Publications
What we call "the submission grind" is brutal. In order to illuminate the process for emerging writers like myself, and to make my own journey more transparent, my publication history is detailed below, including submissions, rejections, acceptances, payments, and, in relevant cases, how the payment was or will be used. If you'd like to read any of the unlinked pieces, please e-mail me at [Work AT RiveraErica DOT com]. You can see a list of the magazines and presses on this page, with additional info and links to submissions pages/portals, on my List of Magazines and Presses page.
and she laughs kind of hysterically, and i laugh kind of hysterically, hyster comes from the greek hystéra meaning womb, am i woman enough to transition yet?
from "can't sleep when i think about the year that i was born into," published by en*gendered
can't sleep when i think about the year that i was born into
Creative nonfiction, series of three prose poems
Published by en*gendered, November 2023
No payment; received response within 24 hours
Declined by CRAFT and Cutleaf Journal; withdrawn from Peatsmoke Journal upon acceptance
Available to read at en*gendered
november 20 is the day they invented the word: the first day of the last day of the rest of our lives.
from "november 20," published by JAKE
november 20
Creative nonfiction, prose poem
Published by JAKE, December 2023
No payment; received response within three days
Early version declined by beestung and Stanchion Zine
Available to read at JAKE
text is meaningless. colors flow in different directions; to and from where is anybody's guess.
from "self-portrait," published by manywor(l)ds
self-portrait
Mixed media, series of four images with image descriptions
Published by manywor(l)ds, February 2024
Payment of $10, gifted to manywor(l)ds in support of their mission
Available to view and read at manywor(l)ds
She vanished history and superstructure and became a party of one, abating the unanswered questions: would a vaccine come, when would she get it, when would she go outside again. When would she get to be herself.
from "Pandemic Story," published by Sophon Lit
Pandemic Story
Fiction, flash
Published by Sophon Lit, March 2024
No payment; requested to receive free feedback provided regardless of acceptance, and received response within 24 hours
Withdrawn from Split Lip Magazine, The Worcester Review, and New Delta Review upon acceptance; declined by Variant Lit and Big Whoopie Deal
Available to read at Sophon Lit
From the gym, running on the treadmill, you could see in the center of the park a shimmery blue-green haze, shaped into peculiar, unstable forms, ever morphing slightly, distorting your perception of what was by and behind it at its edges, like the flames of a large, dancing fire.
from "The Hologram," forthcoming in The Emerson Review
The Hologram
Fiction, short story
Forthcoming in The Emerson Review, April 2024
Payment of $5, declined for personal reasons
Declined by The Drift
Let's make writing do what it’s supposed to. Let's figure this out for good.
from "everything i know about genocide, part three," published by Isele Magazine
everything i know about genocide, part three
Creative nonfiction, essay
Published by Isele Magazine, April 2024
Payment of $10, will be distributed to mutual aid funds
Withdrawn from Foglifter and The Rumpus upon acceptance
there's no biomedical roadmap to cure my disdain for expression, except maybe stories of sisters refusing to speak—to anyone but each other, in a language their own.
from "ends," forthcoming in beestung
ends
Creative nonfiction, prose poem
Forthcoming in beestung, May 2024
Payment of $20, will be distributed between a GoFundMe fundraiser for a friend of a friend and a GoFundMe fundraiser for fungkiigrrl's first movie
Unlike the other main characters of the shows you watch, the main character of this show looks like she's always on the verge of tears, and is always being forced by her circumstances to hide it. This is new to you, and appealing: it is a joy to see someone on TV who's as perpetually devastated as you.
from "The Trans Girl’s Guide to Grey’s Anatomy," forthcoming in Under the Sun
The Trans Girl's Guide to Grey’s Anatomy
Creative nonfiction, essay
Forthcoming in Under the Sun, May 2024
Payment of $50
Withdrawn from Gulf Coast and Porter House Review upon acceptance
What happens when you can forget that you're trans? That you’re on stolen land? That your ability to breathe and drink and eat and think and love and mourn and write and cry is built on someone else's grave?
from "statement of plans," forthcoming from Osmosis Press
statement of plans
Creative nonfiction, essay
Forthcoming from Osmosis Press, June 2024
No payment
Withdrawn from Fugitives & Futurists upon acceptance
"Terrorist" is a misnomer, a straw man; an invented conceit intended to drum up support for endless, omnipresent wars.
from "everything i know about genocide, part two," forthcoming in Broken Antler Magazine
everything i know about genocide, part two
Creative nonfiction, essay
Forthcoming in Broken Antler Magazine, Summer 2024
Payment of $20, will be distributed to mutual aid funds
Withdrawn from Griffith Review, Mizna, Defunkt Magazine, and X-R-A-Y upon acceptance; declined by House of Gamut
I start writing her story and she feels so real—so much like me—I resolve to be her. She is my glimpse into a future that cannot yet exist, except here she is—here I am—existing.
from The Ecology of Art, Strike!, forthcoming from tRaum Books
The Ecology of Art, Strike!
