Project Creatures of the Unknown
A Poetry Collection Run by Anne J. Hill
Theme: Speculative poetry tackling heavy topics through the lens of cryptids, mythological, legendary, paranormal, and fantastical creatures. Each poem must have at least one clear "creature of the unknown" as the focal point. If you're unsure if the creature you chose fits the theme, feel free to check with us. We ask that you read the poem that inspired this concept and use it as inspiration for what we are looking for. We prefer poems that also lean into spook and darkness in order to reveal the light (horror poetry welcome!). We welcome Biblical themes, though they do not need to be as blatant as the example poem.
Example poem:
Creature: Vampires (specifically Lilith)
The Bird of the Night
Anne J. Hill
Blood drips from the fangs of hedonism
Seeping with a vampiric thirst for pleasure
Beauty that enchants the man
To wed the bird of the night
Who cries, “Give, give, give!”
Sipping on the ignorance of a nation
Spilling their blood on graves they built
In the name of Self-Comfort
The ground wails, for it loathes to be torn
By tiny coffins nailed in the name of Choice
The bird of the night is well-pleased
She sinks her teeth into intimacy
And severs the bloodline at the throat
Desire with no cause, pleasure that bleeds
Intoxication of the man, gripping her flesh
Pleading to drown in denial; drunk on happiness
That wears a facade over gnashing of teeth
The life is in the blood she slowly drains
Until he is nothing but a husk
With veins looking for a new host
Death follows where life is dried out
To his knees, he falls, bowing in his chains
A puppet for the bird to sing her song into
To fill the spaces in his empty veins
His head droops, eyes glazed in slavery
He can now name the fangs piercing his flesh:
Pleasure without meaning, self above all else
He shouts into the void, “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
All hope has been sucked away
Until new blood spills out
Dousing the lies in red for what they are
The bird shrivels in the light of day
Choking on the life of her victims
She wars against the new Spirit in his veins
“Lift your head, oh you of little faith”
A whisper so violent it tears the veil
Between the husk of a man and
The God he drove into the grave
A slaughtering meant for destruction
Turned to build an army for the war already won
The husk of flesh is filled with a new battle cry
“Take heart, for the life is in His blood!”
Anthology Publishes: Sometime in 2027, exact time frame TBD
Genre: Speculative Poetry (any poetic form welcome, including short prose poetry)
Book Title: TBD
Categories: In the category section of your heading, please list what creature your poem is featuring (see example poem).
Payment: Authors will get book copies at a discount, and a % of royalties will go to a TBD charity. (Feel free to suggest any!)
Ideas: If you want topic ideas, keep an eye on our Instagram. We will be posting theme ideas throughout the submission time frame.
SUBMISSION Due Date: September 30th, 2026 midnight in your own time zone
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You will find out if you made it into the anthology by the end of October, 2026. Please wait until November before sending any follow-up emails about acceptance. We get a high volume of submissions and it takes time to thoroughly consider all of them.
Swearing IS allowed. If you're uncomfortable publishing in a book with swearing, we ask that you refrain from submitting, OR make a note of it in your submission in case we get all clean submissions.
You can enter as many poems as you like.
Anne is open to running this book with someone else. If you're interested, send us an email explaining why you think you would be the perfect fit to help choose what poems get accepted, help with editing, managing authors, marketing, making graphics, etc.!
Before submitting, read over all the guidelines here.
Click the button below to submit, or email submissions to twentyhillspublishing@gmail.com, with the subject line: Project Creatures of the Unknown Submission. Please include your author bio and headshot in your submission email.