CFP Gender in Fantasy (8/31/2026 BFS Journal)

Gender in Fantasy

deadline for submissions:
August 31, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Dr Kevan Manwaring/The British Fantasy Society

contact email:
kmanwaring@aub.ac.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/06/05/gender-in-fantasy

Fantasy has long explored lifeworlds and paradigms outside of societal norms. Orlando, Virginia Woolf’s gender-fluid protagonist, declares, ‘I'm sick to death of this particular self. I want another.’ World myths, legends, folk tales, and fairy tales are early promoters of gender-fluidity, populated by the likes of Inanna/Ishtar; Hermaphroditus, the offspring of Hermes and Aphrodite; androgynous Dionysus; Ardhanarishvara; Ometeotl; Guanyin; cross-dressing thunder and trickster gods; heartsick seafaring maidens disguised as sailors; and the mercurial ontologies of the Fae. In this issue we will explore how gender is portrayed and explored in Fantasy. Fantasy plays an important role in enlarging what is possible, and creating refugia for the marginalised and other modalities. In an increasingly intolerant, xenophobic, and close-minded world, where Far Right governments roll back hard-won freedoms and civil rights legislation, and undermine, mock or openly attack important principles of equality, diversity, and inclusivity, this function of Fantasy is never more vital, for as Orlando states, ‘He who robs us of our dreams robs us of our life.’



The BFS Journal is seeking original, unpublished, human-authored articles of between 2000-8000 words (including bibliography). 

Possible approaches include:

• Non-binary identities and challenging binaries.
• Found families and marginalised identities in YA Fantasy
• The portrayal of matriarchies and patriarchies in Fantasy worlds.
• The rise of Romantasy and the female gaze.
• The performance of gender.
• Power and gender roles.
• Queer Fantasy and destabilisations of heteronormativity in Fantasy.
• The divine masculine and feminine in Fantasy.
• Masks, disguises, masquerades and carnivals.
• Friendships and relationships in Fantasy.
• Flirting, courting, and marriage in Fantasy.

Send the Abstract (200 words), including title, keywords, and a 100-word bio to the Editor (Dr Kevan Manwaring) by 31st August. The BFS Journal Winter issue will be published December 2026. Completed articles, if commissioned, will be due in by 30th September, when they will undergo peer-review. Send to: bfsjournal@britishfantasysociety.org



Last updated June 5, 2026

CFP War in Fantasy (8/31/2025; British Fantasy Society Journal)

 

War in Fantasy

deadline for submissions: 

August 31, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

British Fantasy Society

contact email: 

bfsjournal@britishfantasysociety.org

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/04/07/war-in-fantasy.

In this special issue of the BFS (British Fantasy Society) Journal we take a hard look at War in Fantasy. Conflict, from skirmishes to mass battles, tavern brawls to planet-wide apocalypses, is a staple of Fantasy: The Battle of the Five Armies in The Hobbit, The Last Battle in Narnia, The War in Heaven by Charles Williams, and Lyra Belacqua’s fight against death and the consciousness-stifling strictures of the Magisterium, are a few examples. In Warhammer 40K, which expanded the original Fantasy table-top wargame into the far future, we learn ‘in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war.’ There are very few large-scale Fantasy texts that do not acknowledge the impact of war in some way, whether through invasion, siege, massacre, colonisation, spoils of war, legacy, or trauma. Protagonists and places are scarred by it. Narratives are often prominently ante-, para-, or postbellum. Powerful weapons – key to victory or defeat, depending on whose hands they fall into – their acquisition and mastery, are the MacGuffins that drive plot. But does the prevalence of conflict in Fantasy normalise violence and even perpetuate it, or does it offer a useful mirror, allowing us to have a perspective on real-world conflict, narrativize trauma and learn to overcome it? Articles on any of these aspects are welcome. Here are some suggestions:

• The influence of the First World War on Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
• Early depictions of war in taproot texts such as Beowulf.
• Changing depictions of warfare in 21st Century Fantasy.
• Warfare between the human and the other-than-human.
• Hidden, supernatural wars.
• The depiction of non-western cultures in Fantasy warfare.
• Portrayal of marginal figures in warfare, e.g., scavengers; servants; animals.
• The impact of warfare on urban and rural settings in Fantasy.
• Magic in warfare.
• Historical influences on depictions of warfare in Fantasy, e.g. armour, weaponry, tactics.
• Parleys, peace treaties, truces, ceasefires, and the cessation of conflict.
• The aftermath of war in Fantasy texts.
• Valkyries, Morrigans, and other psychopompic figures in warfare.
• Visions in conflict and haunted battlefields.

Submissions should be clearly titled as follows: SURNAME_TITLE_BFSJOURNAL_CFP_WINTER2025. A 200-word abstract and 100-word author bio should be included. Work needs to original, previously unpublished, and referenced using the Harvard author/date system. The editor retains the right to edit any submission, and contributors must be willing to address any editorial suggestions within good time. Publication is expected December 2025.

