Abridged

02/03/2026

Thanks for all the Elixir submissions. We'll get back to you as soon as we can. Our next submission call for our Parallax issue, will be made in April.

20/02/2026

Only a week left to submit! Don't be tardy!

We're pleased to present the Abridged 0 - 107: Elixir Submission Call. Poetry Required!

The elixir of life is a rumour, whispered across myriad mythologies. Something edible with miraculous properties. Something that can grant eternal youth or unending bodily life through the fundamental process of swallowing, absorbing. A bridge between the human and the divine, the mortal and the immortal, crossed by way of the mouth, understood via the structure of hunger and satiation.

A beacon in the grasped for in the churn of darkness – its emptiness, its uncertainty, its blending – Elixir is a promise of perpetuity, the continuation of what we know and are comfortable with. In real alchemical pursuits, proposed discoveries were often toxic, a confusion between precious metals and nourishment. Like gold, the promise of Elixir draws out our selfishness, distorts our perspective. The object of quests and the decision to risk your own life for more, whatever that may mean – usually at the expense of others. We have imagined it as sweet, like sugar, like milk. An echo of the infant’s blind pursuit of survival, Elixir draws out our selfishness. At the heart of the dream of elixir is the doubled notion that what we consume can transform us, or, indeed, protect us from the changes we fear.

For this issue Abridged invites submissions that speak to the various and multiplying quests for longevity playing out at different levels of contemporary culture – wide-spread and elite, biological and digital – and (as ever) what these suggest about the fears and desires that drive us. You can send up to three poems to [email protected] in Word (or similar), or if unusually formatted, in PDF format. Please also send a short bio. Don’t send anything via Google Drive. Put your name etc on the email otherwise it may end up in the Spam folder and we might not see it.

Deadline for submissions is 01st March 2026.

Image by Vinod Venkapalli:
https://www.vinodvenkapalli.com/

18/02/2026

Only ten days left to submit! Don't be tardy!

We're pleased to present the Abridged 0 - 107: Elixir Submission Call. Poetry Required!

The elixir of life is a rumour, whispered across myriad mythologies. Something edible with miraculous properties. Something that can grant eternal youth or unending bodily life through the fundamental process of swallowing, absorbing. A bridge between the human and the divine, the mortal and the immortal, crossed by way of the mouth, understood via the structure of hunger and satiation.

A beacon in the grasped for in the churn of darkness – its emptiness, its uncertainty, its blending – Elixir is a promise of perpetuity, the continuation of what we know and are comfortable with. In real alchemical pursuits, proposed discoveries were often toxic, a confusion between precious metals and nourishment. Like gold, the promise of Elixir draws out our selfishness, distorts our perspective. The object of quests and the decision to risk your own life for more, whatever that may mean – usually at the expense of others. We have imagined it as sweet, like sugar, like milk. An echo of the infant’s blind pursuit of survival, Elixir draws out our selfishness. At the heart of the dream of elixir is the doubled notion that what we consume can transform us, or, indeed, protect us from the changes we fear.

For this issue Abridged invites submissions that speak to the various and multiplying quests for longevity playing out at different levels of contemporary culture – wide-spread and elite, biological and digital – and (as ever) what these suggest about the fears and desires that drive us. You can send up to three poems to [email protected] in Word (or similar), or if unusually formatted, in PDF format. Please also send a short bio. Don’t send anything via Google Drive. Put your name etc on the email otherwise it may end up in the Spam folder and we might not see it.

Deadline for submissions is 01st March 2026.

Image by Vinod Venkapalli:
https://www.vinodvenkapalli.com/

17/02/2026

We have a very limited amount of Adrenochrome copies available from us. See https://www.abridged.zone/obtaining-abridged-donating-to-abridged/ for info! Or, you can read the web version for free and if you like it and have a spare penny or two, you can donate to us. Ta!

17/02/2026

Morning. The Derry post is pretty rubbish at the moment, so it's taken two weeks for our Abridged to arrive in Dublin. So if you haven't got yours yet, hopefully it'll arrive in the next day or two!

16/02/2026

Don't be tardy!

We're pleased to present the Abridged 0 - 107: Elixir Submission Call. Poetry Required!

The elixir of life is a rumour, whispered across myriad mythologies. Something edible with miraculous properties. Something that can grant eternal youth or unending bodily life through the fundamental process of swallowing, absorbing. A bridge between the human and the divine, the mortal and the immortal, crossed by way of the mouth, understood via the structure of hunger and satiation.

