Deadline: February 4th, 2018
Payment: * cents (CA)/word.
Edited by Andrea D. Lobel and Mark Shainblum
Historian Thomas Cahill, author of The Gifts of the Jews (Knopf, 1999) claimed that the Jews invented the very concept of history. They were the first, he said, to perceive time not as an endless circle of life, death and rebirth, but as the flight of an arrow, on a linear path to somewhere from somewhere.
However, what if time is not one arrow, but a volley of arrows? What if there are other timelines, other histories, other Jews? Would they still have a covenant with the one God? What would have become of their triumphs? Their defeats? Their suffering and their successes?
Award-winning author/editors Andrea D. Lobel and Mark Shainblum propose to answer this question in Other Covenants, the first-ever anthology of Jewish alternate history, to be published by ChiZine Publications in Fall 2019!
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Submission window: August 28, 2017 at 12:01 AM Eastern Time to Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
Open to submissions by authors of all backgrounds, from anywhere in the world.
Stories must be in the alternate history genre and must be clearly relevant to the theme of the anthology.
Length: 500–15,000 words. There are relatively few spots for stories at the high end, so please query first if you think your story will go long.
Preference will be given to stories previously unpublished in English, however, we will consider previously published stories on a case-by-case basis.
NEW: Also open to poetry submissions. Original poems on theme. No more than 2 pages (8.5 x 11) in length. (Maximum word count set arbitrarily to 2,000 words as system won’t allow max lines or pages.) No need to double-space.
Submissions may be made in English or French. Author is responsible for translations into English after acceptance.
English-language translations of stories from other languages (published or unpublished) are welcome, but we can only accept submissions in English or French.
Multiple submissions welcome; up to two stories maximum per author, sent under separate cover.
We prefer no simultaneous submissions, please (we promise to respond promptly).
Initial responses (rejections, holds, and rewrite requests) within 30 days of submission; final responses no later than 30 days after the deadline.
Payment is 8 cents per word in Canadian funds. (SFWA qualifying after exchange to US funds).
File formats accepted: .docx, .doc, or .rtf.
Formatting: indented paragraphs; italics in italics (not underlined); Canadian spelling; use # (or other unambiguous symbol) to indicate scene breaks; no headers, footers, or pagination; no outlandish formatting, please; full contact info (name, street address, email, phone number) and word count on the first page. That said, don’t fret too much about formatting; good fiction is what’s most important. (Correct spelling also counts.)
Please include a cover letter with a brief author bio, title of story, and full contact info, including street address.
Please do not summarize or describe the story in the cover letter.
To be published by ChiZine Publications in Fall 2019.
Rights: First World Rights, including audio and translation rights. (NOTE: CZP has a foreign rights agent who will be presenting the anthology in foreign markets.)
NOTE ON PSEUDONYMS: we will only publish one story per author, even if you write under several names; please use your real name on all correspondence and indicate your pseudonym in the cover letter and on the byline of the story itself.
NOTE ON SUBJECT MATTER: Any book dealing with the Jewish people, Jewish history and Israel will, by definition, be controversial. We welcome controversy and politics, but don’t forget that this is a fiction anthology. Telling good stories takes first, second and third place. Submissions that grind axes loud enough to drown out the story are unlikely to be accepted.
Questions or queries: [email protected]. Please don’t submit stories via email, as noted above.
A WORD ABOUT THE ALTERNATE HISTORY GENRE
Other Covenants is open to authors of every background, and for those of you who may not be familiar with alternate history, here’s a quick thumbnail sketch of the genre.
A popular sub-genre of speculative fiction, alternative history weaves fictional narratives into the “what-if”s of the past, and explores the infinite number of historical roads not taken in the past, present or future.
The Collins English Dictionary defines alternative history as “a genre of fiction in which the author speculates on how the course of history might have been altered if a particular historical event had had a different outcome.” According to Steven H. Silver, an American science fiction editor, alternate history requires three things:
1. A point of divergence from the history of our world prior to the time at which the author is writing
2. A change that would alter history as it is known
3. An examination of the ramifications of that change
Although alternate history is related to counterfactual history, it is distinct from it. The latter term is used by historians to refer to the academic, non-literary, question “what could have happened if . . .”.
Now please don’t take the above as prescriptive or proscriptive. We understand that boundaries are vague, definitions are fuzzy, and the distinction between an alternate history and a counterfactual may be entirely in the eye of the beholder. But whatever voice you write in, please keep in mind that first and foremost we are looking for stories about characters.
