The Muleskinner Journal

Long journeys. Hard roads. Good times.

The journey is long, and the road is hard, but that’s why we love it. 
We publish stories and poems that keep things moving. 
That never give up.
Right Here. For Free.

Journal Eighteen
Borderlands

For Journal Eighteen, we’re on the edge.

We’re lurking in places where perspectives shift, where loyalties change, where hard decisions are made or hard realities faced. We’re in the Borderlands.

Join us. Test your allegiances. Try to make sense of the uneven ground around you. Whether these borders are defined, like a river or a road; or abstract, like a surveyor’s line of sight, the areas around these borders, the borderlands, feel different. Something is changing. We all feel it. Tell us about it. 

For Journal Eighteen, send us the stories, poems, characters, and places that take us to the outer limits, the dotted lines on the map, the portal calling us through. 

Explore these uncertain lands. Introduce us to the wells and ne’er-do-wells that live there. Bring forward the wanderers, smugglers, tricksters, translators, and shapeshifters. Banish us to the desert. Cross over.

Return us from exile.


Submissions for Muleskinner Journal Eighteen are open

Check our Submission Guidelines

Read Journal Seventeen: Peaks and Valleys here

Read Journal Sixteen: Sabotage here

Read Journal Fifteen: Tension here

Read Journal Fourteen: Handle and Spout here

Read Journal Thirteen: empty : FULL here

Read our Special Edition: Another Twist of Fate here

Read Journal Twelve: Twist of Fate here

Read Journal Eleven: Grounded here

Read Journal Ten: Reckless! here

Read Journal Nine: Glitches here

Read Journal Eight: Grace here

Read Journal Seven: Refuge here

Read Journal Six: Mirrors here

Read Journal Five: Origins here

Read Journal Four: Grit here

Read Journal Three: Loss and Gratitude here

Read Journal Two: Legacy here

Read Journal One: Long Journeys here