Submission Guidelines

Strange Bedfellows

Bundoran Press Publishing House is now accepting stories for Strange Bedfellows – an original short story anthology of political science fiction ‘where ideology is a character.’ We are looking for well-written science fiction stories with strong plots and compelling, if not necessarily sympathetic, characters engaged in arguments with the world. We want political stories, immersed in science, that take on those arguments without polemic but with passion – recognizing that causes have both effects and consequences. We don’t care what your politics are; we just want you to tell a good story.

Similar to our novel guidelines, we are accepting any genre of science fiction, from space opera to near future to any of the ‘punk’ genres. Military SF is fine as long as the focus of the story is on internal conflicts not armed ones. No fantasy, even urban, and generally no horror unless it has a solid SF element. In all cases, political systems, political processes, or political solutions must be central to the story.

No reprints, unless specifically solicited by the editor. (Don’t Query.)

We are considering stories in the 2000 to 7500 word range with a definite preference for 4-6000 words. Shorter and longer stores MAY be considered but no more than two stories shorter than 2000 words will make the book and no more than one over 7500 (hard maximum 12K).

Submissions open immediately and will close on September 30, 2013 at 11:59pm EST. Publication will be in April 2014 in trade paperback and digital editions.

Payment is 5.5 cents per word (Canadian funds) on publication, plus one contributor copy, for exclusive (12 month from date of publication) World English print and digital rights and non-exclusive rights thereafter. Exceptions made for Best of Year anthologies.

Submit story and separate cover letter in .rtf format only. Do not query. Response time is estimated at 4 weeks for rejection or request to hold. Final acceptances by November 15, 2013.

Email your attached rtf document to hayden@bundoranpress.com

We are currently closed to novel submissions.

Bundoran Press will close to novel submissions on March 31, 2013 and re-open on October 1, 2013.

We are seeking science fiction novels only. This includes both hard and soft SF, social or political SF, space opera, cyber- or biopunk, and SF mysteries.  Steampunk with a strong scientific basis will be considered. Military SF and Zombie novels are likely to be a tough sell unless they have a different twist. 
Preferred length is 60,000 to 100,000 words but we will consider longer or shorter if exceptional. 
We are not accepting single author short story collections or external anthologies.
We are not accepting fantasy, horror or other genres. 

Format

We are accepting electronic submissions only. With such a high number of submissions, a great deal of paper is being saved.

Please include the following:

1. - Cover letter with a short biography, story genre, total word count and your contact information.
2. - Synopsis, up to three pages.
3. - First three chapters of your manuscript. Rich Text Format (rtf) email attachments only.
1. Please format your text with the Times or Times New Roman font, at 12pt size.
2. Single paragraph spacing.
3. Single text spacing.
4. If this manuscript is part of a series, please include a short synopsis for each of the remaining books.

Email your attached rtf document to hayden@bundoranpress.com