Hello, lovely people! Charis here. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a Canberran fantasy author, poet, and proud member of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, writing to you from Ngunnawal land. I am so excited to tell you all about the CSFG’s next anthology of original works, Never Say Die!
What does it mean to exist?
For as long as people have told stories, there has been a hunger to understand the meaning of life, death, and all which exists beyond. Between sweeping mythologies and private journals, the written word has endeavoured to help people understand who they are, why they’re here, and where they might be going. No truer is this than in speculative fiction, where the answers are endless. Vampires cheat death, aliens herald strange new life, and the promise of apocalypse unites and divides all who stand before it.
NEVER SAY DIE wields a speculative lens to understand the nature of existence. This anthology will walk beside the healing, between loss and the afterlife, and the hopeful promise of an unknowable tomorrow.
The Main Points
- Submissions open Tuesday, February 4, 2025, and close Friday, April 4, 2025 at 11:59 AEST.
- We accept stories up to 3000 words, and poems up to 40 lines. There is no minimum word or line count.
- Payment is a flat fee of $30 AUD per accepted work.
- Stories must be original works in English; no reprints, please!
- Stories must not be written with generative AI tools (for example, ChatGPT). In the words of CZ Tacks, “authors must be made out of meat.”
- Authors must be over 18 years of age and originally from, or currently living in Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Previously unpublished authors, First Nations and Indigenous authors (including Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Māori authors), culturally and linguistically diverse authors, and LGBTQ+ authors are strongly encouraged to apply!
- Stories must be speculative fiction. Speculative fiction includes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and related genres (including, but not limited to slipstream, new weird, and multi-genre or genre-bending works).
- Stories must relate to the theme!
We are looking for speculative fiction works of both the prose and poetry variety, stories which tackle not only tiptoe on the threshold of this world, but dance well into the unknown. Stories that not only directly tackle the theme of existence, but are superbly inquisitive, delightfully queer, and wonderfully weird. Speculative fiction includes fantasy, science fiction, and horror.
What we Don’t Want
- Unfortunately, we will not be accepting reprints. Original works, please!
- Stories must be in English. If you wish to submit a translated work, get in touch with details of your specific situation, and we can discuss on a case-by-case basis.
- While the anthology theme includes and welcomes depictions of death, we are not interested in guro, splatterpunk, or other gratuitous depictions of violence.
- While sexual content may be relevant to the theme, this is probably not a good home for your erotica, or graphic depictions of sexual violence.
- We cannot believe we need to say this, but submissions which endorse harm toward marginalised people will not be accepted. (That said, depiction is not automatically endorsement. If you are writing about the experiences of marginalised people, we’d love to see your work!)
- We will also not accept anything generated by generative AI, or large language models, such as ChatGPT.
- While you are welcome to submit more than one piece, we will only accept one piece per author for publication.
- No simultaneous submissions; if you submit to us, please wait until you hear back from us before you submit elsewhere.
How to Submit
- To submit your piece, please email [email protected] with the subject line, SUBMISSION – [Your Author Name] – [Your Story Title] (e.g. SUBMISSION – Johnny B. Goode – Like a Ringing Bell)
- Stories must be submitted in either .doc or .docx format. No other file types or hard copies will be accepted.
- As we use a blind reading process, please ensure your name and contact details do not appear in your story.
- Please ensure your document is clearly named with the title of the story.
- Stories should be in standard manuscript format (minus author details). If you are unfamiliar with standard manuscript format, please see: https://www.shunn.net/format/story/.
- Please include the word “submission”, your name, and the title of your story in the subject line of your email (e.g. “Submission – Fred Storychap – The Perfect Story”).
- Please include a brief cover letter in the body of your email. Your cover letter should include:
- The title of your submission
- Word Count (to the nearest 500 words) for stories, or line count for poems
- Story genre
- Your name (and your pen name, if this is different from your usual name)
- Your preferred pronouns
- Whether you live in, or are from Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Content warnings are appreciated but not mandatory. If you wish to provide them, please include them in your story document (where author name and contact details would usually go).
So, what happens after the submissions window closes?
After the submissions window closes, an extraordinary group will review these blind submissions and decide which pieces best fit our theme. Once we make our decisions, we will let you know via email!
- If we pass on your story, you are welcome to ask for feedback, but please note, due to the volume of submissions, we may not be able to offer detailed notes.
- If we request that you revise and resubmit, we will also let you know our deadline to receive a revised story.
- If we accept your story, congratulations! We will let you know the next steps.
We hope to advise the outcome by May 16, 2025, and will provide updates on the CSFG website.
And that’s it! I am so excited to be getting this anthology off the ground, and I hope you’ll join me on this fantastical journey!
Featured image by Alexandre P. Junior from Pexels
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