March 24, 2008 | Million Writers Award
"The purpose of the Million Writers Award is to honor and promote the best fiction published in online literary journals and magazines during 2007."
Toasted Cheese's nominations for the storySouth 2008 Million Writers Award for Fiction are:
"The Path to Mental Health" by Brandy Langenwalter
"Jumping the Tracks" by Margo McCall
"The Year Michael Got His Own Page in the Yearbook" by Nick Seagers
Congratulations and good luck with the competition!
Posted by The Editors at 02:56 PM in Literary Journal
March 01, 2008 | March issue of Toasted Cheese
TC 8:1 features flash fiction by Charles D. Phillips, Wayne Scheer, Janice D. Soderling & Meg Pokrass; fiction by Karen Carlson, Jessica Smartt Gullion, Howard Waldman & Sarah Yost and creative non-fiction by Arwen Dewey & Erin M. Pushman.
Also look for Dead of Winter Writing Contest winning stories by Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Robert T. Knight, Fay Bouman & Tara McDaniel.
This issue's Best of the Boards winner is Steve Krause.
Congratulations to everyone. Happy reading!
Posted by The Editors at 09:53 PM in Literary Journal
January 08, 2008 | Submissions
Just a reminder for those submitting to the literary journal: we never open attachments. Please include your submission in the body of your email, as per the submission guidelines.
Also, if you are re-submitting after receiving a notification, please do not send your new submission to the editor who sent you the notification. All submissions must be sent to submit -at- toasted-cheese -dot- com. This ensures that all the editors receive your submissions.
Finally, please make sure that your subject line includes the word Submission, along with the genre of your submission. We receive hundreds of spam messages each day and this allows us to easily sort the real submissions from the spam.
Thank you.
Posted by The Editors at 01:57 PM in Literary Journal
December 01, 2007 | December issue of Toasted Cheese
TC 7:4 features poetry by Linda King, Candy Shue & Liz Dolan; flash fiction by Aubrey Rose Murrin; fiction by Heather MacPherson, Mike Malloy, Rich Seeber, Brandi Wells & Devin P. Bates and creative non-fiction by Kim Morris & Francine Marie Tolf.
Also look for Three Cheers and a Tiger Writing Contest winning stories by Liz Mierzejewski, Jessica Colomb & Laura Magalas.
This issue's "Best of the Boards" winner is Jennifer Justice.
Congratulations to everyone. Happy reading!
Posted by The Editors at 12:43 PM in Literary Journal
November 01, 2007 | 2007 Dead of Winter Writing Contest Now Open!
The 7th Annual Dead of Winter Writing Contest is now open.
Dead of Winter is a fiction contest (any genre) for stories with supernatural elements or themes. This year's theme is: Urban Legend.
Deadline for entries is December 21, 2007.
Posted by The Editors at 12:45 AM in Literary Journal
October 04, 2007 | Submission Tips
Send your submissions to our submissions address (submit -at- toasted-cheese -dot- com). Submissions sent to other addresses (at least the ones that we catch!) will be asked to re-submit to the correct address.
Put the word submission (not submit) in your subject line followed by the genre of your submission (fiction, flash, cnf, poetry). Avoid putting anything else in your subject line (e.g. the title of your submission) because that increases the likelihood that your submission will be caught by a spam filter.
We look forward to reading your work!
Posted by The Editors at 04:15 PM in Literary Journal
September 11, 2007 | "Best of the Web" Nominations
Beginning in 2008, Dzanc Books will publish a Best of the Web anthology each spring. "This print anthology will be the first serious attempt to represent in book form the best literary writing online magazines have to offer."
Toasted Cheese's nominations for the Best of the Web 2007 anthology (for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry published in 2007) are:
"Thirty-two Suns" by Rebecca Nazar.
"Pas de Deux" by Claire Rudy Foster.
"This Teacher Talks Too Damn Fast" by Megan Stielstra.
Posted by The Editors at 02:20 PM in Literary Journal
September 02, 2007 | The September issue of TC is here!
TC 7:3 features poetry by Kristine Ong Muslim & C.C. Thomas; fiction by Brandy Langenwalter, Margo McCall, Michael G. McLaughlin, Matthew Purdy & Farha Hasan; and creative non-fiction by Lindsay Tang.
