We're interested in short fiction and artwork that tell stories in a future where people live alongside nature, not in contrast to it. These pieces don't have to convey a perfect utopia and they don't even have to center on environmentalism, but they should be set in a world where people no longer live extractive, exploitative lives against the natural world.
About Burnline
A home for futures worth imagining.
Burnline is an independent magazine for solarpunk fiction and art where the goal is to help creative people tell stories about an optimistic future.
Why we are here
A note from the editor
Burnline started after I (the editor) felt inundated by negativity in all varieties of media about the future, from short fiction to speculative novels to anything on screen. In a world where conservations about AI and resource extraction and fascism are becoming the norm and taking up more and more of the discussions I'm apart of, I found myself looking for a reprieve, and I struggled to find one in the format of short-form fiction and art that I enjoy.
Does that mean there are no talented people writing stories and making art about an optimistically green and sunny future? Of course not. Reading works of fiction like Becky Chamber's A Psalm for the Wild Built were transformative for me as a reader. It was incredibly refreshing to read something fictional and ambitious that made me feel good about our place in the natural world.
But then, in my pursuit of more content that made me feel that way, I found a weird gap in the marketplace. Where I expected to stumble upon a growing collection of optimistic works in the solarpunk sub-genre, I found very few examples (that is not to disparage the excellent work that has been done in this niche sub-genre, I just didn't find the space that stuck for me). So, Burnline Magazine is my attempt to create that space.
A solarpunk future should represent more than green architecture and fruit-picking robots (although I do love that aesthetic). If we really were to create the future imagined in this sub-genre, I'd expect that traditionally-marginalized communities would instead be accepted and thriving without making any concessions about their own culture. I'd love to see submissions that show off what that would look like.
At the time of writing, Burnline is run by a team of one (me). Because this is quite the undertaking and something I expect to make approximately 0 money making, it truly is a passion project. I'd appreciate your patience while I work the kinks to this thing and try to bring you the best product possible while also supporting the contributing creatives in the best ways I can.
Independent by design
I fucking hate ads!
Burnline is, and always will be, completely ad free. There is nothing in this world I detest more than trying to consume something positive or inspiring that is then interrupted by an ad designed to distract you or click something from a company that is most likely evil. I feel like creative people making things online are forced into a tough corner where they're required to sell their reader's/viewer's attention just so they can make a living to create the things they care about. Fuck that! For that reason, this magazine will always be 100% independent and ad-free.
This thing operates with very low overhead cost because it's built and run by one person (me) who doesn't expect to make any real money from it. Any paid model for future issues of the magazine will serve two purposes. 1) To pay contributors for their work, and 2) to reset the idea that good creative work should come for free to consumers. My working theory is that if you're required to pay an inconsequential amount of money for something, you're more likely to consume it with attention and care. I think free content actually diminishes the value of the work by the creatives behind them.
Join the project
Help us imagine what belongs here.
Submit a story or artwork, propose a collaboration, point us toward something the magazine should be paying attention to, or simply say hello. Burnline is still growing into itself, and thoughtful ideas are welcome.