Also, though alternate history originated as a sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy and may incorporate tropes like the many-worlds theory, parallel universes, time travel, mysticism and magic, these are notrequirements. Use them if you want to, don’t use them if you don’t. The only speculative element required is the break from history as we know it, and the effect of that break on the Jewish people.
THE KIND OF THEMES WE MIGHT EXPLORE:
Please don’t take these as prescriptive or proscriptive either, the whole canvas of Jewish history is open to you—Biblical, historical and mythological:
What if • the Holocaust had never happened? What if • Joseph’s brothers had not sold him into slavery in Egypt? What if • The State of Israel had been established in Uganda? Or Germany? What if • Jesus’ followers had not broken with Judaism? What if • The Jews had proselytized their faith door-to-door for a thousand years? What if • The Romans had not destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple? What if • Judaism became the dominant Western religion, but was riven by conflicts between the Temple priesthood and reformist rabbis who put the Torah and prayer before Temple ritual and sacrifice? What if • The Spanish Inquisition had never occurred? What if • Napoleon had not smashed down Europe’s ghetto walls? What if • The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were reality . . . in some other universe?
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Andrea D. Lobel has been a writer and editor for over a decade, winning two awards for her work.
An ordained rabbi and university lecturer, she holds an M.A. in Religious Studies (McGill University), and a Ph.D. in Religion (Concordia University), specializing in the history of religion and science, astronomy and religion, celestial mythologies, calendars, magic, and religious authority in Judaism, as well as in the Hebrew Bible and its ancient Near Eastern context.
Her book, Under a Censored Sky: Astronomy and Rabbinic Authority in the Talmud Bavli and Related Literature, is forthcoming from Brill Publishers in 2018–19.
Mark Shainblum was born and raised in Montreal, where he and illustrator Gabriel Morrissette co-created the acclaimed comics series Northguard and Angloman with Gabriel Morrissette. Northguard has recently been revived by Chapterhouse Comics in Toronto.
In addition to writing comics, Mark has published science fiction in various magazine and anthology markets including On Spec and Island Dreams: Montreal Writers of the Fantastic. As an editor, he co-edited Arrowdreams: An Anthology of Alternate Canadas with John Dupuis in 1998 and Superhero Universe: Tesseracts Nineteen in 2016 with Claude Lalumière.
Mark shared an Aurora Award with John Dupuis in 1999 for Arrowdreams, and in 2016 he was inducted into the Joe Shuster Awards Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame.
Mark and Andrea live in Ottawa with their daughter.
Deadline: September 29th, 2017
Payment: 6 cents per word
Note: A 2-for-1! I just found out about these listings and as the deadline is coming up I wanted to do a bonus post to get them before your eyes ASAP!
Continuing the success of our previous call for submissions, we’re looking for around twenty to thirty short stories by contemporary writers to complement a selection of classic tales in two new anthologies. We are keen to encourage new writers, without prejudice to age, background or previous publication history. It’s the story that matters, and the quality of writing.
Alien Invasion: Visitors from other planets have long obsessed us. H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds spawned a huge wave of speculative fiction but the roots of such fears run deep in our literature, where the mysteries of other cultures have long threatened the familiar and the comfortable. Did aliens build the ancient pyramids? Do they live amongst us today? What happens when they invade? Would it be an inevitable act of aggression, one of assistance and care, or simply a reminder of our paltry existence in a crowded universe?
Endless Apocalypse: Stories of the end of civilized life have always fascinated us, from the mythological world endings – Armageddon and Ragnarok – to the flood stories from across the Ancient world. They make us wonder what we would do if all around us came to an end – no transport, no fuel, no communications, a retreat into the desperation, the onslaught of disease – how would we survive?
Formal Call for Submissions (2017)
We are looking for new and recent short stories. We do not require exclusivity. You hold copyright, licensing us just for this publication. We don’t mind if your story has been previously published online or in print (though we do need to know publication and date). Simultaneous submissions are fine, but you must have the right to license your story in an anthology.
Word length is most likely to be successful at 2000–4000, but we will still read stories slightly outside this range.
We pay Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) rates of 6 cents per word.
We would prefer to pay via PAYPAL because bank charges to the US and Canada in particular can be crippling for all concerned.
Payment will be made within 30 days of the final advertised publication date (see our website, flametreepublishing.com for details), although we might choose to pay some early.
Submission does not imply the right to publication. Each story will be read and assessed by the selection panel.
Please submit in .doc or .rtf formats, double spaced, with your name and email address in the footer or header of each page.
We will aim to read each story and confirm its status within 30 working days of the submission deadline.
The anthologies will be published worldwide, available online and to bookstores worldwide, in print and ebook formats.
