Myths & Legends
A Hearth Stories anthology imprint

Submission call:
The Gren-Wode

This is a submission call for an anthology of stories based in the world and legends of Robin Hood. The stories do not have to feature Robin Hood, but should be firmly set within the world and time period of the legend, using any existing characters you like, or adding your own.

If you are only loosely aware of the Robin Hood legends: no worries! The Robin Hood Wikipedia article has a lot of great information that can get you going. You don't have to be a historian, British cultural expert, or Robin Hood super-fan to participate. If you have an inclination to give a story or poem a whirl, we would love to hear from you!

Submissions are open from March 1^st, 2026–September 30^th, 2026. We intend to accept works along the way, and not wait until the end to send responses to authors. The final result will be published as an ebook in multiple formats (epub, kepub, azw3, and pdf) and distributed to various online retailers. There will be no charge for this ebook, either through us or retail partners.

At a Glance

Submissions for fiction (short story/novelette), poetry, and illustration are currently open.

We accept simultaneous submissions, and are open to translations into english (of source works currently in the public domain). If you are unsure about the copyright status of a given work and want to work on a translation or adaptation, please reach out and we can help determine its copyright status.

We will not accept any work created—whole or in part—by AI, LLMs, or other generative software systems. Spell check is alright, as is assistive technology as needed for disability accomodation; reach out with any questions about this policy.

Please wait until we have responded to your submission before submitting another for a given submission type: feel free to send separate poetry and fiction submissions at the same time.

Stories will likely fall into the following genres: adventure, action, romance, historical fiction, cozy, fantasy; but if you can find a take on the setting that explores other territory, we are open to reading it so long as it fits the submission guidelines for your submission type below.

A note on magic and the Robin Hood setting: While this setting is not traditionally magical, there is room for fantasy writing within limits. I would not expect wizards shooting fireballs… but a soothsayer, fortune-teller, herbalist, hedge-witch, or other small magics could feel perfectly at home in this setting.

Fiction Submissions

There are a number of “versions” of Robin Hood. In some, he is a nobleman; in others, a yeoman. In some, he is a supporter of King Richard; in others not so much. In most, if not all, he is a supporter of the peasantry. You need not include Robin Hood as a character (though you certainly may) in your work, so long as it is set in the loose time period (1400–1600 c.e., give or take a century in either direction) and general setting (around the area of Sherwood Forest, Nottingham(shire), or the various other locations in England that have a claim to the legend). We are absolutely open to you using any existing characters or writing your own. In short: so long as it feels vaguely like a traditional story from this set of legends, we would love to read it.

We are not interested in modern settings or reimagining this set of stories in wildly different settings from the traditional ones. There is nothing wrong with ideas of that sort, they just aren't what we are going for with this anthology.

We are interested in all kinds of stories: adventure, action, cozy village/peasant stories, slice of life, romance, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, literary fiction or combinations of all of them. We are happy to read hopepunkish work in this setting, but would also be interested in grimdark. We want to run the gamut and see what is out there.

This anthology is intended for an adult audience. While we may accept works that feel YA or middlegrade, the general intention is for these to be stories for adults. As such: if you would like to include romance in your story it can get pretty steamy if you like, but maybe stop just shy of full-on erotica (rated R, but not X). Similarly, if you are wanting to do a gritty/grimdark version, go for it, but maybe stop shy of excessive and needless gore and know that we will likely have a hard time with sexual violence or cruelty to animals. Additionally, do note that we are happy to include modern themes and concepts within the traditional time period and setting. For example, we would be interested in gender-swapped characters, queer tellings, anarchist/collectivist/socialist themes, etc.

Retellings of traditional tales and new stories are both welcome. Take care in adapting stories and make sure to use source material that is in the public domain. If you have any questions about that or need help verifying that a source is public domain: reach out and ask, we'd be happy to help.

Poetry Submissions

We are accepting narrative poetry submissions for the anthology. Poets may submit up to three poems in a given submission, after that please wait until you hear back before sending more.

Please make sure that you work tells a story that is on theme. We are not open to modern settings of the characters and want the traditional setting. Aside from that, all is mostly fair game: add new characters, use existing ones, base it on an existing (but public domain) story, write your own narrative, etc.

From a style perspective, we have a soft spot for strict forms (especially villanelle). We are open to ballads, sonnets, blank verse, and many other styles. Definitely send us what you've got, we'd love to read it!

For more on themes, settings, etc. see the fiction section.

Illustration Submissions

We are not exactly taking illustration submissions. Instead, we are accepting portfolio submissions (a link is fine in this case) to see if we can find an artist to work on a few illustrations for the book as a whole.

We are looking for classic book illustration; black on white line drawing. Here are two examples (both from books intended for younger readers, but the style is more or less what we are going for, if not the subjectmatter): 1, 2.

We are offering $20/illustration, and are hoping to have a minimum of five illustrations for the book.

How to Submit

Please have your fiction or poetry in a .docx, .odt, .rtf, or .doc file. Illustration portfolio submissions should be a link in the e-mail body.

E-mail submissions to hearthstories+legends@protonmail.com with the subject line Gren-Wode Submission: [Story Name] by [Author Name]. For example: Gren-Wode Submission: Robin and the Monk by Jane Doe. In the case of poetry, feel free to just put Poems as the story name in the subject line.

In the e-mail body, be sure to include:

• The submission type (fiction, poetry, illustration)
• A word count, for fiction, or a poem count, for poetry
• A short third person bio

Then attatch your file(s). We will not accept fiction or poetry pasted into the body of the e-mail, please put it in a file and attach it.

Please do not send/include a synopsis of the story or poem(s). We have found this to universally work against an author rather than for them.

What next?

Once we receive your submission:

1. We e-mail you a form letter confirming our receipt of your submission
2. We log your submission on a spreadsheet for reading
3. When your turn comes up we read your work
4. If we are considering the work in question we might hang on to it for a few weeks before making a final decision, if we intend to pass we will e-mail you at this time
5. If we intend to publish the work we will e-mail you and check that you are still interested and send you the contract
6. Once both parties sign the contract payment is sent
7. Edit requests, usually spelling, grammar, and such, will be sent out at a later point
8. If all has gone well we publish the anthology and everyone gets to enjoy your great work alongside the great work of others!