Also look for A Midsummer Tale Writing Contest winning stories by Dena Riggs Hein, Mary Wuerth & Jinevrah Aljín.
This issue's "Best of the Boards" winner is Liz Mierzejewski.
Congratulations to everyone. Happy reading!
Posted by The Editors at 12:32 AM in Literary Journal
August 02, 2007 | Best of the Net Nominations
The Best of the Net Anthology, published by Sundress Publications, "strives to promote the diverse and growing collection of voices that are choosing to publish their work online, a venue that still sees little respect from such yearly anthologies as the Pushcart and "Best American" series. This collection will hopefully help to bring more respect to this innovative and continually expanding medium."
TC's nominations for the 2007 Best of the Net Anthology (for poetry and fiction published online between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007) are:
Posted by The Editors at 03:52 PM in Literary Journal
June 01, 2007 | Toasted Cheese 7:2 is now online.
TC 7:2 features poetry by David Michael Wolach, Teresa McLamb Blackmon & J.R. Salling; flash fiction by Claire Rudy Foster & Danielle Vermette; fiction by Nick Seagers & Michele M. Feeney; and creative non-fiction by Megan Stielstra & Jacoba Mendelkow.
Also look for Three Cheers and a Tiger Writing Contest winning stories by Jennifer Ruddock, Laura Magalas & Christopher Glenman.
This issue's "Best of the Boards" winner is Alan Walkington.
Congratulations to everyone. Happy reading!
Posted by The Editors at 03:41 PM in Literary Journal
May 09, 2007 | Congratulations to Gina Sakalarios-Rogers
Gina's story, "Pillaged," has been selected as one of the Notable Stories of 2006 in the Million Writers Award competition. Congratulations!
The top ten stories will be announced May 23, 2007. Voting on the top story of the year will begin May 23, 2007, and will end June 23, 2007.
Check out the rest of the notable stories here.
Posted by The Editors at 10:15 PM in Literary Journal
April 07, 2007 | Million Writers Award Nominations
Toasted Cheese's nominations for the 2007 storySouth Million Writers Award are:
"Desert Creatures" by Anna Evans
"Pillaged" by Gina Sakalarios-Rogers
"Roller Coaster" by Terri Moran
The Million Writers Award honors and promotes the best fiction published in online literary journals and magazines. Last year, TC was delighted to have "Cravings" by Trish O'Brien-Edwards, published in Toasted Cheese 5:3, selected as one of the Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2005.
Readers can nominate their favorite stories too! Anyone can nominate one story. You have until April 15 to make a nomination.
Best of luck to all the nominees and thank you for contributing to Toasted Cheese.
Posted by The Editors at 01:07 PM in Literary Journal
March 30, 2007 | Tips for Email Submissions
TC responds to submissions in a timely fashion. If you do not receive notification of your submission's status as outlined in our submission guidelines, then either (a) we never received your submission or (b) our response was eaten by your spam filter.
Here are some tips to ensure you receive responses to your submissions:
1. Get a web account to use solely for your submissions. If you're not using it for anything else, you shouldn't get too much spam, therefore it's less likely that you'll miss out on real mail that ends up in your spam/junk folder.
2. Avoid using AOL (AOL blocks a lot of stuff as spam that isn't). Avoid using a work account (work email systems generally have serious spam filters that you have no control over).
3. Set up filters/message rules in your email to flag messages based on keywords (like SUBMISSION) that you use in the subject lines of your submissions.
4. Check your junk/spam folders on a regular basis.
5. For submissions to TC, add beaver at toasted-cheese dot com (substituting @ for at and . for dot, of course) to your address book/safe list.
6. If you think you should have received a response and haven't, you can always post at the forums and ask. Damage from Hail is open for non-members to post.
Finally, if the issue you submitted for has gone up and your work is not in it, then you can assume your submission has been rejected. We don't hold over submissions.
* March issue: selected from submissions received October 1 – December 31
* June issue: selected from submissions received January 1 - March 31
* September issue: selected from submissions received April 1 - June 30
* December issue: selected from submissions received July 1 - September 30
Posted by The Editors at 01:27 PM in Literary Journal
March 19, 2007 | Submissions March 14 - 18
Due to an issue with an overzealous spam filter, we did not receive much mail between the afternoon of March 14th and the morning of March 18th. If you submitted during this time period, please resend your submission.
