When Little Red Riding Hood steps into the forest, we know she is entering a different world. Outside she could see for miles across a patchwork of fields and farms. But in the wild tangle, her view extends for only a few paces beyond the path. When sight is restricted other senses come alive.
What is it about forests that makes them so fecund for our imagination? Last month, I led a creative writing workshop on our Into the Forest theme for the States of Independence festival. We were struck by how many of our oldest and most enduring stories are set in forests. And the rich symbolism of forests as a site of the extraordinary and other-worldly as well as the Unconscious.
I was horrified when I learnt that the city council were proposing to fell 21 of those trees. One of the reasons given was to "cut crime.” But trees don’t commit crimes and I did not want to lose my green lung.
Mountains are magnificent, of course, but to my mind forests are equally awe-inspiring. It’s just that their beauty is of a quiet, more mysterious kind. Unlike mountains, which are all Oi! Look at me! they keep their magnificence to themselves.
Our big news this week is that we’re opening our porthole for submissions again! Between 10th March and 12th May this year, you can submit writing on the theme of Into the Forest for our 2023 anthology. We’re looking for our usual mix of genres and a wide array of approaches to the theme. So your imagination might turn to Eco-writing, Forest Fables, Urban Jungles or Space Trees. We welcome short fiction, poetry, flash fiction and creative non-fiction.
As we prepare to open our 'Into the Forest' submission call next week, let's take a look at 10 crazy facts about some of the plants and animals that live on Earth.
In the last three years, we’ve published four books, each one blending various genres with an obvious space theme. So we’ve explored the Space Race, rocketeers, Aliens & Otherness, comets and the origins of the solar system, and so on. This year, at first glance, our theme looks Earthlier in nature. We will be inviting writing that moves Into the Forest. But we hope you will be imaginative about where that takes you, including possible off-world adventures. And we look forward to the usual mix of stories of all kinds, poetry, creative non-fiction and flash fiction too.
Space Cat Press 