Book, collection of essays
Forthcoming from tRaum Books, 2025
Royalties will go towards maintaining Art, Strike!'s website, shipping outstanding Art, Strike! deliveries, and funding future mutual aid projects like Art, Strike!
Selected by Split/Lip Press as a finalist during their 2023 Nonfiction/Hybrid open reading period; withdrawn from Sundress Publications, Feminist Press, Rescue Press, and Blair upon acceptance
Unpublished
The Girls from Pasadena
Book, collection of short stories
Submitted to LittlePuss Press; early version submitted to Unnamed Press, Apocalypse Party, and Persea Books, declined by Split/Lip Press and Madrona Books
The Harvest
Fiction, flash
Declined by X-R-A-Y
art markets (centralization x scamminess)
Digital art, image with image description
Declined by MEMEZINE
Available on my website
Rosetta Stone
Fiction, flash
Declined by Flash Frog, Fahmidan Journal, Cursed Morsels, Metastellar, Radon Journal, and Seize the Press
Autoethnography with the essay
Fiction, flash
Submitted to The Future Fire; declined by The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts
Excisions
Fiction, flash
Declined by Flash Frog, Fahmidan Journal, and trampset
for Vassily et al
Creative nonfiction, prose poem
Declined by SICK
The Television Writer
Fiction, short story
Declined by PRISM International, Tahoma Literary Review, and Seize the Press
the year that i was born into
Chapbook, collection of prose poems
Submitted to Papeachu Press, Querencia Press, and Prismatica Press; declined by Abode Press and Bottlecap Features; selected by Essay Press as one of ten finalists for their 2023 Chapbook Open Reading Period
(Me and) My Surgeons
Fiction, short story
Submitted to khōréō and Foglifter; declined by The Rumpus, Witness, Radon Journal, Brink, Joyland, and Porter House Review
TRUCRIME presents: A Murder in the Metaverse (1x01, “Trust in the Numbers”)
Fiction, short story
Shortlisted by Good Pointe for their Someone Just Like You audio fiction anthology
A theory of fiction
Poem
Submitted to Protean, The Ex-Puritan, and Ninth Letter; withdrawn from Guernica in solidarity with those resigning and withdrawing their work over the publication of settler apologia
The Dead
Fiction, flash
Submitted to Briefly Zine, Alternative Milk Magazine, and The Good Life Review; declined by Sans. Press, Fahmidan Journal, and Smokelong Quarterly
dysphoria (reprise)
Poem
Submitted to Protean, The Ex-Puritan, Ninth Letter, Rattle, and Kweli Journal; declined by ONLY POEMS; withdrawn from Guernica in solidarity with those resigning and withdrawing their work over the publication of settler apologia
Sim City
Fiction, short story
Submitted to The Tales Between, HyphenPunk, Nightmare Magazine, and Ninth Letter; declined by Seize the Press and Augur Magazine
Los Anaranjados
Fiction, short story
Submitted to FICTION, The Ex-Puritan, and Bennington Review; declined by Joyland
THIS CITY
Creative nonfiction, flash
Submitted to Alien Magazine and Ninth Letter; declined by SAND, Split Lip Magazine, trampset, and Fahmidan Journal; withdrawn from Chestnut Review in solidarity with A.R. Arthur and others
The Girls from Pasadena
Fiction, short story
Early version declined by Analog Magazine, Canthius, The Rumpus, Radon Journal, and NonBinary Review
everything i know about genocide
Creative nonfiction, essay
Declined by Protean, The Malahat Review, The Baltimore Review, and Foglifter; withdrawn from CRAFT in solidarity with Sarah Ghazal Ali's open letter about Discover New Art
Payment will be distributed to mutual aid funds for Palestinians
Available to read on my website
.
Hybrid, prose poem/lyric essay/story-in-verse
Declibed by Passages North, Graywolf Lab, and theHythe
Payment will be distributed to the LA Trans Defense Fund and other mutual aid funds
Title is pronounced as a pause without sound
editing/transparency
Poem
Declined by Foglifter
like a sub/scribe
Poem
Submitted to Rattle and Chismosa Literary; declined by ONLY POEMS, Wasteland Review and The Ex-Puritan
what my mother gave me
Poem
Submitted to Chismosa Literary; declined by Wasteland Review
everyone thinking
Poem
Submitted to Chismosa Literary; declined by Wasteland Review
Available to read on my website
this may be proof
Mixed media, photograph of poem
Submitted to Protean; declined by Poet Lore and The Ex-Puritan
essay
Creative nonfiction, essay
Declined by HAD
Available to read on my website
Letters
Fiction, short story
Submitted to Southeast Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and The Georgia Review; declined by TriQuarterly, American Short Fiction, Indiana Review, Ploughshares, AGNI, and Massachusetts Review; withdrawn from The Masters Review in solidarity with Sarah Ghazal Ali's open letter about Discover New Art
First-Person Shooter
Fiction, short story
Submitted to The Georgia Review; declined by River Styx and Alien Magazine; early version declined by Peatsmoke Journal and Guernica
The People vs. John F. Kennedy-North
Fiction, short story
Declined by ergot.