Posted by The Editors at 12:14 AM in Literary Journal
March 01, 2007 | Toasted Cheese 7:1
Toasted Cheese 7:1 is now online.
TC 7:1 features poetry by Lyndsey Aho, flash fiction by Rebecca Nazar, fiction by Margot Miller & Charity Tran and creative non-fiction by Linda C. Wisniewski.
Also look for Dead of Winter Writing Contest winning stories by Lark Lucente, Kristi Petersen & Laura Magalas.
This issue's "Best of the Boards" winner is Emma Steinfeld.
Congratulations to all and happy reading! As always, we encourage you to let the authors know if you enjoy their work--you'll make their day!
Posted by The Editors at 10:06 PM in Literary Journal
December 01, 2006 | Pushcart Prize Nominees
Toasted Cheese's nominations for the Pushcart Prize are:
Best of luck to all the nominees.
Posted by The Editors at 10:37 PM in Literary Journal
The December issue of Toasted Cheese is here!
Toasted Cheese 6:4 is now online.
Thank you to all who submitted and congratulations to this issue's authors.
As always, we encourage you to contact authors of work you enjoy and let them know--you'll make their day!
Reminder! Our deadlines have changed. The deadline for submissions for the March 2007 issue of Toasted Cheese is December 31, 2006. Submissions received in January will be considered for the June issue.
Posted by The Editors at 10:28 PM in Literary Journal
TC 6:4 features poetry by Diane Tucker, flash fiction by H. Lovelyn Bettison, fiction by D.R. Bertholdt, Robert Ewing & Terri Moran and creative non-fiction by Angela Marie Graziano.
Also look for Three Cheers and a Tiger Writing Contest winning stories by Liz Mierzejewski, Cynthia Wilfert & Behr Valentine.
This issue's "Best of the Boards" winner is Alan Walkington.
Congratulations to all and happy reading!
Posted by The Editors at 08:07 PM in Literary Journal
September 22, 2006 | Change to Submission Periods
Starting with Toasted Cheese 7:1 (March 2007), submission periods will close one month earlier than they do at present, i.e. two months prior to the publication date. This change will allow us to read submissions one month earlier and give us some much-needed extra time to set up each issue.
The switch will be effective November 1, 2006. Submissions received to October 31, 2006 will be eligible for TC 6:4 (December 2006); submissions received from November 1 to December 31, 2006* will be eligible for TC 7:1 (March 2007).
We will continue to short-list at the end of each month. Final notifications will be sent one month prior to publication. Full details here.
(*The shortened submission period will be for this one issue only, as we make the transition.)
Posted by The Editors at 02:10 PM in Literary Journal
September 01, 2006 | The September issue of TC is up!
Toasted Cheese 6:3 is now online.
Thank you to all who submitted and congratulations to this issue's authors.
As always, we encourage you to contact authors of work you enjoy and let them know--you'll make their day!
Once again, a reminder that all regular submissions published this year are eligible for nomination for the Pushcart Prize. We will also be nominating for the storySouth Million Writers Award again in 2007.
Posted by The Editors at 11:59 AM in Literary Journal
August 01, 2006 | A Midsummer Tale Contest Winners
Toasted Cheese is pleased to announce the winners of the 2006 A Midsummer Tale Writing Contest:
1st: Debby Katz, "Dreams from the Dust Bowl"
2nd: Sheela Jaywant, "Annual Ritual; then Alone Again"
3rd: David Scott, "Theorem"
Thanks to all who entered. You can read the winning stories in the September issue of Toasted Cheese.
The 2007 A Midsummer Tale Writing Contest opens May 1, 2007. Toasted Cheese's next contest is Three Cheers and a Tiger in September. Details on all our contests can be found here. Submissions to TC are welcome year-round.
Posted by The Editors at 12:37 AM in Literary Journal
June 01, 2006 | New Issue of Toasted Cheese!
Toasted Cheese 6:2 is now online.
Thank you to all who submitted and congratulations to this issue's authors. A reminder that all regular submissions published this year are eligible for nomination for the Pushcart Prize. We will also be nominating for the StorySouth Million Writers Award again in 2007.
As always, if you particularly enjoy a piece of writing, we encourage you to take the time to tell the author.
