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PodCastle is delighted to announce a special call for stories for our upcoming event for Disability Pride Month, Disability Pride & Magic, guest edited by long-time Castle denizen and current Audio Producer, Devin Martin.

We want to celebrate disabled authors, characters, and themes for this event. We’re using a broad definition of disability here, including physical disabilities, neurodivergence, mental illness, sensory disabilities, chronic illness, and invisible and undiagnosed disabilities. While some people in some of these groups may not identify as disabled, society tends to marginalise us all in similar ways, and the choice to identify as disabled or not is complex, deeply personal, and not for us to gatekeep.

In fiction, disabled people — where we appear at all — tend to be left on the sidelines or treated as passive sources of inspiration (or worse: ridicule or disgust). In fantasy, we get our difficulties erased with superpowers or magical cures. We’re looking for stories that defy these trends. We want to see stories that show the dynamic nature of disability, that grapple with ableism (internal and external), and that, ultimately, see us as fully human — a depressingly low bar that is still failed all too often.

This call is open to everyone. While we believe disabled stories are best told by disabled voices, no one should have to disclose their status if they aren’t comfortable doing so. That said, this is an event centred around pride, visibility, and acceptance, on dismantling ableist notions of shame that silence and alienate disabled people. In that spirit, we strongly encourage authors to speak up about their disabilities, especially if their lived experience informs their story.

We’re a fantasy publication, so all stories must have a fantasy element that’s crucial to the tale, though it can be subtle. We are unable to consider science fiction or straight-up horror, though dark fantasy is more than welcome. We will consider both originals and reprints for this call, paying our standard rate of 8 cents per word for originals and $100 for reprints. We’re looking for stories between 2,000-6,000 words, though we will consider up to 7,000 words for reprints. These upper limits are strict: unfortunately we cannot consider reprints above 7,000 words or originals above 6,000 for this submissions call.

We’ll be open to Disability Pride & Magic submissions for an extended period, from 7th January to 31st of March 2025. Please submit through our Moksha portal. Our standard guidelines apply to anything we haven’t specified here.