Something Gothic This Way Comes: Submit to The Havisham Steps: Modern Gothic Poetry

The 8th Thematic Slimline Anthology from The Broken Spine

Submissions Open Throughout October 2025 | Publication in 2026

The Broken Spine invites submissions for The Havisham Steps: Modern Gothic Poetry, the latest in our acclaimed slimline anthology series: following After Hours, Last Light, High-Rise, Glow, Rites & Trials, Haze, and Verdigris.

The Havisham Steps resurrects the Gothic for a world of neon-lit grief, algorithmic terror, and modern isolation. It is a collection that dares to disturb: romance warped by trauma, innocence corrupted by power, reality fractured by memory.

We want poems that carry the candle of Gothic tradition into contemporary ruins. Think psychological dread, twisted relationships, haunted minds, urban decay. Think gaslighting in glass towers. Love that leaves bruises. Ghosts that live in Wi-Fi routers.

This Is About the Macabre Made Modern

Not castles, corsets, or clichés, but contemporary horror in its most human form. This is Gothic in the age of broken systems, blurred realities, and emotional collapse. We want your strangest, quietest, most sophisticated nightmares.

Editor’s Note

This anthology will be edited and curated by me, Alan Parry. The vision is singular, the standard is exacting.

The Havisham Steps will not accept pastiche or parody. This is not dress-up Gothic. It is raw, literary, and rooted in psychological, social, and aesthetic tension. If your work engages with death, fear, desire, and identity without easy answers; send it.

Themes & Motifs

• Darkness, Death, and the Macabre
  Modern horror. Clinical, slow, all too real. Fear that lingers. Beauty with blood beneath.
• Romance and Terror
  Obsession. Longing. Power disguised as love. Desire that unravels the self.
• The Psychological Gothic
  Mind as maze. Dreams as weapons. Paranoia as logic.
• Isolation and Duality
  The divided self. Facades that crack. Loneliness in a connected world.
• Gender and the Corruption of Innocence
  Roles twisted, expectations broken. Power imbalances and the scars they leave.

What I Want

• Gothic poetry with a distinctly modern edge
• Psychological depth and thematic boldness
• Atmospheric, uncanny, unsettling work
• No jump scares; just slow dread
• Work that subverts, challenges, and reinvents the Gothic
• Voices from all backgrounds welcome: queer, feminist, neurodivergent, global perspectives encouraged

Submission Guideline

• Submit up to 2 poems
• A5 page size only
• Font: Times New Roman, 10pt, single-spaced
• Titles must be bolded and italicised
• Left-aligned only: justified text will be rejected
• White space is allowed and encouraged, but no shape poems
• No identifying details in the file: blind submissions only
• Work published only on social media is acceptable; no previously published poems elsewhere

Submission Fee & What It Supports

A £3 submission fee is required. This sustains the press and the integrity of what we do.

I, as editor, will not profit from submissions. The fee supports:

• Social media content creation and scheduling
• Professional cover design
• Platform tools (Zoom, Canva, etc.)
• Contributor copies for those affected by the cost-of-living crisis

All contributors will have access to copies at 50% of the cover price. This is made possible through your small, meaningful fee.

If You’re Selected

Contributors to The Havisham Steps will receive:

• A PDF copy of the finished collection
• Custom digital artwork to promote your poem
• Legacy access to our Past Contributor Directory
• A 50% discount on all contributor copies

Timeline

• Submissions open: 1 October 2025
• Submissions close: 31 October 2025
• Contributors will be contacted soon after
• Publication is scheduled for 2026
• Further launch details will be announced closer to the time

How to Submit

• Submissions will open here
• Pay your £3 submission fee via Ko-Fi
• Submit your poems according to the formatting guidelines above
• Submissions that do not meet formatting requirements may be dismissed unread

The Havisham Steps Is Waiting

This anthology will be intimate, unsettling, stylish, and strange. It will haunt, whisper, and persist. If your poem feels like a confession spoken into a locked room, it belongs here.