Introducing Vesper

Sevdah’s honey-slow yearning drips to its close, & as the lowest note on the cello dissolves into air, we remain in deep awe of the love you’ve shown Opus II, Issue II of Half Mystic Journal. Your devotion to desire has carried us through this fragile & fragrant era. The Sevdah issue is a vow made in a past world, a memory yet to be lived, chords drinking down silence & lingering long after the ghosts have gone. It’s out now, & we’d be honoured to send it your way.

But even tenderness can twist into a thorn. Softness grows suffocating; stars flicker & dim; a liturgy in the wrong skin echoes more like an omen. Submissions for our thirteenth issue open today, & this year we invite you to dive with us into the void.

The theme for Opus II, Issue III is Vesper: in English, a song signifying nightfall; in Latin, the planet Venus as the evening star. For our thirteenth issue, we’re looking for penumbras, sleep paralysis, obsidian, susurration, event horizons, violin strings caught between quasars, burnt-out lightbulbs, bells tolling in a vacuum, shattered mirrors held to the night sky, the ouroboros, lunar maria, cicada-song so harsh & generous it punctures the vein of twilight.

We’re thrilled to share that Half Mystic Journal is now a paying market! Beginning with Issue XIII, all accepted pieces will receive a US$20 honorarium. In response to the growing costs of running an independent publishing project, we’re also instituting a small $2 submission fee. We recognise that such fees present a barrier to access, so limited waivers are available for writers in need, offered on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’d like to request one, please write to journal@halfmystic.com. Thank you, songbirds, for supporting our work as we bring beautiful things to bloom in an increasingly bleak world.

Opus II, Issue III: Vesper will be released in July 2026. In this volume, darkness is a door opening endlessly into itself, exhaling smog around the edges of sound. Bring us the dream you can’t wake from, & let us hold it under a while longer.