Fall 2023 Rejections: The Paris Review, Gulf Coast, The Kenyon Review, storySouth, and More Literary Journals

Welcome to The Rejection Quarterly, Fall 2023 edition.

Sharing rejections shares the effort behind submissions and makes celebrating acceptances even sweeter. What kind of literary journal rejections are you seeing? On the road to publication, why not “publish” the rejections themselves?

Here are the rejections I collected from September 2023 – November 2023.

Since introducing The Rejection Whisperer, I’ve had fun plugging in wordy rejections and getting quick interpretations. Check out the interpretations below each rejection email. And please feel free to try your own rejections!

Nimrod International Journal encouraging rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us your work. We appreciate the chance to read it, but, unfortunately, we will not be publishing your submission at this time.

You can be assured that your work has been read by editors who are dedicated to making thoughtful and aesthetically sensitive decisions—editors who wish they could publish all the sincere and well-crafted work that is submitted to Nimrod.  

Again, thank you for your submission. We would be happy to receive new work from you in the future. 

Best,

Eilis O’Neal

Editor-in-Chief

Nimrod International Journal

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

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Alaska Quarterly Review encouraging rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you, sincerely, for giving us the opportunity to read your work. Though ultimately your submission was not selected for publication, please know that it was seriously considered. We certainly hope you will send more of your work our way. 

For the foreseeable future, we’ll only be accepting submissions via Submittable. Information regarding open submission reading periods will be posted on our website. 

Wishing you safe and well, all our best,
The Editors
Alaska Quarterly Review
https://aqreview.org/

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

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storySouth rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for allowing storySouth to consider Lunch with Scott & Zelda. We have read it carefully, but must decline to publish. We regret that the volume of submissions we receive and the small size of our staff prevent us from giving a more personal response, but we appreciate your interest and support. 

We wish you the best in placing this work elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Jen Julian

Fiction Editor, storySouth

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Pleiades rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov:

Thank you for submitting to Pleiades. Although we appreciate your interest in the journal, we are unable to publish your work at this time. Nonetheless, we thank you for thinking of us, and we wish you the best of luck placing your work elsewhere.

Sincerely,

The Editors
Pleiades

2023-10-04 13:43:04 (GMT -5:00)

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival rejection

Thank you for entering the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival Short Story Contest. We appreciate your interest in and your support of our festival.

Results are now live on the Festival Website..

We would love for all participants to join us at the Short Story Contest Award Ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6 pm in the First Floor Meeting Room at the Rockville Memorial Library.  Judge Nate Brown will be present as will current and previous winners of the contest. There will be a short reception at the end of the ceremony.

We also invite you to join us at the full day festival on Saturday, October 21, where we will honor author Jonathan Franzen. Please visit our website for more information about the day.

Thank you again for your participation.

We look forward to seeing you at one or more of our events.

Mary Hopkins

Short Story Contest Coordinator

Editor-in-Chief, Redivider

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Redivider rejection

Dear Arthur,

Thank you for trusting us with your work. We appreciated the opportunity to consider “within & without,” but have decided not to accept it for publication.

We wish you the best of luck in placing it elsewhere.

Sincerely,

The Fiction Team @ Redivider

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Hexagon encouraging rejection

Hello,

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to read the story that you submitted to Hexagon Magazine on September 1st. I appreciate the time and effort you took to send it in for consideration. Although it does not fit the needs of the magazine at this time, I wish you luck in placing it elsewhere.

I hope you will continue to consider us for future submissions.

Warmest regards,

JW Stebner

Editor in chief

Hexagon SF Magazine

hexagonmagazine.ca

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

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The Paris Review rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Please forgive the delay. Owing to the overwhelming number of submissions we received, decisions on submissions have taken us longer than we anticipated. 

Thank you for your patience while we evaluated “Verdant Heaven.” We regret that we are unable to publish it, but we appreciate your interest in The Paris Review.

Yours sincerely,

The Editors

http://theparisreview.org

Please do not reply to this email—this inbox is not monitored.

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Gulf Coast rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending “within & without” to Gulf Coast. While we didn’t feel it was the right fit for our pages at this time, we appreciated having the chance to consider it.

Best wishes to you and your writing.

Sincerely,

The Editors
Gulf Coast Journal
https://gulfcoastmag.org/

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Kenyon Review rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you so much for submitting “”First Lines” and “Parting Pages”.” After careful consideration, we determined that this submission was not the right fit for us. We are grateful for your interest in The Kenyon Review, appreciated the opportunity to read your work, and wish you the best of luck in placing it elsewhere. 

Sincerely,

The Editors

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Chestnut Review rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for your submission to Chestnut Review. Although we must decline your submission this time, we appreciated the chance to consider it. Please do not interpret this as a judgment of your art as a whole. Individual tastes matter a great deal in decisions like these, and though we have to decline this round, we encourage you to keep writing and creating. The world needs it, and you.

We’d also appreciate your reporting stats on Duotrope for this submission, if you use that site.

Thanks again. Best of luck with all your work.

Sincerely,

The Editors

Chestnut Review

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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The Deadlands encouraging rejection

Dear Arthur,

Thank you for submitting “Terminus” to The Deadlands. We very much appreciate the chance to read your work, but we are regretfully saying no to this submission. We wish you luck with placing it elsewhere and hope you will continue to consider us in future.

E. Catherine Tobler
Editor, The Deadlands

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

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Little Patuxent Review rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for submitting your work to Little Patuxent Review. We appreciate the effort that has gone into your submission. Unfortunately, it is not the right fit for our upcoming issue. Please be assured that your submission was read thoroughly and given careful consideration by our editorial staff.  We wish you the best of luck in placing your work elsewhere.

Best regards,

Sarah Berger

Editor

Little Patuxent Review