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Alternating Current Press

is an indie press dedicated to publishing and promoting incredible literature that challenges readers and has an innate sense of self, timelessness, and atmosphere. We love science, history, homebound roots, rural landscapes, sense of place, poetic literary fiction, diverse voices, and all that is electric in the literary world.

Our latest release

Him or Her or Whatever:
Poems by Tyler Friend

Him or Her or Whatever is ultimately a collection of love poems — it’s just that the poems sometimes don’t want to be seen as love poems because, after all, that might be embarrassing. The pieces are interested in the whatever-ness of gender and genre, body and self, in whatever this categorizes and how it relates to and explores the whatever-ness of others. The poems are fierce and vulnerable and extremely shy, with many competing ideas: the book is, after all, written by a Gemini.

New Releases

Calls for submissions to upcoming anthologies

Where to Hang the Hat:
Storytellers on Sondheim

We’ve lost a titan. So now we write. Submissions are open for a tribute in words to the late, great Stephen Sondheim. Tell us about your Sondheim heart.

Bottomland:
Essays on Being LGBTQ+ in the Deep South

We are seeking creative nonfiction and personal essays on the experience of being LGBTQ+ in the Deep South.

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News & Updates

  • DEC 12, ACQUISITION: We’re excited to announce the acquisition of Ashley Elizabeth’s BLACK HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY, a collection of poetry that explores the historical and modern-day societal conditions of being Black in the United States, joining our Little Pigeon series in August 2023. Join our email list to stay informed.
  • DEC 10, ACQUISITION: We’re excited to welcome Dayton J. Shafer’s HOMESLICE, a collection of ethnographic monologues that investigates & deconstructs 90s/turn-of-the-millennium American identity with themes of privilege, cognitive dissonance, masculinity, communal trauma, & fallen idols, for an August 2023 publication in our Little Pigeon series. Join our email list to stay informed.
  • DEC 10, SUBMISSIONS OPEN: Free submissions are open for FOOTNOTE #9 throughout the rest of December. Please note that if you already have an unanswered FOOTNOTE submission in the queue, we are still reading through those submissions for issue #8, and all of the submissions will be answered by the end of the year. SUBMIT HERE.
  • DEC 10, ACQUISITION: We’re delighted to announce the acquisition of Barbara Sabol’s WATERMARK: POEMS OF THE GREAT JOHNSTOWN FLOOD OF 1889, a collection of poetry inspired by firsthand accounts and research of death records from the infamous disaster. The full-length collection will be an October 2023 release. Join our email list to stay informed.
  • DEC 10, ACQUISITION: We’re thrilled to announce the acquisition of Bryce Emley’s TERMINATING PHYSICS: [a reference guide], a collection of prose poems using mathematical concepts as frameworks for questioning the validity of memory and examining the grief brought on by a car crash that killed the author’s best friend. The chapbook will be joining our Little Pigeon series at Alternating Current for a December 2023 release. Join our email list to stay informed.
  • DEC 2, ACQUISITION: We’re delighted to welcome Andrew Farkas to our Alternating Current family with the acquisition of ARE YOU NOW, OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN?, a collection of short stories about identity that includes a reprint of Andy’s out-of-print collection Self-Titled Debut, plus added material, with a new introduction by the author. We’re thrilled to be bringing this fantastic story collection back into print, to share with a whole new audience.
  • DEC 1, BEST MICROFICTION: We’re thrilled to announce our press nominations for the Best Microfiction series: “Simon” by Naz Knudsen; “Each Droplet of Blood” by K. C. Mead-Brewer; “Crown Shyness” by Stephanie King; “step•moth•er (step-muth-er)” by Melanie Figg; “Insomnia” by Jo Saleska Lange; and “Knocking” by Tommy Dean. Congrats!
  • DEC 1, PUSHCART PRIZE: We’re thrilled to announce our press nominations for the Pushcart Prize: “Eden” by Jami Nakamura Lin; “Landfall” by Jiksun Cheung; “Davening” by Leonard Kress; “Lessons I Will Teach My Son” by Kendra Fortmeyer; “Naming the Darkness” by Tommy Dean; and “Poem for the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, Christmas Eve” by Tyler Friend. Congrats!
  • DEC 1, PUSHCART PRIZE: The Coil online magazine is thrilled to announce its nominations for the Pushcart Prize: “I Shot Tom Gardener?” by Jonah Marlow Bradenday; “When Alzheimer’s, Not Satisfied with Its Current Host, Went After My Memories, as Well” by Josh Denslow; “The Ballad of Nothing” by David Drury; “Dead Dad Letter Office” by Lee Anne Gallaway-Mitchell; “Brace for Impact” by Brian Kerg; and “Observations of Trans-Neptunian Objects” by Gabriel da Silva-Schicchi. Congrats!
  • NOV 30, ACQUISITION: We’re so excited to announce the acquisition of Brett Biebel’s collection of linked flash fiction surrounding Buddy Holly’s Iowa airplane crash site and the obsessed inhabitants of the town, WINTER DANCE PARTY, for a July 2023 release from Alternating Current Press. The book details the folks who will do anything to stop the commercialization of a big empty piece of Americana history, those desperate for the influx of tourist dollars the development will bring, and those who couldn’t care less. It’s the fragmented story of disaster and fallout, filled with that American determination to profit off them both. Preorders will open in late January.
  • JUN 29, ACQUISITION: We’re thrilled to announce the acquisition of Robin Gow’s fantastic poetry collection, A MUSEUM FOR THAT WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS, which explores the history of one of the first institutes affirming trans and queer people—a Berlin institute burned during World War II—and reimagines a museum where these artifacts and people are kept safe from destruction. The collection will be joining our Little Pigeon chapbook series, so stay tuned here for updates!
  • JUN 15, LUMINAIRE PROSE: 2022 Luminaire Prose Winners announced! 1st Place: “CMYK” by Kenton Smalley; 2nd Place: “Brace for Impact” by Brian Kerg; 3rd Place: “Observations of Trans-Neptunian Objects” by Gabriel da Silva-Schicchi; 4th Place: “In Limbo” by Melissa Mark; 5th Place: “Dreams Where My Father Kills Me” by Meghan E. O’Toole; Finalists: Jonah Marlow Bradenday, David Drury, Haley Papa, Michael Sasso, Adrien Kade Sdao, David Somerville. Stay tuned to The Coil to read these great stories!

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