We’re happy to announce that the next issue of LR is going to be a particularly special one. For the first time, we’ve decided to put together a themed issue!  The theme that we’ve settled on for Issue 5 is “Hybridity” (to be interpreted critically, aesthetically, or otherwise), and in order to help provide you with some context around which to shape your submissions, we’ve come up with the following call for submissions:

For its fifth issue, Lantern Review seeks poems, visual art, multimedia, and mixed genre poetic works that engage with the critical notion of “hybridity,” whether in language, form, aesthetic or subject matter. How can the act of poetic “collage” mimic, transform, and otherwise help us to negotiate the boundaries of ethnic and cultural distinctions? In what ways can experimenting with the mixing (and re-mixing) of narratives, forms, source material, and genres be used to enact the condition of hybridity (geographically, generationally, biologically, and otherwise)?

Some potentially generative terms might include: collage; assemblage; montage; inter-; trans-; multi-; blending; mixology; mash-up; mixtape; recombination; border-crossing; crossing; heteroglossia; hypertext; blending; hyphenation; interlingual; intertext; collecting; curation; multivocality; meiosis; overlay; juxtaposition; patchwork; cut-and-paste

On the heels of the guest posts we’ve seen this May—particularly Luisa Igloria’s collage-inspired prompt (in which she encourages us to try using textual and historical fragments as a critical “speculum” by which to re-imagine narratives from the legacies of diaspora), Tarfia Faizullah’sprocess profile  (which, in its own terminology, “braids” together the memories of two narratives that happened years apart) —we feel that the topic of “hybridity” is particularly prescient. Other potentially helpful sources of online inspiration might include Craig Santos Perez’s AWP paper  in which he observes the dearth of poets of color in Norton’s American Hybrid anthology, Kenji C. Liu’s recent post on geography, diaspora, and being of “mixed” poetic lineage  on The Best American Poetry Blog (which serves as his introduction to the APIA Month guest series that he is curating there this week), and also Margaret Rhee’s Artist’s Statement from her mixed-media, multi-vocal poem “Materials,” which we published in Issue 4.

The reading period for LR 5: The Hybridity Issue will close on July 15, 2012. To submit your work, please visit the revised guidelines that we’ve posted on our Submissions Page.

We look forward to seeing how you will respond!

Many thanks as always,

Iris & Mia
LR Editorial Board

Our next submission period opens on March 1, 2012 and closes on May 31, 2012.

During this period, we will accept submissions for the ninth annual issue of Fairy Tale Review (The Yellow Issue), which will be Guest Edited by Lily Hoang.

Yellow is a color bound to tradition and mysticism, danger and hope, oppression and excess. Yellow is the color of jaundice, and it demands that you yield, slow your pace, it cautions you to focus on your surroundings. Yellow indicates aging, not only in people but also things. Yellow is the color of Chinese royalty and also a slang denigration of Asians and light-skinned African-Americans. Yellow is whimsical and contradictory. For this issue, we’re interested in writing that worships and dements yellow. We would like you to knock on yellow’s door and invite her out to play. Please send poetry, fiction, essays, drama, creative nonfiction, comics, illustration, etc.
The submission period is open March 1, 2012 to May 31, 2012. We cannot consider early or late submissions.

We will consider only previously unpublished work in English or in translation to English (in the case of translations, you may be asked to provide proof of permission to translate, if deemed necessary). Manuscripts may be sent to

theyellowissue [at] gmail.com

Please send Word, .doc, .rtf, or .pdf files. Artwork must be in high-resolution (300 dpi or higher) to be considered.  If you include illustrations with your manuscript you must provide copyright information for these (and if you are not the copyright holder yourself, please provide proof of permission to use the illustrations from the copyright holder with your submission).

The Yellow Issue will be published in 2013. All submissions will be responded to within four months of receipt. Simultaneous submissions absolutely accepted; simply let us know as soon as your work under consideration by us is taken elsewhere.

Questions can be directed to theyellowissue [at] gmail.com

It will be helpful to you if you familiarize yourself with what we publish before submitting. To do this, request that your local library order a copy of the journal, or look at  The Blue Issue (2005), which is available as a free PDF download. Most back issues of Fairy Tale Review are sold out, though used ones may be found in the various online stores . Copies of The Red Issue (2010), The Brown Issue (2011) and The Grey Issue (2012) are still available as of this typing  from Small Press Distribution, and Weightless Books has all issuesas e-books on hand, at very affordable prices.

In the twenty-first century poetry interfaces with animal-machine. The “human” is not a given concept, but rather is one that is made in an ongoing technological and anthropological process. We hope to publish an anthology of poetry that participates in technological, biological, representational, sexual, political and theoretical post-humanisms. We’re looking for poetry that engages with or is written by animals, beasts, monsters, creatures, aliens, cyborgs, etc. How do bodies that are misunderstood, misfitting, ugly, failures, etc., challenge western, enlightenment figurations of the “self” and “human”? What are the poetics of rhetorical bodies that exceed definition?

Any contemporary work in English (domestic or translated) that addresses the post-human is welcome. Please send up to 20 pages of poetry, in standard format (*.doc, *.docx, *.rtf, *.pdf) to Aaron Apps & Feng Sun Chen via [submishmash].

Previously published work is welcome; please include acknowledgements (if any) and a brief bio with your submission.

Deadline: January 1st

If you have any questions please contact us at posthumanpoetry[at]gmail.com

Please feel free to forward this call via your e-mail, blog, facebook, tumblr, twitter, etc. We look forward to reading your work.

Sin Fronteras/Writers Without Borders
c/o DAAC
PO Box 1721
Las Cruces, NM 88004

Deadline is June 30, 2012.

Copies of Issue No. 16 are available from the address above for $8 plus $2 postage; prior issues for $5 each plus $2 postage.

Dick Thomas and Ellen Roberts Young are co-editors of the Journal. Queries: ellenpeter@cs.com. No email submissions.

Deadline: 16 July 2012

Multiculturalism, and the representation of it, has long presented challenges for the medium of comics (including manga and bande dessinée). Questions surround the ways in which characters of differing cultures and/or nationalities can and should be presented; answers to which have ranged from anthropomorphism to xenophobia. Issues also exist around the diversity of creators and characters, and the (lack of) visibility for characters that do not conform to particular cultural stereotypes. At Comics Forum 2012, the fourth event in the Thought Bubble conference series, we will attempt to draw out some of the complexities of this field in order to better understand both the problems and the achievements of the medium in dealing with multiculturalism.

Subjects for discussion may include, but are not limited to:

• Cultural diversity (or lack thereof) in comics, manga and bande dessinée
• Ways in which multiculturalism has been represented, visually and/or linguistically in comics
• Moves towards increasing the representation of particular cultural groups in comics, either as creators or characters (e.g. Milestone Comics)
• The modification of existing comics and properties to address new markets (e.g. Spider-Man: India)
• Controversial representations of cultures and relations between cultures (e.g. Tintin au Congo)
• The modification of existing works in new-media representations (e.g. the omission of Ebony White in the film version of The Spirit; the controversies surrounding Idris Elba’s role as Heimdal in Thor)

Proposals of 250 words are invited for talks of 15-20 minutes in length, and should be emailed along with a short biography (around 100 words) to Ian Hague (Department of History, University of Chichester) at: I.Hague@chi.ac.uk. The deadline for submission is 16/07/2012 and notification of acceptance or rejection will be emailed by or before 30/07/2012.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries/ submissions: I.Hague@chi.ac.uk

Website: http://comicsforum.org/

Call for Submissions: Philippine Speculative Fiction 8

Editors Dean and Nikki Alfar invite you to submit short fiction for consideration for Philippine Speculative Fiction volume 8.

Philippine Speculative Fiction is a yearly anthology series, which collects a wide range of stories that define, explore, and sometimes blur the boundaries of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all things in between. The anthology has been shortlisted for the Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award, and multiple stories from each volume have been cited in roundups of the year’s best speculative fiction across the globe.

First-time authors are more than welcome to submit; good stories trump literary credentials any time.

Submissions must be:
1. speculative fiction—i.e., they must contain strong elements and/or sensibilities of science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, alternate history, folklore, superheroes, and/or related ‘nonrealist’ genres and subgenres
2. written in English
3. authored by persons of Philippine ethnicity and/or nationality

Submissions are preferred to be:
1. original and unpublished
2. no shorter than 1,000 words and no longer than 7,500
3. written for an adult audience
In all cases, these preferences can be easily overturned by exceptionally well-written pieces. In the case of previously-published work—if accepted, the author will be expected to secure permission to reprint, if necessary, from the original publishing entity, and to provide relevant publication information.

