Futurismic

Yes indeed - you enquired, cajoled and begged, and the day has finally arrived - Futurismic is open to fiction submissions once again!

Chris East, our hard-working Fiction Editor, is a busy man - and with the submissions coming in he’s going to be even more busy than usual. So please be considerate: read the entirety of the Guidelines page thoroughly - twice - and check your story is a good fit before clicking through to the submissions webform (linked from the Guidelines page).

That way you save Chris time and save yourself from a rejection you didn’t need to get, right? Right!

Also, a few words on file formatting. Three words, actually, or rather two words and an acronym:

RTF files only!

The webform shouldn’t let you upload anything else; if you manage to subvert the process, your submission will just be deleted anyway, so just convert in your favourite word processor package first.

And finally - we will ONLY accept fiction submissions through the webform. All attempted submissions by regular email, comment fields, Twitter, psychic projection, good old-fashioned snail-mail or any other channels WILL BE IGNORED AND DELETED/DESTROYED UNREAD AND UNREPLIED TO.

OK, with all that out of the way, get to work! Do you think you can beat Leonard Richardson’s 37-deep comments thread? Because that’s the caliber of work we’re looking for - and we’re looking forward to your submissions!

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A new month means a new story here at Futurismic … and this one has got everything.

Seriously - geek hackers and classic arcade games, electronic Darwinism and domestic espionage, venture capital and Valley-esque start-ups … and a healthy dose of intellectual property panic. Leonard Richardson’s Futurismic début is quite a piece of work!

I should also point out for the benefit of the easily-offended that there’s a generous sprinkling of profanity in “Mallory”, right from the outset. Still keen? Good - you won’t regret it! Click on through and read the whole thing … and please leave comments for Leonard to let him know what you thought of the story.

Mallory

by Leonard Richardson

Vijay had been playing video games his whole life, but he’d never really become addicted to one until the first incarnation of Fuck Me. Adding an element of real-time strategy to the already-frenetic Gestalt Warrior combined construction, emergent behavior, and blob-themed violence in a way that both Vijay and the Selfish GAME found satisfying.

Continue reading “MALLORY by Leonard Richardson”

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As promised, original fiction returns to Futurismic - and how! We’re incredibly proud to be publishing Eliot Fintushel’s story, and we hope you enjoy it too. So please use the comment form at the end to tell us (and Eliot!) what you thought of “Uxo, Bomb Dog”.

###

Uxo, Bomb Dog

by Eliot Fintushel

My bomb dog Uxo, my sweetie, my pal, he sweated and huffed, tongue unscrolled, forelegs folded. His fur was matted and dripping.

I held Mumps back with both my arms around her shoulders. The kid had lobbed stones at old Ux and tied soup cans to his tail, but now she’d jump mines to pet him.

“Stay put, little one. Uxo’s pacing himself, is all.”

“You can beat that pile of tin, Uxy.” Mumps’s chin was tear wet. Her voice choked and tumbled over the words. “Damn Volkovoy! Damn him! Cheater!”

We stood on a hill overlooking the meadow. A bunch of other kids ambled behind us, rags and bones, scruffy faces, some little ones on the shoulders of the bigger. Bit by bit, as Uxo and the damn machine cleared the meadow, we’d advance to the new safe zone for a better look. Continue reading “UXO, BOMB DOG by Eliot Fintushel”

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The form below should only be used for submitting stories for consideration by Futurismic’s fiction editor; be sure you’ve read the fiction guidelines beforehand.

Please fill in all fields of the form below. The only attachment file-type permitted is Rich Text File (RTF).

Incomplete submissions, or submissions of other file types will be deleted unopened and not responded to.

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Wow! Here’s a bit of news that combines two of my favourite things - short-form speculative fiction and Second Life.

The Future Fire is a UK-based speculative fiction e-zine, and they’ve just released their ninth issue as a free-to-download PDF file. Normally that would just be a prime candidate for a Friday Free Fiction mention, but there’s a little extra involved this time round.

The Future Fire is running a short fiction writing competition … but with a twist. Take it away, editor Djibril:

"… in this issue, we launch the The Future Fire / Black Swan writing competition with a first prize of $500.

"There’s a small technical barrier to entry, but no cost involved: the contest requires you to register and enter the Second Life virtual world and visit the Black Swan sim, which is a spooky, atmospheric island with a raised pathway, sculptures, events, and inhabitants.

"Visit for as long and as often as you like, and then write a story of up to 2,000 words inspired by your experience and submit it to The Future Fire by midnight on December 10th 2007."

Full details (and the SLURL for The Black Swan) can be found on The Future Fire’s website.

So, all you writers who have yet to investigate Second Life, now you have a great excuse! Drop me an email if you’d like some guidance from someone who knows the lay of the land.

Thanks to Ariel at UK SF Book News Network for the heads-up.

