Call for Submissions: Cottonopolis: Steampunk Manchester

Matt's Note: I got alerted to this by Twitter friend @SheWolfManc, and said I'd post it here for you wonderful folks to see.

Call for Submissions: Cottonopolis: Steampunk Manchester

Submissions wanted for a new anthology of steampunk fiction set it Manchester. In the Age of Steam, Manchester ruled – the world’s first industrialized city; the first passenger railway station for new steam-powered transport; multi-millionaires pouring their money into Gothic libraries and trying to ignore the sprawling slums.

One 19th-century commentator wrote of Manchester:  “A thick black smoke covers the city. The sun appears like a disc without any rays. In this semi-daylight 300,000 people work ceaselessly. A thousand noises rise amidst this unending damp and dark labyrinth ...the footsteps of a busy crowd, the crunching wheels of machines, the shriek of steam from the boilers, the regular beat of looms, the heavy rumble of carts, these are the only noises from which you can never escape in these dark half-lit streets”

What if these days had not come to an end? What if Cottonpolis, the Warehouse City, had gone from strength to steam-powered strength? We’re looking for new and established writers to contribute dark fiction tales for a new collection of stories that imagines that this ‘damp and dark labyrinth’ really was ‘unending’.

Editor: Hannah Kate
Publisher: Hic Dragones

What we want: Edgy dark steampunk fiction set in a fictionalized future Manchester. Some familiarity with the city and its history is advisable. Any interpretation within these bounds is welcome. Queer, trans, cis, straight are all welcome. Pure Victoriana is discouraged, as we are looking for stories set in an imagined future. (And, I should warn you, we are unlikely to be publishing any celebrations of imperialism!)

Word Count: 3000-5000

Submission Guidelines: Electronic submissions as .doc, .docx, .rtf attachments only. 12pt font, 1.5 or double spaced. Please ensure name, title and email address are included on attachment.

Email to submissions [at] hic-dragones [dot] co [dot] uk.

Submissions are welcome from anywhere, but must be in English.

Submission Deadline: Monday 6th June 2011



Their website: http://www.hic-dragones.co.uk/#/publishing/4546989763

The Roots of Steampunk Research Project

If you've been following my writings here for awhile, you'll remember the Roots of Steampunk series that I put together in April of last year going through the development of the genre from the early 1800s to roughly the 1930s. Those blog posts turned into an academic research article, which also turned into a 90-minute presentation given at Upstate Steampunk in South Carolina.

The article I wrote, by the way, is going to be published in a forthcoming anthology from Cambridge Scholars Press, an academic press based in England. No idea when the antho is coming out, but believe me you'll hear about it.

Anyway, I tell you all this because my research into the literary roots of Steampunk is going through yet another expansion. This time, my intention is to craft an entire book examining the roots of the Steampunk subgenre, including both literature and film as part of the mix.

This presents a new problem for me though: I only know of a limited list of works that constitute the roots of Steampunk. And that is where you all come in. Leave me your suggestion for a book, author, or film that you'd like me to examine as part of my research and I will make certain I consider it.

This is your chance to be part of a research project. How about it?