📣 Signal Dispatch — Signals from the field

Embers — Warmth for the long winter

About Embers & Embers Quarterly

Embers is the cultural lane of Torch & Tinder Press. It gathers essays, art, poetry, fiction, and critical reflections that sustain us through long nights of struggle.

Embers Quarterly is the anthology zine of this lane — a collaborative space where selected contributions are published together in both digital and print editions. Each issue explores freedom through art, story, and lived experience.

Theme & Guiding Question

For our first issue, we invite work responding to the theme: Shared Freedom.

Shared Freedom asks: Am I free if you are not?

We welcome work that explores how freedom is shaped, challenged, and connected in people’s lives.

What We’re Looking For

We publish across forms in the Embers lane and Quarterly:

Essays & Reflections (up to 2,000 words)
Poetry (up to 3 poems; max 40 lines each)
Fiction & Creative Nonfiction (up to 2,000 words)
Visual Art & Photography (1–3 pieces, high-resolution JPG/PNG)
Hybrid or Experimental Work (text + image, lyric essays, visual storytelling, short plays, song lyrics, etc.)
Critical Reflections (cultural critique, commentary, or mixed forms)

If in doubt, send it — we’re open to surprise.

How to Submit

Email submissions to info@torchandtinder.org with the subject line: “Embers Submission.”

Please include:

Your name (or pseudonym/anonymous note, if preferred).
A short contributor bio (2–3 sentences).
The format/genre of your piece.
Any safety or privacy preferences (pseudonyms welcome).

Multiple submissions are welcome (within reason). Please note: Publication in the Embers Substack lane does not guarantee selection for Embers Quarterly; anthology selections are made separately.

Publication & Credit

Accepted contributors will be invited to join the Torch & Tinder Substack team so their name (or chosen pseudonym) appears at the top of their stand‑alone Substack post.

Publication paths

Embers Substack lane — stand‑alone post credited to the contributor.
Embers Quarterly — select works are included in the anthology, released on Ko‑fi as a free PDF and in a limited print run.

All accepted contributors will also be invited to join Refuge Bonne Foi as members, ensuring a place in the wider community Torch & Tinder calls home.

Note on AI use: Torch & Tinder Press does not accept fully AI‑generated writing or artwork. Contributors may use assistive tools (for editing, formatting, transcription, etc.), but the creative work itself must be their own. If AI tools were part of your process, please disclose this when submitting.

For general submissions (Signal Dispatch, Torchlight Praxis, and other publishing paths), please see our Submissions & Contributor Guidelines page.

Contributor Rights & Licensing

Contributors retain copyright to their work.
Torch & Tinder requests a non‑exclusive, worldwide license to publish accepted work in the Embers Substack lane and in Embers Quarterly (digital + print), and to share short excerpts for promotion.
Reprint freedom (courtesy credit): Contributors may republish their work anywhere, anytime. Please include a short credit such as “First published by Torch & Tinder Press in Embers (Substack/Quarterly, Issue 1, 2025).”
Published work in Embers is all rights reserved (not a Community Edition). Even if a free digital version is offered, it may not be remixed, adapted, or reused without the contributor’s permission.

Compensation & Recognition

Lane‑only publication (Substack): No royalties. Lane posts are free to readers.

Anthology publication (Embers Quarterly): Contributors share in 25% of Net Receipts from sales of each anthology issue via a Contributor Pool.

Net Receipts = cash actually received by TTPress from anthology sales, minus retailer/distributor commissions/discounts, payment‑processing fees, print/manufacturing/fulfillment costs, and sales/VAT/GST taxes (no general overhead deducted).
Unit system (hybrid): Prose = 1 unit per 1,000 words (rounded); Poetry = 1 unit per poem; Visual art = 1 unit per piece. The pool is split by each contributor’s share of total units in the issue.
Statements & payouts: Quarterly, with a $25 minimum (balances roll forward). Contributors may elect to donate royalties back to TTPress.

Recognition: Contributors are credited in the Substack lane post and—if selected for Embers Quarterly—in the Ko‑fi PDF and print edition.

Key Dates

Submission Deadline: ~~October 20, 2025~~ Year-round, rolling
Release: Later this fall

Your words matter. Your voice matters. Every submission helps build something stronger.

You are the signal.

Two hands passing a flaming torch inside an oval frame, with a ribbon below reading “Torch & Tinder.”

Keep your torchlight burning.

Explore more from Torch & Tinder Press

📣 Signal Dispatch — Signals from the field (you’re here)
🔧 Torchlight Praxis — Tools you can carry
🔥 Embers — Warmth for the long winter

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Support & community editions: Ko-fi

Torch & Tinder

Calling All Writers, Artists, and Creatives!