Taking Submissions: Feast or Famine?
Deadline: April 30th, 2025
Payment: Stories with 5000 to 7999 words will earn $5. Stories with 8000 to 12000 words will earn $10.
Theme: Stories that revolve around food being central to the plot
Based on the interest we have had in our previous speculative-fiction anthologies, the team here at PurpleToga want to start something different this time around.
Food and meals are central to all cultures.
So, this time we are looking for stories where food is a central or pivotal element to the plot. Is it the Last Supper? Court intrigue using poison? This means that all of the stories must have a meal or dish as part of their central theme, and as usual we prefer stories that fall under the speculative fiction umbrella.
Think of how food has been a big part of literature. Where would Snow White be without the apple (or Adam and Eve)? In movies like Thor: The Dark World you have Dr. Strange offered tea and Thor responded he doesn’t drink it and got a big (self-refilling) mug of beer. Where would Star Trek: The Next Generation be without “Earl Grey, hot”? Think of all the meals in the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, or how Rincewind fantasizes about potatoes. How much Turkish Delight was a factor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. These are the kinds of food connections that we are looking for.
A recipe for the key element (or one of the dishes if it is a meal – failing that the full menu) would be appreciated.
The submission deadlines is 30 April 2025 (to be published around the US Thanksgiving 2025)
Subscribe here to learn about future submission calls.
Submission Guidelines
There is a preferred length is between 5,000 to 12,000 words. Other lengths considered at publisher’s discretion.
Stories should not have been previously published.
Must be written in English (any flavour 😉)
Use the below form to submit your story. Please include a brief summary, and any comments about the theme you may have. If the idea meets our criteria, we’ll ask for the full story. We endeavour to reply as soon as possible to any submission.
Please note there is a limit of four (4) submissions per author. Please submit your best suited story first.
Important! Purple Toga does not support unethical artificial intelligence, and firmly believes creators should have a say about how their art is used, and should be compensated for their work. We do not accept any story or artwork generated using AI systems.
Rights and payment details
Authors will regain rights one (1) year after the story is published as part of an anthology. Writers whose stories are published will receive a payment as described below. If a story is accepted we will send the publication contract to be completed by the author. The contract is available prior to acceptance upon request, just use the form and put a comment to request the contract.
Based on industry research, as confirmed by our previous anthology, we are moving off of the revenue share model. We are seeing that authors don’t even make US$5 via revenue share. You can read a bit more about this in this blog post.
So, be more fair to our authors, going forward Purple Toga Publications will be licensing 1 year of exclusive rights plus reprint rights based on story length.
- Stories with 5000 to 7999 words will earn that same $5.
- Stories with 8000 to 12000 words will earn $10.
- Other lengths, art work, and poems will be on a case by case basis.
After 1 year from publication rights will revert back to the author.
Via: Purple Toga.