Publication: Contingent Magazine
Topic(s): Monsters, mutants, hybrids, supernatural entities, cryptids, historical perspectives
Rate: $300 per article
Deadline: 20 October 2025
Submit via: Pitch form
Editor: Not specified

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What They’re Looking For:

Contingent Magazine is calling for essays (800–1500 words) that explore the history of monsters — in all their terrifying, fascinating, and symbolic forms. The theme of the December 2025 issue is “The Monster Has Been Here All Along.”

Writers are encouraged to dive into how monstrosity has appeared across different cultures, timelines, and social systems — from ancient hybrids and mythical beings to engineered life and those labeled as “Other.”

They want historical perspectives that reveal how societies define (and fear) the monstrous — and how those definitions expose deeper truths about humanity, power, and culture.

Topics of Interest:

• Mutants, hybrids, and engineered life
• Supernatural beings, mythical creatures, and cryptids
• The “Othered” and those deemed unnatural
• The link between monstrosity and social precarity
• Encounters that turn historians into monsters themselves

Note: They’re not accepting pitches about Frankenstein—that monster’s already taken.

Contingent prioritizes writers with postgraduate training in history who work outside the traditional academic track (e.g. contingent faculty, K–12 teachers, public historians, or grad students).

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Resources/Guides:

If you want to strengthen your pitch, review:

• Monster Culture (Seven Theses) – Jeffrey Jerome Cohen
• The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous – Asa Simon Mittman
• The Monster Theory Reader – Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock

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How to Get This Client:

If you’ve got a background in history, sociology, or culture — this is your shot. Pitch a specific, research-driven idea with an unusual angle. Reference primary sources where possible, and show how your story connects monstrosity to real-world power structures or identity.

Your pitch should include:

• A short summary of your idea
• Why it’s historically or culturally relevant
• Your expertise or background (especially if you’re a historian)

Submissions close October 20, 2025, and selected writers will be notified within a week. Final essays are due November 21.

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