Among the FAQs we’ve seen since launching: how can I write for Arc?

The short answer is: by invitation. Arc runs off commissions, not submissions. We’re going to publish four issues this year, and we have a pretty clear idea about what we’re going to do in each of them. We’ve already been in touch with many of the authors we’d like to work with over the remainder of the year, and we’ll be in touch with the rest soon.

But we did want to leave the door open to submissions from new and talented writers too, and we’ve found a way to do it. We’ve teamed up with The Tomorrow Project, Intel’s futurism project, to run a competition soliciting near-future stories with a heavy technological emphasis. Not only will we publish the winning entry in the magazine (and pay £500 for it); we will also pay £200 each to five runners-up, whose stories will then be published on the Tomorrow Project website and used to stimulate conversation about our shared future.

The deadline for our first competition is one minute to midnight on 8 April. Since we’re looking for fully fleshed stories of up to 5000 words, that does not give you long to write your best work – so get cracking! Full details can be found in the Tomorrow Project section of Arc 1.1. We look forward to reading your futures…