Halloween

13th Floor Magazine: The Meaning of Our Name

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By: Madison Larimore

October is special. Fall has settled in, the leaves are turning, Halloween is fast approaching, and another Friday the 13th is behind us. This time of year like no other marks change, transition, tradition, and superstition, and this October, we are thinking about our origins.

13th Floor Magazine was born in 2013. The original members, all graduated now, were searching for a unique, evocative name to call their new publication. One of the members lived on the thirteenth floor of an apartment building in downtown Omaha. 13th Floor Magazine had a nice ring to it, and though it was important that the publication name was catchy, it was more important for it to be meaningful.

The number thirteen has a bad reputation, scaring people so much with the threat of bad luck that most thirteenth floors are skipped altogether. But it can also be thought of as a number associated with things that are strange, misunderstood, weird, quirky, or unexpected. We strive to make our magazine just that—an outlet where students can be honest, creative, and best of all, where they can defy expectations.

This magazine doesn’t skip floors. We do not exclude. We embrace and we celebrate.

Share your unique voice with us by our next publication deadline: Halloween.

Submission Deadline is Today: Submit by Midnight!

Happy Halloween from 13th Floor Magazine! Before you go to your friend’s costume party or take your little cousin trick-or-treating, make sure you send in your polished, professional submissions to us by midnight. As always, we’re accepting all kinds of stuff: fiction, non-fiction, painting, photography, poetry, sculpture, comics, personal essay, pottery…if it’s something you’re passionate about, have been working on for a long time, or you’re looking to gain publication experience, then don’t miss this opportunity. We’re always looking to feature new writers and artists, so don’t be shy if you’ve never submitted before. Be sure to check out our Meet the Staff page as well. Most of us are likely to be in classes with you, so if you ever have questions about the submission process or about 13th Floor Magazine in general, feel free to ask us. To refresh yourself with the submission guidelines if you’ve not yet done so, please see below.

We hope all of you have been able to create some new, original work for this next issue, and we cannot wait to begin the selection process. Thank you to everyone who has sent in your work already. We know it takes extra time to prepare something for us, but there would be no “us” without you, the UNO writers and artists.

Submission Guidelines

All files should be in .doc, .docx, or .rtx formats
Do not put your name in the document. Do not put your name in the filename. Please use only the title of your work in the filename. This is very important to us as we want to maintain a fair and unbiased selection process for each of our submissions.
In the body of your e-mail, please include a brief biography. You can write whatever you’d like, but feel free visit our Meet the Staff page if you need some ideas. If your submission is chosen for publication, your biography will be included in the magazine as well. Remember, the biography needs to be in the body of your e-mail, NOT your submitted work.
For visual art, sent us pictures of your artwork. If there is any special information about the art, like the medium, influences, etc., feel free to include that as well.
All prose and poetry should be double spaced and in standard fonts Times New Roman or Arial.
Be sure to thoroughly edit your work for spelling and grammar errors so you can represent your best work possible. If you need editing assistance, don’t hesitate to use campus services like the Writing Center.
If you would like more tips on professionally formatting your document, please read Formatting 101 by Marlys Pearson.

E-mail Submission

Once you have professionally prepared your submission, e-mail it to 13thfloormagazine@gmail.com Remember, include your biography in your e-mail!

If You Are an Educator

Please encourage your students to submit their best work. It’s a great way to get experience submitting professionally, and may result in publishing credits! Your help is crucial to making our campus magazine a success!

Don’t be Spooked – Submission Deadline in One Week!

Hey UNO writers and artists, Halloween is only a week away! While this means that there’s an upcoming night filled with candy, costumes, and everything pumpkin, more importantly, Halloween is the submission deadline for 13th Floor Magazine’s next issue. That’s Friday, October 31st. If you haven’t sent us your work yet, don’t be scared; a week is plenty of time to refine something you’d like us to showcase. Send us your best, creative, original work of fiction, non-fiction, photography, poetry, sculpture, comics, paintings, personal essay, etc. For those of you who haven’t submitted anything to us in the past and are apprehensive about a selection process, think of it like going into a haunted house. You know it’s going to be frightening, and sure, there’s always a clown lurking somewhere with a chainsaw, but that’s half the fun, right? Submitting your work for others to judge can often feel the same way; it’s nerve-wracking, but you have to get through the house and prove to yourself you can get past the clown, no matter how freaked out you might be. We encourage all of our resident writers and artists to polish up their favorite works and get them to us soon. Every submission we get is another treat added to our metaphorical Jack-O-Lantern basket, so keep ’em coming!

On a note of holiday spirit, here’s a link to the origin story of how Halloween came to be. Did you know that this ancient holiday is of Celtic origin? This short read could also get your creative juices flowing if you’re still trying to create something to submit. To read about the interesting origin of Halloween, click here.

Submission Guidelines

All files should be in .doc, .docx, or .rtx formats
Do not put your name in the document. Do not put your name in the filename. Please use only the title of your work in the filename. This is very important to us as we want to maintain a fair and unbiased selection process for each of our submissions.
In the body of your e-mail, please include a brief biography. You can write whatever you’d like, but feel free visit our Meet the Staff page if you need some ideas. If your submission is chosen for publication, your biography will be included in the magazine as well. Remember, the biography needs to be in the body of your e-mail, NOT your submitted work.
For visual art, sent us pictures of your artwork. If there is any special information about the art, like the medium, influences, etc., feel free to include that as well.
All prose and poetry should be double spaced and in standard fonts Times New Roman or Arial.
Be sure to thoroughly edit your work for spelling and grammar errors so you can represent your best work possible. If you need editing assistance, don’t hesitate to use campus services like the Writing Center.
If you would like more tips on professionally formatting your document, please read Formatting 101 by Marlys Pearson.

E-mail Submission

Once you have professionally prepared your submission, e-mail it to 13thfloormagazine@gmail.com Remember, include your biography in your e-mail!

If You Are an Educator