SPECULATIVE EROTICS - ISSUE 5 -
SPECULATIVE EROTICS - ISSUE 5 -
SPECULATIVE EROTICS - ISSUE 5 -
SPECULATIVE EROTICS - ISSUE 5 -
O filthy grandeur! O sublime disgrace!
SPECULATIVE FICTION - A type of storytelling that contemplates and explores what could be, what is possible, but also what is impossible.
EROTICISM - The arousal of or the attempt to arouse sexual feeling by means of suggestion, symbolism, or allusion.
The fifth issue of God’s Cruel Joke will be a themed anthology consisting of words and visuals that explore the farthest thresholds of eroticism. Genre work is very welcome—sci-fi, horror, fantasy and so on. The editor is especially looking for work that is boundary-pushing, confrontational and inherently unsafe. Be radical in substance as well as approach. As always, God’s Cruel Joke is a safe space for libation, experimentation and the total abandonment of respectability and good taste. Get messy. Make bad decisions. Go fucking nuts.
Consider working from the list of prompts below.
Enter the suggested reading at your own risk.
This submission window will be remain open for as long as it needs to be.
“But a sort of rupture—in anguish—leaves us at the limit of tears: in such a case we lose ourselves, we forget ourselves and communicate with an elusive beyond.”
– Georges Bataille
Weapon Fetishization, Amyl Nitrate, Cthulhu, Fan-Fiction, Manticores, Gender Dissolution, Plutonium Implosion, Surveillance States, The Heat Death of the Universe, Cannibalism, Silicon-Based Lifeforms, Wet Dreams, Cat Boys, Planned Obsolescence, VR, OnlyFans, The Passion of Christ, Car Crashes, AI, Creepypasta, Evangelion, CBBE, Humiliation Rites, Cybernetics, Castration, Involuntary Celibacy, Heliogabalus, DSBM, Guro, Lycanthropy, Pavlovian Conditioning, Extinction, Tetragrammaton, Remote Viewing, Necromancy, Religious Ecstasy
FOR YOUR CONTEMPLATION:
These aren’t necessarily examples of what I’m looking for in a submission, just a broad range of work that kinda inspired the theme.
by Porpentine - xrafstar.monster
by Jean Baudrillard (2004) - International Journal of Baudrillard Studies
by Chu Ishikawa (1989) - YouTube
by Dir En Grey (2003) - YouTube
dir. Shu Lea Cheang (2001) - Internet Archive
The ungentle joy of spider sex
by Stephanie Pain (2020) - Knowable Magazine
francis-bacon.com
by Cecily Brown (1997) - saatchigallery.com
GUIDELINES
Work from anyone under 18 will not be considered.
God’s Cruel Joke is particularly interested in mixed media applications and more experimental interdisciplinary works—go wild. If it can fit in a 6x9 paperback, it can be considered.
Simultaneous submissions are strongly encouraged. Just remember to withdraw if your work is accepted somewhere else—and congrats.
Nothing that’s been formally published elsewhere can be considered. If you’ve shared your work through a personal blog or social medias, that’s fine.
No max word count, but please do not send me your novel manuscripts.
Please make sure your manuscript is easy to read. 12 pt Times New Roman with double-spacing for conventional pieces of fiction. Single-spacing for poetry is OK.
Please, send only one submission with one short story or up to three poems, flash, photos, art pieces, etc.
The rights God’s Cruel Joke would assume, should your work be accepted, are First Serial Rights, Worldwide Distribution Rights and Worldwide Electronic Rights.
God’s Cruel Joke pays 10 USD to every contributor, as well as one free print copy.
It should ideally take no longer than 3 months to hear back. If it’s been longer than that, feel free to reach out.
Send all Speculative Erotics submissions to godscrueljoke.submissions@gmail.com with SPECULATIVE EROTICS SUBMISSION in the subject line. Cover letters and bios are not required, but they are appreciated. For general submissions, please follow the guidelines here.
