Westland Books invites submissions for a Speculative Fiction anthology

National, 29th July, 2024: In an exciting initiative, Westland Books has called for submissions from writers of Speculative Fiction for an anthology of new writing. Selected works will be published in the IF anthology of Indian Speculative Fiction. In April this year, Westland Books launched a new home for Speculative Fiction Books in India, named IF. The list launched with the book Biopeculiar: Stories of an Uncertain World by Gigi Ganguly and a second book, An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, was released recently.

The open call for contributions to the IF anthology, curated by author Gautam Bhatia, is an effort to engage more deeply with the heady possibilities of speculative fiction, and to understand the forms it takes in India. Explaining the rationale behind the anthology, Gautam Bhatia said, “When the editors at Westland and I discussed the scope of this anthology, we thought of it as a showcase for the breadth and diversity of Indian SF. We are looking for new stories as well as new voices—from writers old and new. I’m really looking forward to reading the submissions and curious about what the anthology will look like.”

Karthika V.K., Publisher of Westland Books, said, “We are keen to build IF as a home for exciting new writing in the realm of speculative fiction, and this anthology is an attempt to broaden and deepen the list with fresh writing from established as well as first-time writers. We could not have asked for a sharper and more committed editor than Gautam Bhatia to curate the anthology, which we hope to publish in early 2025.”

The submitted stories will go through a double-blind editorial review for selection for the anthology. The team is looking for entries in the format of short stories (2,000–8,000 words) and novelettes (8,000–20,000 words). The entries must only come from Indian citizens. The winners will be awarded Rs 12,500 for each accepted short story (a total of ten stories will be selected) and Rs 25,000 for each selected novelette (two to three will be selected).