Ships of Hagoth is a digital-first literary magazine featuring creative nonfiction and theoretical essays by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Where other LDS-centric publications often look inward at the LDS tradition, we seek literary works that look outward through the curious, charitable lens of faith.
Ships of Hagoth is pleased to announce its first book-length message in a bottle, AND ALL ETERNITY SHOOK, by
Jacob Bender, released April 2022.
Jacob L. Bender is also the author of Modern Death in Irish and Latin American Literature (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), a work similarly rooted in his Puerto Rican mission service and his mother's passing. In LDS studies, he has previously written for Dialogue, Sunstone, Peculiar Pages, Ships of Hagoth, the Eugene England Foundation, and The Association of Mormon Letters.
Enraged, he wrestles with his God in passionate prayer as he pleads for her life; images and memories of his mission and his Mom jump, cut, and splice together in a cinematic crescendo, flashing furiously before his eyes as though he were the one dying and not her; all as he feels after some miracle, some impossibility, and the peace which surpasses understanding.
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A CALL FOR
We are hoping—for “one must needs hope”—for creative nonfiction, theoretical essays, and craft essays that seek radical new ways to explore and express theological ideas; that are, like Hagoth, “exceedingly curious.”
We favor creative nonfiction that can trace its lineage back to Michel de Montaigne. Whether narrative, analytical, or devotional, these essays lean ruminative, conversational, meandering, impressionistic, and are reluctant to wax didactic.
As for theoretical essays: we welcome work that playfully and charitably explores the wide world of arts & letters—especially works created from differing religious, non-religious, and even irreligious perspectives—through the peculiar lens of a Latter-day Saint.
We read and publish submissions as quickly as possible, and accept simultaneous submissions.
Another reason why the Sunday sabbath can be the hardest is because religion, which is supposed to be a consolation in our anxieties, can also
The prayer from the record’s liner notes itself.
When I first began teaching Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” over a decade ago, it was primarily because I was
Back during that summer after high school, I decided to not believe in God anymore. Not because of anything the Church did, mind you. Polygamy, racism
One night I had a dream wherein I analyzed the ending to Raiders of the Lost Ark in the context of Freud’s Theme of the
Ever since I wrote last week’s Beatles post, I’ve been reflecting more and more lately about that empty, motivation-less Summer after High School–when I didn’t
There should be a Joseph Smith biopic that plays it completely straight–tells the official Church-approved “faithful” history in period dress and so forth–except that it
This is the Big Kahuna–not only the first day of the week that leaves you in a mood, but the first Sunday of Year. As such, we will have to bust out the big guns: the Fab Four.
“What are we afraid of? What do men fear most? Believe it or not, it is joy. Against joy, society erects its most massive bulwarks…It
It has now been over 20 years since the year 2001 could plausibly be read as a vision of the future. Instead of space ships
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