We are looking for speculative or fantasy flash fiction pieces (max 1,000 words), creative non-fiction (max 1,000 words), poetry (20 lines max) and artwork inspired by the translation of Dante L. Ambrosio’s Balatik: Ancient Stars of the Filipino People.

Deadline: August 31, 2026

Only open to FILIPINO-CANADIAN creatives.

Our kingdom has gone dark, the enemies have won. You've lost your map and your compass and your keys. Alone in the woods you travel, heart heavy, knowing that the future is uncertain. You look to the sky and see the heavens, and you remember voices of those present and long past. The old stars have reached the end of their life, but their light still reaches us across time and space. For we will always be together from the end to the start.

This love is our immortality, us writing our memories into the sky. In the face of this timelessness, you realize in order to do this revolutionary work, you have to be prepared to lose everything, and trust that the land will care for you as you care for it. What are those stories you hold close to your heart in times of conflict? How do they become your guiding stars?

How you heal is medicine for the collective unconscious and your inner world flourishing is resistance during this uncertain time in history. We are becoming the new council of stars, passing on our stories to the next generation.

We want to hear these collective stories and imagine a new sky together in this issue of ginger & smoke.