Deadline: March 15th, 2019
Payment: Accepted poems will be paid for at the following rate: US 3¢/word rounded up to nearest dollar; minimum US $3, maximum $25. Payment is on publication.

Eye to the Telescope 32, Sports & Games, will be edited by Lisa Timpf.

Sports and games have been played since ancient times, and have continually evolved. From a speculative viewpoint, I’m interested in what they might look like or morph into in the future, or along some alternate timeline or universe. Time travel, magic, science—the field is wide open, as long as it involves the theme. Ideally, I’m not looking for items taken from other authors’ universes (poems about quidditch, three-dimensional chess, or the like), but modifying existing or historical sports and games is—well—fair game. (And, as a Canadian, I’m hoping for at least one really good hockey-related poem…)

How will athletes and competitors vie, and what’s the future look like for spectators? What sports and games will colonists on other planets miss the most? What might they take with them to their new homes, and how will they shape it into something different? Provided there is a speculative bent, any format is welcome—free verse, scifaiku, haibun, or formal verse of any variety, etc. are all fine. It’s original ideas and twists, effectiveness of language and imagery, and works that get at the essence of sports and games and what they mean to us as people that I’m looking for. Spark our imaginations, make us think, make us feel, make us laugh. The game’s afoot. Let’s see what you’ve got.

Submission Guidelines

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

• Please submit 1–3 poems in English (in body of e-mail, or attached as .doc, .docx, or .rtf).
• Please send submissions to [email protected] with the subject line “ETTT sub:” followed by the poet’s name.
• Include a short bio.
• Deadline: March 15. The issue will appear on April 15, 2019.

Payment and rights

• Accepted poems will be paid for at the following rate: US 3¢/word rounded up to nearest dollar; minimum US $3, maximum $25. Payment is on publication.
• The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association normally uses PayPal to pay poets, but can also send checks.
• Eye to the Telescope is an online publication. Therefore, First Electronic Rights (for original unpublished poems) are being sought.

Who can submit?

Anyone writing speculative poetry.

What is Speculative Poetry?

Speculative poetry is poetry which falls within the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and supernatural horror, plus some related genres such as magic realism, metafiction, and fabulation. It is not easy to give precise definitions, partly because many of these genres are framed in term of fiction rather than poetry.

A good starting point is “About Science Fiction Poetry” by Suzette Haden Elgin, the founder of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Despite its title, this article is applicable all forms of speculative poetry.

Tim Jones, editor of Issue 2, had a go at defining science fiction poetry on his blog, in two parts (These blog posts date from 2009, and the Voyagersanthology has since been published. These posts do refer specifically to science fiction poetry, rather than the broader field of speculative poetry.):

timjonesbooks.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-is-science-fiction-poetry-part-1.html

timjonesbooks.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-is-science-fiction-poetry-part-2.html

What Is the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA)?

As the SFPA says on its website at sfpoetry.com, “The Science Fiction Poetry Association was founded in 1978 to bring together poets and readers interested in science fiction poetry. What is sf poetry? You know what they say about definitions—everybody has one. To be sure, it is poetry (we’ll leave that definition to you), but it’s poetry with some element of speculation—usually science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Some folks include surrealism, some straight science.”

See the SFPA site for lots more information—and please consider joining.

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Interested in editing an issue of Eye to the Telescope? See the Editors’ Guidelines for information and requirements.

Via: Eye to the Telescope.