Submission Address: lyradora@yahoo.com

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 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 lyradora@yahoo.com during the acceptance period.

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 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.

What are the Submission Guidelines? We’re looking for hymns to Odin and Inanna and Sekhmet. Prayers to Hermes and Brigid and Asherah. 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!). There is no length limit, but if you are planning to write a novella, please discuss that with the editors of EHS in advance; any story over 5000 words will likely be serialized across two or more issues.

Poems or stories that feature Deities from pantheons generally considered to be outside the Pagan umbrella, but which are still from polytheistic traditions — such as a poem to the Hawaiian Pele or a short story focusing on the Shinto Amaterasu-omikami — are absolutely welcome. The wider the diversity of traditions represented, the happier the editors are.

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 which 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.

We absolutely WILL NOT accept submissions of writing or artwork created with AI software (e.g., Midjourney, ChatGPT). Any work must be wholly the creation of a human being.

What we do not want: anything about Atlantis, Mu, UFOs, aliens, or subterranean civilizations. No gore or excessive violence. 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.

Note: Upcoming Themes!

Summer Solstice 2024: Gardens. Submission Period: 1 May through 1 June 2024. Trees and flowers and shrubs. Rain showers and thunder and lightning. Bees and birds and insects and snakes in the grass. Send us your best poems, short stories, and essays about gardens from a Pagan/polytheist, witchy, and mythological point of view. Send us poems about Idun and her apple tree, the garden of the Hesperides, and Fangu, one of the Taoist islands of the immortals. Send us short stories about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a medieval witch’s poison garden, or a modern devotee of Demeter creating a community garden in New York. Send us essays about establishing a shrine to Melissa, ancient and modern festivals of Pomona, or creating a sustainable garden in honor of Priapos. Send us poems and short stories and essays about Xochipili, Adonis, Blodeuwedd, Qu Yuan, and Vertumnus.

Winter Solstice 2024: Fortune and Luck. Submission Period: 1 November to 1 December 2024. Improbable events. Random associations, positive and negative. Is it chance or is it divine intervention? Send us your best poems, short stories, and essays about fortune and luck — good and bad — from a Pagan/polytheist, witchy, or mythological point of view. Send us poems about leprechauns, the Goddess Felicitas, the wheel of fortune, the cornucopia. Send us short stories about a man losing his luck to a cunning fae, the opening theme of Carmina Burana, the asteroid 19 Fortuna, and the wheel of fortune tarot card. Send us essays about the history of the four leaf clover, the adoption of feng shui in western interior design, and the evolution of the Goddess Fortuna into the medieval Lady Fortune.

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.

Winter Solstice 2025: The Good Neighbors. Submission Period: 1 November through 1 December 2025. The fae. The fair folk. The hidden ones. Send us your best poems, short stories, and essays about the fae as seen from a Pagan/polytheistic, witchy, and mythological point of view. Send us poems about the peri of ancient Persia, Marie de France writing her famous lais, the favorite trees of the Good Neighbors, or Nicnevin of Scottish lore. Send us short stories about the armored fairies of the Orkney Islands, an urban fantasy about a lawyer who specializes in negotiating with fairies, a retelling of a classic fairy tale (with Fairy Godmother), or a story about a father trying to cure his child of elfshot. Send us essays about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Theosophical view of fairies, fairies as fallen angels, or the collection and composition of the Childe Ballads.

Summer Solstice 2026: Flash Fiction and Poetry. Submission Period: 1 May through 1 June 2026. There is no theme for this issue beyond the base guidelines: send us poetry, prose poetry, and short fiction that draws upon the world’s polytheist traditions and practices. Instead, the submissions must be of a particular length: poetry must be exactly one hundred words, prose poetry must be exactly three hundred words, and fiction must be exactly five hundred words. Essays can be on any topic, provided it is of interest to Pagan, polytheist, or witchy readers; no word limit for essays.

Winter Solstice 2026: Bulfinch’s Mythology. Submission Period: 1 November through 1 December 2026. Bulfinch’s Mythology is a collection of myths and legends written by Thomas Bulfinch for a Victorian era general audience. Modern authors and Pagans have a contentious relationship with the text, which tends to be heavily abridged and bowdlerized. So take your favorite — or least favorite — Bulfinch text, from any of the three books, and have a conversation with it; rewrite it; flip it on its head. Or send us a poem or short story or essay about Bulfinch himself, his composition of the text, and his goals. Or send us a poem, short story, or essay about your own interactions with the text, such as your first reading. [Free digital editions of Bulfinch’s Mythology are readily available online, and physical copies can be found at most libraries and bookstores.]

Summer Solstice 2027: Water. Submission Period: 1 May through 1 June 2027. Water — fresh and brackish and salty — is essential to life on Earth, and our many mythologies and spiritualities reflect that reality. How can water and its spirits be understood and celebrated through a Pagan, polytheist, witchy, and mythological lens? Send us your best poems, prose poems, short fiction, and essays centered around the element and spirits of water. Send us poems and hymns about Bunzi and Erzulie and Oshun. Send us short stories about the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, Varuna, and Kamohoali’i. Send us essays about modern rites in honor of Poseidon, the place of selkies in urban fantasy, or a polytheist interpretation of the ancient Sumerian flood myth.

Winter Solstice 2027: The Pre-Raphaelites. Submission Period: 1 November through 1 December 2027. The pre-Raphaelites were a loose association of artists, poets, architects, textile designers, cultural critics, and others in the late 19th century. The aesthetics they created and the mores they celebrated had a lasting impact on the rebirth of polytheism and the interpretation of ancient myths and stories. Choose any member or individual work of the movement that you want — a short list and discussion can be found here — and write a poem, prose poem, short story, or essay. Send us an original poem inspired by Evelyn de Morgan’s Medea, or Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti’s last winter in Italy, or Swinburne meeting the spirit of Sappho. Send us short stories about Annie Miller sitting for Rossetti’s composition of “Helen of Troy,” or Lawrence Alma Tadema’s “The Roses of Heliogabalus,” or Julia Margaret Cameron photographing an old temple and capturing something quite unexpected. Send us essays about the impact of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market,” the movement’s influence on Gustave Moreau, or a Goddess spirituality-oriented interpretation of James Archer’s “The Death of King Arthur.” [Note: if your submission references a particular work of art that can or should be used as an illustration, please make note of that the email.]

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.

Do we pay? You betcha. 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.