theuninvited

Every uninvited thing implies three others: a threshold, a guest, and somebody who drew a line. Someone decided who was welcome. Someone is on the wrong side of that decision. And in most of the stories we tell about it, the line only holds until it's crossed once.

Folklore is full of the rule that the thing outside cannot come in unless you say so. It's a rule that sounds protective until you notice what it actually admits: that the danger was always going to be let in, by someone, on purpose, probably politely.

This is the fall issue, so i welcome you to bring the dark. But the theme isn't Halloween, and it isn't witches. What we want is the wrongness of presence: something here that has no business being here.

Some directions

The literal guest. The knock at an hour when nobody knocks. The figure at the edge of the party. The extra person in a family photograph that nobody can name. This is fertile ground for found-photo and collage work.

The threshold. The doorway, the porch light, the gate, the moment of saying yes. If you want the folk-horror register, this is where it lives, and it hands you a compositional device instead of a costume.

The infestation. Uninvited isn't only a person. It's what's in the walls, the crawlspace, the yard, the bloodstream. Mold, insects, rot, the diagnosis nobody asked for. Given the name of this magazine, we'd be disappointed if nobody went here.

The internal. The intrusive thought. The memory that shows up unannounced on an ordinary Tuesday. Grief that arrives without warning and takes a seat. The uninvited thing you can't put out because it lives in you.

The social. Being the uninvited one. Exclusion, the outsider, the name not on the list, the room that goes quiet. Every artist working without a gallery has felt this one.

What makes it sing

The obvious move is the figure outside, looking in. It's the first idea everyone has and the weakest, because it keeps the threat safely outside where it belongs.

The eerier version is the one already inside. Already comfortable. Already sitting down. The uninvited thing that isn't lurking, isn't menacing, isn't announcing itself, it's just there, at ease, and has been for longer than you realized. Domesticity is the ally here, not the enemy. A thing that shouldn't exist looks far worse in a kitchen than in a graveyard.

Push it through your own process. And if you go occult, subvert it. The most unsettling uninvited guest is the one that looks like it belongs.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Submission window opens: August 31, 2026
Submission deadline: september 30, 2026
Issue releases: October 31, 2026

What you're committing to

• 1 to 4 finished submissions (can be single pages or up to 4x two-page spreads.)
• Completed, ready-to-publish work only. i arrange the issue but do not edit, retouch, recolor, or resize submissions. What you send is what appears.
• Hitting the deadline. The one hard ask. If you can't make it, tell me early.

Technical specs

Because i don't adjust submissions, your files have to drop straight into the layout. Anything off-spec can't be included.

• Format: A4 portrait
• Exact dimensions: 1240 × 1754 px. build your canvas at this size, full-bleed or not, your choice.
• Resolution / color: 150 DPI, RGB
• File type: flattened PNG or TIFF at the exact dimensions above
• One page = one file. Doing a two-page spread? Contact us first — spreads must be delivered as a single merged 2480 × 1754 px file, not two halves.

Creative & content guidelines

• Work must respond to the theme in some way.
• Content rating: mature themes, dark imagery, and tasteful nudity are welcome. flag anything NSFW when you submit so we can label it. Absolutely no content that is illegal, hateful, or sexualizes minors.
• Work must be original, or built from source material you have the right to use. Collage and mixed-media artists especially: you are responsible for clearing your own source material, because this gets published and distributed publicly. Recognizable brand marks and copyrighted characters can't be included. that's the one we can't wave through.
• No fully AI-generated artwork. Using AI to generate a source image you then cut up, alter, or build from is fine. Using it to generate the entire finished piece is not.

Submitting your art

i will follow up with your submission by email and supply you with an email address to submit your work to. if your artwork files end up being larger than 20mb total, I will set up a dropbox folder for you to upload your work to.

Rights & ownership

You keep your copyright. Always.

By submitting, you grant Blight Collective a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, display, and distribute your work in this and future issues and in related promotion of the publication; you retain full copyright and all other rights to your work.

Credit

Every contributor is credited in the the issue itself and each artist will be added to the artist directory on the blight collective website.