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Submissions

Submission Guidelines

Coach's Midnight Diner is a hardboiled genre anthology with a Christian slant. No restrictions on God, no restrictions on reality. Didactic preachy works are dismissed unceremoniously; we're looking for high-quality works that are uncompromising in craft, content, and quality.

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No hardcore sci-fi. I don't want to read stories that I have to learn a new vocabulary or solar system for. I don't want to read about what happened after the fourth war for Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, or any other Centauri. Besides, you can't fit a starship into a Diner. 

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No sword-and-sorcery fantasy. Do you know what happens when you let ogres and trolls in Diners? You will be billed for any messes they make.

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Spiritual warfare is allowed, but should have an original twist. Absolutely no shining swords - you can poke somebody's eye with one of those in a diner, and we don't have the insurance for that sort of thing.

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The Diner is not for children, or the faint of heart. Jesus dressed up as Thor, a whore who moonlights as an exorcist, a bouncer at a strip club, and more offbeat characters were regulars in the first edition of the Diner. This is not your Sunday School quarterly. Sanitized work will be unceremoniously dismissed. Do not send work where gangbangers say things like, "Golly gee, Beav, what ever are we going to do with this swell crack?"

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Due to the nature of The Diner, compensation will only include a contributor copy and bragging rights.

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Submissions for the Grand Re-Opening edition of Coach’s Midnight Diner are now open. Here's what we're looking for; please read carefully. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be subject to ridicule and immediate rejection.

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Short Story Submissions

For our short stories, we are looking for unpublished works up to 10,000 words in length. We accept simultaneous submissions, but if your work is published somewhere else we expect a notification as soon as possible.

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Short stories can be submitted in the form below by creating a google doc and setting link sharing to public (as seen in the video) then pasting the link. As well, choose a category that fits the story as best as possible. 

Poetry Submissions

For poetry, we accept submission packets of up to 5 short poems or one long poem. Short poems should be 25 lines or less. More than one poem may be accepted from a single submission. Please place all poems in one document with each poem starting at the top of a new page.

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Poetry can be submitted in the form below by creating a google doc and setting link sharing to public (as seen in the video) then pasting the link. As well, choose a category that fits the poems as best as possible. 

Art Submissions

For Art submissions, we accept unpublished works to be featured in the literary magazine. These follow many of the general guidelines above (no hardcore sci-fi, no fantasy, etc) with the only addition being "no sexually explicit images". There are plenty of magazines for that, but CMD is not one of them.​

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Art can be submitted in the form below by uploading a high quality image to google drive and setting link sharing to public (as seen in the video) then pasting the link. As well, choose a category that fits the art as best as possible. 

Submission Categories

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  • Horror​

    • Examples: Stephen King, Crypt TV, “The Nun”, “The Thing”​

  • Punk - Cyber/Steam

    • Examples: “Golden Compass”, “Mortal Engines”, “Leviathan”, “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”

  • UFO/Aliens

    • Examples: “Stranger Things”, “Unsolved Mysteries”, “Black Mirror”

  • Dystopian

    • Examples: “1984”, “V for Vendetta”

  • Noir/Detective/Crime

    • Examples: “Baby Driver”, “The Godfather”, “Whitechapel”, “The Batman”

  • That One That Happens in Diner 

    • All categories - just has to happen in a diner

  • Lovecraft

    • Examples: “Lovecraft Country”, “The Color out of Space”

  • Paranormal 

    • Examples: “Supernatural”, “This Present Darkness”, “The Screwtape Letters”

  • Weird Western

    • Examples: “Wynonna Earp”, “Jonah Hex”, “Undead Wood”

  • Weird War

    • Examples: “The Last Ship”, “War of the Worlds”, “Live, Die, Repeat”

  • Monster Stories 

    • Examples: “Dracula”, “Frankenstein”, “Godzilla”, “Buffy”, “Scooby-Doo”

  • Adventure 

    • Examples: “Indiana Jones”, “Jumanji”, “National Treasure”, “The Goonies”

  • Close Encounters 

    • Examples: “The Haunting of Bly Manor”, “Love, Death, and Robots”

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Note: Combinations of Genres are encouraged. For example, a noir detective investigating a paranormal crime, or a monster story that has a Twilight Zone twist. But due to limited technology, you may only select one category.

(Category examples are for clarification only)

Thanks for submitting!

Submission Form

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