Hymns for the Damned

We are seeking original works that explore the tension between beauty and decay, faith and despair, memory and madness. Southern Gothic is about the inheritance of generational trauma, the collision of past and present, the grotesque tangled up with the saccharine. If you can remove the Southern setting and the story still works unchanged, it’s probably not Southern Gothic.

We want stories that feel like:
something is wrong with the land
something is watching from the pines
something was done that cannot be undone

And engage with:
Haunted landscapes, rural isolation, swamps, marshes, woods, backroads
Everyday hospitality and violence and the uncanny within the ordinary
Family secrets, generational trauma, inherited guilt, internal shame
Power structures, social tension, and the lingering past
Religion, ritual, fanaticism, and moral hypocrisy
Blurred lines between victim and villain

Word Count: Up to 10,000
What to Submit: Poems, Stories & Art
Submission Deadline: July 1, 2027
Publication: Halloween 2027
Compensation: 1 free contributor copy
Limit 3 submissions per contributor

Submit to: heather@crosstheteas.org

If your story makes us uncomfortable in the right way, you’re on the right track.

The best stories hold up a mirror--confronting the reader with their own humanity.

For more info about the Southern Gothic genre, check Wikipedia.

Cover Photo designed by South Carolina Lowcountry artist Michelle Bryant Griffin