Magazine History

As we approach the 1 year anniversary of our founding, I thought it might be wise to outline the past year, what has changed, and what has grown. Triptych was originally an independent, small-scale journal created out of a love for weird, uncanny work, science fiction, and a sense of the New England Gothic. We were founded in November of 2025, and while the exact date escapes me, I know it was after 4 PM because it was pitch black outside. I opened for submission in November of 2025, launching a Chillsubs and Duotrope account with links back to this Google Site and a Google Form for our first Issue. 

This issue was published in April of 2026. I printed 20 hard copies, because I believe physical media on-campus is an important aspect of the college experience in any humanities department. Severe financial constraints meant we could not afford shipping contributor copies out (something we detail more in our FAQ page) but all 20 copies were distributed free of charge via a recovered, formerly abandoned newspaper stand in the Communications Department, which sits on the other side of the English Department at UMass Boston. 

On May 4th, 2026, the UMass Boston Archives reached out to us about securing a copy of Issue #1 for preservation in the Special Collections wing, and also to secure copies of any other publication released by Triptych. Between May and July of 2026 when the submission portal for Issue #2 closed and the issue was still being assembled, several important changes were carried out. 

Firstly we launched the Shorts page, this is for stories we liked a lot and either wanted to promote, couldn't fit into the theme of a journal issue, or really really liked in general. This is a space for smaller works, around 1,000 to 2,500 words and designed to be scrolled through casually, and stories once published here are there forever, unless the author in question requests we take it down. The shorts section we anticipate having open on a semi-frequent basis, so please keep an eye out for that!

Secondly, we created an 'Archives' page of our own where we list all our wonderful contributors by publication so that people can quickly and easily  find their name and their work, organized by publication date. 

Thirdly, we have begun to heavily experiment with a line of Chapbooks and novelettes. This section is very much a huge work in progress and we have only released two so far (found here). We are very interested in releasing a third once the summer slows down a little bit, and we are able to get our 'call for submissions' page up and running again.