In The Art of Fiction, John Gardner observes that there are only two types of stories: a hero leaves the nest or a stranger comes to town. The joke, of course, is that these stories are one and the same.

For our ninth issue, Journeys, we are looking for work that reimagines and reinterprets these stories, work that challenges the primacy they have on our narratives, work that engages with the geography of movement or with the movement of geography. Consider the many possible journeys and their maps:

A-to-B, acid trips, The Aeneid, The Age of Discovery, The Apollo Program, ascensions & descents, circuits, diaspora, Don Quixote, dromomania, Easy Rider (1969), El Camino de la Muerte / Yungas, exile, exodus, exploration, geodesics, globalization, the Great Migration, Hajj & Umrah, Hawaiʻiloa, The Hero’s Journey, The Holy Mountain (1973), homecomings, hunts, Ibn Battuta, immigration & emigration, isochronic maps, journeymen, junkets, Junrei (巡礼), the knight-errant / white knight, Leif Ericson, the Lewis & Clark expedition, lost expeditions, maiden voyages, The Middle Passage, National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), nomadism, odysseys, The Oregon Trail, the Prodigal Son, Rōnin (浪人), Route 66, The Road Less Traveled, road trips, rush hour, The Silk Road, Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay, spawning, Stalker (1979), tele/commuting, the Trans-Siberian Railway, The Trail of Tears, trafficking, travel writing, Vasco de Gama, Voyages extraordinaires, walkabout, wanderlust, white flight, wild goose chases

Issue IX will be published October 2018. To learn how to contribute, read our submissions guidelines.