An Invitation - “A Score and More of Cabin Ideas”

Hi friend,

I’m writing to invite you to contribute to THIRTY CABINS, a new collaborative fiction project that seeks to reimagine—and re-inhabit—a century-old book of vacation cabins through short stories.

Sunset’s Cabin Plan Book was published in 1918. The book includes plans for 30 vacation cabins, along with some suggestions for how to go about building them. In my revamped version of the book, each of the 30 cabins will be accompanied by a very short story (see the list of contributors here). The idea is for fiction to inhabit these forgotten cabins and bring them back to life.

But there’s another section of the book that I simply cannot leave out of our revamped version. It’s called A Score and More of Cabin Ideas, and it is as strange as it is practical. (I’m looking at you, hat rack made out of a buck!) I’d be honored if you’d consider contributing a short piece of fiction (~500 words) inspired by an illustration (or several illustrations) in this section.

Each writer will be paid $100 for their ~500-word story, and the deadline to submit is May 1, 2026.

The story doesn’t have to describe the object or its function in detail or anything like that (though it can)—I’d rather you focus on the story itself. Just to give some examples of what I mean as I browse the illustrations, you might consider: what/who’s hiding in the underground cooler? what if the trapdoor was jammed? what else can that skillet clock be used for? OR you could imagine alternative objects. For instance, if your story is set in 2026, your character might find a hidden Ring camera in the bedroom, or maybe your story is set in the future and an entry in the guestbook tells us what the world is like at that time. Hope that gives you an idea of what I’m looking for — I trust you to come up with something great, and I’m always happy to toss around ideas with you if that'd be helpful.

I plan to publish the stories online and in print this summer. The book will be printed on Risograph. Digitally, I plan to release the stories serially, in a time-boxed, pop-up newsletter. I’ll probably do this around the time the zine is set to be released. I will keep all contributors updated on the plan as things progress.

I started this project out of my love for the Cabin Plan Book and for the writers in my community I’ve come to know and admire, which includes you. I hope you’ll join us!

Let me know if you’d be interested in contributing?

All my best from rainy Portland,

Josh