A beacon in the grasped for in the churn of darkness – its emptiness, its uncertainty, its blending – Elixir is a promise of perpetuity, the continuation of what we know and are comfortable with. In real alchemical pursuits, proposed discoveries were often toxic, a confusion between precious metals and nourishment. Like gold, the promise of Elixir draws out our selfishness, distorts our perspective. The object of quests and the decision to risk your own life for more, whatever that may mean – usually at the expense of others. We have imagined it as sweet, like sugar, like milk. An echo of the infant’s blind pursuit of survival, Elixir draws out our selfishness. At the heart of the dream of elixir is the doubled notion that what we consume can transform us, or, indeed, protect us from the changes we fear.

For this issue Abridged invites submissions that speak to the various and multiplying quests for longevity playing out at different levels of contemporary culture – wide-spread and elite, biological and digital – and (as ever) what these suggest about the fears and desires that drive us. You can send up to three poems to [email protected] in Word (or similar), or if unusually formatted, in PDF format. Please also send a short bio. Don’t send anything via Google Drive. Put your name etc on the email otherwise it may end up in the Spam folder and we might not see it.

Deadline for submissions is 01st March 2026.

Image by Vinod Venkapalli:
https://www.vinodvenkapalli.com/

14/02/2026

It's Valentine's Day! We said we'd never do a 'Love' themed issue...and we never will, so here is our Elixir Submission Call!

We're pleased to present the Abridged 0 - 107: Elixir Submission Call. Poetry Required!

The elixir of life is a rumour, whispered across myriad mythologies. Something edible with miraculous properties. Something that can grant eternal youth or unending bodily life through the fundamental process of swallowing, absorbing. A bridge between the human and the divine, the mortal and the immortal, crossed by way of the mouth, understood via the structure of hunger and satiation.

A beacon in the grasped for in the churn of darkness – its emptiness, its uncertainty, its blending – Elixir is a promise of perpetuity, the continuation of what we know and are comfortable with. In real alchemical pursuits, proposed discoveries were often toxic, a confusion between precious metals and nourishment. Like gold, the promise of Elixir draws out our selfishness, distorts our perspective. The object of quests and the decision to risk your own life for more, whatever that may mean – usually at the expense of others. We have imagined it as sweet, like sugar, like milk. An echo of the infant’s blind pursuit of survival, Elixir draws out our selfishness. At the heart of the dream of elixir is the doubled notion that what we consume can transform us, or, indeed, protect us from the changes we fear.

For this issue Abridged invites submissions that speak to the various and multiplying quests for longevity playing out at different levels of contemporary culture – wide-spread and elite, biological and digital – and (as ever) what these suggest about the fears and desires that drive us. You can send up to three poems to [email protected] in Word (or similar), or if unusually formatted, in PDF format. Please also send a short bio. Don’t send anything via Google Drive. Put your name etc on the email otherwise it may end up in the Spam folder and we might not see it.

Deadline for submissions is 01st March 2026.

Image by Vinod Venkapalli:
https://www.vinodvenkapalli.com/

13/02/2026

It's Friday the 13th! The perfect day for submitting to Abridged!

The Abridged 0 - 107: Elixir Submission Call is now out. Poetry Required! Don't be tardy!

The elixir of life is a rumour, whispered across myriad mythologies. Something edible with miraculous properties. Something that can grant eternal youth or unending bodily life through the fundamental process of swallowing, absorbing. A bridge between the human and the divine, the mortal and the immortal, crossed by way of the mouth, understood via the structure of hunger and satiation.

A beacon in the grasped for in the churn of darkness – its emptiness, its uncertainty, its blending – Elixir is a promise of perpetuity, the continuation of what we know and are comfortable with. In real alchemical pursuits, proposed discoveries were often toxic, a confusion between precious metals and nourishment. Like gold, the promise of Elixir draws out our selfishness, distorts our perspective. The object of quests and the decision to risk your own life for more, whatever that may mean – usually at the expense of others. We have imagined it as sweet, like sugar, like milk. An echo of the infant’s blind pursuit of survival, Elixir draws out our selfishness. At the heart of the dream of elixir is the doubled notion that what we consume can transform us, or, indeed, protect us from the changes we fear.

