Call for Submissions - Writing on Fire

Our triennial magazine will be publishing its third print issue. This issue will explore the theme of Fire.

As our ancestors have long known, fire both sustains life by providing heat to keep us warm and cook our food, and extinguishes life, through fires that become conflagrations. We fear fire yet are attracted to it. Perhaps it is the risk that fire brings, the possible danger that draws us to it, “like moths to a flame.” Fire takes on symbolic meaning in religion and spirituality, being used to “light the way” in houses of worship while also being a means for purifying or destroying evil. In times past and present, people light candles or a fireplace to evoke a certain mood. We light campfires to gather around and share stories.

Your writing might explore:

• Who or what burns (literally or figuratively)?

• What does fire destroy? What does it create?

• What does it mean to be on fire (literally or figuratively)?

• What is the relationship between humans and fire?

• Consider idioms where fire is present, i.e., “playing with fire,”
“burning bridges,” “going down in flames,” “you’re fired,” “ready, aim,
fire!,” “where there’s smoke there’s fire,” etc.

Send Us Your Work!

Email submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and inter-genre work to CrescMag@gmail.com by August 30, 2026. Writing should be original to the author and not created using generative AI. Submissions should be no more than 2500 words for prose and up to four poems.

We do allow simultaneous submissions. In your 1-page cover letter, please indicate where else you are sending this work. And if this work is accepted elsewhere after you send it to us, please let us know. There is no fee to apply.

Guidelines for Submissions:

• Typed, double-spaced (poetry may be single-spaced) pages
• Numbered pages
• Fiction, nonfiction, and other prose: Less than 2500 words. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained
• Poetry: Submit up to 4 pages with each short poem being on a new page (long poems no more than 4 pages)
• Translations are welcome if permission has been granted