Essay Submissions - OPEN
Interstellar Flight Magazine is seeking essays on pop culture, movies, geekery, and scifi/fantasy related topics. Submissions are open year-round. (Please note: We close to submissions briefly at the end of each year from 12/15-1/15 to work on our anthology. Submissions sent during this time will be read after the break.)
We want essays on popular culture, movies, books, video games, SFF culture, conventions, and anything else geeky. We love reviews but believe that the goal of criticism should be to know and understand not to like or dislike. The tone of our essays are conversational and accessible, but we do enjoy a good academic debate. We're always interested in hearing from underrepresented and marginalized voices. How you define that is up to you.
Guidelines:
We want essays on popular culture, movies, books, video games, SFF culture, conventions, and anything else geeky. We love reviews but believe that the goal of criticism should be to know and understand not to like or dislike. The tone of our essays are conversational and accessible, but we do enjoy a good academic debate. We're always interested in hearing from underrepresented and marginalized voices. How you define that is up to you.
Guidelines:
- Essays should be 250-1500 words.
- Please submit in .doc, .docx, or .rtf form.
- Essays should be timely, i.e. that movie you just saw and loved/hated, a book that just came out, or a current topic of discussion online.
- Please include links as hyperlinks in your document. Please do not include images (Tweet embeds are fine).
- You may also submit pitches (max 100 words). Send us several ideas at once if you like.
- We prefer not to publish articles that only work as a series (we are not a "monthly" or "quarterly" publication, so series columns don't really work for us.) Instead focus on one thing and dive deep into it.
- Reprint essays are fine if they are relevant, but we regret that we cannot pay for reprints at this time.
Book Submissions
Call for Nonfiction Proposals - Open
Interstellar Flight Press is accepting submissions of book-length nonfiction manuscripts. We invite scholars of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and related genres to submit proposals via our submission form. Our areas of focus are: Books about SFF genres, writing speculative fiction, poetry, film, comics, pop culture, diverse and marginalized voices, feminism, and disability, as long as these topics intersect with speculative genres. We are very interested in books from researchers outside the U.S. We also welcome collections of essays. Authors should be experienced in the field of SFF research.
Guidelines:
Interstellar Flight Press is accepting submissions of book-length nonfiction manuscripts. We invite scholars of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and related genres to submit proposals via our submission form. Our areas of focus are: Books about SFF genres, writing speculative fiction, poetry, film, comics, pop culture, diverse and marginalized voices, feminism, and disability, as long as these topics intersect with speculative genres. We are very interested in books from researchers outside the U.S. We also welcome collections of essays. Authors should be experienced in the field of SFF research.
Guidelines:
- Full-length books 30,000-125,000 words.
- Please use our Proposal Format to prepare your submission.
- Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- Multiple submissions are allowed.
- If your book is in-progress, please include a delivery schedule in your proposal.
Call for Horror Novellas- Open 10/1/22 - 12/1/22
Interstellar Flight Press is seeking submissions of Horror Novellas in the speculative genres. For this call, we are also open to translations. Books from this call will be slotted for 2023-2026 publication dates.
Our guest editor for this call is Lee Murray. From Aotearoa- New Zealand, USA Today bestselling author, Lee Murray, is a writer, editor, poet, and screenwriter, and winner of the Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, Australian Shadows, and Sir Julius Vogel Awards. Her fiction titles include the Taine McKenna adventure trilogy, The Path of Ra (with Dan Rabarts), and debut collection Grotesque: Monster Stories. Lit Reactor's Editor of the Year for 2021, Lee has edited 18 volumes of speculative fiction, including the acclaimed Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (with Geneve Flynn). She's a Grimshaw-Sargeson and NZSA literary fellow, and a former HWA Mentor of the Year. Her first poetry collection, Tortured Willows, a collaboration with Angela Yuriko Smith, Christina Sng and Geneve Flynn, released in October 2021. Read more at https://www.leemurray.info/.
We are looking for:
While we will read all manuscripts submitted, we do have a list of things which will likely be hard sells:
Interstellar Flight Press is seeking submissions of Horror Novellas in the speculative genres. For this call, we are also open to translations. Books from this call will be slotted for 2023-2026 publication dates.
Our guest editor for this call is Lee Murray. From Aotearoa- New Zealand, USA Today bestselling author, Lee Murray, is a writer, editor, poet, and screenwriter, and winner of the Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, Australian Shadows, and Sir Julius Vogel Awards. Her fiction titles include the Taine McKenna adventure trilogy, The Path of Ra (with Dan Rabarts), and debut collection Grotesque: Monster Stories. Lit Reactor's Editor of the Year for 2021, Lee has edited 18 volumes of speculative fiction, including the acclaimed Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (with Geneve Flynn). She's a Grimshaw-Sargeson and NZSA literary fellow, and a former HWA Mentor of the Year. Her first poetry collection, Tortured Willows, a collaboration with Angela Yuriko Smith, Christina Sng and Geneve Flynn, released in October 2021. Read more at https://www.leemurray.info/.
