Unlikely Stories Six is the latest incarnation of the electronic magazine, Unlikely Stories, which has been published on the Web, more-or-less continually, since 1998. This incarnation premiered in May, 2025.

They are almost always open (if closed temporarily will post a note on their submissions page). They publish poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction, including firsthand accounts of sociopolitical activism, galleries of visual art, music, spoken word, other forms of aural art, audiovisual presentations, and criticism of all these art forms. For more information, see my interview with editor Jonathan Penton with a link to submission guidelines below.

Join Unlikely Books at the 2026 AWP Conference in Baltimore in March!

And get ready for the New Orleans Poetry Festival in April!

HOPKINSON: Tell me a little bit about Unlikely Stories Six. 

PENTON: Unlikely Stories Six is an electronic journal of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, visual art, movies, music, criticism, and anything else we can figure out how to publish. We are exploring the unpredictable. We like to be shocked and shocking, but have long since stopped being shocked by the merely offensive. We have a sociopolitical bent, but we know that “art for art’s sake” is a valid sociopolitical statement. We reject all past and present sociopolitical realities, because they suck.

HOPKINSON: How/why was Unlikely Stories Six originally started? 

PENTON: The magazine was started under the name Unlikely Stories July 1, 1998. I started it at the age of 23, because at that time, there were no literary websites that represented anything close to my vision or aesthetic. I’m happy that has changed since, and glad for all the friendly competition. Don’t worry–there’s still plenty of room for Unlikely Stories to carve out its own artistic reality.

HOPKINSON: Who is your target reader audience? 

PENTON: The disaffected. The discontented. Those who still seek the counterculture. Those who can’t find hope in anything but the arts, and aren’t so sure about the arts. Those who don’t know against whom to wage war and aren’t sure how to wage peace.

The content is for adults and rarely comes with a content warning. Occasionally I’m approached by a teenager who tells me how much they love the site, and I’m forced to wonder if everything’s OK in their home.

HOPKINSON: What type of work are you looking for in submissions? 

PENTON: We are activist (specifically antifascist) and transgressive. We allow for broad interpretations of those concepts. We reckon that form and content might or might not be synonymous, but we are interested in experimental approaches to both. We believe that art and politics are synonymous, which is not to say that work should or need be overtly political–imagination is a political act. We are more interested in questions than answers.

HOPKINSON: What do you wish you’d see submitted, but rarely comes in? 

PENTON: We need more visual and movie submissions! Anything unique and unexpected. Some folks reckon “transgressive” means young women in sexualized poses. We think it means the opposite of that.

HOPKINSON: What are some of your favorite lit mags/journals?

PENTON: E·ratio Postmodern Poetry and Rat’s Ass Review come to mind most immediately. I often browse the WTF category at Chill Subs.

HOPKINSON: What is your favorite part of being on staff with the Unlikely Stories Six?

PENTON: Connecting with unique minds and original thinkers. I absolutely love the opportunity to, as an editor, subsume my ego into the ideas of another, and allow them to realize their vision, hopefully without inserting my own.

HOPKINSON: Where can we send submissions? 

PENTON: Through email. See https://www.unlikelystories.org/mission for relevant addresses.

HOPKINSON: If someone has a question, how can they contact you? 

PENTON: Email at jonathan@unlikelystories.org

HOPKINSON: Is there anything exciting coming up you’d like to mention? 

PENTON: We’ve got big plans for the AWP Conference in Baltimore detailed at https://unlikelystories.org/unlikely-times-at-awp26 . We’ll also be participating in the New Orleans Poetry Festival in April.

Click here to read submission guidelines.

• SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Always Open (almost)
  • If we temporarily close, we post it at the top of our submission guidelines.
• FORMAT: online
• SUBMISSION FEE: None 
• PAYMENT: None
• ISSUE FREQUENCY: Typically publish a single artist 4-6 days a week
• AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: 8 weeks
• SUBMISSION METHOD: Email
• SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Yes
• FORMS: Anything we can figure out how to put on the web. I’m pretty skilled in this regard and can put all kinds of things on the web. I can’t guarantee it’ll look good on a phone!
• LISTINGS: Chill Subs, Duotrope
• SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, YouTube

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