FN – Call for Submissions to descant. Theme: Time Capsule

A forum for fiction and poetry, descant seeks high-quality work in either innovative or traditional forms. Fiction is usually 5000 words or fewer, poems sixty lines or fewer. We do, however, occasionally accept submissions exceeding these lengths. descant specifies no particular subject matter or style.

The Time Capsule

A keepsake to put away for the future, a token of childhood, a triumphant memory… the time capsule is a means to share wishes, hopes, dreams, and memories within an archive. How can a piece of writing signal to future readers how we live now: how we love, scorn, fear, aspire, and experience the world and its wonders. What do you want to say that cannot be said, seen, or heard unless it is unearthed for our descendants to discover twenty, fifty, or one hundred years from now? What does intelligence mean in the era of smart appliances, iPhones, Amazon, Reddit, TikTok, and ChatGPT? With polar ice caps melting, pollution clouding our air, rainforests being deforested by the hour, and war raging across the world, we still carry on with busy workweeks, and sink into beds dreaming of a better future when we rise. The time capsule will hold a kaleidoscope of human happenings, preserved in pages for future generations to read with fresh eyes.

Please be sure to submit to The Time Capsule, if you are answering this call.

Please be sure to indicate if the work is Fiction or Creative Nonfiction.

Writers must confirm that work accepted by descant has not been previously published and that they will credit descant as the original publisher whenever and wherever else the work may be placed.

Other than incarcerated persons, potential contributors should submit via our free online system, Submittable (descant.submittable.com/submit). Submit up to five (5) poems, or one (1) single submission of fiction, up to 5000 words. Please submit no more than twice during each reading period.

Please send online submissions to Submittable: