The Eosapien is a large, social, adroit, omnivorous, highly intelligent floater from the planet of Darwin IV. It is the most intelligent life form on the whole planet. This huge creature can float absolutely motionless and move just about any direction, similar to Earth's dragonflies and hummingbirds. These creatures had been stalking the First Darwinian Expediton members for a while, but were finally observed by Barlowe near the Amoebic Sea in the morning on March 14, 2361, a fortnight before h
The book is about speculative zoology, and I think that's what GMs and DMs do every weekend with creatures and encounters.
We recently rounded up the most nightmare-inducing creations of speculative zoologist Dougal Dixon. Here's another one of Dixon's futuristic Homo sapiens. This being is more or less a psychic raspberry strudel.
Voyage to Venus "Perelandra" TA/MJ
You've admired their artworks on book covers and calendars. You've goggled at the beautiful full-size versions in convention art shows. Now admire the work of some of science fiction and fantasy's greatest artists — and learn how you can meet these masters of speculative art.
We recently rounded up the most nightmare-inducing creations of speculative zoologist Dougal Dixon. Here's another one of Dixon's futuristic Homo sapiens. This being is more or less a psychic raspberry strudel.
Selections from the "What If..." section of Roy A Gallant's Our Universe. Here, concept art for potential aliens in our universe is presented. Included are the sentient ice cube Plutonian Zistles; the...
The lank, Herbafagus longicollum, is an giraffe-like, herbivorous, flightless pterosaur, measuring 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) tall, from Dougal Dixon's The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution. It lives in African tall grass savannahs. The tropical grasslands, when they developed and spread halfway through the Miocene, were a totally novel environment for the great dinosaurs. Grass is a remarkably tough substance, and a grass-eating animal needs a number of extreme specializations to allow it to
Voyage to Venus "Perelandra" TA/MJ
Into the Vast: A Journey Through the Sky's Limitless Canvas is a story that transcends the mere confines of Earth, venturing into the boundless realms of the u
Voyage to Venus "Perelandra" TA/MJ
Reading periods will soon be closing for several speculative fiction and fantasy publications. All of these magazines are open to submissions right now. (Don't worry, if you miss the deadline, there will other opportunties to submit. See their submission guidelines for future reading periods.) Note: These are all paying markets. ____________________ Midnight Breakfast Deadline: November 30. "We’re open to loose genre, though we tend to skew more towards literary and speculative fiction. We also love a good, well-written humor piece. What we’re not looking for: fan-fiction, erotica, or anything that requires excessive world-building (as much as we love Game of Thrones in these parts, that kind of work isn’t for us)." Payment: $50 per accepted work. Read submission guidelines here. ____________________ Lakeside Circus Deadline: November 30 (?) "We want speculative fiction, particularly science fiction (hard, soft, near-future, etc), urban fantasy, magic realism, mad science, and apocalypse tales. Whether prose or poetry, we’re looking for the same kind of almost-weird fiction we publish in our anthologies. We like fiction with layers of meaning; stories that are odd or different without being too strange to understand. We enjoy interstitial, genre-bending, and “literary SF/F” writing. Your work has to encapsulate a complete moment; more than a vignette, each submission must have a beginning, middle, and end. Something has to change along the way, but parts of the story can happen off stage. As always, we want beautiful, dark, unusual, and meaningful." Payment: 2 cents per word (fiction or non-fiction), with a minimum of $10 US, payable on publication. In addition, Authors will receive a one-year digital subscription to the magazine. Read submission guidelines here. ____________________ Crossed Genres Deadline: November 30. "It’s the mission of Crossed Genres Publications to give a voice to people often ignored or marginalized in SFF, which has led us to publish titles focused on older women, overweight women, immigration, skilled laborers, QUILTBAG families, and people marginalized throughout history." Crossed Genres Magazine is an official SFWA Qualifying Market. Payment: 6¢ per word for fiction. Authors will also receive a gratis print and ebook copy of the anthology in which their story appears. Read submission guidelines here. ____________________ Betwixt Deadline: November 30. "Betwixt publishes speculative fiction of all sorts—fantasy, science fiction, speculative horror, slipstream, weird fiction, steam/diesel/cyber/etc.punk, you name it. We particularly like stories that smash genre boundaries to smithereens, but we also love fresh takes on established genres and in-depth explorations of ultraspecific niches. Experiments in form and style are welcomed enthusiastically—but a straightforward narrative with tight, crisp language is just as beautiful." Payment: $0.03 per word up to $225, payable upon receipt of completed contract and author questionnaire. Read submission guidelines here. ____________________ Urban Fantasy Deadline: November 30. "Urban Fantasy Magazine is a professional fantasy magazine publishing fiction, articles, and reviews.We are looking for urban fantasy fiction of up to 4000 words (we may accept longer stories, but only the first 4000 words are paid). We like to read stories set in the world where we all live, albeit with fantastical elements. We’d like for our readers to imagine that our stories are taking place in the city next door. We do accept stories about vampires, werewolves, and zombies, but keep in mind that you’ll be facing strong competition from other writers, including established writers whom we solicit directly." Payment: 6 cents a word. Read submission guidelines here. ____________________ Shock Totem Deadline: November 30. Shock Totem Publications (commonly referred to simply as Shock Totem) is an American small-press publisher specializing in dark fantasy and horror. Shock Totem’s main goal is to promote and support new and established authors by focusing primarily on fiction, but also through editorials, essays and interviews. "We’re not interested in hard science fiction, epic fantasy (swords and sorcery), splatterporn (blood and guts and little more), or clichéd plots." Payment: 5 cents per word for original, unpublished fiction; 2 cents per word for reprints. There is a $250 cap on all accepted stories. Read submission guidelines here. ____________________ Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly Deadline December 1. The Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly is an online magazine devoted to science fiction romance. Each issue includes news, reviews, opinion columns, and an original, exclusive short story. Payment: 2 cents/word (US) paid upon publication, promotional biography with two links, and a complimentary quarter-page advertisement. Read submission guidelines here.
You've admired their artworks on book covers and calendars. You've goggled at the beautiful full-size versions in convention art shows. Now admire the work of some of science fiction and fantasy's greatest artists — and learn how you can meet these masters of speculative art.
New cover art for issue 3! I may make this the front cover for volume 1 seeing as it kind of encapsulates the first book in one image.
Ken Barthelmey is a Luxembourg based concept artist with a talent for producing realistic and believable character and creature concepts. Barthelmey also creates short speed painting videos...
