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The Butterfly Affects
by YOU!
Welcome to the future you'll never see.
Atomjack will be publishing an e-anthology of alternate future fiction
tentatively titled The Butterfly Affects. These are stories that ask
questions like what would the colonization of the moon be like if the
Nazis had won? What would first contact be like if the Confederates
had stomped the Yanks? How might the negation of the extinction of
the dinosaurs affect the zombie wars of 2059 and 2170? Change an event in the
past and see what the future holds for mankind (or apekind, in the
case of however the hell Planet of the Apes works.)
Rules:
1) The story must be about an alternate future. This means EVERY story
must take place primarily and significantly after now, or a past
period in history that is more technologically or socially advanced. I am not looking for alternate history, conterfactual history or alternate present stories.
2) The story must be science fiction. I want robots, laser guns,
zombies, aliens, wetware, time travel, whatever. But no fantasy. I will consider science fantasy, but you're better off with more laser swords and less magic potions.
3) No fan fiction, no shared worlds.
4) Time travel is a fickle mistress. Be wary of her curvaceous paradoxes and luscious cliches. Your story does NOT have to contain time travel in order to be alternate future.
5) You do not have to mention what has been changed in the past, especially if it is obvious, although if it is too obscure, it may read like regular SF and be rejected.
If your work is selected, we will purchase first electronic rights at these rates:
Poem / Flash - $15 (<1000 words or 100 lines)
Short story - $30 (1000 words to 10K words)
Deadline for submissions is May 31, 2009. Tentative publication date is August 2009. Send all submissions and queries to atomjackmagazine@yahoo.com, include BASub or BAQuery in all subject lines to avoid any confusion with regular Atomjack submissions. No reprints; but simultaneous submissions are fine. Please attach a .odt (preferred), .doc, .rtf, or .txt or include it in the body of the email. I cannot read .docx files at this time.
I would recommend reading to you, but if the Wikipedia article is any
indication, this is a genre lightly touched upon.
Here are some ideas to get you going:
"The Last Arabian Prince" by T. L. Morganfield
"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury (arguably the first alternate future story)
"Man in the High Castle" by Philip K. Dick
"Fatherland" by Robert Harris
The Terminator series
Harry Turtledove, the "Master of Alternate History"
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