• Deadline for ABSTRACTS: 31st August 2025.
• Deadline for ARTICLES (if abstract is accepted): 31st October 2025.
• Send to The Editor: bfsjournal@britishfantasysociety.org
• For submission guidelines: https://britishfantasysociety.org/get-in-touch/bfs-journal/

Last updated April 10, 2025

CFP The Green Fuse - Nature in Fantasy (2/28/2025; Spec Issue British Fantasy Society Journal)

 

The Green Fuse - Nature in Fantasy

deadline for submissions: 

February 28, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Dr Kevan Manwaring/British Fantasy Society

contact email: 

kmanwaring@aub.ac.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/11/14/the-green-fuse-nature-in-fantasy.

In this special issue we will look at environmental aspects of Fantasy. Since its very earliest manifestations, in taproot texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Fantasy has been entangled with the natural and supernatural world.

‘The force that through the green fuse drives the flower.’
Dylan Thomas

Modern classics of Fantasy such as The Lord of the Rings, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Book of Earthsea, Mythago Wood, The Broken Earth Trilogy, The Tide Child Trilogy, and others foreground the ‘natural world’ (even if that is in a Secondary World setting), and have environmental aspects that are intrinsic to the plot: the destruction of the forests of Isengard and the March of the Ents; the perpetual winter of Narnia; the shattered land of The Silence; the remnant of ancient woodland of Ryhope Wood; the toxic wastelands of Viriconium, etc. We shall delve into the rich biodiversity of the imagination and examine the symbiotic relationship between the natural world and the creation of Fantasy.

Subjects that could be explored include:
• Changing representations of nature in Fantasy.
• Fantasy and the Anthropocene.
• The super/natural mythscapes of childhood.
• Neo-animism, sentient nature, and the sense of the sacred in Fantasy.
• Indigenous perspectives of our relationship to the natural world as depicted in Fantasy.
• Anthropomorphic nature in Fantasy.
• The flora and fauna of Fantasy.
• The natural landscapes of Fantasy.
• Environmentalism in Fantasy.
• Fantasy sites (real world sites that have inspired Fantasy classics) and the production of Fantasy.
• The enchantment, disenchantment, and re-enchantment of nature through Fantasy.

Also invited are scholarly reviews of contemporary (or classic) Fantasy in novels, TV, film, graphic novels, computer games, etc. Original, human-produced artwork will also be considered.

Submissions should be clearly titled as follows: SURNAME_TITLE_BFSJOURNAL_CFP FEB 25

A 200-word abstract and 100-word author bio should be included. Work needs to be original, previously unpublished, and referenced using the Harvard author/date system. The editor retains the right to edit any submission, and contributors must be willing to address any editorial suggestions within good time. Publication is expected Summer 2025. Send to The Editor: bfsjournal@britishfantasysociety.org

For full submission guidelines please refer to checklist on BFS site.

Deadline for submissions: 28th February 2025

categories

childrens literature

ecocriticism and environmental studies

film and television

journals and collections of essays

popular culture

Last updated November 15, 2024

CFP The Fantasy Worlds of George MacDonald (Special Issue British Fantasy Society Journal) (8/31/2024)

The Fantasy Worlds of George MacDonald

deadline for submissions:
August 31, 2024

full name / name of organization:
Dr Kevan Manwaring/British Fantasy Society

contact email:
kmanwaring@aub.ac.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/04/23/the-fantasy-worlds-of-george-macdonald

British Fantasy Society Journal – Call for Submissions for Winter Issue 2024

Deadline: 31st August 2024

The Fantasy Worlds of George MacDonald

The Scottish writer George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a hugely prolific author of fiction, poetry, essays, and sermons. His works include the influential Fantasy novels, Phantastes: a Faerie Romance (1858), and Lilith (1895), as well as the much-loved children’s classics, At the Back of the North Wind (1871), The Princess and the Goblin (1872), and The Princess and Curdie (1883). Admired by contemporaries such as John Ruskin and Lewis Carroll, MacDonald inspired later generations of Fantasy, in particular, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. In December 2024 we celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth. This special issue will explore the Fantasy writing of Macdonald, thematic connections with other writers, and his legacy.

The editor is inviting non-fiction contributions exploring MacDonald’s oeuvre, primarily his works of Fantasy. As well as critical re-examinations of the titles listed above, contributions could explore the following or similar areas:

· Christian Mysticism in Fantasy.

· Death and afterlife – eschatological and posthumous Fantasy.

· The use of Fairy Tales in the works of George MacDonald.

· Representations of the supernatural feminine.

· Celticity and ecolectical Fantasy.

· Macdonald and his connection to the writings of Arthur Machen, Charles Williams, and Fiona MacLeod.

· Adaptations and creative conversations with his work and life.

· Creative criticism and rebellious research about George MacDonald.

Also invited are scholarly reviews of contemporary (or classic) Fantasy in novels, TV, film, graphic novels, computer games, etc.

Submissions should be clearly titled as follows: SURNAME_TITLE_BFSJOURNAL_CFP DEC 24 A 200-word abstract and 100-word author bio should be included. Work needs to original, previously unpublished, and referenced using the Harvard author/date system. The editor retains the right to edit any submission, and contributors must be willing to address any editorial suggestions within good time. Publication is expected late 2024.

Deadline for submissions: 31st August 2024 Send to: kmanwaring@aub.ac.uk

For full submission guidelines please refer to checklist on BFS site (updated soon).

https://britishfantasysociety.org/




Last updated April 25, 2024