You can submit more than one story, and to each collection.
The selection will be made by our group of life-long, in-house enthusiasts: Nick Wells (Publisher), Laura Bulbeck (Senior Editor) and Josie Mitchell, Gillian Whitaker and Cat Taylor. If required, the final selection will be mediated by our series editors. We try to keep everyone up-to-date as much as possible with occasional email updates.
A Word about the SFWA
To confirm, we became an SFWA qualifying market last year, so being published by us will help your status with them of course, but also with other readers and writers.
About Flame Tree Publishing
Now over 25 years old we started in 1992, covering a wide range of art and culture titles, with a strong vein of highly-illustrated Gothic and Fantasy books, notebooks and art calendars. Our Gothic Dreams books include Necronomicon, Steampunk, Dystopia, our large format titles Gothic Art, Fantasy Art and Dragon Art are sumptuous, and we publish gothic fiction reprints by Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and more, in our Flame Tree 451 imprint. 2017 also sees the publication of a true labour of love: the all-new Astounding History of Science Fiction.
Our anthologies are designed to be read in print. They look and feel fantastic. You’ll feel proud to hand them to your friends, family, colleagues – so do send us your story!
Thank you, and good luck. We look forward to reading your tales of imagination.
We have no formula for fiction. We are looking for stories that will appeal to science fiction and fantasy readers. The SF element may be slight, but it should be present. We prefer character-oriented stories. We receive a lot of fantasy fiction, but never enough science fiction or humor. Do not query for fiction; send the entire manuscript. We publish fiction up to 25,000 words in length. Please read the magazine before submitting. A sample copy is available for $7.00 in the US and $15.00 elsewhere (to NJ address).
We do not accept simultaneous submissions. Please type your manuscript on clean white bond, double spaced, with one inch margins. For a good article on standard manuscript preparation, see www.sfwa.org/2008/11/manuscript-preparation/ . Put your name on each page, and enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Writers from abroad are encouraged to send recyclable manuscripts with a letter-sized SASE and an International Reply Coupon or $1.10 in US postage. You can obtain information on how to place an international order by going to faq.usps.com and enter “postal store – International Orders” in the search box then the top entry in resulting list of links provides the necessary details.
We prefer not to see more than one submission from a writer at a time.
Allow 8 weeks for a response. Please write and enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope if you have any questions.
Payment is 7-12 cents per word on acceptance. We buy first North American and foreign serial rights and an option on anthology rights. All other rights are retained by the author.
Our columns and non-fiction articles are assigned in house. We do not accept freelance submissions in those areas.
Since we use so little art—just six covers a year, no interiors—we have no separate artist’s guidelines. Please send art samples to Gordon Van Gelder at the address below.
Send cartoon queries as well as orders for sample copies to Gordon Van Gelder, Fantasy & Science Fiction, P.O. Box 3447, Hoboken, NJ 07030.
Send story submissions to C.C. Finlay – Editor, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, P.O. Box 8420, Surprise, AZ 85374. You can submit stories to him online at submissions.ccfinlay.com/fsf/
Deadline: January 15th, 2018
Payment: 6 cents per word
Accepting submissions for the anthology Mind Candy.
Payment for acceptance will be 6 cents a word. Plan is to accept submission on this until Jan 15th 2018.
I will be looking for original short speculative fiction, up to 5000 words, that in some way address the intricacies of the mind. Mind control, mind augmentation, multiple memories, mental powers, or any other idea where mental oddities are key to the story line. I prefer science fiction, but will consider any speculative fiction that is not too depressing, violent or graphic. Email submissions to [email protected]
I prefer .doc or .rtf, will accept .docx Standard double space formatting. Please include contact information (name, address, email, and phone) on both the email and in the header of the work. No simultaneous submissions.
Depending on submission quantities, reprints may be accepted after October 31st.
After the anthology is completed I plan on accepting proposals for completed full length works, (100 to 200 or so pages/ approx. 30,000 to 60,000 words)
While I specialize in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and these genres will generally get the fastest attention, I am open to any type of writing.
Deadline: September 30th, 2017
Payment: 0.06 per word and a contributor’s copy
Tales of Ruma is an anthology of stories inspired by Greek and Roman mythology. Some of the stories are set in the world of the Ruma: Dawn of Empire tabletop role playing game, while others are in worlds of their own, perhaps even alternate versions of Earth. The anthology will be released in paperback and electronic (epub and mobi) format, with potentially a hardcover limited edition.
Submission Window: August 15 – September 30, 2017.
Length: 500-5000 words.
