Category: Call for Submissions

Call for Submissions

Call For Submissions: Rosalind’s Siblings

D Franklin

Deadline extended to December 31 2018!

Rosalind’s Siblings is an anthology of speculative stories about people of marginalized genders/sexes who are scientists: scientists doing good, changing the world, or just getting on with their work of expanding human knowledge in a speculative context, presented in a positive light. This anthology is named for Rosalind Franklin, the so-called Dark Lady of DNA, one of the most famously erased female scientists in history, and a direct relation of the founder of Galli Books. The anthology is being edited by Bogi Takács.

The stories do not need to problematize gender/sex, though this is also welcome, and we would like to publish a mix of approaches. We are generally interested in positive portrayals of science and the protagonists doing research, but this can include a critical reappraisal. (E.g., we would very much like to see stories in which science is decolonized and/or Indigenized, or in some other ways incorporates approaches beyond Western neo-positivism.) We are not interested in “mad scientist” tropes or “evil science.” We are also not interested in disability cure narratives and related tropes, unless they are actively subverted / deconstructed.

Stories must contain a speculative element. We are happy to read works from any speculative subgenre: science fiction, fantasy, horror, alternate history, magical realism, fabulism, mythic work, Weird fiction and so on. Any amount of science detail is welcome with thoughtful engagement.

Protagonists can be trans and/or nonbinary people, women (trans or cis), intersex people, genderqueer or gender-nonconforming people, people of culturally specific genders/sexes, and any combinations thereof. They do not need to identify as women, feminine or femme specifically, but those stories are particularly welcome; as are stories with trans, nonbinary and/or intersex men or masculine protagonists. Protagonists can have any sexual orientation and gender presentation (e.g., we would love to receive stories with butch trans women or femme trans men protagonists, and so on).

You do not need to belong to any marginalized group to submit, but we are very happy to consider submissions from people who belong to underrepresented / marginalized groups in speculative fiction, including Black, Indigenous people and/or people of color, non-Western and/or non-Anglophonic people, migrants, QUILTBAG+ people, disabled, chronically ill and/or neuroatypical people. We welcome people from all letters of the QUILTBAG+, including trans (transfeminine, transmasculine and any kind of trans), intersex, asexual, aromantic and bisexual people, who are more commonly ignored. It is not a requirement for stories to be #ownvoices (i.e., about your own marginalization), but we are very happy to read your #ownvoices stories.  Please don’t self-reject!

You do not need to disclose your marginalizations in your cover letter, but you are welcome to do so. Please send submissions to galli-books@galli-books.co.uk with “ROSALIND” in the subject line and the story title. Format submissions reasonably close to Standard Manuscript Format, and send them in .doc, .odt, .rtf formats, or .pdf if the story has unusual formatting that needs to be preserved. Please do NOT send .docx files.

Submissions open on 1st November and close on the 31st of December. Please do not submit outside that window.

We pay £0.08/word upon signed contract and are interested in previously unpublished short stories between 500 and 7500 words, nonfiction essays, and poetry on our theme. We pay a flat rate of £50 per poem.

We do not accept simultaneous submissions. First-round responses will go out in December 2018, at which point authors whose stories are held for final consideration will also be notified. Limited multiple submissions: you are welcome to submit one of each kind of material (one poem, one essay, one short story), but no more than that.

Call for Submissions

Call For Portfolios: Speculative Masculinities

D Franklin

THE SUBMISSIONS PERIOD HAS NOW CLOSED

Galli Books is looking for a cover artist to work with the company in producing covers for the anthologies we publish. We’re particularly looking for an artist who will bring a strong, unified artistic vision to the company, and who will grow with and alongside the press. Initially, we’re looking for an artist for our first volume, Speculative Masculinities, who we hope to then continue to work with as a long term partnership.

Galli Books is particularly focused on publishing authors from marginalised communities or backgrounds, and we are particularly seeking artists from marginalised communities or backgrounds for covers for our books. We are not looking for pulp-style covers, but instead more modern approaches to speculative fiction cover art. The work of Patricio Betteo, Galen Dara, John Harris, Susie Oh, Jeffrey Alan Love, Aatmaja Pandya, Dave McKean, Jenny Grigg, and Daniel Egnéus may be useful reference points.

Galli Books intends to put out one volume in 2018, and two volumes per year thereafter, with original covers for each book. The pay rate will be £500 for each cover. In exchange, we will request perpetual rights to the work as a cover, but rights to use or sell it in any other manner will remain with the artist.

In order to submit yourself for consideration, please email your portfolio, a brief biography, your Twitter handle if you have one, and your three best pieces of art that would be suitable for a book cover to galli-books[at]galli-books[dot]co[dot]uk with the subject line “Artist Portfolio: [Your Name]”. Submissions should be received no later than April 15th, 2018.

Image by Melinda Taber, used under Creative Commons licence.

