We are once more into the last month of our Into the Forest submission call (new closing date: 2nd June 2023). We have been blown away by the amount of submissions we have received thus far and are looking forward to seeing what else you all come up with over the next four weeks.

As we’ve mentioned before, our choice of theme this time around was partly inspired by the wonderful writing we’ve published in Uncharted Constellations and Severed Souls. So, let’s take a look at five ‘Into the Forest’ pieces that can be found in those anthologies.

Uncharted Constellations

The theme for Uncharted Constellations was Race for the Stars. We were looking for pieces connected to a Space Race (past, present, imaginary).

From the responses, we created a collection that crosses genres from dark science fiction to lyrical poetry, via twists of flash fiction and fragments of memoir. Between the strangeness of space and the loneliness of long-distance missions, you will find the human heart refracted in a myriad of ways.

Two nature-themed pieces in Uncharted Constellations are Yevgeny Salisbury’s The Pioneer’s Dilemma and Rod Duncan’s On the Path of Comets.

The Pioneer’s Dilemma by Yevgeny Salisbury

The Pioneer’s Dilemma is a gentle flash fiction piece with dark undertones, featuring self-aware androids in no rush to have their human masters join them on their promising new world.

Photo by Yura Macro

Here is an extract:

He sat down on the grass, beneath a tree, and watched a fledgling bird being fed. A Lo-3 for birds would put a stop to most of that; the majority of them just wouldn’t feel the urge to reproduce. They wouldn’t be unhappy about it. Problem solved, had the problem been too many birds.
Except it wasn’t, and the birds were beautiful. Everything was idyllic. Everyone had worked hard: on the planet, on themselves. He looked at his hands. Indistinguishable from human hands. It hadn’t been part of the brief. Not at all. But there’s artistry in terraforming. To really get it, you must live it. Love it. The humans would love this place. And he hated lying to them.

Find out more about Yevgeny on his Author’s Page here.

On the Path of Comets by Rod Duncan

On the Path of Comets is ‘hermit crab essay’ that focuses on a fascination with comet-watching being passed from father to son.

Photo by Frank Zinsli

Here is an extract:

I’m with friends on the university campus, behind a bank of pine trees, shielded from the town’s lights. In the field of my binoculars I find a grey mass without tail or clear edge. Hardly the fiery omen of the Bayeux Tapestry. But I’ve learned my father’s thrill at such faint evidences. Here is a remnant from the formation of the solar system. A recurrent visitor, Halley’s Comet is of the type they call short-period. I’ll be a hundred next time it comes around. I hope we’ll get a better display, and that my eyes will be up to it.

Find out more about Rod on his Author’s Page here.

Severed Souls

The theme for our second anthology was Aliens & Otherness. In that submission call, we asked our authors to reflect on the emotions that ‘Alien’ and/or ‘Other’ evokes in them and write from that place.

In stories, poems and weird flash fiction, Severed Souls‘ contributors explored the fragility of identity, the isolation of migration, and the horror of monstered invasions. On planetary surfaces or more familiar terrains, they exposed a deep-rooted yearning to belong.

Three nature-themed pieces in Severed Souls are Sam Parr’s Backlands, Teika Marija Smits’ How to Honour a Beginning, and Rob Bray’s Twitching.

Backlands by Sam Parr

Follow the instructions in sinister flash fiction piece Backlands at your own peril, danger lurks among those peaceful pines.

Photo by Thomas Griesbeck

Here is an extract:

First you must go to the forest.
Thirty years ago, this land was a scar. Picture sores of open earth, rusting mining equipment, the memory of coal’s stink in the soil.
Now there are trees. Planted in rows, like each is a cell on a spreadsheet.
Walk amongst them at twilight. Breathe in the scent of pine. Close your eyes and see shade-light-shade as you step beneath their shelter. Hear the voices of the birds. If you really listen, they will sound cruel.

Find out more about Sam on his Author’s Page here.

How to Honour A Beginning by Teika Marija Smits

How to Honour a Beginning tells the story of an alien being who is entrusted with the stewardship of Earth by three powerful women who bestow upon him the title of The Green Man.

Photo by Jan Huber 

Here’s an extract:

The tall, tree-like being stepped out of his spacecraft and walked into the moonlit forest. He breathed deep of the Earth’s oxygen-rich air. It was sweet with fresh growth and detritus, the cycle of life.
As he wove through the trees he placed a hand on each one and connected with it. Go well, was his message. And as he walked he sang an ancient song that stirred and invigorated each leaf, branch, stem, and root.

Find out more about Teika on her Author’s Page here.

Twitching by Rob Bray

Twitching follows a top-of-the-line android assassin who has learnt to appreciate the beauty around her as she fights for her freedom from her human creators.

Photo by Compare Fibre 

Here is an extract:

Valda edged herself further into the rowans and looked up into the spindly conifers beyond. Her circuits fizzed as she focussed. Then she felt her dermis tingle. She was right! A goldcrest, shining plume bobbing as its needle slim beak probed the hard scales of the pine cones, seeking out insect and larval prey. Valda tuned her hearing to catch the faint sith-sithing of its chatter. Her hand reached for her book but then fell away. The book was redundant. There was nothing she didn’t know about this bird.

Find out more about Rob on his Author’s Page here.