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Already a widely published man in his chosen field, Stephen Hawking is branching out into authordom of a different kind. In partnership with his daughter and a French scientist who wrote a thesis on his ideas, Hawking has written George’s Secret Key To The Universe - a space adventure story for children that explains the physics of the universe while (presumably) entertaining younger readers at the same time. I think we can safely assume that’s one science fiction story whose physics will never be questioned by hard sf purists … well, at least for a good few decades. [Image from Random House]

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This should kill more than a few hours, be you a writer, reader, television obsessive or movie buff, rabid fan, or some combination thereof - the TV Tropes wiki is a user-contributed archive of tropes and plot ideas from literature, film and television, computer games … pretty much any form of entertainment media you can think of. Plus lots of amusing commentary on the nature of fandom, and the wiki’s community itself. Funny, informative and lo-fi - a winning combination, in my book. Discovered via Dinosaur Comics, which is a source of great jollity in its own right if you’ve got the right sense of humour.

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FUTURISMIC FICTION GUIDELINES

OVERVIEW

Futurismic seeks contemporary, near future science fiction for online publication.  We’re looking for innovative, exciting stories that use the tools of speculative fiction to examine contemporary issues and take a look at what’s just around the corner.

Whether by established professionals or promising newcomers, we would like to see the very best in today’s SF, with an emphasis on work that truly connects with and illuminates the fast-paced, fascinating times we live in.

Stories should be compelling and well written, with a strong emphasis on characters confronting or embracing imminent cultural, social, technological, and scientific changes.

PLEASE NOTE: Near-future, Earth-based science fiction is our primary focus!

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• Mundane SF
• Post-cyberpunk SF
• Satirical/gonzo futurism
• Realistic near future hard SF

WHAT WE’RE NOT LOOKING FOR:

• Fantasy
• Horror
• Space opera
• Off-world SF
• Distant futures
• Aliens
• Time Travel
• Alternate History

(Stories submitted from the above-listed tropes or subgenres will likely be rejected out of hand.)

LENGTH

We will consider works of any length up to 15,000 words. Note that stories of 2,000 words or less tend to be a very tough sell to us.

SUBMISSION FORMAT

Our submissions webform is open!

All submissions will need to come as Rich Text Files (RTF) - no other formats will be accepted.

Attempted fiction submissions by any other method or channel will be deleted unopened and not responded to!

PAYMENT

Payment is a flat rate of US$200.00 per story, on acceptance, for first electronic rights (for publication on the world wide web) and nonexclusive audio performance rights (for podcasting).

READING PERIODS AND RESPONSE TIMES

We are open for submissions year-round - although we may close the webform periodically to let the editors recharge their batteries!

Response times tend to fall between 2-5 weeks of receipt of your story. Stories that we are strongly considering tend to take longer than that.

If you haven’t heard back after 5 weeks, feel free to query.

OTHER NOTES

• No reprints, please.
• No simultaneous submissions, please.
• No multiple submissions–please submit only one story at a time. This really helps us keep the response times reasonable.
• Please do not resubmit stories that we have already rejected during previous reading periods, unless we have specifically requested a rewrite.

QUESTIONS?

Questions about these guidelines or queries about submitted manuscripts are welcome; just send an e-mail to the address included with your automated response. We will respond to queries as promptly as possible.

We look forward to seeing your work. Good luck!

Christopher East, Fiction Editor
Paul Raven, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

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You have questions? We have answers!

What is Futurismic?

Futurismic is a website for people interested in the future and the effects of science and technology on the present.

Futurismic comes in three parts:

• The blog consists of short introductions to content that exists elsewhere on the web, usually (though not exclusively) with some sort of science fiction angle.
• The columns section covers the same ground in more detail, allowing for hyperbole, punditry, humour, or whatever else the writer chooses to deploy.

Both blog and column entries might cover scientific advances; new technology and technological products; news about technology companies; descriptions of people impacted by technology; emergent cultural or social phenomena; or political issues that couldn’t exist in the absence of any of the above.

In addition to its core focus, content may delve into tangential issues at the whim of its contributors. Such tangents are made for particularly amusing or interesting content, or for news about the professional activities of its contributors. Or because the contributor thought you might find it interesting.

• The fiction section contains innovative, exciting new stories that use the tools of speculative fiction to examine contemporary issues and take a look at what’s just around the corner.

Futurismic’s fiction section, in other words, is an extrapolative complement to our blog entries and columns. Or is it the other way around?

Who’s behind Futurismic?

The Staff page has the answers you seek!

We’re always interested in potential non-fiction contributors: if you’re an excellent writer with a keen interest in what tomorrow will bring, drop us a line!

Do you pay for writing?

Bloggers and essayists are not paid. They do it for the love. Or the glory. Sometimes both.

