Dudes Rock!

A CELEBRATION OF QUEER MASCULINITY in speculative fiction

Submissions for the Dudes Rock! anthology are open until Feb 15th, 2024.

Dudes Rock! is an upcoming genre-spanning short fiction anthology that celebrates queer masculinity and is currently open for submissions! It will be edited by Prismatica’s very own Audris Candra and special guest editor Jay Kang Romanus.

Isn’t it hard to find a place where being one of the dudes doesn’t mean compromising a part of yourself? A place where your personal masculine identity rests easy outside the boxes of the gender binary? Even just somewhere you can hang with the boys and not worry about them hating women? We want Dudes Rock! to be that place for you. Imagine a future where something as simple as wearing that leather jacket you stare at longingly doesn’t fill you with anxiety, and something as complex as lesbian masculinity is easy to share with the world. From the ambitious charm of Game of Thrones’ Renly Baratheon to the elegant romance of Lan Wangii (The Untamed, 2019), and everything else beyond: Dudes Rock! is about celebrating all that queer masculinity can be beyond the confines of a single world, and we want you to rock with us.

A fundamental part of dudes rocking is making sure all sorts of dudes feel like part of the group. With that in mind, any authors who have reckoned with their own masculinity are encouraged to submit! Just keep in mind the focus of this anthology. For example, we’re sure a transfem writer has a very unique perspective on masculinity but we don’t want to cause someone to feel dysphoric about being in an anthology titled Dudes Rock!

Submissions

We are accepting short fiction of across the entire realm of speculative fiction and artwork of any medium (physical must be scanned).

What we like:

• Jay is looking for stories set in richly imagined worlds that play with the status quo of gender and/or indulge in the inherent homoeroticism of hanging with the bros.

• Audris would love to see masculinity that ties in to your culture and decolonize the rigid idea of masculinity.

We will not accept stories over 6,000 words or partial/incomplete stories. This is a hard word limit.

Fiction Guidelines

Word Limit: under 6,000 words

Genres: speculative fiction (however vague) that highlights “queer masculinity”

Rights: Upon acceptance of your work, Prismatica Press claims non-exclusive rights for print publication, online archival rights to showcase the Work indefinitely (text and audio) on their website, non-exclusive anthology rights, and for promotional purposes, including but not limited to promotion on Prismatica Press's website prismaticapress.com.

Payment: $15 per piece (one-time payment)

We gladly accept work that has been printed elsewhere and do not claim First Rights. By submitting your work to dudesrock@prismaticapress(dot)com, you are agreeing to these terms. Additionally:

• The editorial team reserves the right to accept or reject any article submitted for publication.

• The editorial team reserves the right to edit articles for typographical, spelling, grammatical errors, and conformance with selected style guides.

• Any other edits will be requested of the author and agreed upon between the Author and editor prior to preparation for publication.

Written Submission Process

Submit all stories to dudesrock@prismaticapress[dot]com. You should receive an email from us with 24 hours to confirm your submission. Submissions close February 15th and we will make final decisions by March 15th.

Be sure to include your name, pen name (if applicable), email address, story title, word count, genre, and your attached media. Please submit stories in standard manuscript format and in .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX format.

Please include any trigger warnings in the body of your email.

You are under no obligation to provide your legal name. This goes doubly to trans authors.

For the Terms and Conditions of submissions, click here.

For the Terms and Conditions of art submissions, click here. 

Confidentiality

All personal information will never be shared with anyone outside of the editorial staff, except:

• if compelled by law

• if threats are made against staff

• if narrators need assistance with pronunciation (email only)

• if instructed by the author