Posted by The Editors at 11:59 PM in Literary Journal
April 02, 2006 | Million Writers Award Top Ten Stories of 2005
The Million Writers Award top ten online short stories of 2005 have now been selected and voting on the top story of the year has begun. Voting will run through the end of the day on April 30, 2006.
Posted by The Editors at 01:26 PM in Literary Journal
March 14, 2006 | Congratulations to Trish O'Brien-Edwards
Trish's story "Cravings" has been selected as one of the Notable Short Stories of 2005 in the Million Writers Award competition.
Congratulations, Trish!
"The top ten stories of the year will be released on April 1, with the public vote for the top story also beginning then."
Posted by The Editors at 09:27 PM in Literary Journal
March 01, 2006 | March issue of Toasted Cheese
Issue 6:1 (wow!) of Toasted Cheese is online.
Congratulations to this issue's authors. Once again, we really appreciate the thank you notes. Thank you! (Check out our new kudos page.)
This year, for the first time, Toasted Cheese will be nominating for the Pushcart Prize. Only nine months to wait until nominations are announced ;-) Stay tuned.
Readers: If you like a story or poem, don't forget to let the author know!
Posted by The Editors at 11:59 PM in Literary Journal
February 20, 2006 | 2006 Million Writers Award for Fiction
Nominations for the storySouth 2006 Million Writers Award for Fiction are being accepted until March 1.
"The purpose of the Million Writers Award is to honor and promote the best fiction published in online literary journals and magazines during 2005." Stories must be at least 1000 words to be eligible.
Readers may each nominate one story (Rules). Vote for your favorite story here.
Toasted Cheese's editor nominations are:
"Musee Mecanique" by Terri Brown-Davidson
"Refuge" by Anna Evans
"Cravings" by Trish O'Brien-Edwards
Posted by The Editors at 04:37 PM in Literary Journal
January 18, 2006 | No Autoreply?
If you've submitted to the literary journal and haven't received an autoreply, don't panic!
It is extremely rare for us to have not received a submission. 99% of the time, the autoreply has been caught by your spam filter. (To avoid this happening, add submit [at] toasted-cheese.com to your safelist before submitting.)
We might not have received your submission if a) you sent to the wrong address or b) your subject line has a typo in it (e.g. submisssion). If you are sure that neither of these things apply to you, then there is no need to resend your submission.
We know it's tempting, but please try to hold off inquiring as to whether we've received your submission. It defeats the purpose of having an autoreply when we have to answer numerous "I didn't get an autoreply. Did you get my submission?" inquiries.
If we have received your submission, you will hear from us within approximately one month (when we short-list). If you have not heard from us by the 15th of the month following when you submitted, then you can assume we didn't receive your submission and you are welcome to resend it.
Posted by The Editors at 05:20 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
December 02, 2005 | Reminder / Request
For all writers who are re-submitting after receiving a notification letter:
Please send your new submission to submit at toasted-cheese.com -- just as you did for your first submission.
In other words, don't just hit "reply" on the notification letter you received. If you do that, only the editor who sent out the letters will get your new submission. Remember, we edit as a collective; all the editors need to see your submission, not just the one who handled the correspondence.
Thank you!
Posted by The Editors at 11:48 AM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
December 01, 2005 | December issue of TC!
The December issue of Toasted Cheese is now online.
Thank you to all who submitted; we enjoyed reading your submissions. Special thanks to all of you who sent thank you notes--we really appreciate those.
Remember, writers live for compliments. If you particularly enjoy a story or poem, please take a moment to tell the writer. It's the best present you can give a writer, and it's absolutely free!
A big thank you from us to all of our readers and writers for your support this year. Happy holidays!
Posted by The Editors at 06:03 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
September 01, 2005 | September issue of Toasted Cheese
Issue 5:3 of Toasted Cheese is now online.
Please do take a moment to pass on your appreciation to the writers when you read something you like. They'll love you for it!
Posted by The Editors at 06:21 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
June 01, 2005 | June Issue of Toasted Cheese
The June issue of Toasted Cheese is now online.
Special thanks to everyone who sent us an acknowledgment in response to the notification letters. We really appreciate it!
Congratulations to all the writers who appear in this issue and happy reading!
