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]
JUNE 2026: NO MAN'S LAND
Nonfiction Guidelines | PRINT ISSUE
Theme Overview
Essays exploring the Western genre, frontier mythology, and the cultural meaning of lawless spaces—in fiction and in the American imagination.
What We're Looking For
- Analysis of the Western's evolution from pulp to revisionism to whatever comes next
- Essays on frontier mythology and its hold on American identity
- Profiles of Western authors (literary, pulp, or contemporary)
- The neo-Western in film and television (what keeps the genre alive?)
- Border narratives and contemporary "frontier" spaces
- The Western outside America (Australian outback, Siberian frontier, space)
Strong Pitches Will
- Engage with specific texts, authors, or films rather than abstractly discussing "the Western"
- Grapple with the genre's problematic history without dismissing its appeal
- Connect frontier mythology to contemporary politics or culture
- Examine what the Western offers that other genres don't
We're Not Looking For
- "The Western is dead/the Western is back" trend pieces
- Uncritical nostalgia for the genre's golden age
- Takedowns that refuse to engage with why the Western endures
- Lists of "best Westerns" without analytical framework
Specs
- 1,500–3,000 words
- See main Submission Guidelines for formatting and process
- Subject line: FEATURE SUBMISSION – JUNE PRINT – [Your Title]