Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer. This goes out a little late (sorry). You might also be interested in others announced here at Adjective Species. 

Goal Publications is announcing its first original short story anthology.

Title: The Symbol of a Nation. Theme: national animals. Deadline: December 1^st, 2016.

Wanted: original short stories (no reprints) of 2,000 to 15,000 words, featuring furries that are the national animals of countries, such as Afghanistan’s snow leopard, Algeria’s fennec, Australia’s red kangaroo, Bangladesh’s tiger, Canada’s beaver, Denmark’s swan, Eritrea’s camel, France’s rooster (fighting cock), Germany’s black eagle, Honduras’ white-tailed deer, Italy’s wolf, the U.S.’s bald eagle … There are over 200 countries and most of them have a national animal.

For this anthology, we are extending the theme to the official animals of provinces and states. There are several animals such as the koala (Queensland) and platypus (New South Wales) of Australia, or the giant squirrel (Maharashtra) and red panda (Sikkim) of India, or the coyote (South Dakota) and raccoon (Tennessee) of North America that are not national animals, but are the official animals of provinces or states.

But: this is limited to the officially adopted animals (including birds) of national or sub-national entities only. No sports team mascots, corporate mascots like the NBC peacock, political party mascots, or breakfast cereal mascots. No fictional official animals or countries like Transylvania and vampire bats. However, some countries have both a national animal and a national bird, such as Chile – its animal is the huemal, an Andean deer, and its bird is the Andean condor. We will accept stories featuring either or both.

Romania’s official Lynx.

Please make sure that they are official. There are many animals that are often associated with countries, such as the eagle & snake on the Mexican flag, or Mexico’s Chihuahua, but they are not official animals. (Mexico’s official animal is the xoloitzcuintli. Don’t know what that is? Look it up.)

If you would like to submit a story, write to the managing editor (Fred Patten) first to find out if that animal or country is already claimed. If you would like to use an animal or country but don’t know what to pair it with, ask the editor or look it up. Stories sent to the editor without checking first may be wasted effort.

The rules are more complex than for most furry anthologies. (1) There must be a connection between the animal and the country. If you feature a tapir, the national animal of Belize, make sure that there is something about Belize in the story. (2) No funny animal stories where the characters could just as easily be humans. Make your characters feel like uplifted or evolved animals. Most animals with fur don’t sweat. (3) Try to match the animals to their environments. If they have thick fur, don’t have them wearing thick clothing in humid tropical lands. (Or justify the discrepancy.)

Stories may be humorous or serious. There may be humans in the story as secondary characters, but the main character(s) should be furry.

On sale at Fur the More 2017, in Baltimore on April 28-30, as a trade paperback. Payment: 1¢ per word upon publication, plus a contributor’s copy of the book. Contributors may buy additional copies at a 30% discount.

Goal Publications is looking for First Rights on stories, as well as exclusive sales rights to digital and print versions of accepted stories for six months following publication.

We will be looking for two (2) Associate Editors for this position. The duties for this position will include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Working with the Managing Editor as well as the other Associate Editor, you will need to utilize the shared email address for this anthology and read through stories in the slush pile, how well they utilize and stick to the theme and the premise of making the species of their characters matter to the environment, their ability to stick to the submission guidelines, and the overall quality of the story.
• Communicating with authors who have stories that have made it as finalists, as well as those you don’t feel are right for this market (whether it’s because of story quality or content)
• Performing a basic copyedit to stories that will be considered as finalists for the anthology

This position is similar to an internship; the experience of working with an editor and publisher on this side of a market for publication is the biggest payment. That said, the associate editors will receive a copy of the finished anthology.

To apply for this position, please email officialanimals[at]goalpublications[dot]com with a bit of information about yourself, why you want the position, and what writing/editing experience you may have (though prior experience working on a publication is not required). You will be notified by email by Sean from Goal Publications if you’ve been chosen for this position.

If you have any questions, please write to fredpatten@earthlink.net.

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