Calls for Submission: CLOSED
Strange Wars, Strange Religion, and Wight Christmas are now closed to submissions.
Strange Religion - Call for Submissions
Strange Religion: Speculative Fiction of Spirituality, Belief, and Practice
Strange Religion thoughtfully and respectfully explores religious traditions and ideas through speculative fiction. These are stories about the rituals, theology, and spirituality of aliens, AI, and the denizens of fantastic worlds depicted by scripture and religious folklore.
How do Muslims on other planets pray and perform the hajj? How would AI worship or read scripture? How would interreligious dialogue change if shamanic magic turned out to be real? What would the Bible be like if it were written by elves? How would the Buddha get by today? Suppose the remains of Krishna were found—what then? What if prophets didn't only see the future but were from the future?
These stories depict religion with the complexity it has in the real world, where gods aren’t just plot devices to create political tension or to give characters magical powers. They delve into the struggles of adherents of tomorrow’s religions and religions that might have been.
Strange Religion fills a lacuna in the field of speculative short fiction, which often does not treat religion with sufficient depth and thoughtfulness. These stories reconsider theological topics—incarnation, reincarnation, revelation, miracles, and the like—through the lens of science fiction and fantasy. They put religion in dialogue with other human activities, including science, philosophy, and art. With nuance, they engage religious themes and ideas through thoughtful and engaging narratives.
Details:
-
Pay: CAD 2c/word for originals; 50% rate for reprints
-
Rights sought: worldwide print and digital rights, exclusive for a period of 3 months for originals, and non-exclusive for reprints
-
Reprints allowed: yes, reprints are allowed, and paid at half the rate of originals
-
Multiple submissions allowed: no, only one submission is allowed
-
Simultaneous submissions allowed: yes, just please let us know promptly if it is accepted elsewhere
-
Length: up to 7500 words
-
Submission window: CLOSED
Strange Wars - Call for Submissions
Strange Wars: Speculative Fiction of Coalitions in Conflict
Strange Wars explores military conflict through speculative fiction. These are stories with an original take on organized aggression.
For science fiction stories about war: What will warfare look like in a hundred years? How will technology reshape war? Will they still be fought on traditional battlefields, or will completely new frontiers open? Will the major parties to conflict change? Will wars between nation states be replaced by corporate wars, proxy wars, and insurgent conflicts? We are interested in stories that explore military implications of: drones, Lunar and Martian colonies (or expansion into space generally), cryptocurrency, privatized military forces, non-state actors in military conflict, 3D-printing, hacking, environmental catastrophe, renewable energy sources, artificial intelligence, and other themes.
For fantasy war stories about war: How can magic, gods, parallel worlds, or otherworldly societies reshape our conception of war? Are other forms of organized conflict possible? Can such fantastic visions serve as thought experiments and expand our understanding of conflict? What kind of magic could make a world without war possible? If it's not possible, why not? If it is, at what cost? These fantasy stories explore war through speculative world-building, inventing fantastic premises and revealing their consequences through exciting and entertaining narratives.
Details:
-
Pay: CAD 2c/word for originals; 50% rate for reprints
-
Rights sought: worldwide print and digital rights, exclusive for a period of 3 months for originals, and non-exclusive for reprints
-
Reprints allowed: yes, reprints are allowed, and paid at half the rate of originals
-
Multiple submissions allowed: no, only one submission is allowed
-
Simultaneous submissions allowed: yes, just please let us know promptly if it is accepted elsewhere
-
Length: up to 7500 words
- Submission window: CLOSED
Wight Christmas - Call for Submissions
OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS: For one week only starting March 15th, 2021
Wight Christmas is an anthology of holiday horror, and in particular stories that subvert Christmas tropes and seasonal clichés. We are seeking dark reinterpretations of seasonal traditions, and stories that reimagine holiday characters as ghosts, demons, spirits, supernatural entities, or other paranormal phenomena.
Fantasy and science fiction genres are both okay, but in all cases, submissions are more likely to be successful if they are dark and subversive.
No Krampus.
Details:
- Length: up to 5000 words
- Genre: Christmas/horror
- Pay: CAD 1/2 CENT per word for originals; 50% for reprints (i.e. CAD 1/4 CENT per word)
- Reprints allowed: Yes (paid at 50% the rate of originals)
- Multiple submission allowed: No, send your best shot
- Simultaneous submissions: Yes, just please tell us if it is accepted elsewhere
- Rights sought: worldwide print and digital rights, exclusive for three months for originals, non-exclusive for reprints
- Poetry allowed: Yes, paid at a rate of CAD 1 cent / word for originals; reprints are paid at 50% the rate of originals.
Submission Window: CLOSED
Additional Information:
Q: Does it have to be typical white North American Christian Christmas tropes? Are other traditions okay?
A: Other traditions are okay, but these are much more likely to be successful if you are an #ownvoices writer. Subverting tropes of the dominant/majority culture is great because it’s punching up; subverting tropes of minority cultures is something we’d prefer to leave to people from those cultures. For this reason, if you are subverting tropes outside of the majority culture, please mention briefly in your cover letter if it is an #ownvoices story.
Q: Does it have to be ghosts or demons or spirits? What about aliens or genetically mutated freaks or trans-dimensional visitors?
A: All of those science fiction ideas are fair game, as long as you are using them to subvert Christmas tropes. Also, make sure to make it dark.
Q: What do you consider horror? What does a story need to fit your vision?
A: Horror is anything that aims primarily to create a feeling of unease. Horror can work on many levels of unease, either independently or in combination, whether it is visceral disgust, recoil at pain, fear of physical harm or death, existential angst, body horror, etc. As long as the reader is creeped out in some way, we’ll probably consider it effective horror.
Q: Any tips for getting accepted?
A: Get to the start of the story as quickly as possible. If you’re taking several pages for your setup, you need to cut it, because it’s probably going to get rejected. This is the most common reason for rejection.
Q: No Krampus? Really?
A: Yes. No Krampus.
Speculative North
CURRENT STATUS: Speculative North magazine is currently closed to general submissions. We anticipate opening again approximately August 2021.
Submission details:
- Rights sought: worldwide print and digital rights, exclusive for a period of 1 month for originals, and non-exclusive for reprints
- Length: up to 7500 words
- Pay: CAD 2c/word for originals; 50% rate for reprints
- Reprints allowed: yes, reprints are allowed, and paid at half the rate of originals
- Multiple submissions allowed: no, only one submission is allowed
- Simultaneous submissions allowed: yes, just please let us know promptly if it is accepted elsewhere
- How to submit: submit using our submission form, which will be available when the submission window is open.