Taking Submissions: Eternal Haunted Summer: Summer Solstice 2025
Submission Window: May 1st – June 1st, 2025
Payment: $5
Theme: Poetry or short fiction about the Gods and Goddesses and heroes of the world’s many Pagan/polytheist traditions that somehow features Music
Summer Solstice 2025: Music. Submission Period: 1 May through 1 June 2025. Jazz and blues. Rock and opera. Ballads and filk songs. Music has been an integral element of human creativity and culture since we first learned to carve holes into bones. Send us your best poems, short stories, and essays about music — in all its forms — from a Pagan/polytheist, witchy, and mythological point of view. Send us poems about the duel between Apollo and Marsyas, Bragi wooing Idun, and Pan stalking a poacher with madness-inducing pipe music. Send us short stories about a desperate musician making a crossroads deal with Dionysus, a composer praying to Hymen for inspiration, an archaeologist uncovering a temple and sacred instruments of Kothar-wa-Khasis. Send us essays about Väinämöinen as archetypal musician, Mozart’s opera Apollo et Hyacinthus, and the rise of the modern Pagan music scene.
What is Eternal Haunted Summer?
EHS is an ezine dedicated to 1) original poetry and 2) short fiction about the Gods and Goddesses and heroes of the world’s many Pagan/polytheist traditions. We feature 3) reviews of books, graphic novels, academic journals, magazines, movies, plays, and so forth which have a Pagan focus, or which otherwise might interest our Pagan readership. And 4) interviews with established and new Pagan authors, or authors of texts that interest a Pagan audience. And finally, 5) essays concerning the Gods, Goddesses, heroes, myths and folklore of the world.
What do we mean by “original?” The submission must not have been previously published in hardcopy, or on another ezine, or website, or blog. Since people often discuss their writing on email lists and messageboards, we do not consider that previous publication. That is, if your poem or story or review has only appeared on email lists or messageboards, we still consider it original.
Submission Guidelines
We’re looking for hymns to Odin and Inanna and Sekhmet and Pele. Prayers to Hermes and Brigid and Asherah and Amaterasu-omikami. Short stories featuring (or otherwise referencing) Lugh and Yinepu and Hekate. Every poetic form, from sonnet to rhyming couplet to free form, is acceptable. There is no set length.
Any genre of short story is welcome, from mystery to fantasy to true lifeish to reimaginings of classic myths, provided the Deities and heroes are treated respectfully (no bashing someone else’s Gods, please!). Please limit your story to 3000 words or less (though a smidge over is fine).
We are also interested in reviews of: classic works of literature (such as new translations of The Eddas or The Iliad); books about the ancient world; books by modern Pagan authors about contemporary Paganism/s; academic journals and popular magazines that deal with Pagan themes or issues of interest to Pagans, such as The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Biblical Archaeology Review and witches&pagans; and comic books and graphic novels.
We are also interested in essays that address the nature of the Deities, the mythologies of the various pantheons, folklore, ritual, et cetera and et cetera. So, for example, we would be keen to read your essay on Hermanubis and how He relates to Hermes and Anubis. Or, your essay examining primary sources for The Cailleach. Or, a discussion of the evolution of Veles from (benevolent) God of the Underworld to (Christian) demon and how Polish and Slavic Pagans are resurrecting His worship.
Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know as soon as possible if your work is accepted elsewhere.
The Big No-Nos. We absolutely WILL NOT accept submissions of writing or artwork created with AI software (e.g., Midjourney, ChatGPT). No generative AI. Any work must be wholly the creation of a human being. The use of assistive AI, such as spellcheck, is fine. In other words, use the tools to create something yourself, don’t let the tools do the creating for you.
Absolutely no ancient aliens. Pieces featuring Atlantis, Mu, UFOs, aliens, or subterranean civilizations, as well as levels of gore, violence, and sexual content will be judged on a submission by submission basis. No plagiarism. We trust you to be honest. If we discover that a submission has been plagiarized it will be rejected; if the discovery is made after publication, the submission will be removed and payment must be refunded to EHS. And be prepared to be stomped by the Fates for your poor character.
AI Training Prohibition: The creators of the individual poems, short stories, essays, and other works that appear in Eternal Haunted Summer retain control of their work. The creators retain all rights to their work; the appearance of that work in Eternal Haunted Summer is agreed upon by both parties, and compensated as agreed. Any use of this publication and the works it contains to develop and “train” AI in any way, for any reason, is prohibited without the express permission of the creator/s.
Submission Address: [email protected]
Please be sure to note in the subject line if your submission is fiction, poetry, essay, or review. Please only submit during the open reading period. Submitting outside of that window will make the editor very grumpy.
While we have no doubt that everything you have written is absolutely amazing, please limit yourself to three poems; or one short story; or one essay; or three reviews per acceptance period. Please send all submissions as a .rtf or .txt or .doc/.docx attachment, or in the body of the email, to [email protected] during the acceptance period.
EHS will pay a flat rate of $5.00 for an original piece. We retain first electronic publishing rights. After the piece moves to the archives and the new issue is posted, all rights revert to the author. Payment will be made via PayPal. No checks or cash. If you do not have a PayPal account, payment may be made in the form of an online gift certificate to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Kobo (all purveyors of fine literature). All payments will be made before the issue is launched on the Solstice.
Reviews do not have to be in line with the issue’s theme.
We do not buy or accept submissions ahead of time. If you are uncertain if your submission will fit an upcoming theme, yes, please query.
If your work is accepted for the Summer issue, you will be notified no later than 15 June. If it is accepted for the Winter issue, you will be notified no later than 15 December. Yes, you will also be notified if your work is declined, and, if possible, we will provide some critical feedback; but we may not always be able to do so. If you do not hear from us by either of those dates, please query; the net pixies may have eaten your submission, and we would hate to miss anything truly wonderful.
Now for the itty-bitty disclaimer: we reserve the right to edit accepted pieces for clarity. In other words, we’ll correct any misspellings or other typographical errors, and occasionally break up run-on sentences. If we have to make a significant number of such editorial corrections, we will send the piece back to you for approval before it goes live.
Any other comments, concerns, questions, profound thoughts? Please email us at [email protected]. And may the Gods and Goddesses and Spirits watch over all your creative endeavors.
Via: Eternal Haunted Summer.
