Sub Op

Laksa Media has an open call for their upcoming short spec fic antho Where the Stars Rise: "This speculative fiction anthology contains original stories to celebrate Asian diversity, featuring an Asian main character, Asian setting and/or some amount of Asian elements, by authors with an Asian ancestry. We consider Asian countries as those defined by United Nations in Wikipedia. Authors do not need to reside in Asia to participate in this anthology. Asian ancestry includes persons who may not necessarily be of Asian ethnicity but have grown up or lived a significant amount of time in an Asian society or country (“Asians of non-Asian ethnicity”). We welcome translated story from other languages to English (no English reprints, please).

We are looking for stories to celebrate character diversity (ethnic, age, walks of life/socio-economics, sexuality, etc.). We leave the question as to what determine Asian theme open so not to restrict creativity. No stereotypes or clichéd portrayal of cultures or stories based purely on showing the strangeness or exoticism of a culture. No erotica. Cross-genre is encouraged. This anthology is geared towards Young Adult and Adult.

Project Objectives:

A portion of Laksa Media’s net revenue from this anthology will go directly to support Kids Help Phone.
Laksa Media will donate CAN$500 upon the publication of this anthology to Kids Help Phone.

Submission Guidelines:

Length: <7,000 words No reprints: No simultaneous submissions: No multiple submissions. Advance Payment to Contributors: Contributors will be paid CAN 6 cents per word. The payment is an advance against royalties. A contributor’s copy is included. Payment will be on acceptance of final edited story. We want to have a balance between science fiction and fantasy, with at least 50% science fiction. However, anthology editors tend to receive more fantasy than science fiction submissions. Therefore, we encourage more science fiction stories of all varieties (space opera, time-travel thrillers, interesting new approaches to classic themes, near-future technology, techno-thrillers, science mystery, Asian-punk) because, for an ethno-cultural based anthology, they would help to mitigate the Orientalism that influences Western perceptions of cultures east of Constantinople. Our media is already filled with mystical gurus, genies, and kung-fu monks. We are not saying our anthology has no room for fantasy-based stories, but we are saying that we need to expand the perception and show that Asians do know science and engineering, that they’re not just mystics with magical powers. We are happy to accept fantasy-related fiction, but we are prioritizing the reading of the SF submissions." For more information, see the submission guidelines here. Deadline: May 31st, 2016.