Submission details:
1. No multiple or simultaneous submissions—i.e., submit only one story, and do not submit that story to any other publishing market until you have received a letter of regret from us. We don’t mind if you submit to contests.
2. All submissions should be in Rich Text Format (saved under the file extension ‘.rtf’), and emailed to nikkialfar@gmail.com, with the subject line ‘PSF8 submission’.
3. The deadline for submissions is 11 p.m., Manila time, September 15, 2012. Letters of acceptance or regret will be sent out no later than one month after the deadline.

Editors’ notes:
1. Please don’t forget to indicate your real name in the submission email! If you want to write under a pseudonym, that’s fine, but this can be discussed upon story acceptance. Initially, we just need to know who we’re talking to.
2. If you’d like to write a cover letter with your brief bio and publishing history (if applicable), do feel free to introduce yourself—but not your story, please. If it needs to be explained, it’s probably not ready to be published.
3. We advise authors to avoid fancy formatting—this will just be a waste of your time and ours, since we will, eventually, standardize fonts and everything else to fit our established house style.

Authors of selected stories will receive Php500 pesos in compensation, as well as digital copies of the book.

Please help spread the word! Feel free to copy this and paste it anywhere you see fit that happens to be legal.

Thanks,
Dean and Nikki Alfar, co-editors

I am looking for LGBT as well as gender-neutral and intersexual themed speculative poems for Issue #5 of Eye to the Telescope. As this can be a touchy subject matter for some, I’m not interested in poetry that is either overtly didactic or—this should go without saying—that perpetuates stereotypes (and although sensual poetry is fine, pure erotica will be a hard sell). That said, I am open to dark humor and poetry that provokes (I’ll trust the poets to figure out the fine line between didactic and provocative and between sensual and erotic).

I would prefer that the LGBT aspect of the poetry be subtle and organic to the poem. As I’d love to highlight as diverse a variety of poetry possible, I’m open to everything from formal/classical forms (haiku, sonnets, etc.) to concrete, Dadaism, abstract, postmodernism, avant-garde, surrealism, bizzaro, or whatever else you have to offer, just as long as the poem is speculative (see definition below) and includes the LGBT theme in some way.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Please submit 1-5 poems (in body of email or attached as .rtf) to Stephen at eye.lgbt@rocketmail.com with “ETTT5 Sub” in the subject line.

Deadline: June 15th.

Read more.

We are currently looking for submissions from women for a multi-genre anthology (poetry, fiction, and nonfiction) centered on the idea of “place” to be published in October 2013. All (re)interpretations welcome, including — but not limited to — the following:

home * region * neighborhood * niche * background responsibility * community
vacancy * property space * venue * profession * establish * distinguish

Please limit submissions to no more than five (5) poems or 5,000 words. Previously published works accepted though please let us know where the piece first appeared.

All questions and submissions may be sent to anthology@sundresspublications.com.

GENERATIONS LITERARY JOURNAL is a perfect bound journal comprised of solicited work and submissions. We encourage, and welcome, submissions of poetry, short fiction, personal narrative, and artwork from writers and artists who represent all generations.

Each issue is themed and we favor work that speaks to the theme without being preachy or overly obvious.

Our reading period for issue 4 is now open! The last day to submit for issue 4 is May 15, 2012.

ISSUE 4 THEME: Rites of Passage

In issue four, we hope to explore the many ways in which a rite of passage shows up in modern society, and how it brings with it, a story from the past. The celebration of milestones, movement, and progress will be the focus of this edition. Whether it’s a ritual based on coming of age, or a ceremonial event, we want to discuss and discover. We want to know how you keep tradition, or how you disrupt and redefine it.

Submit your poems, stories, and art selections that dig deep into the rituals, the ceremonies, the traditions, and the moments that demonstrate or define your culture, your family, and your generation. Send us ideas and images that break tradition, go against rituals, and redefine your generation. We want it all!

We want work that uses language in fresh ways and images that speak to the importance of forward movement and the passage of time. Yes! Think of learning to ride a bike, getting your driver’s license, graduations, baptisms, weddings, fraternities, sororities, Bat Mitzvahs, Quinceañeras, Sweet Sixteens, becoming a parent, a grandparent, turning 21, 40, 65, 100. Think of pilgrimages, spirit walks, vision quests, births, funerals, firsts, lasts, and all the living that happens in between. These are the stories that we want to hear.

We welcome varied views, but frown upon racial slurs, hate messages, or any disparaging and slanderous rhetoric. Your message should come across without being didactic or preachy. Keep it creative and unique.

We are eagerly awaiting your submissions.

DEADLINE to submit for issue 4 is May 15, 2012.