History, as the old saying goes, is written by the winners. This means that in most histories, the stories are about discovery and conquest rather than plunder and genocide. It also means that some of those losers of history have been forgotten – erased by the cultures that overran them. Historical erasure isn’t limited to countries or cultures. Underrepresented societal groups – those denigrated by the dominant culture – are often left out of histories, their contributions to society, including their arts, inventions, and scientific discoveries, are either attributed to others, or left out entirely.
We are looking for stories of people or things that have been erased from history, the mechanism by which that erasure is effected, or the consequence of erasure. We want the story of the lizard people that originally colonized earth, leading to the widespread theory that many world leaders are lizard people. The reason why Atlantis was erased from history and relegated to myth. The fact that gravity was invented by an illiterate Burmese restaurant owner in 1146CE.
We are NOT looking for dry factual histories (no term papers, please), personal screeds or jeremiads, or the life and personal stories of individuals from an erased group (for instance, the story of your grandfather who was killed in the Holocaust). These stories are important, but not the focus of this issue.
We accept poetry (no more than 3 poems of up to 50 lines each), prose (no more than 3000 words), and art (up to 5 pieces per submission). We pay 1 cent per word for prose, a flat $10 for poetry, and a flat $25 for art. We accept reprints and simultaneous submissions.
