will not read or publish racist, homophobic, anti-trans, or misogynistic writing.
  • -ette is a tiny operation of two, so unfortunately, we cannot offer payment at this time. You will, however, receive the drawing that accompanies your published piece. In case of publication, Beth will want to send it to you.
  • To hear more from -ette editors, Beth Hahn and Nora Maynard, on what we're looking for, listen to pod-ette Episode 1 here.
  • Ready? Email work to submissions@ettereview.com. In the subject line, include your name and the category of submission (fiction, micro, prose poetry).

Your -ette editors,
Beth Hahn (she/her) and Nora Maynard (she/her)