For this issue Abridged invites submissions that speak to the various and multiplying quests for longevity playing out at different levels of contemporary culture – wide-spread and elite, biological and digital – and (as ever) what these suggest about the fears and desires that drive us. You can send up to three poems to [email protected] in Word (or similar), or if unusually formatted, in PDF format. Please also send a short bio. Don’t send anything via Google Drive. Put your name etc on the email otherwise it may end up in the Spam folder and we might not see it.

Deadline for submissions is 01st March 2026.

Image by Vinod Venkapalli: https://www.vinodvenkapalli.com/
galbraith

10/02/2026

Our latest Submission Call is now open!

We're pleased to present the Abridged 0 - 107: Elixir Submission Call. Poetry Required!

The elixir of life is a rumour, whispered across myriad mythologies. Something edible with miraculous properties. Something that can grant eternal youth or unending bodily life through the fundamental process of swallowing, absorbing. A bridge between the human and the divine, the mortal and the immortal, crossed by way of the mouth, understood via the structure of hunger and satiation.

A beacon in the grasped for in the churn of darkness – its emptiness, its uncertainty, its blending – Elixir is a promise of perpetuity, the continuation of what we know and are comfortable with. In real alchemical pursuits, proposed discoveries were often toxic, a confusion between precious metals and nourishment. Like gold, the promise of Elixir draws out our selfishness, distorts our perspective. The object of quests and the decision to risk your own life for more, whatever that may mean – usually at the expense of others. We have imagined it as sweet, like sugar, like milk. An echo of the infant’s blind pursuit of survival, Elixir draws out our selfishness. At the heart of the dream of elixir is the doubled notion that what we consume can transform us, or, indeed, protect us from the changes we fear.

For this issue Abridged invites submissions that speak to the various and multiplying quests for longevity playing out at different levels of contemporary culture – wide-spread and elite, biological and digital – and (as ever) what these suggest about the fears and desires that drive us. You can send up to three poems to [email protected] in Word (or similar), or if unusually formatted, in PDF format. Please also send a short bio. Don’t send anything via Google Drive. Put your name etc on the email otherwise it may end up in the Spam folder and we might not see it.

Deadline for submissions is 01st March 2026.

Image by Vinod Venkapalli:
https://www.vinodvenkapalli.com/

08/02/2026

A new Abridged Submission Call! Don't be tardy!

We're pleased to present the Abridged 0 - 107: Elixir Submission Call. Poetry Required!

The elixir of life is a rumour, whispered across myriad mythologies. Something edible with miraculous properties. Something that can grant eternal youth or unending bodily life through the fundamental process of swallowing, absorbing. A bridge between the human and the divine, the mortal and the immortal, crossed by way of the mouth, understood via the structure of hunger and satiation.

A beacon in the grasped for in the churn of darkness – its emptiness, its uncertainty, its blending – Elixir is a promise of perpetuity, the continuation of what we know and are comfortable with. In real alchemical pursuits, proposed discoveries were often toxic, a confusion between precious metals and nourishment. Like gold, the promise of Elixir draws out our selfishness, distorts our perspective. The object of quests and the decision to risk your own life for more, whatever that may mean – usually at the expense of others. We have imagined it as sweet, like sugar, like milk. An echo of the infant’s blind pursuit of survival, Elixir draws out our selfishness. At the heart of the dream of elixir is the doubled notion that what we consume can transform us, or, indeed, protect us from the changes we fear.

For this issue Abridged invites submissions that speak to the various and multiplying quests for longevity playing out at different levels of contemporary culture – wide-spread and elite, biological and digital – and (as ever) what these suggest about the fears and desires that drive us. You can send up to three poems to [email protected] in Word (or similar), or if unusually formatted, in PDF format. Please also send a short bio. Don’t send anything via Google Drive. Put your name etc on the email otherwise it may end up in the Spam folder and we might not see it.

Deadline for submissions is 01st March 2026.

Image by Vinod Venkapalli:
https://www.vinodvenkapalli.com/

06/02/2026

The new Abridged can be found in Libraries all around Northern Ireland, including we're reliably informed, Ballycastle Library! Some copies are left in the and there are copies in the and . Copies will be available in and from early next week.

06/02/2026

We're back in that there Derry again, after a brilliant night in . Thank you for all the love of the new Abridged issue. We may be a little tired! There's a new Submission Call. Go see www.abridged.zone for info! .galbraith