We buy science fiction short stories at a flat rate of US$200.00 for first electronic rights and nonexclusive audio performance rights. We are currently closed to submissions, but expect to reopen imminently.

We publish one story per month.

What kind of fiction are you interested in?

We’re looking for the very best in current science fiction, with an emphasis on work that truly connects with and illuminates the fast-paced, fascinating time we live in. We accept stories of any length up to 15,000 words. We are not interested in reprints or simultaneous submissions.

Please read the Futurismic fiction submission guidelines carefully and make sure your story matches our requirements.

What are your response times like?

We work as fast as we can, but we’d ask you to bear in mind that all of Futurismic’s staff have day-jobs as well! We intend to reply to all submissions within three months of receipt.

How do I submit fiction to Futurismic?

There’s a link to the online submissions form on the guidelines page, which we heartily recommend reading first. Please note that the only file format in which we will accept fiction is .RTF (Rich Text File).

Who pays for all of this?

Much like any other site that makes a mission of delivering quality content at no end cost to the user (that’s you, by the way), Futurismic will be relying on adverts to generate the money to pay our authors and prop up the server it lives on. We will be doing our level best to make sure those ads are not offensive, inappropriate or (worst of all, in our opinion) patronising.

If you have any queries or complaints about the adverts (or anything else, for that matter), please drop us a line via the Contact page.

Legal Stuff

All content on Futurismic remains the property of the person who wrote it, with the exception of quotations or excerpts or images from linked works which we republish under the terms of Fair Use. In such cases we make every effort to credit the original source of the material; please get in touch if you feel any content on Futurismic is infringing on your copyright. We believe content should be free and that promoting the content of others is not just fair but beneficial; however, if you want to lock up your content just let us know and we’ll remove/de-link it. It’s yours, after all; you can be as irrationally protective of it as you like.

Please note that the ownership of content extends to comments supplied by readers; while Futurismic staff will delete or redact comments deemed broadly offensive (or blatantly self-promotional and irrelevant), we will endeavour to leave all others - no matter how staggeringly uninformed or bizarre the opinions held within.

So please feel free to comment - but be prepared to stand by your own words.

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April’s story, “The Towers of St. Michael’s” from Futurismic alumnus David Walton is a pensive piece about the sensory world and the barriers between two people separated by sight. Check out David’s earlier “Diamond Dust” afterwards, if you haven’t already read it.

The Towers Of St. Michael’s

by David Walton

Paul watched Bartalan Varga slash egg-yellow paint across his canvas, adding a sparkle of reflected sunlight to a traffic scene from his native Budapest. On Paul’s fMRI screen, Bartalan’s visual cortex lit up, just as if he were seeing the colorful buildings and buses and pedestrians in his painting. But even a cursory glance at the stunted buds where his eyes should have been contradicted this. Bartalan Varga was totally blind. Continue reading “THE TOWERS OF ST. MICHAEL’S by David Walton”

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February’s story is now available; Chris Nakashima-Brown spins us a near-future post-mediapocalyptic mind-bender about celebrity, freedom, America and meaning in “R.P.M.”.

R.P.M.

by Chris Nakashima-Brown

The 1994 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS hurtles south down Cahuenga after midnight, jury-rigged engine exhaling the throaty rasp of an emphysemic Olympian. Urban interceptor, an abandoned rental reclaimed as instrument of revolution.

Or at least that’s what 0z0 said the night before as he drilled holes in the muffler to amplify the effect.

“We’re gonna free the monster,” he smiled, lighting the welding torch. Continue reading “R.P.M. by Chris Nakashima-Brown”

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We’ve got a great new story from David Walton about the aftermath of a war in Taiwan and what happens to families torn apart by it.

Diamond Dust

by David Walton

Christine Gray hardly knew the woman whose life she was about to destroy. She’d met Chen Kit-ken on two occasions, neither time long enough to register more than dress and hairstyle. Yet today, in front of this scandal-loving crowd, she planned to ruin her.

It wasn’t something Christine wanted to think about. Instead, she concentrated on a mental check of her appearance: eyes confident; smile thin, as if at a secret joke; body erect; arms relaxed. She breathed steadily, waiting.

And finally, Kit-ken arrived, slipping into the room through a side door. No announcement, no trumpets, no steward striking a gong, and yet, in a sudden ripple of turning heads, she arrested the attention of everyone in the room. Continue reading “DIAMOND DUST by David Walton”

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Christopher East lays out what Futurismic fiction is all about in his new column.
Continue reading “Christopher East - Defining Futurismic Fiction”

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Tom Doyle’s delightfully paranoid, anti-consumerist dystopia “Art’s Appreciation” is now available on Futurismic’s Fiction site. Have a look, but please ignore the ads.
Continue reading ““Art’s Appreciation” by Tom Doyle”

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