The editors of Obsidian invite you to participate in the journal’s celebration of four decades of excellence in the arts by submitting original unpublished work for its first double-volume issue exploring the speculative genre. Obsidian seeks original works that explore and reimagine black thought, black art, future and past.
Selected works will appear in Obsidian’s fall 2016 double-issue edited by Sheree Renée Thomas and Nisi Shawl (short fiction, drama, poetry), Isiah Lavender III (essays), and Krista Franklin (art, visual media, and paraliterature).
To be considered for the fall 2016 Speculative Arts double-issue, please submit materials by Friday, January 15, 2016 through Obsidian‘s Submittable. Please direct inquiries to obsidian@ilstu.edu with SPECULATIVE in the subject line.
Note: Submissions in multiple genre categories are acceptable but must be uploaded as separate titles under the respective submission categories.
Obsidian Manuscript Guidelines
- Upload your text submission as a Word (doc, docx), portable document format/PDF (pdf) or rich-text format (rtf) file. No Pages, txt, or Open Office Documents.
- Poetry: submit up to five (5) poems totaling no more than eight (8) pages.
- Fiction, Hybrid genre and critical essays: 12-point font. No more than twenty (20) pages or 5000 words (whichever is achieved first). Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained.
- Drama/Performance: submit one act or a collection of short scenes no longer than twenty pages (20) following Samuel French or the Dramatists Guild suggested formatting. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained.
- Translations are welcome if permission has been granted.
Image Submission Guidelines
- Include a short cover letter noting the title(s) of the work(s) submitted and citing major publications and awards, as well as any association or past correspondence with a guest or staff editor.
- Submit up to five (5) images totaling no more than 15 MB.
- Upload your submission(s) as jpg or tiff file(s) (tiff preferred) in 300 ppi at the size(s) intended to be used.
- Specify the orientation the image(s) as portrait or landscape.
Audio Submission Guidelines
- Include a short cover letter noting the title(s) of the work(s) submitted and citing major publications and awards, as well as any association or past correspondence
- Submit up to five (5) sound files totaling no more than 30 MB.
- Upload your submission(s) as mp3 or wav file(s)
Video & Media Arts Submission Guidelines
- Include a short cover letter noting the title(s) of the work(s) submitted and citing major publications and awards, as well as any association or past correspondence with a guest or staff editor.
- Submit up to three (3) video and/or gaming files totaling no more than 800 MB.
- Upload your submission(s) as mpg, avi, or mov files, swf, Graphics Interchange Format (gif), UNITY game files, and HTML5 (with or without CSS and JavaScript markup).