Bold, Boundary-blurring Fiction

JULY SMOKE | 2026

A deeply human issue of longing, regret, beauty, survival, and the lives we enter for just a little while.

JULY

Smoke

Explore the issue

Read Editor's Light

Enter the Smoke

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Current Issue

Hello, friends.

Our newest issue has arrived, and this one feels deeply, unmistakably human.

These stories span centuries, countries, and circumstances, but each one invites us into someone else’s life for a little while. They ask us to sit with longing, regret, tenderness, shame, beauty, survival, and the strange ways people keep moving through the world.

Inside this issue, you’ll find an enslaved woman caring for her owner’s daughter while longing for her own. A former Nazi wrestling with regret while once again taking up arms. A woman watching another mother move through the world with an ease she herself does not know. A beautiful woman unexpectedly drawn into conversation with the ugliest man she has ever met.

And that’s only the beginning.

We’re grateful to every writer and artist who trusted us with their work. Their pieces remind us why we built Neon & Smoke in the first place: to make room for stories that linger, unsettle, surprise, and burn a little after the page goes dark.

We’re also proud to share that Women Who Burn, our first anthology, is available in print through Amazon. This collection means a great deal to us, and we’re thankful to every contributor who helped bring it to life.

As always, thank you for reading, submitting, sharing, and helping us build the kind of literary community we dreamed Neon & Smoke could become.

Half genre / Always lit 🔥

T & J

Where the Glow Meets the Haze

What
We
Want

Flash Fiction

Voice-driven stories with narrative stakes, emotional pressure, and language that leaves a mark.

Poetry

Poems with heat, texture, and aftertaste. Formal or experimental, but never inert.

Digital Art

Curated visual work that deepens the issue theme and adds another pulse to the publication.

Editor's Light

Because We All Have A Story

June holds both Pride Month and Juneteenth—vibrant celebrations of identity, community, and history. While unique, both share the vital journey of reclaiming marginalized stories. At Editor's Light, we are here for all the colors of this amazing tapestry, and we're excited to read your tales from every corner of the galaxy. Plus, we tackle the ultimate writer's question: How do I get published?

Jun 2

On First Lines (What I’ve Been Learning About Them Lately)

First lines won’t tell you everything, but they reveal more than you think. Voice, tension, intent, energy. The best stories arrive already alive, carrying a quiet charge from the start. At Neon & Smoke, we’re drawn to that pulse, that hint of promise in the opening line that says something real is about to unfold.

Apr 22

What We Mean By “Half Genre / Always Lit”

At Neon & Smoke , we publish work that is half genre, always lit . Writers ask us what that means. I suppose it’s a reflection of how we see the world: most people, in real life, are hybrids. We are soft and hard. Tender and sharp. Holy and unholy. Poetry one minute and curse words the next. Horny but ashamed. We want connection and we want distance. We want safety and we flirt with danger. We are brave and terrified, loving and cruel, often in the same breath. Human being

Mar 9

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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