Third Flatiron Anthologies

September 11, 2020



"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

--Arthur C. Clarke

The Summer anthology, Gotta Wear Eclipse Glasses, is out!



See Current Issues tab for details.

Care to try a sampler of our most popular stories? Third Flatiron Best of 2019 is available in ebook from Amazon.

Free to Kindle Unlimited readers.

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Podcast Tab: Our latest:

Mike Adamson's "The First Day of Winter"

Also check out:



Angelique Fawns's "The New Mutants"





Can't always afford to buy our short fiction books? All our podcasts are #free (and commercial-free). We also have free stories on Smashwords and our Patreon site, and we do periodic giveaways on Amazon.



We are temporarily closed for submissions. See below for upcoming issues and submission periods.



Third Flatiron Publishing is based in Boulder, Colorado, and Ayr, Scotland. We are looking for submissions to our (approximately) quarterly themed anthologies. Our focus is on science fiction and fantasy and anthropological fiction. We want tightly plotted tales in out-of-the-ordinary scenarios. Light horror is acceptable, provided it fits the theme.



Please send us short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome. Stories should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Inquire if longer.



Role models for the type of fiction we want include Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, Vernor Vinge, Iain Banks, Alastair Gray, and Ken Kesey. We want to showcase some of the best new shorts available today.



For each anthology, we will also accept a few very short humor pieces on the order of the "Shouts and Murmurs" feature in The New Yorker Magazine (600 words or so). These can be written from a first-person perspective or can be mini-essays that tell people what they ought to do, how to do something better, or explain why something is like it is, humorously. An SF/Fantasy bent is preferred.

See the "Submissions" tab for preferred formats, etc.

Our publishing schedule for 2020 is below. Books will be available in ebook form as well as trade paperback. See the "Current Issues" tab for our latest offerings.



Themes and Schedules

Continuing with Third Flatiron's quarterly themed anthologies, we will be soliciting SF/Fantasy/Horror short stories with stated themes. Themes are designed to be open-ended, allowing authors considerable leeway. We appreciate short, imaginative tales, preferring those that work with the theme in some way. Short stories should be 3,000 words or less. Flash humor pieces (<=1,000 words) can be on any theme. We aim to be inclusive and encourage submissions from all creators. Please submit during the reading periods.

Note: The Spring anthology for 2020 is a "Best of 2019" collection (eb00k only), which appeared February 15.



Summer 2020 - Now available.

Paperback also available



Gotta Wear Eclipse Glasses - Positive futures, SF, urban fantasy.



The future we all want. Examples might include effects of technology on the young (online learning, socialization), climate mitigation and adaptation, hopepunk, solarpunk, new opportunities to boldly go where none have gone before



The untented Kosmos my abode, I pass, a willful stranger

My mistress the open road

And the bright eyes of danger (Robert Louis Stevenson, Youth and Love)



Fall/Winter 2020



Brain Games: Stories to Astonish - SF, F, H, steampunk, cyberpunk, mythology, satire



The left side of the brain is associated with logical and analytical characteristics, while the right brain with creativity. We'd welcome stories from both sides of the brain. Stories could feature puzzle solving and ingenuity, inverted tv tropes, inventions (clockwork, practical, or Rube Goldberg), masterful creations (like JS Bach's Goldberg Variations), and social commentary



Reading period: July 1 - August 1, 2020

Writer deadline: August 1, 2020

Publication date: October 15, 2020

Now Available

Fall-Winter 2019



Infinite Lives: Short Tales of Longevity - Legends tell of people who lived a long time, like Methuselah. Some are just lucky (Lazarus Long), some have it thrust upon them (Lestat), some just naturally come by it (cats, bristlecone pines, megaliths), and some rightfully earn their immortality (Shakespeare, Sophocles). Is life extension possible via diets or genetic manipulation, and will there be side effects? Is ageism a real thing? Authors give us their speculative take (SF/F/H) on longevity and how it is achieved.

Now available on Amazon



Spring-Summer 2019



Hidden Histories - A secret history (or shadow history) is a revisionist interpretation of either fictional or real history which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed, forgotten, or ignored by established scholars. Some of these tales are based in the real world, past, present, or future, although all have a speculative fiction element. We included stories about events or people who have been erased from history (Image: Still from Another Earth, uploaded by user FilmPresence, commons.wikimedia.org)

Now available in Kindle and paperback



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If you’re interested in having your work read and getting paid a little something for it, then submit your story to us!



Third Flatiron Publishing are a specialist digital publisher and can help you distribute your work to a truly global audience. Subscriptions are available via Patreon.

