Midsummer magic-submissions are open!
Nascence, important dates, and theme
Welcome to The Otherworld magazine’s quarterly newsletter!
We are a new fairy tale and folklore literary magazine launching in Fall 2025. This is a place to walk through stories and tales across time, continents, and cultures through flash fiction, short stories, poetry, and essays.
Read to the end to find our submission theme and form!
The Birth of the Otherworld
Honesty time: when you participate in this issue of The Otherworld, you are participating in the birth of something nascent and constantly unfolding.
We are a tiny entity run by two people, Jess and Stephanie. We started this publication out of a love of folklore and fairy tales, writing, and exploring storytelling as a vehicle for understanding the world and ourselves (as is so often the case with folklore). We both have families (some would call them large), limited time, and limitless imaginations.
Since we only post here on the Solstices and Equinoxes, here’s what to know if you’d like other ways of keeping in touch. We have our Instagram page where we share infrequent reminders and lore, and Stephanie will share reminders on her own Substack. Check out Jess’s Substack, too.
This space may shift over time, and that’s a beautiful thing. We’ll keep you informed.
Our goal, at this point, is to create a quality, atmospheric, and beautiful PDF Autumn issue in a way that is sustainable and honors everyone who participates.
Thank you so much for understanding, and for your interest! We are excited to see what we create together.
Blodeuwedd: fated figure from Welsh mythology
Not of mother and father,
When I was made,
Did my Creator create me.
Of nine-formed faculties,
Of the fruit of fruits,
Of the fruit of the primordial God,
Of primroses and blossoms of the hill,
Of the flowers of trees and shrubs.
Of earth, of an earthly course,
When I was formed.
160 Of the flower of nettles,
Of the water of the ninth wave.
–BOOK OF TALIESSIN VIII.
Meadowsweet, pictured above, is often associated with the Summer Solstice. But do you know the story of the woman created with the plant, known as Blodeuwedd?
The story of Blodeuwedd, whose name means ‘flower face’, comes to us from the fourth branch of Welsh mythology known as the Mabinogion. She is created by Mâth and Gwydion, using oak, broom, and meadowsweet, to be a wife for Gwydion’s son, Lleu or Llew.
Sadly, this is not a happy tale. Blodeuwedd falls in love with someone else and plots to kill the husband chosen for her. In the end, her own lover is murdered, and she is transformed into an owl as punishment.
You can read a short version of this tale from the Eryri State Park website.
Summer plant: Hedge bindweed
What’s not to love about the name hedge bindweed?
In fact, this plant, which is native to Eastern North America and can be found in other areas of the continent, bears an abundance of names: hedge false bindweed, old man’s nightcap, devil’s vine, hedgebell, and devil’s guts, among many others. It looks very similar to its cousin, the morning glory.
While it is a native plant, apparently they can be quite problematic in gardening, taking over large spaces and proving extremely difficult to get rid of. It is viewed as a weed. In Ireland, where bindweeds grow aplenty, it is often called ‘the tormentor’. Yikes.
As far as we can tell, there are no folktales regarding this plant. Which is kind of sad. With names such as the hedge bindweed boasts, it seems full of opportunities for stories.
What story would you write about this plant?
Sources:
Noxious Persistent Invasive Perennial Bindweeds
Submission theme: The Wild Hunt
The Dead Hunt, the Wild Dogs, the Fairy Cavalcade–the wild hunt has gone by many names across time and countries, and has spawned many tales.
Tell us your version of Janet’s rescue of Tam Lin from the Faerie Queen and her troop. Send us a poem about Frau Holle’s lantern-bearing hares. How about Odin or Artemis? Pwyll and the forest of Glen Cuch? What about white harts or other strange creatures sought by eager hunters unaware of the trouble that awaited them?
So search out a tale or two and immerse yourself in the wild nights of the past, letting your imagination lead you where it will. We welcome your original story, poem, or essay featuring some aspect or figure of the wild hunt!
Guidelines and deadlines
We are looking for poems (max 30 lines), flash fiction (100-500 words), and mini essays (up to 1000 words) on the theme.
Essay ideas include book reviews, personal essays, or historical essays on any facet of the theme.
Please submit unpublished work only. Absolutely no AI. Published work includes anything previously shared in full on blogs, newsletters, and social media or other publications. Works based on anything you’ve shared in part on blogs, newsletters, and social media are welcome.
The deadline for submissions is August 1st. Please, one submission per person.
Format
As with the interest form, we are using Google forms for submissions. You will be asked to upload a document with your work. Please format essays and flash fiction single-spaced, with indents before new paragraphs. For poetry, please use single space between each line and an additional space between stanzas.
We will publish this issue as a downloadable PDF. We will offer issues to readers at low cost or on a donation basis. Participants will receive a free copy as compensation.
If we decide to make the issue available in an additional format, we will inform you first before publishing.
Rights and Payment
If your work is accepted, you will receive an email notification by August 29th at the latest. There will be a short contract for you to sign. If you agree to the contract, we at The Otherworld magazine will receive first publication rights, meaning we have exclusive rights to be the first to share your submitted piece. We will ask you not to share your work anywhere else for six months’ time, after which time all rights will revert back to you.
We do not use AI in our work, nor do we welcome AI training using our publication.
Sadly, we are unable to offer payment at this time.
If you have any questions about submissions, feel free to contact us at theotherworldmag@gmail.com and please include “Autumn issue: the wild hunt” in your subject line. We will respond within 2-3 days!
Ready to submit your poem, flash fiction, or short essay?
Click here to fill out the submission form
Remember that our Autumn issue releases on September 22nd, 2025.
traversing the veil together,
the editors of The Otherworld Magazine
Beautiful! Blodeuwedd is one of the goddesses I work with the most. And I'm excited about the theme of your first issue! What a wonderful new venture.
Hii! Is art also admitted for fall submission? :)