Future//Tense: Love — Open

Future//Tense anthologies are currently on hold due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What will love look like in the future?

What will change about relationships?

What new challenges will face us — single folks and those in relationships of all shapes — a hundred years down the line? Five hundred? A thousand?

Future//Tense: Love is an anthology of transfuturistic science-fiction. The stories within will explore the way love, relationship, and identity issues may change over time, from the near future to far, on Earth or other planets, in humans or those from the stars.

How will society change?

How will we?

About the anthology

Future//Tense: Love is an anthology of short fiction edited by Madison Scott-Clary. It will comprise several pieces from diverse authors. The anthology will be released in both physical and e-book formats, as well as, depending on interest, audiobook format.

Here is what Hybrid will be looking for:

Submission content

We are looking for short story submissions that explore the shape of love and romance in the decades and centuries to come. There is no restriction on gender of characters or perceived orientation, including anywhere on the asexuality/aromanticism spectrum. We love seeing non-normative takes on romance, emotions, and relationships such as polyamory, relationship anarchy, and queer stories. We are particularly keen on featuring #OwnVoices authors.

Hybrid Ink will not, under any circumstances, publish content that portrays any of the following without justification or in a positive light:

• Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or other forms of discrimination
• Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18
• Rape, torture, dubious consent, or forced seduction
• Gratuitous violence, gore, or death

For more information, please see here, and remember that we're all governed by our code of conduct.

Submission genre

So long as the story takes place in the future and meets the other content requirements, anything goes. Shifters? Sure! Post-apocalyptic? Go ahead! Furries or aliens? Of course!

Submission rating

G–R — we ask that authors avoid explicit descriptions of sex, but do understand that sometimes that’s necessary to the plot. If you have any concerns, don’t hesitate to ask!

Submission length

2,000–15,000 words — if you feel like you will fall outside this range, let us know!

Rate

2½¢ per word (maximum $100 per story. Why?)

Simultaneous submissions

Yes, but please inform us if you are also submitting to other sources.

Multiple submissions

Yes — limit 2. A maximum of 1 will be published.

Prior publication

Previously published works are allowed, but preference given to entries that have not yet been published.

Schedule

Submissions open	February 1, 2020
Submissions close	May 1, 2020
Submissions read and responded to	Within four weeks On hold
Anthology available for sale	within six months of contracts

Submission contracts will include a sunset clause. You may see an example contract here.

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Submitting to Hybrid

Please submit via email to hybrid+submit@hybrid.ink.

Include your name and what you are submitting for in the subject line in the format [Submission type] Submission name (for X) by Author. For example, Jace Doe is submitting their story "Something Awesome," to the Great Stories anthology, they would use the subject line [Story] Something Awesome (for Great Stories) by Jace Doe.

Alternately, for longer work queries, if Anna Doe is submitting a query for her novel Holy Crap, Birds!, she would use the subject line [Query] Holy Crap, Birds! by Anna Doe.

Please submit the entire short work, or the first 10,000 words or so (about twenty pages) for longer work queries. If your work is longer than 10,000 words, please also submit a synopsis. We will accept the following formats: Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), Open Document Format/LibreOffice/Calligra Words (.odt), Markdown, TeX of various flavors. We can also accept Google Docs, but would prefer a standalone file.

If you are submitting to a call for submissions, please be sure to note the following in your submission email:

• Whether or not you are submitting simultaneously to other markets
• Whether or not your submission has already been published elsewhere
• Whether or not you are submitting multiple submissions to the call

We appreciate you following these guidelines, as they help all of us keep submissions organized! If you are submitting to an anthology and do not follow the email subject line guidelines, you will confuse our poor editors, those wily beasts, and we will have to coax them out of catatonia once more.

For published pieces we take non-exclusive print and electronic publishing rights. Bear in mind that most publications will not publish pieces that have been published in print, e-book, or on the web, so for all intents and purposes after your work is published by us it can only be marketed as a reprint. That is, while we accept reprints, that is hardly universal. It is up to you, the author, to decide if publishing your work in print and/or e-book formats is really what you want to do.