Taking Submissions: Through Other Eyes

Deadline: June 15th, 2020
Payment: $20
Theme: Speculative fiction with non-human protagonists

Stories take us beyond the bounds of our own lives—into new worlds and new situations. Perhaps most importantly, they invite us into new minds. Through the eyes of the characters we temporarily become, we not only live other lives, but discover new ways of looking at our own. Speculative fiction takes us a step farther—beyond the bounds of humanity, itself.

Through Other Eyes is an anthology of tales featuring non-human protagonists. Become someone—and something—else.

Submissions are now open! We’re eager for monsters, androids, vampires, elves, and aliens, but we’re especially excited to meet species of your own design. Familiar or new. Humanoid or non. Your imagination is in charge.

  • Submissions will be open until at least June 15th but may run longer.
  • The expected publication date is November 2020.
  • Open to word counts ranging from 1500 words to 5000 words.
  • Open to all speculative genres (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, slipstream, weird fic, etc) as long as the main POV character isn’t human.
  • No reprints.
  • Accepted stories will receive a $20 honorarium.
  • The anthology will be roughly double the length of a standard issue of All Worlds Wayfarer and feature both physical and digital editions.
  • All standard submission guidelines, when not in contradiction with this list, apply.
Standard Submission Guidelines

We love stories that take us on tours through the fantastic—whether in other dimensions or in the hidden spaces of our own world. We’re looking to highlight an often unseen side of speculative fiction: we want to encounter characters so vivid that our souls slip into their bodies, themes that challenge and move us, and language that makes us swoon. Immersive world-building and twisting plots are awesome aspects of our genres, but we’re looking for stories where these factors are shaped around the characters and themes, instead of the other way around. So often speculative stories are seen as escapist romps or slow, encyclopedic affairs—while there’s nothing wrong with these styles, we know the possibilities are infinite!

Rekindle the wonder and horror we all experienced as children. Make our eyes stretch wide as we read. Make our pulses pound faster. Raise our spirits. Break our hearts. Haunt us. Make us look at our own world just a little differently after we reach “the end.”

Help our readers escape reality and experience it more deeply all at once in the way that only stories—especially speculative stories—can.

What We’re Seeking

Show us your best work in any of the speculative genres or their sub-genres:

  • Fantasy
  • Science Fiction
  • Horror
  • Magical Realism
  • Slipstream
  • Paranormal, Surrealism, Weird Fiction, or any other style with speculative elements.

As long as your story emphasizes characters, themes, or craft, it may be a fit for us.

We’re especially fond of: High fantasy without traditional genre races or creatures; fantasy or science fiction that crosses over with horror; unusual takes on common sub-genres (such as post-apocalyptic); rare sub-genres (such as biopunk, solarpunk, cosmic horror, or Gothic fantasy); themes exploring identity, purpose, or existence; stories centering platonic relationships; diverse and LGBTQIA+ characters; #OwnVoices; genre-blending stories. What we crave most, however, is sincerity, meaning, and intensity.

Hard sells: Stories heavily reliant on genre tropes; stories with traditional fantasy races and creatures (elves, dragons, etc); paranormal romance; horror without supernatural and psychological elements. While we love stories that subvert or twist tropes and archetypes, we are likely not a fit for satire, parody, or straightforward deconstructions.

We publish in the adult, new adult, and young adult age ranges.

We don’t publish poetry, non-fiction, or excerpts from longer works at this time.

Submission Rules

To ensure that your story is considered, please adhere to our guidelines.

Word Count

We accept stories within two word count categories.

  • Flash Fiction: 100 to 1,000 words
  • Short Fiction: 1,000 to 5,000 words
Content Rules

Please provide any content warnings that readers may wish to be aware of before reading (if your story is accepted for publication, we reserve the right to add or remove content warnings as we feel appropriate).