What We Want: Original stories set in the world of Ruma, Earth, or another world, which build upon the themes (such as heroism, the gods, and the arcane) and imagery of Greek and Roman mythology. Please see below for additional details on the world of Ruma. Stories set in the world of Ruma do not have to meet any exact criteria as the world is fluid so anything can fit somewhere.
What We Don’t Want: We would rather not see anything overly sexual or with excessive violence/swearing. The audience level is teen and above.
Send Submissions To: Please send submissions to seneschal at azurekeep dot com, with “Tales of Ruma Submission” in the subject line. Limit of 1 submission per author.
Payment: $0.06 per word + contributor copy (paperback and electronic). Payment upon acceptance via PayPal.
Rights Sought: First Worldwide print and electronic English language rights. Exclusivity for 90 days from date of release. Non-exclusive print, ebook, and audio rights afterward. Copyrights for stories set in the world of Ruma remain with the author.
About the world of Ruma: Ruma is an alternate Roman Empire set on an alternate version of Earth where the gods and magic are real. The RPG is set at the beginning of the Ruman Empire, somewhat akin to 0 A.D. on Earth. Hellas (Greece) has been reduced to ruins as Hellene magi opened portals to Hel and the Outer Realms to stop a Persyan invasion (known as the Sundering). Aegypt, also known as the Eternal Kingdom, has been ruled by the Pharaoh (rumored to be a Lich) for centuries. Their armies are archaic but augmented by magi and massive stone constructs. The Kell or Kellic people (based on Celtic society) and their mystical forests encroach upon Ruma from the west. Other cultures include the Normen (precursor to Vikings), Heermen (Germanic tribes), and the missing people of Atlantys.
The Ruman pantheon is the same as the Roman pantheon, with Iuppiter ruling Mount Olympos (which has been moved to the hills south of the city of Ruma after the Sundering of Hellas). The only big difference is Mars, who is more of a god of violence and murder than a god of war. Minerva (Athena) is the prominent goddess of war and tactics, and is venerated by the Ruman military.
Have a main character that a middle grade reader (ages 8-12) can identify with;
Show a diverse set of real characters;
Are well written, fun to read, and encourage a love of reading science fiction;
Tell of adventure, space, science. Give us rockets, robots and alien encounters, and we’re pretty happy; Steampunk, time travel, weird west and alternate history are all fine;
Are between 3,000 and 6,000 words.
To be super clear – we’re looking science fiction, in all its variants. While we love fantasy as well, please don’t submit fantasy stories for this anthology.
We’re especially looking for stories:
Of adventure! We love a good dystopia as much as the next robot, but remember – this is the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide;
Where the main character is of a population that has traditionally been under-represented in science fiction, e.g. girls, people of color, differently abled people;
Where the main character has agency, exercises it, and isn’t just along for the ride.
We are strong supporters of both the #weneeddiversebooks and #ownvoices movements.
We’re not interested in:
Stories where the female characters primarily exist to be rescued or as a prize for the males;
Stories where the primary plot or subplot is romantic in nature;
Stories with graphic violence or any form of sexual activity;
Stories with any violence towards animals;
Stories about the first girl to do X, surprising everyone;
Stories that depict any ethnicity or gender as universally bad or stupid.
Please note: although we’re aware kids have a wide and varied vocabulary, we’d prefer not to have swearing in the stories. If your story has swearing, please rephrase before submitting.
Submission deadline, mechanics and planned schedule:
Anthology will be open for submissions from July 1, 2017 – December 31, 2017, with a reading period of January and February 2018.
While we prefer original stories, if you have something perfect that had a limited run elsewhere, query us and we’ll talk;
Acceptance notices will be sent by March 30, 2018;
In the summer we will launch a crowd-funding campaign to help with pre-publication costs. Regardless of results of crowd-funding campaign, we are committed to publishing the anthology. We’ve successfully funded the previous three anthologies this way, chances are favorable.
Rights and Payments:
Authors will be provided with a complete Anthology Contract for review and consideration with the notice of accepted submissions.
In keeping with SWFA’s guidelines, we pay $0.06/word on final edited word count for one-year exclusive worldwide English rights and nonexclusive right to republish, print, or reprint the complete anthology in any language or format after the first year, print and electronic, and two contributor copies. Payment upon final edit.
If the crowd-funding fails, please note that we are still committed to this anthology, and will find other ways to fund the project. However, there may be delays. If authors feel the need to withdraw their submission due to delays, we understand.
We will provide professional editing, primarily for issues of grammar and spelling.
If authors have other questions about rights or payments, please contact us before submission. We want to make sure all concerns are addressed.
