Friday, November 24, 2017

FIYAH's next theme issue: Big Mama Nature

I wanted to share another short-fiction publishing opportunity that some friends (or friends of friends) might be interested in.

FIYAH is a magazine of Black speculative (sci-fi/fantasy) literature. Only folks belonging to the African diaspora may submit. The editors explicitly encourage African-descended writers with intersectional identities (LGBTQ or disabled, for instance) to submit to them.

FIYAH's had five issues so far and is still going strong, not only publishing new writers but also surveying writers about where they're submitting and getting published--which is pretty handy data, frankly, and a cool service to the community they're writing for.

Each issue has a theme, and they open their windows for submissions on that theme for just one month each time. Writers who look ahead at the theme calendar and who know when the windows open will have an edge.

On January 1, another window opens, remaining open until Jan. 31. Theme: "Big Mama Nature."

Their description of the theme: "Everyone knows that you need to respect Mama. We’re looking for stories of Nature and her swift backhand when folks get out of line. Give us your stories of ecological wastelands, futures full of solar powered punks, or natural disasters. Climate fiction is the name of the game, and Big Mama don’t play."

(The next two themes after that are Music [accepting submissions in April] and Pilgrimage [accepting subs in July], respectively.)

FIYAH pays $150 for a short story, $300 for a novelette (7000 to 15000 words), and $50 for a poem.

These are good rates. (Depending on your exact word-count, these are either semi-pro or pro-rates.)

Here's a link to their submission guidelines (including a list of specific story elements that they don't want to see): http://www.fiyahlitmag.com/submissions/ 

Also, here's a link to issue 4 and a list of its contents: https://www.fiyahlitmag.com/product/issue-four-roots/

FIYAH's surveys have uncovered that many of their writers self-reject when they consider some major magazines--or, perhaps more accurately, they submit to magazines that seem more likely to be open to their identities. Even when a person submits to a magazine, it's sometimes tough to interpret a rejection. Is it because of what you wrote? Or because of who you are? (Or, perhaps more subtly, did they not get what you wrote because they don't share enough of your background?) Magazines like FIYAH remove a lot of that clutter from both apprehension and self-evaluation. If you belong to the African diaspora and you write, they're interested in what you have to say. For anyone who might be classified an emerging writer, that sort of clarity can be a real help.

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