My story, “The Three Brujas” is published in Touchdown magazine!

I read the book Born to Run years ago, and to this day it is one of my favorite running books. The book explores distance running by looking at several different cultures where running is part of the lifestyle. And no culture has a bigger love and lifestyle dedicated to running than the Tarahumara of Mexico. It’s the Tarahumara (or Raramuri) that inspired my fantasy story “The Three Brujas.”

The story follows Rahui, a young boy desperate to save his mother as she lays dying. He goes on a fifty mile run over dangerous terrain in search of a magic fire opal. I set it in the Copper Canyons of Mexico and pull details from the Tarahumara culture, even though the story itself is a complete work of fiction. It’s illustrated by Queenie Chan.

I had submitted this story to other publishers and received rejections, but after some significant edits, I submitted it to The School Magazine out of Australia, and they accepted it.

What was it like working with Touchdown?

I had worked with Touchdown (part of The School Magazine) before (my short story “The Word Miser” had been published in Touchdown last year.) and it was a good experience. They are a well-paying market, and payment was prompt. You also receive two copies of the magazine your story appears in.

This time around I had some hiccups with email and correspondence which made the process a little trickier. (I have several previous blog posts about this.) Once that problem was solved, it was smooth sailing on out.

Would I recommend submitting to The School Magazine?

Yes. As someone who has been at this for a few years, I really appreciate The School Magazine’s clear and easy guidelines, quick responses, and payments. I’ve worked with plenty of magazines that operate on a slower time line so I really appreciate how quick they are.

One thing to note is since this is an Australian magazine, if you are not an Australian citizen or resident, there will be some additional paperwork and figuring out money transfers. It’s not overly complicated, but it is an additional step if you are looking into submitting to The School Magazine.

You can check out The School Magazine here or read their guidelines here.