Stelliform Press Is Open For Novella Submissions

Payment: 2¢ CAD per word advance, plus royalties

Currently Seeking

Stelliform Press is open to original novella submissions beginning January 1, 2020. We are also looking for cover artists.

What is a Stelliform story?

We are seeking to publish science fiction, fantasy, quiet horror and literary novellas with speculative elements (17,500–39,999 words), novels (70,000–100,000 words), and short story collections (40,000–60,000 words) which build narratives around climate change and its resultant ecological destruction, and acknowledges the work necessary to live within the problems Western lifestyles have created. All manuscripts submitted must have a science fictional or fantastic element; non-fiction must be speculative. Narratives should be interrelational, demonstrating some ways in which the environment changes us (and others) just as we change it. Please see our About the Press page and our blog for more information.

How much do we pay?

Currently, we pay a 2¢ CAD per word advance, plus royalties. We acknowledge that this is a low rate of pay. As a new press, we are working on securing grants and planning fundraising campaigns in order to pay authors more in the future.

What rights are we buying?

Currently we are buying first world English electronic and print rights. As we grow, we will also consider audiobook rights. Our contract includes clauses for rights reversion in different situations should the author and/or publisher wish to terminate their relationship.

Manuscript Wish List

The following are some approaches we would love to see in our Inbox:

Fiction MSWL

• Stories written by Indigenous authors which bring Indigenous and Western science into conversation (even if the conversation is difficult and unresolved).
• Stories written by BIPOC authors which fuse specific cultures and/or ways of life rooted to a specific community with a means of ameliorating or coping with life in a climate changed world.
• Stories written by trans and queer authors which fuse specific ways of life rooted to a specific community with a means of ameliorating or coping with life in a climate changed world.
• Stories that embrace the incorporation of far-flung technologies as part of an ecologically relational life; technology CAN be bad, but it can’t be ONLY bad.
• Stories of uneasy allies which get into the complexities of that difficult relation.
• Stories which explore nonviolence while acknowledging the privilege inherent in the nonviolent position; stories which explore unusual ways to mitigate violence.
• Stories set in space that are connected to Earth through myths or legends that tangibly affect the lives of the interstellar characters.
• Stories depicting humans learning to relate to the nonhuman in different ways.
• Stories taking place in non-Western settings.

Fiction Do Not Submits

• Epic/Sword and Sorcery Fantasy
• Stories in which the solutions presented are uncritical green consumerism
• Stories depicting monarchies, imperialism, or colonization in an uncritical way
• Gratuitous violence, especially against any marginalized group
• Gore in general is not something we’re excited about, but small doses that are integral to plot/character might be okay
• adult content; though eroticism in service to the story is definitely okay

Non-Fiction MSWL

• Speculative non-fictions about the future of tech, the environment, global relationships, or social worlds (either collections of linked short pieces or extended meditations).
• Literary journalism on emerging tech, global health issues, climate change and migration, food politics, human-hybrid environments, global and space travel—journalism that hangs on a narrative arc, focusing on limited centered characters.
• Essay collections (single authored) or themed anthologies (editor(s) + multiple authors) approaching questions about technological and environmental futurity, urban life, the non-human, community, and other themes of the press, addressed from primarily personal lenses.
• Creative memoirs or autobiographies drawing from long-term experiential relationships with the natural world, space, tech and agricultural industries, and the non-human, that offer new/unique ways of reflecting on the problems of climate change and/or the future of life—especially by BIPOC, women, trans and queer, and disabled or otherwise underrepresented authors.
• Narrative ‘biographies’ of plants, animals, places/niches/communities, and natural phenomena that connect the past, the rapidly changing present, and the future—particularly works that de-centre humans or think about the human in specifically collaborative ways.
• Human biographies and histories reimagined through non-human protagonists.
• Imaginary, alternative, or potential histories.

Non-fiction Do Not Submits

• Adventure biographies that frame the environment uncritically as a “wilderness” to be “tamed” or “discovered”
• Literary journalism of technology, food, or space industries uncritically structured around the idea of progress

How to Submit

For Novellas

Please send a short cover letter which includes:

• not more than 250 words
• information about your manuscript length and genre
• a brief statement about your story’s main conflict, how your story fits Stelliform’s vision, and any MSWL elements included (if applicable)
• a brief bio including your top three publications (if you have them)

As an attachment, please include the first 15-20 pages of your manuscript. The document should include your name, contact information, and byline. Send query and sample pages to [email protected]. The subject of your email should read: SUBMISSION: [Your manuscript title].

For Novels and Short Story Collections

Please do not submit at this time.

For Non-Fiction Manuscripts

Please do not submit at this time.

For Cover Art

Please submit a link to your online portfolio and a brief introductory letter including information about yourself, your published artworks, your expected rate of compensation for a book cover, and two references (preferably former clients). Letters can be submitted to [email protected] with the email subject: ART SUBMISSION: [Your name].

We are particularly interested in art submissions from Canadians or immigrants to Canada from any marginalized community, or First Nations, Métis, or Inuit residing in territories currently occupied by the Canadian state.

Simultaneous and Multiple Submissions

Simultaneous submissions are allowed; but only send one submission at a time. Please let us know if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

Via: Stelliform Press.