Deadline: February 28th, 2026
Payment: $0.10 (AUD) per word for original fiction, $100 (AUD) for reprints, $50 (AUD) bonus if the story is used in the marketing
Theme: Stories that explore sapphic identity and purpose through the lens of fantasy and speculative fiction
Thank you for your interest in the upcoming Scylla Publishing anthology “Who Am I? A Sapphic Spec Fic Anthology of Identity and Purpose”.
Submissions open: Dec 1, 2025 to Feb 28, 2026
Editors of the anthology are queer, gender and sexually diverse, and allies who are dedicated to bringing underrepresented, sapphic speculative fiction voices into print.
Published, emerging, or unpublished authors who meet the eligibility criteria are all encouraged to submit. Please don’t self-reject! Your current published status will not be a factor, only your story matters.
Please review the guidelines carefully and do what you can to adhere to them!
This anthology aims to explore sapphic identity and purpose through the lens of fantasy and speculative fiction. Give us your adventure, introspection, daring, romance, or conflict!
Put simply, being sapphic is not all we are, but it does play a role in who we are and the choices we make. Same with our characters. We’re looking for stories that give sapphic characters something amazing to do while remaining visibly and proudly queer.
Within the specified genres and guidelines below, you are free to explore identity and/or purpose in explicit or implicit ways however you wish. That purpose or identity does not need to be related to queerness.
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Yes! Speculative fiction, urban and contemporary fantasy, gothic, dystopian, near future, monster, steampunk, space opera, romantasy, fairy tale twists, mythic, or anything not specifically excluded! We are a big genre, with plenty of room to play.
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NO! Body or gruesome horror (vampires are fine), grimdark, or straight up pornography.
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Hard Sell! High fantasy (please no European-centric sword and sorcery), hard scifi, or coming out stories.
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Spice is okay! If it serves your story, consensual sex is acceptable. Non-consensual, threatening, or underage sex is explicitly not accepted.
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AI generated stories will be immediately rejected. If we discover later they are AI generated we will remove/reject them. Acceptable AI are those that enable disabled writers to participate, such as voice-to-text software.
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Stories should be fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words.
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We will be stating in our marketing that contributors are queer/sapphic/wlw. If you are uncomfortable with this, please do not submit, or use a pen name to submit.
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The main character/s must be sapphic/queer. The MC’s queerness must be clear, but stories do not need to be romantic or sexual. Asexual and aromantic characters, and writers, are welcome.
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This anthology is intended for mature readers. Mature characters-in temperament, action, age, whatever!-are explicitly encouraged.
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Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
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We are considering reprints (especially if their original market was very limited). Reprints are allowed if they are clearly suited to the theme and genre. Reprints must credit the original market where the story appeared.
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Stories must be written in English. Translations are acceptable. We will credit the original writer and the translator.
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Some spaces in the anthology will be reserved for Australian and New Zealand writers, but absolutely NOT restricted. We want writers from everywhere. We just want ensure there’s local rep!
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Submit your stories as a Word (.docx) or RTF format document.
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Use a clear font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Garamond. Font size should be 12-point, left aligned.
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Double-space the entire manuscript to improve readability.
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Use 2.75cm (or 1-inch) margins on all sides.
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Indent the first line of each paragraph. Avoid adding extra spaces between paragraphs.
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Include page numbers in the header or footer, starting on the first page.
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Include your name, contact info, and country of residence on the first page, and the story title.
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Use either a centered hashtag (#) or a blank line to indicate scene breaks.
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Avoid elaborate formatting, headers, footers, or decorative fonts that can distract or complicate reading.
If we reject your work on formatting grounds we will let you know so you can fix and resubmit.
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We claim first world electronic rights (text and audio), and first print rights for the first 12 months.
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Previously unpublished stories are $0.10 (AUD) per word, with a maximum payment of $400 (AUD) per story.
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Reprints are capped at $100 (AUD) per story. (Printing on your own website/blog doesn’t count as published, but you will be asked to remove prior to publication)
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An additional $50 (AUD) per story will be offered if your story is to be used in whole or in part in the email/social marketing campaigns for the anthology.
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We use Paypal for payment and will cover all fees. If you’re not Australian (and most won’t be!) there’ll obviously be some foreign exchange differences.
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Your author bio may include a promo blurb, as well as a URL to your author (or queer small press, not trad publisher) website.
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We are reviewing submissions as they are received. Likely timeframe for response to accept, reject or hold for further consideration is 6-8 weeks.
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If you submit at the end of the submissions period, this timeframe could be longer as we expect large numbers to arrive close to the end date.
Via: Scylla Publishing.
