Deadline: August 15th, 2018
Payment: 6 cents per word

Welcome to A Punk Rock Future. Get ready for an anthology from Zsenon Publishing that will feature flash fiction as fast as a punk rock song as well as longer stories, all with a gut punch and revealing a punk rock future.

You may ask yourself: Are we already in this punk rock future or did it die in the late 1970s? Or is it still coming?

We’ll find out soon in this anthology…

So you may have thought Punk Rock was going to change the world. That Punk RULES.

Or are we still here with…

Either way, we’re looking for stories from you that will explore this future, whether it’s near or far away. We’d like to see dystopias, utopias, or something in-between; anything with a punk rock sensibility/ethos; alternative history; the promise of punk; the failure of punk; music-inspired stories; science fiction; fantasy; or horror. No matter the genre label, stories must have a speculative element. This isn’t an anthology of steampunk, solarpunk, silkpunk, ecopunk (those are all fine genres), or whatever punk. We won’t rule out stories that touch on those niches but be warned: Stories should be the real deal, punk punk.

Surprise and amaze us. A punk strain runs through SFFH so we know that great stories are out there. Want a recent fantastic example? The Big So-So by Erica Satifka. Unfortunately, you can’t get Satifka’s short story online but you might pick up this issue of Interzone to see what we like. Or read Sarah Pinsker’s 2015 Nebula Award winner Our Lady of the Open Road, published in Asimov’s. It, too, has the vibe we want.

In A Punk Rock Future, the shortest of these stories will be confined to the 350-500 word range, which would span about three minutes if the story is read aloud. We want stories that howl like Exene Cervenka, charge ahead like Death’s drums, and roar out on a quick, high note like a Clash solo. After all, the Ramones rarely wrote songs over three minutes—although the seminal punk band penned a couple songs over four minutes long, so we might stretch it some. These flash fictions still must be stories though, which is indeed possible to do well in 500 words. Short stories, which will make up the bulk of the anthology, will top out at 6,000 words.

Almost all of the stories will come straight outta the garage, the slush pile, which seems like the punk thing to do. A few stories may be solicited from the punkiest of punk writers.

We want diverse fiction from any and all demographics of people and about any and all demographics of people.

Some sorta kickstarter-y thing is in the plans to help pay the writers, or maybe pay ‘em more. We will pay pro rates of at least 6 cents a word.

Hey, ho. What are you waiting for? Get writing and submit starting now until the August 15, 2018 deadline. Let’s go.

IN SHORT

Genres: science fiction, fantasy, horror (all stories must have a speculative element, even the horror).

Word count: 350-6000 words.

Pay rate: 6 cents per word, professional rate as deemed by Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Multiple submissions: No.

Simultaneous submissions: No.

Reprint submissions: Don’t submit reprints. In rare cases maybe, but query first and only if it’s an exceptional story.

Estimated Response Time: Fast as possible.

Submission Deadline: August 15, 2018.

Estimated Publication Date: Summer 2019.

BIG NO-NO’s

No torture, adult content.

Stay away from the well-trodden, so:

1. No Vampires
2. No Zombies

Slush piles are overrun by zombies and vampires. Don’t submit those stories. They’ll be rejected instantaneously.

HOW WILL IT BE PUBLISHED?

The anthology will be published as a book, both paper and ebook.

We’ll be buying first worldwide print and electronic rights in English, with an exclusivity period of six months. Payment on publication.

HOW DO I SUBMIT?

Submissions to: [email protected]

Standard Manuscript Format please. Doc, docx or rtf.

Subject line of email should read: SUBMISSION – Your Name – Your Story Title

OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS: May 1 – August 15, 2018.

Via: Zsenon Publishing.