Inky Paws zine publishes it first issue and calls for submissions for its second

[who_is_page]

Inky Paws is a collaborative nonhuman anthology zine for original fiction writings by nonhumans and alterhumans about nonhumanity, alterhumanity, and similar, related themes. The first issue is out and can be downloaded for FREE here: Issue #1 contains 16 different stories, poems, songs, and comics by various alterhuman authors, with genres ranging from fantasy, to sci-fi, to horror. A content warning list supplied from authors regarding their pieces is included towards the beginning for readers. It is 89 pages long and was inspired by Tsu Swanblood’s The Forest Voice zine.

 

We are currently doing a call for submissions for issue #2. This zine is primarily literature focused, but is also open to more illustrative methods of story-telling such as comics. The zine’s focus is on fictional pieces that are centered around nonhumanity, alterhumanity, therianthropy, and similar (see Submission Guidelines section below the cut for more details). Here’s the Inky Paws Info Document on Google Docs; it has all the information written here and below, but may be easier for people to keep track of.
 

You are welcome to submit:

    - Short stories
    - Microfiction
    - Satire
    - Poetry
    - Song lyrics
    - Experimental fiction (fake newspapers, fake recipes, fake blogs, fake posters, etc.)
    - Mixed media
    - Comics
    - And more! If you’re unsure, just ask! Seriously, please just ask. I promise I would 10000% love to hear about your idea even if you’re unsure about submitting it, there is no such thing as a bad idea and I cannot stress this enough.

How to participate:

Email invisibleotherkin(@)gmail(.)com with your submission, and please title the email “Inky Paws Zine #2 Submission”. With your submission, please include:

    - The piece’s title or name,
    - A name or pen name to attribute the piece to,
    - Any content warnings that you feel are necessary for the piece,
    - Any social media handle or personal website you’d like to be published alongside your name with the piece (optional), and
    - Any relevant author notes or author biographical information (optional).

Anonymous pieces are also welcome.

Once submissions have been collected and the deadline has passed, these submissions will be put into the zine and it will be posted online as a free PDF. Submissions are due by April 30th, 2023.

The optional prompts for this issue are:

    The Wild and the Wires - An exploration of nonhuman connection to nature, or lack thereof.

    Fire and Perspective

Please see the Submission Guidelines, and Submission FAQ, below.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Each individual may contribute up to 3 accepted submissions to be published in Inky Paws; individuals within systems may each submit 3 pieces, that is to say 3 pieces per systemmate/headmate/preferred term.

Comics and similar multi-part pieces count as one submission altogether: if you submit a single story that has been divided into two sub-stories for dramatic emphasis, or if you submit 10 pages of a single-story comic, or if you submit a written piece of fiction and an accompanying image that you drew or otherwise created to go along with it, that would still only count as one piece.

Submissions must fit the thematic criteria of:

    1. Being explicitly about or based on nonhumans, otherkin, therianthropes, fictionkin, alterhumans, or similar groups, or;
    2. Having strong themes or describing experiences strongly reminiscent of or related to nonhumans, otherkin, therianthropes, fictionkin, alterhumans, or similar such as (but not limited to):

       - Characters experiencing nonhumanity or alterhumanity as being a part of themselves/their identity,
       - Characters experiencing anything similar to a shift (including physical shifting),
       - Characters struggling with (emotionally, socially, or otherwise) being both human and nonhuman or alterhuman in some way,
       - Characters having a past-life as something nonhuman or alterhuman that strongly still impacts their current life, or
       - Characters desiring to be nonhuman or have nonhuman attributes.

    TL;DR - Your submissions have to relate to or be about alterhumans or nonhumans in some way, shape, or form.

Written submissions must not exceed 35 pages, and must also use a reader-friendly font with a text size of or exceeding 16 pt.

For stories that use multiple different fonts, such as pieces meant to imitate newspapers and similar, every effort will be made to preserve the general “feel” of your piece but fonts may not be transferred over 1:1 due to potential conflicts with font copyright, readability, and overarching zine style.

Multi-part image submissions must not exceed 10 pages in length, and must also use a reader-friendly font with a text size of or exceeding 16 pt if they include text. Images larger than 8.5 x 11in. will be scaled down to an appropriate size; please take that into account when creating and submitting your images. It is also recommended that images be vertical or square in their orientation.

Written submissions should be submitted as a .docx file. Images and mixed media pieces should be submitted as either .jpg or .png files.

    All submitted pieces should be your own work. Individuals caught plagiarizing within their submissions or submitting AI-created work will be barred from participating in Inky Paws, including in any potential future volumes.

SUBMISSION FAQ:

Q: Where will this zine be hosted?
A: The zine will be hosted for free download on Itch.io, where issue 1 of the zine is already hosted.

Q: What is the cap on submissions?
A: At this time, we are not looking to accept more than roughly 25 submissions at most, in order to keep numbers and expectations manageable.

Q: Can I update my application after submitting?
A: Yes, so long as the updates are submitted before the submission deadline!

Q: What is your policy on content moderation and content warnings?
A: If you feel your piece needs content warnings, please include them in the submission, as we are hoping to include relevant content warnings and maturity ratings alongside all pieces. We are at this time accepting pieces of all tones and ratings.

With that said, It should be noted that any items submitted with soapboxing intent and anti-nonhuman, anti-alterhuman, anti-fictionkin, or similar leans are largely not welcome, as this is a zine geared towards all aforementioned groups and then some.

Q: Can I submit an in-progress draft or sketch? Can I claim a spot in the zine before sending in my submission?
A: We are not currently accepting WIP pieces for submission at this time, though feel free to send us your WIP if you have questions related to its future submission. We also cannot reserve or guarantee a spot in the zine pre-submission, regardless of any existing drafts or WIPs.

Q: Can I submit a piece of fanfiction?
A: We are keeping works of explicit fanfiction out of the zine for legal reasons.

Q: Can I submit something I’ve created in the past?
A: You can submit something you’ve created in the past, but please try to avoid submitting anything that you’ve published previously and is currently publicly accessible. For example, if the story you want to submit has already been featured in a different anthology, please don’t submit it to Inky Paws! We want to encourage people to create new pieces, or to put the spotlight on pieces that haven’t previously had the opportunity to be published.

Q: Do I have to write something based on the provided prompts?
A: Nope! The prompts are there by popular request to help give people a jumping off point for creating, but are not required to be incorporated into your piece and will not have any effect on if your submission gets accepted or not.

Q: What is the projected timeline for this project?
A: Submissions will close by March 31st of 2023. The publish date of the zine depends on submission amount and size of submissions; in an ideal world, we hope to have the zine published by December, before year’s end.

Q: Can I rescind my submission?
A: As long as you request to rescind your submission before the submission deadline, yes. After the deadline passes and the formatting and work towards publishing begins, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to remove your work from the zine due to time constraints and potential formatting issues. Please take this into account before submitting.

Q: Will there be any physical copies of this zine?
A: Due to cost restraints and a lack of printing experience on the part of the zine organizers, we have no physical copies of this zine planned for print. You are, however, welcome to download and print copies of the zine for personal use.

Q: Who are the organizers of this zine? Where can I reach out to ask further questions?
A: Who-is-Page and Noel Sol of the Sol System are organizing this zine. Feel free to send us any questions, comments, or concerns to invisibleotherkin(@)gmail(.)com, or you can always message us on Tumblr at Who-is-Page, or on Twitter at Who_is_Page.