DEADLINE EXTENDED TO DECEMBER 1, 2021.
Do you love the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien? Have you ever been inspired by them to write yourself?
Epic fantasy author and Russian Orthodox deacon Nicholas Kotar is editing a volume of original short fantasy stories inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien’s writing and the power of his work to envision Paradise.
In conjunction with the Christ and Tolkien Conference in May 2022, we are looking for submissions of stories that engage and grapple with imaginatively presenting a vision of paradise in a fallen world.
As a participant of the 2019 Ancient Faith Writing and Podcasting Conference said, there are few compelling visions of Paradise in the imaginative literature of the west outside of a few inklings in Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Now is your chance to do just that—write a story, inspired by Tolkien’s vision of the world to come, and even have it presented officially at the Christ and Tolkien conference in 2020!
These stories must not be fan fiction, nor should they be set in the world of Tolkien’s legendarium. They should be inspired by Tolkien’s ideas for fantasy that offers consolation and a glimpse of eucatastrophe, as explained so beautifully in his essay “On Fairy Stories”:
The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn” (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially “escapist,” nor “fugitive.” In its fairy-tale—or otherworld—setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.
This anthology will be published by Waystone Press in 2022.
DEADLINE: DEC. 1, 2021 (must include full manuscript)
WORD COUNT: 3000-10,000 words (if you have something longer, please query your story idea, and we will get back to you)
APPROVED SUBMISSIONS WILL RECEIVE:
- One (1) free ticket to the Christ & Tolkien Conference
- Mention by name at the conference
- Publication in the Waystone Press anthology
SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO: fiction@christandtolkien.com
No fan fiction (i.e., no stories that use Tolkien’s characters, cultures, languages or places). We mean it.
SPACE IS LIMITED, so be sure that your submissions are of the highest quality.