A lit mag where anything interactive, ergodic, or experimental* goes.

* However you define 'experimental'

About

If Found, Return... was founded because the EIC is obsessed with found footage, second person, and "killing" the audience.If Found, Return... was founded because the EIC really wanted to read more ergodic fiction.If Found, Return... is a bi-annual literary magazine founded out of a desire to provide a space for experimental* fiction as well as nonfiction on, or about, the state of the genre—all in bite-sized flash chunks.

Masthead

  • Editor in Chief - ███, SCP-000B

  • You...?

Inspirations

Submission guidelines

Submission status: OPEN 🟢

If Found, Return... is a lit mag for experimental*, ergodic, hypertext, epistolary, interactive, "found," and un- fiction. We are also seeking nonfiction in similarly weird forms, and trailheads.We want small engines, kinetic novels, gamebooks, baby's first ARG, incoherent rants on the state of analogue horror, fake emails, hypercard, and your house of leaves clone. If it requires some effort to read, we would be happy to consider it. Don’t self-reject; if in doubt, submit.For an inkling of what we might like, see our list of inspirations.We are especially open to work from unpublished writers and beginners to the experimental form since the EIC is also beginner in many things.

  1. Email submissions to iffoundreturn [at] proton [.] me

Length

  1. Experimental* and interactive flash fiction, or nonfiction, up to 1200 words (excluding code). As of 22/06 submissions exceeding this rule will be discarded

  2. No minimum word count, so if you have a Twiny...

Format

  1. Email submissions in whatever form you deem necessary to experience your work (doc, docx, rtf, odt, txt, md, html, pdf, pptx, exe, etcetera)

  2. If you are submitting plain text, manuscripts should be formatted in Shunn Modern

  3. Submissions pasted in the body of your email are acceptable as well

  4. Please include a cover letter and a short bio written in third person. Feel free to address submissions to "Dear editor" or forgo a greeting entirely. Do not send any links though, deadass

Simultaneous & multiple submissions

  1. Both simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome

  2. In the case of multiple submissions, include all pieces in one email. Please note only one piece will be accepted from each writer per volume

  3. If we accept your work, please withdraw it from other avenues until the end of IFR's exclusivity period. Likewise, if your work is accepted elsewhere, inform us as soon as possible (and congratulations)

Reprints

  1. We accept reprints only if the work:

  • is not available on a public platform like itch.io or your own website

  • was published more than one year ago

  1. Please indicate the date and avenue of first publication so we can properly credit it

Payment

  1. If Found, Return... offers $10 CAD for each piece accepted

Responses

  1. As IFR is a single entity volunteer-run operation, we aim to respond within 90 days. If you have not heard back after 4 months, send a query with 'QUERY' in the subject line

  2. There is no submission grace period. If accepted, feel free to send in more work right away. No need to wait

Rights

  1. If Found, Return... will purchase exclusive first world-wide electronic rights up to three (3) months following publication; non-exclusive electronic rights thereafter to continue hosting accepted works on IFR's itch.io page. Writers retain full copyright over their works

  2. Some pieces also have the option to be archived at the IF Archive

LLMs & GenAI

  1. No

  2. Fuck you

  3. We do not care if it's an "artistic choice" or you run it locally on your device using your own art. Until "AI" no longer materially harms quite literally everyone on this bitch of an earth, do not send that shit in. Make it by hand, even if it's ugly*

* Especially if it's ugly

Contact

If you have queries or questions, please fill out the form below.

Volunteers

As a new market, If Found, Return... is constantly on the look out for slush readers and volunteer editors. If you are interested in reading or editing, get in touch through the contact form above.