We are looking for:
- Novellas 17,500-40,000. (This is a hard word count limit. We will accept manuscripts within 5,000 words of this, but note that authors may be asked to revise to within these word counts.)
- Horror genre including but not limited to: Science Fiction Horror, Fantasy Horror, Supernatural, Weird Horror, Mystery/thrillers with horror elements. Hybrids or difficult to categorize works are welcome. Give us your slashers, zombies, witches, vampires, monsters, demons, devils, horror comedies, psychological thrillers, body horror, crime noir, creature features, aliens, ghosts, haunted houses, creepy carnivals, serial killers, possessed children, shapeshifters, disasters, and viruses.
- Translations: We accept translations from authors or translators working on behalf of authors. In the case of collaborative projects, royalties are split based upon agreement between the parties involved.
- Email submissions are not accepted. Please use our submission form.
- Please send complete manuscripts (your entire book) in .doc or .docx formats, formatted in Standard Manuscript Format with no identifying information in the document or the file name. This means:
- 12-point font.
- Times New Roman, Courier, or similar font.
- Double spaced.
- Numbered pages.
- Your name should not appear anywhere in the manuscript or in the title of the document. If your name appears in the manuscript, we will remove it before sending it to our readers.
- NEW: Please include content warnings on the first page of the manuscript. For more on this, please read our guide to content warnings.
- Please include a synopsis/summary on the first page of your manuscript, max 500 words.
- We require a cover letter with bio in our submission form. Be sure to include links to your website and social media so we can get to know you.
- Simultaneous and multiple submissions are fine, but if you receive an offer from another publisher, please let us know so we can withdraw your manuscript.
- We do not accept previously published manuscripts, including self-published or partially published manuscripts.
- Agented submissions are welcome. If you're an agent, please send us an email (contact (at) interstellarflightpress (dot) com) or submit via the form.
While we will read all manuscripts submitted, we do have a list of things which will likely be hard sells:
- Explicit sexual content
- Rape and graphic sexual assault
- Animal cruelty and/or death of an animal
- Homophobia, Transphobia, graphic violence toward LGBTQ people
- Violence toward people with disabilities
- Violence toward women, spousal abuse, mariticide
- Violence toward children or infanticide
- Violence toward any marginalized group or community
- Stories that promote hatred, prejudice, or violence toward any group of people included but not limited to age, race, nationality, sex, gender, religion, political affiliation, economic status, disability, or neurodiversity.
We are keen to publish new authors as well as to hear from more established authors. As always, we love hearing from authors from underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities.
All of our books receive a full marketing plan and are printed in paperback formats, as well as distribution as eBook. We consider publishing a collaboration and pay 30-40% of all Publisher’s Net Receipts to the author as royalties. Depending on the project, we may also offer an advance. We ask for exclusive world English rights and audio rights (for novellas). We believe in transparency. If you would like to see a sample of our contract, we encourage you to email us at contact (at) interstellarflightpress (dot) com.
Our turnaround time around three months, although it may vary depending on the call. You may query if you haven't heard from us after 90 days.
All of our books receive a full marketing plan and are printed in paperback formats, as well as distribution as eBook. We consider publishing a collaboration and pay 30-40% of all Publisher’s Net Receipts to the author as royalties. Depending on the project, we may also offer an advance. We ask for exclusive world English rights and audio rights (for novellas). We believe in transparency. If you would like to see a sample of our contract, we encourage you to email us at contact (at) interstellarflightpress (dot) com.
Our turnaround time around three months, although it may vary depending on the call. You may query if you haven't heard from us after 90 days.
Previous Submission Calls
Call for Short Story Collections - Closed
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki.
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki.
Call for BIPOC Novellas - Closed
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Premee Mohamed.
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Premee Mohamed.
Call for Flash Fiction from BIPOC - Closed
Our 2020 Alternate Endings Submission call has closed. You can read the accepted pieces for this call on our website. Our Guest Editor for this call was Jamileh Jemison.
Our 2020 Alternate Endings Submission call has closed. You can read the accepted pieces for this call on our website. Our Guest Editor for this call was Jamileh Jemison.
Chapbooks & Poetry Collections - Closed
Interstellar Flight Press is currently closed to poetry book submissions. Our Guest Editor for this call was Saba Razvi. All submissions from our 2019 call have been responded to.
Interstellar Flight Press is currently closed to poetry book submissions. Our Guest Editor for this call was Saba Razvi. All submissions from our 2019 call have been responded to.
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