Prose

Issue 1: Visions from a Gender Inclusive Future
Content submissions are currently CLOSED.

We are looking for submissions from trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer artists and writers for the content of the first issue of Inclusive Future Magazine. We encourage trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer people with other marginalized identities to submit.

The anthology will be at least half fictional non-fiction. For this first issue, we’re looking for pieces up to 3,000 words that reflect how language, culture, science, and day-to-day life could change over the next 50-ish years to be gender-inclusive in various cultures around the world. Basically, we want any type of article or other text you’d find in a culture magazine, but of course it’ll all be made up.

While the editorial team is based in the U.S., this is meant to look like an international popular culture magazine, so we’re very invested in choosing pieces that represent gender inclusivity in cultures often underrepresented or left out of mainstream Western media. Special attention will be given to submissions that meet this criteria.

Example Ideas

Letter to the editor
Opinion Editorial (Op Ed)
Feature article that tells a story about the cover image or Al Hess' art (pictured here. See this blog post for more info).
Pop culture reviews (TV, movie, fashion, book, art exhibition, games, etc.)
Pop culture "snapshot": most-anticipated movies, plays, music, books, gaming, other media that are coming soon worldwide
Article about international fashion trends, sustainable living, health and wellness, dating, sex, family, travel
Article about the latest trends of developments ins science, technology, history, politics, economics, or healthcare that would interest a general, international audience
Interview with a famous cultural icon or political leader
Classified ads (jobs, for sale - keep in mind they have to apply to an international audience)
Advertisements (see Bitch Planet's page of fake ads for examples)
"Dear Alix" advice column

What we want

Prose up to 3,000 words in English. All dialects are welcome.

Work that is finished and has been polished.

This is a print publication, so the submission must work in print.

Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

If your submission is accepted by another publication while it's under consideration with us, please let us know as soon as possible. Depending on the circumstances and your wishes, we may still be able to consider your submission as a reprint.

Multiple submissions up to 3,000 words per contributor are allowed.

If submitting a piece under 350 words, we strongly encourage you to submit multiple pieces.

Collaborations are welcome.

For payment and other purposes, a team of collaborators will be considered a single contributor. This means that you may submit up to 3,000 words as an individual and up to 3,000 words as part of a collaborating team.

What we don't want

Queerbaiting; burying your gays; unchallenged racism, heterosexism, or ableism; hate speech.

Erotica.

First drafts or works in progress.

Excerpts from longer works that don't stand alone.

Invading/co-habitating aliens, bigfoots, Hobbits, elves, vampires, were-creatures, shape shifters, or other spec fic elements that don't fit into social speculative fiction. The point of this project is to present a realistic collective vision for a gender-inclusive future.

Work that depends on hyperlinks, interaction, animated graphics, or anything else that doesn't translate to a print publication.

Payment and rights

Payment

We will pay 8¢ (USD) a word with a minimum payment of $25 per contributor for previously unpublished prose and 4¢ a word with a minimum payment of $10 per contributor for reprints. In addition, each contributor will receive one contributor copy of the anthology. Payment will be made via PayPal.

Rights

For previously unpublished work, we ask for worldwide rights with 30 days of exclusivity and that, when published again in the future, you credit us as the original publisher of the work.

For previously published work, we ask for reprint rights. For our purposes, we are considering work published anywhere in print or online as previously published. This includes self published materials, social media, and websites.

Payment will be made via PayPal within 30 days of the receipt of a signed contract.

Work you submit must be your own work, and you must own its publication rights.

How to submit

Please email your submission as a .doc, .docx, .rtf or PDF to inclusivefuturemag[at]gmail[dot]com. Unrecognized file types included as attachments will be deleted unopened.
Be sure to include SUBMISSION: PROSE and the title of your submission in the email subject field. For example, SUBMISSION: PROSE "Mars Colony Update"
If submitting more than one piece, please include all pieces in the same file and just include the title of the first piece in the email subject field.
Please include a statement in your email that confirms you identify as trans, non-binary, and/or genderqueer. (You do not have to specify which.) Please also include your pronouns.

Withdrawal policy

If you need to withdraw a piece after submitting it, please email us at inclusivefuturemag[at]gmail[dot]com and let us know why. Please note that, once withdrawn, a piece may not be resubmitted to the same issue.

Response time

Response time will vary, depending on several factors, but it is our intention to have responded to all submissions within a month of the submission deadline.

Questions?

You can email us at inclusivefuturemag[at]gmail[dot]com with questions. Be sure to include the word QUESTION in the subject field so we can respond as quickly as possible.