Taking Submissions: Cunning Folk #6
Deadline: March 1st, 2023
Payment: £100 per article, interview or short story and £50 for poetry and rituals
Theme: The Vampire
We are open to non-fiction pitches and short fiction and poetry submissions for issue 6 until 1 March 2023. The theme is THE VAMPIRE.
“Vampires are so nearly human that they are excellent to think with.”
–Professor Nick Groom, author of The Vampire: A New History
Vampires charm and terrify us. We fear them, envy them, and pity them, eternal witnesses to the passage of time, conquerors of impermanence, and creatures of the night. The vampire is a symbol of the shadow side, of the old world meeting modernity, and of the 19th-century preoccupation with mesmerism and blood; the vampire eludes, too, to the pitfalls of aestheticism, for behind this creature’s seductive glamour lies a ruthless – often narcissistic and nihilistic – consumer. Of course, the vampire also has roots in older, Eastern European folk beliefs, such as the Romanian strigoi – which had much in common with the witch of the witch trials – and this supernatural being converges with many other cultural beliefs around the undead. The modern vampire continues to haunt our collective imagination, from Count Dracula and Carmilla to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and True Blood, exposing our basest impulses and thoughts, and forcing us to confront the personal and collective shadow. Why does this monster appear to us in dreams and sleep paralysis? Why are we scared of – and fascinated by – the liminal space between life and death? What even is death? What is it to live forever? And what does the vampire’s infinite quest for blood tell us of our own lives? Are we, too, a little vampiric? How can we fend off the vampires exterior and interior to ourselves? We want your articles, interviews, rituals, poetry and short fiction pertaining to the vampiric, that intersect with our other themes and that shine light on what lies behind the vampire’s shiny façade – and what that tells us about the current age, the unconscious shadow and humanity. This question can be explored via journalism, art, literature, science, pop culture and the personal.
Our fees going forward for this issue and slightly new format are £100 per article, interview or short story and £50 for poetry and rituals.
Pitch personal essays, articles, recipes and how-tos, interviews with interesting people. We are particularly keen to hear from practitioners, authors and scholars.
Please keep pitches brief. We like to see the essence of the idea in a short elevator pitch, with an additional sentence or two to flesh it out/give details of any leads.
Please note: Successful pitches have a clear sense of narrative, a good balance between specificity and universality, and do not simply repeat the theme. We want to learn something new, hear new ideas, or approach a topic from new angles and perspectives. Please send us your pitch in the body of the email, and submissions as attachments. It would be helpful to include a short bio of less than 50 words, noting any bylines, with links to 1–3 previous publications, if applicable.
Submit short fiction and poetry. Short fiction can be 1000–6000 words in length. Note: we primarily publish non-fiction – we also accept short fiction and poetry via our online platform Spiritus Mundi.
For a better idea of what we like, buy one of our issues.
Send your ideas to [email protected]
Due to the volume of submissions, we are unable to respond to unsuccessful pitches.
Via: Cunning Folk.
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Stuart Conover is a father, husband, published author, blogger, geek, entrepreneur, horror fanatic, and runs a few websites including Horror Tree!