Call for Submissions!

Collisions – Call for short stories 

In 2017,researchers announced that two stars in the Cygnus constellation would collide in 2022, causing an explosion so bright that it would be visible from Earth with the naked eye. In 2018,researchers elsewhere noted an inconsistency in the calculations that resulted in part from an unfortunate typo. The stars, it turned out, were maintaining their mutual orbits and any collision would be many years, or lifetimes, away.

For volume 14, Riptide invites short stories that take their inspiration from collisions minute and stellar. Narratives might animate clashes, crashes, conflicts, revisions, calculations, near misses, or shared interests and atmospheres. A collision could be an eventuality of error and errantry; it could be a beginning. Whatever your approach, and on whatever conceptual scale you wish to work, Riptide welcomes your submissions.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit short stories of up to 3500 words to riptide@exeter.ac.uk by 30 August 2021 with a brief bio (ca. 100 words). Submissions must be in Microsoft Word and sent as an attachment. We will consider only one story per author. The issue will appear in early 2022.

The Climate Matters Anthology 2020

Questioning Capitalism

Poems – Stories – Science Writing – Images

A collaboration between Culture Matters and Riptide Journal (University of Exeter)

‘We are only the trustees for those who come after us.’ William Morris

In 2020 we want to publish a collection of new writing by established and emerging writers that asks questions and offers insights into links between the climate crisis and capitalism. When readers finish the book – or even when they’re half-way through – we want them to move towards action! Now, before it’s too late.

This call challenges writers and artists everywhere to address this burning topic, turn their attention and creativity to it and make their voices heard. Our aim is to bring together provocative poems, surprising stories, startling science writing and impactful images, which cross boundaries and help us step confidently and creatively into this next decade.

Topics might include: capitalism as a driving force behind climate change; the need to protect the poor; survival/extinction challenges; the role of women as eco-socialists; children’s fears for the future; and floods, metaphorical or actual. From dystopia to utopia, through linking art and science, we can capture some of the ways, big and small, in which the human race will need to unite politically and practically to transform our world, and move towards a better, safer future.

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Submission Guidelines:

Poems – send up to three poems (Max 40 lines per poem)

Stories‒ send up to three stories of up to 3000 words each

Science writing – send up to three articles up to 3000 words each

Life Writing – up to 3000 words each

Images – send up to three images as jpegs

Email to: editors@riptidejournal.co.uk

Deadline: NOW EXTENDED UNTIL 29th JUNE 

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Culture Matters is a co-operative of writers, artists and activists which promotes a progressive, socialist approach to the arts, culture and politics. The co-op runs a website at culturematters.org.uk, publishes poetry and other material, and works with the labour movement on campaigns for cultural democracy.

Riptide Journal was co-founded in 2007 by Dr Sally Flint and Dr Virginia Baily and originally published short stories as a way to champion the form. Over the years they have published stories, poems, life writing – and have worked with community projects on socially-committed initiatives too. The journal is supported by the University of Exeter. www.riptidejournal.co.uk

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