Bold, Boundary-blurring Fiction

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December Smoke Cover Art

She's A Pioneer

Claudia Tong

A Warm Welcome from the Haze!

This December release brings together stories that move through the surreal and the mythic, alongside pieces that ache with longing—stories of independence, emotional desire, and the quiet, often difficult work of becoming yourself. The work is bold, tender, strange, and deeply human.

We’re also continuing our poetic theme of Ritual—poems that honor repetition, devotion, inheritance, and the small acts we return to when we’re trying to steady ourselves or begin again.

One thing we’re especially proud to celebrate: all but one of our contributors in this release are women. That wasn’t by design—it reflects who showed up, who sent fearless work, and who trusted us with stories that burn and linger. We’re grateful for each of these voices.

Alongside the new stories, we’ve published a new Editor’s Blog exploring why Neon & Smoke exists for the in-between—the emotional spaces that don’t resolve neatly, the moments before rupture, the quiet after. If you’ve ever wondered what guides our editorial eye, this piece offers a clear window into our heart.

Thank you for reading with care, for sharing the work, and for being part of this growing, generous community. We’re so glad you’re here.

With gratitude,

T and J

Where the Glow Meets the Haze

Flash Fiction

We publish bold, layered flash fiction—stories that move, that mean, and that linger. We welcome all genres, as long as there’s emotional resonance, narrative stakes, and a voice that leaves a mark. Surprise us.

Digital Art

Each issue, we feature a curated selection of digital art around a central theme. This time, it’s People Like Us—a call for visual storytelling that explores identity, intimacy, kinship, difference, and the quiet (or loud) ways we gather, resist, and belong. Think vibrant, strange, layered, raw. Interpretation is welcome—we want to feel something.

Poetry

We’re looking for poems that pulse with energy, voice, and emotional honesty. For this issue, we invite work that engages with the theme Ritual—daily or divine, inherited or invented, personal or shared. Whether lyrical or narrative, formal or experimental, send us poems that break and mend, that think and feel, that earn their place.

Editor’s Light

Writing Can Be Lonely

Writing can be lonely. Not metaphorically lonely — literally lonely. It’s hours spent inside a mind no one else can access. It’s choosing silence when the world wants noise. It’s disappearing into a story only you can hear, only you can hold. Most days, it’s just you at a desk, trying to say something the way it deserves to be said. And even when you finally finish a piece, the loneliness doesn’t end. You send it to a friend, a partner, a writing group, hoping they’ll feel wh

Why We Exist for the In-Between

Every magazine has its lane. Some publish horror that bites. Others prefer fiction that aches quietly in the corners of the human heart. The literary ones say they want realism; the genre ones want monsters. But what about the stories that blur the line? The ones that live somewhere between the real and the imagined—between faith and fear, grief and transformation? Those are the stories we love. Neon & Smoke was built for the in-between. For the stories that don’t quite belon

Editor’s Letter: Every Story Has Its Place

A reflection on literary rejection, alignment, and finding the right home for your stories—from the editors at Neon & Smoke.

your editorial voice guiding readers through updates and insights.

Our Story Unfolded

Neon & Smoke is a home for bold, voice-driven fiction with emotional weight and narrative fire. We publish stories that don’t sit quietly—tales where the plot might thrill, chill, or make you laugh, but always reveals something deeper. We crave characters who leap off the page, language that crackles, and stories that blur the line between genre and literary not for the sake of novelty, but it’s the most honest way to tell the truth.

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