  • No sex scenes. Suggestive themes, sexual references, and black screens are fine; explicit sexual content and erotica aren’t the right fit for All World’s Wayfarer.
  • Violence is fine so long as it serves the story and isn’t gratuitous.
  • Coarse language is fine so long as it serves the story and isn’t gratuitous.
  • Alcohol and drug references are fine so long as they serve the story and aren’t gratuitous.
  • No hate speech or messaging against any real-world demographic based on race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sex, sexuality, age, neurodivergence, physical or mental illness or disability, size, religion, or belief system. (Characters may be prejudiced, but your story’s themes should not be prejudiced.)
  • No fan fiction. (We can’t publish it for legal reasons.)
  • No first drafts. (While an occasional typo is expected, please only submit polished work that has gone through at least a round or two of self-editing.)
  • Stories dealing with challenging themes can be powerful, but if you do address any such topics (prejudice, abuse, mental illness, etc) please do so with sensitivity and empathy.
  • You must own all the rights to your submitted work.
Manuscript Formatting

We prefer stories in standard manuscript format (essentially 12-point Courier New or Times New Roman font with double spacing and 1″ margins). We also prefer scene breaks marked with asterisk or pound symbols rather than blank lines. However, we don’t require submissions to meet any particular formatting rules. So long as your content is presented in a professional fashion, we’ll read it.

Translated Submissions

Translators are welcome to submit translated stories, but please include proof that you have permission to publish the story (e.g. a contract with the author) in the submissions email.

Simultaneous, Previously Published, and Multiple Submissions

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your story is accepted for publication elsewhere. We will consider previously published submissions as long as you currently own all the rights and can offer six months of digital exclusivity for your story should it be accepted, but we prioritize unpublished content. Please submit only one story at a time to All Worlds Wayfarer and wait for a response before submitting another story. We aim to respond to all submissions within one month.

Publishing with Us

Selection goes both ways: Please make sure we’re right for your goals before you submit.

Rights

If your story is published with All Worlds Wayfarer, we retain exclusive digital publishing rights for six months. Afterward, we will keep the story available in our archives, but all rights revert to you. Note that your story will then be considered previously published, which may affect future submission opportunities with other markets, as not all markets accept previously published work.

Editing

We proofread accepted stories prior to their publication. We may also perform light copyediting, in which case you will have the right to approve or decline the changes. We will not perform any developmental edits.

Format

We are an online-only magazine. We publish the current issue for free reading on our website. Every issue is also published as a paid Kindle ebook. In the future, we may publish paid print and digital anthology collections featuring All World Wayfarer’s most popular and powerful stories. If this occurs, and if your story is selected for inclusion, we will contact you to discuss the terms.

Payment

Writing is challenging work—mentally and emotionally—and we passionately believe in paying writers for their labor. At this time, we can offer token payments of $10 to published submissions. In the future, we would love to be able to provide our authors with the larger payments they deserve.

Publication Schedule

We publish quarterly on every equinox and solstice. In 2020, our publication dates will be:

  • Vernal Equinox: March 19th (Issue IV)
  • Summer Solstice: June 20th (Issue V)
  • Autumnal Equinox: September 22nd
  • Winter Solstice: December 21st

Please register for our newsletter if you would like notifications when new submission calls and new issues launch.

How to Submit

Submissions are currently OPEN for the Through Other Eyes anthology.

  • Please email [email protected].
  • Include SUBMISSION in your subject line, along with your story’s title.
  • Include a short third-person bio (200-word maximum) that you would like posted with your story in the event that it is published. Your bio may include links to your website, blog, newsletter, or social media accounts.
  • Include any content warnings relevant to your story.
  • Attach your story file to the email (as a .docx, .doc, or .rtf) or include a link to a Google Docs file.
  • Send it our way!

We’ll do our best to get back to you within one month. If you have not heard from us by then, or if you have other questions related to the submissions process, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

We welcome submissions from experienced and emerging writers in every demographic. Reading stories written by so many unique voices makes this journey worth taking. Don’t self reject! Whether or not we select your submission as a fit for All World’s Wayfarer, we respect every author who shares their hard work with us.

We look forward to reading your tales!

Via: All Worlds Wayfarer.

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