A Brief History of Fear
Fiction, short story
Declined by Prismatica Press for their Good for Her anthology
the company u keep
Fiction, short story
Declined by The Maine Review
the company u keep
Criticism, essay
Declined by Denver Quarterly
neocolonial data capital extraction model
Digital art, image with image description
Submitted to Protean and Rattle; declined by Wasteland Review and Alien Magazine; early version declined by Cutbow Quarterly
Available on my website
six miles southeast of rupaul's mansion
Poem
Submitted to Ninth Letter; declined by fifth wheel press for their secrets in the garden anthology and Eco Punk Lit; early version submitted to The Offing, declined by The Drift and The Marrow; withdrawn from Guernica in solidarity with those resigning and withdrawing their work over the publication of settler apologia
Her Own Personal Jesus
Fiction, short story
Submitted to Open Minds Quarterly; declined by Sonder Lit
Early version available to read on my website
Platformer
Fiction, short story
Submitted to Prolit Magazine and n+1; declined by Radon Journal, Funicular Magazine, and Untenured
Available to read on my website
biography
Creative nonfiction, prose poem
Submitted to SAND and Rough Cut Press; declined by SICK and ONLY POEMS
Artist
Fiction, short story
Declined by Conjunctions and Malarkey Books; early version submitted to The Offing and The Baffler, declined by A Public Space, The Missouri Review, Joyland, and Gulf Coast
Descendance
Creative nonfiction, prose poem
Submitted to SAND; declined by Zero Readers
Transcript
Creative nonfiction, script
Submitted to Tolka; early version submitted to Foglifter; declined by The Loveliest Review; early version declined by Topograph
Station Twelve
Fiction, flash
Declined by Paranoid Tree, Apparition Lit, and Apple Valley Review
Cuts
Fiction, flash
Submitted to Wigleaf; declined by New Delta Review, Variant Lit, Fractured Literary, and Apple Valley Review
how to write a short story, part one / how to write a short story, part two / how to write a short story, part three
Creative nonfiction, series of three essays
Declined by The Kenyon Review and The Broadkill Review
Early versions available to read on my website
how to write a short story, part three
Creative nonfiction, essay
Declined by The Forge
Early version available to read on my website
An Exhortation
Fiction, flash
Declined by Minor Literature[s] and Fahmidan Journal; early version declined by New Delta Review, Variant Lit, StreetLit, and The Worcester Review
Assignments
Fiction, short story
Declined by The Ex-Puritan; early version declined by Smokelong Quarterly
Early version available to read on my website
this is not for/about me, it is for/about the fish; stop feeding it data, stop using it (you are, indeed, using it (everyone)) until it's not for/about you and is only for the fish (i.e., never; i.e., burn every parasite motherfucker alive)
Creative nonfiction, interview
Declined by Full House Literary
burst
Poem
Submitted to Rattle and Arboreal; declined by ONLY POEMS
Available to read on my website
advertisement
Creative nonfiction, prose poem
Submitted to Canthius and Foglifter
Fellowships, Residencies, Workshops, and Prizes
Accepted
Tin House 2024 Online Seminar: Collaging the Personal Essay with Aishi Sabatani Sloan (Nonfiction)
Kolaj Institute 2024 Poetry & Collage Residency
2024 LA Review of Books Publishing Workshop
Waitlisted or Finalist
Washington Square Review Fall 2023 New Voices Award (Poetry)
Kenyon Review 2024 Winter Online Workshop (Creative Nonfiction)
Kenyon Review 2024 Winter Online Workshop (Fiction)
Tin House 2024 Summer Workshop (Nonfiction)
Kenyon Review 2024 Residential Writers Workshop (Creative Nonfiction)
Submitted
2024 Milkweed Fellowship
Kenyon Review 2024 Summer Online Writers Workshop (Creative Nonfiction)
Tin House 2024 Fall Residency (Nonfiction)
Withdrawn
Blair/Carolina Wren Press 2024 Bakwin Award for Full-Length Prose
Porter House Review 2023-2024 Editor's Prize Contest (Nonfiction)
Rejected
Sewanee 2024 Writers' Conference (Nonfiction)
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Mt. St. Angelo Fall 2024 Residency
MacDowell Fall 2024 to Winter 2025 Residency
Adroit Journal 2023-24 Anthony Veasna So Scholars
The de Groot Foundation 2024 COURAGE to WRITE Grant
Princeton University Press 2024-25 Publishing Fellowship
Stanford University 2024-2026 Wallace Stegner Fellowship
Kenyon Review 2024 Developmental Editing Fellowship
Gulf Coast 2023 Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing
Epiphany 2024 Fresh Voices Fellowship
Periplus Collective 2024 Fellowship
Tin House 2024 Winter Workshop (Fiction)
Witness 2024 Literary Award (Fiction)
Tin House 2024 Summer Residency (Fiction)
Latinx in Publishing 2024 Mentorship Program
Curationist 2024 Critics of Color Fellowship
Porter House Review 2023-2024 Editor's Prize Contest (Fiction)
Guernica 2024 Poetry Fellowship
Gulf Coast 2023 Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing