The Coil: Alternate Histories

History and science is our passion at The Coil. But what if something in history had been altered, changed for better or worse? We seek fun, interesting, sad, quirky, well-researched fiction on alternat(iv)e histories for any person, place, event, idea, or time period in history. Essays are also accepted, if you want to dabble in scholarly what-ifs. We especially want to hear from marginalized and underrepresented authors, and we are an LGBTQUIA+ safe-space.

• Material should have a minimum of 600 words.
• All work must be in English and must be the author’s own. We do not consider AI-generated works.
• No religion or hate speech. Do not submit material that is hateful toward any type of person or culture, or that is pro-gun.
• If you need to adjust a submission, please use the Request to Edit option through Submittable. Please don’t request to edit for minor flaws, however—all accepted work will go through an editing process and will have the chance to be updated before publication, and your work will not be disqualified for a missing comma.
• All authors must be at least 18 to submit.
• Simultaneous submissions allowed. If your piece is picked up elsewhere, please withdraw your submission through Submittable.
• Previously published articles or essays are not considered.
• Submit via Submittable only. We do not accept email submissions.
• There is a $2 administrative fee that we have to charge for each submission to use the Submittable platform. You may submit as many times as you’d like, but each submission must be made separately with a separate fee. The fee helps us with needed administration costs, but it’s not meant to be too inhibitive. If you are unable to pay, please email us for an alternative submission method.
• We will send a response to every submission within two months. Form response only, unless we are interested in publishing your work. We are regretfully unable to provide feedback. If you have not heard back from us within two months, please feel free to contact us (kindly).
• We pay $10 per accepted essay.
• We acknowledge that we are headquartered on what should be Arapaho land on a street that is instead named for a dead white male president who owned enslaved people and severed Native American Nations apart irrevocably. To honor the reparations that this entire country needs to make, Black writers and Native American Indigenous (United States and Canada) writers may submit essays for free.