Feel up to the challenge of writing for a preset theme?
During the first quarter of 2019, several paying journals and anthologies are open to submissions of speculative poems that engage with specific topics or issues stipulated by the editors.
In order of nearness of deadline, these are:
NonBinary Review (Issue # 20) Theme: Books of Blood Deadline: 23 Jan. 2019 What they want: Poems “which relate to the first three volumes (sixteen stories) of the Clive Barker [supernatural horror] series Books of Blood.” More specifically, submissions must “tie into the plots or make use of characters/settings from the [Books of Blood] stories."
FIYAH (Issue #10) Theme: Hair Deadline: 31 Jan. 2019 What they want: Speculative work by black writers that engages emotionally with the topic of black hair and societies’ attitudes toward it.
Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove (anthology) Theme: “the rooms or grounds of Hotel Stormcove” Deadline: 31 Jan. 2019 What they want: Work that encapsulates an experience occurring within the space of 5 minutes and set in “a specific era, location, and time of day” somewhere on the grounds of “an infamous hotel at the edge of the ocean.” Most genres are acceptable, including “contemporary, romance, fantasy, science-fiction, inspirational, historical fiction, literary, mystery, adventure, and genre-bending,” but “no erotica or horror.” Poem submissions “welcome,” though NB the guidelines state “the focus of the anthology is short stories and flash fiction.”
Apparition Lit (Issue #6) Theme: Ambition Deadline: 28 Feb. 2019 What they want: Poetry with “obvious fantasy or sci-fi elements” that addresses the theme of ambition.
New Myths (Issues 47 & 48) / Twilight Worlds (anthology) Theme: “end-times or new beginnings” Deadline: 28 Feb. 2019 What they want: Poems chronicling “the end of an age or the dawn of a new.”
Eye to the Telescope (Issue #32) Theme: Sports & Games Deadline: 15 March 2019 What they want: SFF poetry that examines the topic of sports or incorporates the idea of playing games in some way.
Pantheon Magazine Theme: Gorgon Deadline: 31 March 2019 What they want: Surreal, slipstream, and/or horror poems that relay “stories of emergence”; explorations of “transformations—things that are shapeshifting” that can be described as “weird and scary.” Gorgons do not have to appear in the poems, but the issue will be “themed around” the concept of gorgons.
Timeless Tales (Issue #11) Theme: The Abduction of Persephone Deadline: TBD What they want: Poetry relating to the ancient Greek myth of Persephone and Hades. Anything goes—“modernizations, sci-fi retellings, prequels, continuations, mash-ups, etc.— as long as the connection to the theme story is clear.
This list is probably incomplete. If you know of any current, themed calls for poetry submissions to paying SFF venues that I’ve missed, let me know and I’ll add them to the post.
Happy writing!