The new year is almost here, and with it comes a new wave of opportunities for writers of all descriptions to flex their creative muscles.
Speculative poets, in particular, will find that there are a number of calls for submissions on the horizon from paying journals and anthologies whose editors are seeking scif-fi, fantasy, and horror poetry written around preset topics. If you're looking for some new year's inspiration in your spec versifying, one of the prompts out there for this coming January, February, and March might be just the ticket!
Here are some of the opportunities available at the start of 2021 to contribute themed SFF poetry to upcoming publications, listed in order of nearness of submission deadline:
Enchanted Conversation ("Healers" Issue) Theme: Healers, Midwives and Cunning Folk Deadline: 3 Jan. 2021 (submissions open 1 Jan.) What they want: Poems "inspired by fairy tales" that revolve around the theme of "old fashioned herbal healers who served villages way back in the day," traditional midwives, and/or cunning folk, "who used folk magic as well as potions, salves and poultices, etc." Poems should incorporate fantasy elements as well as characters identifiable as "regular herbalists, hedge witches, kitchen witches" or the like. NB: If you have a theme-appropriate submission in mind but you miss this first short submission window, don't despair! A new window for submissions on the same theme will open briefly at the beginning of each month in 2021.
Apparition Lit (Issue #14) Theme: Chance Deadline: 28 Feb. 2021 (submissions open 15 Feb.) What they want: Poetry with "obvious fantasy or sci-fi elements" that addresses the theme of chance.
Alternative Deathiness (anthology) Theme: Death Deadline: 1 Mar. 2021 (submissions open now!) What they want: Poems under 5,000 words examining “the concept and nature of Death.” NB: Though speculative takes on the topic are encouraged, “don’t try sneaking zombies and ghosts and vampires in to get around death.”
Alternative War (anthology) Theme: War Deadline: 1 Mar. 2021 (submissions open now!) What they want: Poems set “anywhere in time and space” that offer a “critical look at War and what it does to us.”
Eye to the Telescope (Issue #40) Theme: Weird West Deadline: 15 Mar. 2021 (submissions open now!) What they want: Speculative poetry incoporating some element of "character or setting" that places it within the Western genre of fiction. Poems that play around with "Western movie tropes" welcome. NB: Poems must be speculative in genre to be published in Eye to the Telescope, so make sure your submission is something classifiable as sci-fi, fantasy, or supernatural horror!
FIYAH (Issue #18) Theme: Sound and Color Deadline: 30 Apr. 2021 (submissions open 1 Mar.) What they want: Speculative poetry by Black writers "about experiencing new worlds with particular emphasis on sensory detail." NB: FIYAH only publishes work by "authors from the African diaspora and the African continent"; if you don't meet this description, this call for submissions is not for you!
Timeless Tales (Issue #12) Theme: Tales of the Arabian Nights Deadline: Apr. 2021 (submissions open now!) What they want: Poems retelling stories from the One Thousand and One Nights or relating original tales “featuring the creatures of Arabian/Islamic folklore.” NB: “Think twice before you send us an Aladdin retelling. […] Well-researched retellings will be considered, but if you're basing it off the Disney version, we aren't interested.”
Hope you've found something here to get the poetic juices flowing as we head into another year.
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you all in advance a great start to 2021.