Submissions are open for Opus II, Issue III of Half Mystic Journal. Our thirteenth issue celebrates the theme of Vesper: in English, a song signifying nightfall; in Latin, the planet Venus as the evening star. We’re looking for penumbras, sleep paralysis, obsidian, susurration, event horizons, violin strings caught between quasars, burnt-out lightbulbs, bells tolling in a vacuum, shattered mirrors held to the night sky, the ouroboros, lunar maria, cicada-song so harsh & generous it punctures the vein of twilight. Darkness is a door opening endlessly into itself, exhaling smog around the edges of sound. Bring us the dream you can’t wake from, and let us hold it under a while longer.

Half Mystic Journal publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations, and hybrid work. We ask that each piece links to music and the vesper theme.

Submit up to five pieces of up to 3000 words each. We don't accept previously-published writing, but we do accept and encourage simultaneous submissions. 

In your cover letter, include a brief biographical note and the genre(s) of your submission. For translations, enclose the full text of the original piece and a statement declaring that you have the author’s permission to publish the translation, or that the original text is in the public domain. Translations must be to or from English. 

We recommend that you read Half Mystic Journal’s past issues to familiarise yourself with our goals, aesthetics, and style.

We pay US$20 per accepted piece, and charge US$2 per submission. We recognise that submission fees present a barrier to access, so if you're in need of a fee waiver to share your work with us, please reach out to journal@halfmystic.com. Limited waivers are available for writers in need on a first come, first serve basis.

You can expect to hear from us within four weeks. Thank you for honouring us with your work. We don't take that privilege for granted.

Half Mystic Press publishes poetry, essay, and short story collections; memoirs; novellas and full-length novels; and hybrid work. We do not publish lyrics without music or critical work, but we do publish books that are not overtly music-themed. When we ask for music, we mean rhythm, we mean story, we mean luminescence and chaos, pulsing loneliness, ordinary madness, thunder on loop, violent quietude, stuttering wonder. We mean prayer and outrage, cataclysm and resurrection. We mean truth: the heartbeat of humanity in 4/4 time, books that force our eyes open, that insist on believing in something bigger than static. Send us your symphony. We won’t flinch.

Your manuscript must be at least 60 pages and complete. At least three-quarters of the book should be previously unpublished in any form. We welcome simultaneous submissions, and submissions from both agented and independent writers. We pay competitive royalties.

In your cover letter, include a biographical note, the genre of your submission, a brief description of what music means to you, and a note on where you found Half Mystic Press. For poetry, essay, and short story collections, please send the full manuscript; for all other genres, please send the first half of the manuscript. Do not include identifying personal information in the manuscript file.

We recommend that you read past books from Half Mystic Press to familiarise yourself with our goals, aesthetics, and style. 

You can expect to hear back from us within eight months. Thank you for honouring us with your work. We don't take that privilege for granted.

We are currently open to interview requests from musicians and bands. Interviews are published on our blog, sent to our mailing list, and promoted on our social media.

We interview musicians working in all genres, all languages, and all countries. We ask that interviewees have at least one LP or at least two EPs available for sale on Bandcamp and/or music streaming services. To request an interview, send a cover letter (including a biographical note, the genre in which you primarily work, descriptions of and links to your most recent releases, and a note on where you found Half Mystic), links to your social media and website, and—if applicable—a press kit. We do not write music reviews, and we do not host album premieres.

We recommend that you read past interviews on the Half Mystic blog to familiarise yourself with our goals, aesthetics, and style. 

You can expect to hear from us within three weeks. Thank you for honouring us with your work. We don't take that privilege for granted.

In our celebration of music in all its forms, Half Mystic Journal is proud to spotlight one visual artist or collective per issue, known as our Featured Artist. We release an interview with the artist on our blog and in our journal, publish 13 to 15 of their pieces in the featured issue, and showcase their work in perpetuity on our website and social media promotion. The suite of published pieces is typically unified by style and form, and is always inspired by the issue's theme, the poetry and prose in the issue, and the artist's relationship with music as a whole.

To apply to illustrate our next issue, please send a cover letter (including a biographical note, an artist statement, a note on where you found Half Mystic, and a brief description of what music means to you) and a portfolio of five to ten art pieces in any medium. Colour and black-and-white works are both accepted, and your portfolio need not be music-centred. As with all contributor roles, the featured artist receives a token payment of $20.

We recommend that you read Half Mystic Journal’s past issues to familiarise yourself with our goals, aesthetics, and style. 

You can expect to hear from us within two weeks. Thank you for honouring us with your work. We don't take that privilege for granted.