BIOLUMINESCENT: LUNARPUNK ANTHOLOGY
Story Length: 500 to 7,500 words
Story Payment: at least $.08 per word + contributor copy
Poem Length: 5 poems or 5 pages
Poetry Payment: $30 per poem + contributor copy
Submissions Open: March 1 - 31, 2022
Expected Publication: 2023
Editor: Justine Norton-Kertson
Publisher: Android Press
This will arguably be the first Lunarpunk anthology to be produced. As such, it is an opportunity for you, as an author, to help guide and define a relatively new science fiction subgenre.
What is Luarpunk?
Lunarpunk is a relatively new subgenre of science fiction and fantasy that is closely related to and is an offshoot of Solarpunk. Like it’s sibling subgenre, Lunarpunk tells optimistic and hopeful stories about future societies led by genuinely diverse communities and powered by renewable energy, where nature and technology coexist in harmony rather than in conflict. It’s is a subgenre that’s about restoring the web of life that connects us all. It’s about a desire to protect all life, not just human life. It’s about the drive to embrace and empower life, and restore the planet.
Lunarpunk futures aren’t usually “perfect” utopias. Such a thing will never actually exist. But even when lunarpunk communities come close to that ideal, they are still never without conflict and challenges. One thing is certain though, lunarpunk societies are absolutely not dystopias.
If lunarpunk and solarpunk societies haven’t yet reached some sort of utopian ideal, then the communities in these stories have still either solved, or are at least in the process of optimistically working together to solve or adapt to the climate crisis and other global challenges. They are consciously and collectively working to create a better world that is ecologically sustainable and is also free from racism, patriarchy, greed and inequity, war, hunger, etc.
In short, lunarpunk and solarpunk stories always highlight diversity and demonstrate how humanity has overcome or adapted to climate change and other global social problems.
So What’s the Difference Between Lunarpunk and Solarpunk?
The main difference between these two subgenres is the aesthetics not the politics. Lunarpunk is a very young, still somewhat nebulous and developing aesthetic — much more so than solarpunk at least— so it isn’t really possible to define exactly, specifically what that aesthetic is. But in many ways it can be thought of as a gothic take on solarpunk.
This site does a good job of putting forward an idea of what the Lunarpunk aesthetic entails. But to put it briefly, think of solarpunk and lunarpunk in terms of a dicotomy. If solarpunk is about bright colors, daylight and sun, science, community, etc… then lunarpunk is about darker colors, nighttime and moonlight, spirituality (though not necessarily a negation of science), introspection and more individual focus (though not a negation of community).
A lunarpunk world might include bioluminescent plant life, or other special tech to help societies function in the dark. A Lunarpunk community might live underground, in caves, on the moon, or elsewhere. Pagan nature worship, flowing robes and clothing, blacks, greys, silver and sparkle, purples, blues, and greens, mushrooms and night blooming plants, and various other elements of the gothic aesthetic are all common among what little, already existing lunarpunk work is out there.
What We’re Looking For
For this anthology, we want original, unpublished stories only. For this purposes of this anthology, published works includes anything posted on your blog, Patreon, etc. The only exception is translations of works previously published in other languages. We’re giving you a lot of lead time, so write us a fantastic story!
In addition to hopeful and optimistic stories with a lunarpunk aesthetic, we’re looking for stories that highlight the spiritual side of futures where society is more utopian.
Lunarpunk spirituality tends to focus on traditions such as paganism and wicca, but need not be limited to such. We’re particularly interested in (but also are not limited to) stories about utopian futures of non-western societies and spiritual traditions, written by authors whose families are from those cultures.
We’re interested in narratives set against the backdrop of future societies led by historically marginalized communities and their community members, and how such communities that have solved, overcome, and/or adapted to climate change within a lunarpunk aesthetic.
We’re looking for #ownvoices stories with characters who are demographically diverse (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, different religions, geographical regions, etc) and how those identities shape their spirituality and their visions of the future.
It’s also wonderful for demographically diverse characters to just exist in your story. The theme or plot doesn’t necessarily need to center around identity.
Other subthemes we’re interested in include how other species live and survive and view the world in the future within a lunarpunk aesthetical context, and how they interact and build relationships with each other and with future lunarpunk human communities. We’re looking for stories about racial justice, migration, anti-authoritarianism, animal rights, and fascinating futuristic technology that helps us meet the climate challenge and build a better world.
And of course, We’re always looking for stories with great character development, and stories with compelling conflict and tension even amidst a better and more utopian world.
Submission & Formatting Guidelines
More info and the link to the submission portal can be found here.
About the Editor
Justine Norton-Kertson is an author, publisher, musician, and community organizer. They are the Editor-in-Chief of Android Press, and the co-Editor-in-Chief of Solarpunk Magazine, and she has a story forthcoming in Utopia Science Fiction Magazine. They live on a river in rural Oregon with their partner, puppies, cats, goats, and bees. If they aren’t writing or editing, then they’re probably in their garden, kayaking, recording their next album, reading, or watching Star Trek. They can be found on Twitter at jankwrites.