Posted by The Editors at 08:56 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
March 10, 2005 | Submissions Update
Starting with the current submission period, we've instituted a "rounds" system of vetting submissions.
Each month, two of the editors will look over the subs that have come in. At the end of this preliminary round, we'll send out notifications to all who have submitted during that month. The notification will tell you one of three things:
Final decisions will be sent out as per usual during the week prior to the new issue going up.
We've instituted this new system to reduce our workload during our reading periods, but we hope that writers will find the earlier notifications of benefit as well. The first round of preliminary notifications went out last week.
Speaking of which... one writer withdrew a submission after receiving his preliminary notification because the story had been accepted elsewhere. He asked if he would be penalized for doing so, noting that he submitted prior to our change in policy re simultaneous submissions. The answer is no. Only submissions from March 1st onward are subject to the new policy.
Posted by The Editors at 03:22 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
March 01, 2005 | Simultaneous Submissions - Policy Change
Toasted Cheese has changed its policy with respect to simultaneous submissions.
As of March 1st, 2005, TC no longer accepts simultaneous submissions.
For more about the reasons behind this change, read Beaver's editorial.
Posted by The Editors at 08:23 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
The March issue of Toasted Cheese is now online, featuring some new and some returning authors.
If you particularly enjoy a story or poem, please take a moment to tell the author either via email or at the forums. Thank you!
Posted by The Editors at 08:18 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
January 13, 2005 | TC Welcomes New Editors
We are pleased to announce that long time forum hosts Ana George, Rhia Perkins (KittleKatt), and Steve Simpson (Macfisto) have joined the literary journal editorial staff. They will join the existing editors in reviewing submissions starting with TC 5:1.
Posted by The Editors at 01:30 AM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
December 08, 2004 | Note for AOL users
If you submit from an AOL email address, you might not receive a confirmation email from us. AOL is currently bouncing emails from Toasted Cheese.
We have no problem receiving emails from AOL addresses.
Be aware that when the time comes to notify you of your submission's status, we may need to send your notification to you from an alternate address (i.e. not a toasted-cheese.com address), to ensure you receive it.
Posted by The Editors at 02:44 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
December 01, 2004 | TC Issue 4:4
The December issue of Toasted Cheese is now up for your reading pleasure. Congratulations to all the authors, and thanks to all who submitted. We are now taking submissions for the March 2005 issue.
If you particularly enjoy reading a story or poem, e-mail the author or post at the forums and let them know. It'll only take a moment, and it'll be the best present they receive this year, guaranteed!
Posted by The Editors at 03:39 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
September 01, 2004 | September Ezine
The September issue of Toasted Cheese is up and it's a big one. Congratulations to this issue's authors, and our thanks to all who submitted.
If you enjoy reading something in this issue, please take a moment and leave a comment for the author. Thanks!
Posted by The Editors at 02:21 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
August 01, 2004 | A Midsummer Tale Contest Winners
The winners of the 2004 A Midsummer Tale Contest are:
1st – Every Single Thing Matters by Loretta Mestishen
2nd – On: Frozen Foods, Fresh Produce and Young Love by Katherine Vondy
3rd – R.A. by Richard C. Harrison
Honorable Mentions go to Sandra Coker for Roadhouse Soda and Laurie Seidler for The Change.
Congratulations to all of you. Look for the winning stories in the September issue of Toasted Cheese.
Posted by The Editors at 02:58 AM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
Toasted Cheese Literary Journal has been assigned International Standard Serial Number 1551-4064.
Posted by The Editors at 03:11 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (1)
Best of the Boards winners are published in the Literary Journal.
If you'd like to participate in Best of the Boards, read the rules, then be sure to check out the new exercise at A Pen in Each Hand.
When you're done, don't forget to post your work at the forums!
Posted by The Editors at 03:01 PM in Community , Literary Journal | Comments (0)
Just a note to acknowledge all the writers who sent thank yous when they found out they'd be published in the latest issue of Toasted Cheese. Thanks for taking the time to write; we appreciate it!
Posted by The Editors at 06:45 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)
June 01, 2004 | June issue of Toasted Cheese
Whew! The June issue of Toasted Cheese is now online. Many thanks to all who submitted; you made our selection process a challenge this time. Beaver is off to take a nap now...
Posted by The Editors at 04:01 PM in Literary Journal | Comments (0)