Step right up!
From the first exhilarating drop of a roller coaster to the fading lights of a carousel at closing time, amusement parks are places where fantasy and reality collide.
Red Penguin Books is seeking poems, essays, and short stories, both fiction and nonfiction, that explore the magic, mystery, nostalgia, and mayhem of amusement parks.
We welcome stories of childhood wonder, summer romance, family vacations, unforgettable adventures, and the people who make these extraordinary places come alive. But we’re equally interested in what happens behind the magic: the exhausted employees, the abandoned attractions, the unsettling secrets, and the moments when the illusion begins to crack.
Whether your work takes place at a sprawling theme park, a seaside boardwalk, a traveling carnival, or a forgotten amusement park reclaimed by nature, we want to experience the ride.
We welcome writing that is humorous, heartbreaking, fantastical, frightening, deeply personal, or wonderfully strange.
Genres accepted: Poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and personal essays.
The only requirement: Your work must meaningfully feature an amusement park, either as its setting or as a central element of its subject matter.
So grab your ticket, take your seat, and keep your hands and arms inside the ride.
