FEBRUARY 2026: SECOND CHANCES & SOCIETY'S CASTOFFS

Nonfiction Guidelines

Theme Overview

This issue explores redemption, reinvention, and the people society has written off. We want essays that examine why some people get second chances and others don't—and what happens to those who refuse to accept their dismissal.

What We're Looking For

  • Analysis of redemption narratives in fiction, film, or culture—what makes them work, what makes them hollow
  • Essays on rehabilitation vs. punishment in American society
  • Profiles of authors who write about outcasts, the forgotten, the discarded
  • Cultural commentary on who gets forgiven and who doesn't (and why)
  • Examination of "cancel culture," comeback stories, or public rehabilitation arcs
  • The mythology of the self-made second act in American storytelling

Strong Pitches Will

  • Take a clear stance rather than surveying all sides neutrally
  • Connect cultural analysis to specific examples (books, films, real cases)
  • Challenge comfortable assumptions about forgiveness and redemption
  • Avoid moralizing—trust readers to draw their own conclusions

We're Not Looking For

  • Personal essays about your own redemption arc
  • Generic "everyone deserves a second chance" sentiment
  • Surface-level listicles of comeback stories
  • Pieces that lecture rather than analyze

Specs

  • 1,500–3,000 words
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FEATURE SUBMISSION – FEBRUARY – [Your Title]

MARCH 2026: ROGUE OPERATORS

Nonfiction Guidelines

Theme Overview

This issue's nonfiction should explore the mythology, appeal, and cultural role of the lone operator—the competent outsider who exists in fiction and, sometimes, reality.

What We're Looking For

  • Analysis of the "competence porn" appeal in fiction (Reacher, Wick, Bourne)
  • Essays on why lone wolf narratives resonate in an institutional age
  • Author interviews or profiles (writers working in men's adventure, thriller, action)
  • The evolution of the action hero from Cold War to post-War on Terror
  • Cultural commentary on self-reliance, masculinity, and the DIY justice fantasy
  • Examination of real-world "fixers" and how fiction romanticizes or distorts them

Strong Pitches Will

  • Go beyond "here's why people like action movies"
  • Engage with specific texts, authors, or cultural moments
  • Interrogate the fantasy without dismissing its appeal
  • Connect genre conventions to broader cultural anxieties or desires

We're Not Looking For

  • Fawning retrospectives with no critical edge
  • Dismissive takedowns of "lowbrow" genre fiction
  • Generic "masculinity in crisis" think pieces
  • Pieces that treat the genre as a monolith rather than examining specific works

Specs

  • 1,500–3,000 words
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FEATURE SUBMISSION – MARCH – [Your Title]

APRIL 2026: SATIRE AS WEAPON

Nonfiction Guidelines

Theme Overview

Essays exploring how satire functions as resistance—in literature, film, politics, and culture. We want pieces that examine why some satire cuts deep while most barely scratches.

What We're Looking For

  • Analysis of effective literary or cinematic satire (what makes it land?)
  • Essays on satire's role in political resistance, historical and contemporary
  • Profiles of satirists, comedians, or authors who weaponize humor
  • The line between satire and cruelty—when does dark comedy go wrong?
  • Cultural commentary on why certain targets are "off-limits" and who decides
  • Examination of satire that backfired or was co-opted by its targets

Strong Pitches Will

  • Analyze specific works rather than surveying the genre abstractly
  • Grapple with satire's limitations as well as its power
  • Distinguish between satire that challenges and satire that flatters its audience
  • Engage with the ethics of comedic cruelty

We're Not Looking For

  • "Why we need satire now more than ever" pablum
  • Lists of "the best satirical novels/films"
  • Pieces that treat all comedy as inherently subversive
  • Essays that avoid taking a stance on what makes satire effective

Specs

  • 1,500–3,000 words
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FEATURE SUBMISSION – APRIL – [Your Title]

MAY 2026: SURVIVING THE APOCALYPSE

Nonfiction Guidelines

Theme Overview

Essays examining our cultural obsession with the end of the world—why we imagine it, what those imaginings reveal about us, and what apocalyptic fiction actually teaches (or fails to teach) about survival and human nature.

What We're Looking For

  • Analysis of apocalyptic fiction across eras (what anxieties does each reflect?)
  • Essays on the politics of survival narratives (who gets to survive? who's expendable?)
  • Profiles of authors working in post-apocalyptic fiction
  • The prepper movement and its relationship to apocalyptic storytelling
  • Climate fiction and the "slow apocalypse" in contemporary literature
  • What disaster fiction gets wrong about actual human behavior in crisis

Strong Pitches Will

  • Connect genre analysis to real-world anxieties or events
  • Examine specific texts closely rather than surveying broadly
  • Challenge comfortable assumptions about who "deserves" to survive
  • Engage with the ethics of apocalypse fantasy

We're Not Looking For

  • Survival gear recommendations or "what I learned from preppers"
  • Generic "why we love disaster movies" pieces
  • Zombie thinkpieces (unless genuinely original)
  • Apocalypse as metaphor without examining actual apocalyptic narratives

Specs

  • 1,500–3,000 words
  • See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
  • Subject line: FEATURE SUBMISSION – MAY – [Your Title]