Come one, come all! For Bat City Review’s upcoming issue, our theme is Bread & Circuses. We’re looking for work that entertains, that gives us something to chew on, that makes us hungry for more. 

Coined by the first-century poet Juvenal to describe the pacification of the Roman populace, panem et circenses has re-emerged as a contemporary diagnosis of our times. We want prose, poetry, and art about extravagance and empire, consumption and distraction, pleasure and pageantry. Give us the surreal, the real, the superficial. What are we being fed, and who gets to decide? What do we need and what are we given instead?

Bring us the feast. Bring us the spectacle. Bring us what’s hiding underneath.

Note: This theme a prompt and not a prescription. If your work has another appetite, we’d still love to see it!

 Do not include any identifying information on your submission.  Please number your pages, and include a word count at the top of the first page.  Limit 6,000 words.  Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know immediately if a piece is accepted elsewhere.  Submit only once per genre per reading period.  Students and faculty at the University of Texas at Austin cannot submit. If we have published your work, please wait a full issue cycle before submitting again (2 years).  If you have additional questions, please contact our fiction editor at fiction@batcityreview.com. We look forward to reading your work!