New anthro fiction anthology The Society Pages – OPEN FOR SUBMISSION.
by Pup Matthias
There’s a vast community of writers within the Furry Fandom. From building community sites like SoFurry, to their own Furry Writers Guild, they come together to explore the anthropomorphic writing arts with novels, comics, and anthologies. Many anthologies are being made in the fandom, and they’re always looking for new talent. Keep your ears perked for announcements about anthologies open for submission, and you may find one with a vision that inspires you to get involved.
Did you like Zootopia, and the way Disney brought an anthropomorphic world to life, accounting for all the different sizes and species and their needs? Did it make you imagine your own society of walking, talking animals? Zootopia was only about mammals, but what about reptiles, birds or insects? Will they all live together, or is one group seen as lesser to another?
If you think about this when you write, The Society Pages is the anthology for you.
The Society Pages is edited by Lily White, known for writing the NSFW webcomic Pierce Me. She founded Scratchpost Press earlier this year to publish a variety of work she found lacking in the fandom. Lily says:
“I’ve always wanted to work in publishing so this seemed like a great way to just dive in.”
Those questions of how an anthro society works inspired this anthology. Lily says:
“I’m interested to see writers look into how an anthro society would actually function instead of hand-waving of it just functioning. How do you make friends with a species that traditionally eats yours? How does that extrapolate into an entire civilization that somehow manages to get along?
It is something that has always bothered me about the fandom, though it might be I don’t delve deeply enough into the content produced by other artists and writers, that it often feels like this is something that is just sort of ignored. When writing fiction so closely linked to people’s personas there is a tendency towards wish fulfillment and I think that makes these opportunities for drama fall away. I really love exploring this stuff and wanted to see more of it in print.
There have been some that have looked at it in different forms. Comics like Blacksad use anthro animals to represent what role/kind of character they are. While Endtown looks at how well we adapt in a post apocalypse where people are mutated into animals and how much we don’t. And of course Zootopia. There are many examples for writers to get inspired by.
… the first that comes to [my] mind is Fauxlacine’s fantastic series of short stories and illustrations under the title of ‘Dog Eat Dog’. While a bit gory for a lot of people their work explores some of the realities of a furry society under pressure and I think it is a great body of work to look at. Not everything needs to be as gloomy as hers, of course.
Of course you go with the tone that works for you. You want hard hitting drama? Go for it. Absurd comedy? Tragic romance? Horrific horror? Go for it. It’s your world. Have fun with it.”
The Society Pages will be the first book published from Scratchpost, but it’s not planned to be the last.
“I have a few other anthology concepts I would like to produce based on how The Society Pages works out. If it seems like anthologies are a sustainable system to get new work out into the world I will likely continue in that vein, but I am also always keeping an eye out for submissions that are not necessarily for an anthology – I would love to help produce long-form fiction for writers.”
The Society Pages deadline is June 1st, with a projected publishing date sometime around September. Accepted authors will be paid 30 dollars, a contributor’s copy, plus a code for extra discounted copies. Lily shares the submission details:
“The pieces should be 2,000 to 8,000 words and saved in whatever format you are most comfortable with using. I would also prefer that people provide an introduction to themselves and their piece in the initial email. Aside from that, it should be sent to scratchpostpress@gmail.com with the subject line ‘The Society Pages – (Author Name) Query’.
I would prefer to know what I’m going to be reading before I receive it – query before delivery if possible. There isn’t much reason for it, but it does help show the writer knows their own work (and read the submission guidelines). If a writer can break down their story effectively into a pitch it can usually show any major issues from the start.”
To learn more about the submission guidelines please visit Scratchpost’s website.
Well? What are you waiting for? You only have a month. Crack open that Word Doc and bring your society to life.
-Pup Matthias