Call for Submissions

Call For Submissions: Speculative Masculinities

D Franklin

THE SUBMISSIONS PERIOD HAS NOW CLOSED

Masculinity has, almost since the category of speculative fiction emerged in the early 20th century, been a concern of fiction written in the genre. A culturally dominant, Western, toxic form of masculinity has dominated storytelling in speculative fiction. In worlds as varied and diverse as the distant past of magical worlds and the far future of this one, models of maleness and masculinity tend to be the same toxic form of masculinity that dominates modern Western culture. We want to interrogate that model of masculinity, to problematise it, and to question it; we want to see other possible models of masculinity, models not centred on dominance and violence and repression of feelings; other role models for men. We are looking for fiction, essays and poetry which do this.

We are particularly looking for submissions from authors from marginalised identities and backgrounds, especially where those identities complicate the author’s relationship with masculinity, including but by no means limited to disabled writers, trans writers, and writers of colour.

Reading Period: January 15th-April 15th 2018. No responses to submissions will be sent out before May 2nd, 2018.

Fiction
Fiction editors: Jay Wolf & Ronan Sadler

Masculinity, as so much of our media defines it, is discouragingly narrow; the constructs that define “masculinity” are often rigid and unforgiving. Toxic masculinity engenders violence to those marginalized by, as well as to those contained within, it. This violence looks and feels different to everyone, depending on their social location. But what if it didn’t have to be this way?
We’re looking for speculative short fiction that looks past the fitted mold of masculinity, the known and assumed qualities of what constitutes “manliness” that enforce an artificial exclusion. We want to see thoughtful futures, alternate histories, or far-flung fantasies that examine masculinity without boxing it in. We’re not looking for gender-based “gotcha” moments or punchlines. What can masculinity be when it is not a rigid social construct? The stories we are looking for will examine what it means to be masculine while leaving pre-judgments at the door.

Length: 1,000-7,500 words.
Payment: £0.08/word
Fiction Submissions Procedure:
•Please submit your essays as 14pt font, serifed (ex: Time New Roman, Courier, Garamond), double spaced, .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX format documents.
•The subject line of your email should read FICTION SUBMISSION: [Title], where [Title] is the title of your story.
•Please include the wordcount of your story in the email.
•Email your submission to galli-books [at] galli-books [dot] co [dot] uk
•Please do not send multiple submissions at once, or submissions simultaneously submitted to another market or anthology.

Poetry
Poetry editor: Brandon O’Brien

We’re looking for rich, evocative poetry with depth and a compelling, unique voice. We are looking for work which explores issues and themes related to radical perspectives on masculinity without giving in to stereotype, and we encourage work that offers radically positive models of masculinity.

Length: No line limits
Payment: £30/poem
Poetry Submissions Procedure:
•You may submit up to three poems. Please submit each poem in a separate email, in the form they should appear in the final anthology, in .RTF, .DOC or .DOCX formats. Depending on the complexity of formatting, this may require further discussion between yourself and our poetry editor, Brandon O’Brien.
•The subject line of your email should read POETRY SUBMISSION: [Title], where [Title] is the title of your poem
•Email your submission to galli-books [at] galli-books [dot] co [dot] uk
•Please do not send submissions simultaneously submitted to another market or anthology.

Nonfiction
Nonfiction editor: D Franklin

We are looking for essays discussing the presentation and creation of masculinity in speculative fiction, including science fiction and fantasy; including essays looking at how such presentation and creation has influenced you. We are interested in essays looking at single works or the field as a whole. Creative nonfiction, academic essay, personal essay, or other non-fiction styles are all welcome. We particularly welcome essays which complicate questions of what masculinity means, especially in the context of speculative fiction.

Length: 1,000-3,000 words
Payment: £50/essay
Nonfiction Submissions Procedure:
•Please submit your essays as 14pt font, serifed (ex: Time New Roman, Courier, Garamond), double spaced, .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX format documents.
•The subject line of your email should read ESSAY SUBMISSION: [Title], where [Title] is the title of your essay
•Please include a brief summary of your essay in the email.
•Email your submission to galli-books [at] galli-books [dot] co [dot] uk
•Please do not send multiple submissions at once, or submissions simultaneously submitted to another market or anthology.

All submissions must be previously unpublished. We are not accepting reprints. If you are unsure whether a submission would count as previously published, or have any other queries, please get in touch by emailing galli-books [at] galli-books [dot] co [dot] uk.

About the Editors

Jay Wolf is a nonbinary author and freelance illustrator based out of Jersey City, NJ. They divide time between disciplines: writing, illustration, costuming, sculpture, mold-making and casting, and other freelance art and creative projects. In addition, Jay is a submissions editor at Uncanny Magazine and Viable Paradise alumnus.

Ronan Sadler is a disabled trans editor and writer based in Toronto. For more information on them, see alembiceditorial.com

Brandon O’Brien is a performance poet and writer from Trinidad and Tobago. His work has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Arsenika, and New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean, among other outlets. He is also the poetry editor of FIYAH: A Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction.

D Franklin is the founder of Galli Books. They are by day a Glasgow-based bookseller, and by night a nonbinary reader and fan of science fiction and fantasy.