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invite you to participate in the journal’s celebration of four decades of excellence in the arts by submitting original unpublished work for its first double-volume issue exploring the speculative genre. 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 (visual and media art and paraliterature). 

All artists ask, “what if?” explore the consequences of “if this continues,” and contemplate “if only;” however, practitioners of the speculative arts or Afrofuturism, an umbrella term for science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, fabulism, horror, and unclassifiable and interstitial creative works such as slipstream, ask the same question and respond with an answer that re-imagines whole worlds and goes beyond the known universe.

Afrofuturism and the speculative arts may transport audiences to a planet light-years away, to alternate histories and identities, or deep inside the jewel-toned caves of a far-distant past, another consciousness. Whether extrapolating science and society to imagine futuristic technology, art, and socio-political configurations, or conjuring new forms of magic, these genres imagine what might have been or what might be, opening the door to any possibility. 

Obsidian seeks original works that explore and reimagine Black thought, Black art, future and past. 

To be considered for the fall 2016 Speculative Arts double-issue, please submit materials by Friday, January 15, 2016 to obsidian.submittable.com/submit.  

Please direct inquiries to obsidian@ilstu.edu with SPECULATIVE in the subject line.
>via: https://about.illinoisstate.edu/obsidian/Pages/Call-for-Submissions.aspx