Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Infurno: The Nine Circles of Hell

Publishing and Marketing
#1

Thurston Howl Publications is now accepting submissions for its third furry anthology, Infurno: The Nine Circles of Hell.

Deadline: August 1, 2017
Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable

The Nine Circles of Hell has been a much-loved conception of the inferno, popularized by Italian poet Dante. Look here for the basic elements of the circles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)#Overview. This collection will be divided respectively into the nine parts. We expect stories to be framed to focus on people who will end up in a specific circle. Most of a story should focus on what they did back on Earth in life. Showing how they died is not required. We need to see their sin that brought them there, and you can definitely have them in hell (always fun to describe; in general, try to keep infernal descriptions consistent with Dante’s). We want to see anthro-animal characters at their darkest and weakest moments: at the whorehouse, at the chopping block, in the morgue, in the dining room with the candlestick. It is perfectly fine but not required if submissions are NSFW. We are honestly expecting a fair amount of horror and erotica. However, again, adult stories are by no means required for acceptance. All story submissions must be “furry” in nature.

We will NOT accept:
Racism, sexism, or discrimination presented in a positive light.
Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18 presented in a positive light.
Rape, torture, dubious consent, forced seduction presented in a positive light.
Snuff or Necrophilia presented in a positive light
Bestiality presented in a positive light
If you are in doubt, ASK. Better to ask then to get a straight up rejection! If you are unsure, just shoot me an email at jonathan.thurstonhowlpub@gmail.com. (restrictions borrowed from Voice: https://t.co/MWykJ6RY36)

You can submit up to three stories, but we will only accept one per author (if any).
Reprints are fine, but you have to own full permission of the work in order for us to consider it.
We will not accept simultaneous submissions.
Payment: Authors will receive a free copy of the print book.
Send submissions in .doc or .docx format to jonathan.thurstonhowlpub@gmail.com.
Title your email with the circle in all caps, e.g. “FIRST.” If you are sending more than one submission, send multiple emails instead of putting them all in one.
We will inform all authors regarding decisions within a week or two after the deadline.
Book will likely be released December in plenty of time for a hellish Christmas.

Submissions per theme so far:
First (Limbo: 1
Second (Lust): 2
Third (Gluttony): 1
Fourth (Greed): 0
Fifth (Wrath): 0
Sixth (Heresy): 1
Seventh (Violence): 0
Eighth (Fraud): 0
Ninth (Treachery): 1

#2

This. Is. Perfection. Words can’t describe how much I absolutely love the genius masterpiece that is Dante’s Divine Comedy. Inferno in particular influences a lot of my work. I’ve already done non-anthro short stories with titles and themes paying tribute to Dante’s idea of Hell, but I’ll definitely try to think of something for this anthology.

#3

I’m always surprised that there hasn’t been a furry con called INFURNO yet.

I also want to suggest “Burned Furs” as an alternate title, just to stir up trouble.

#4

Oh, hell yes! >:D

#5

Greyflank: There is Infurnity in Taipei, now going into its third year.

http://infurnity.com/en/

#6

We will NOT accept:
Racism, sexism, or discrimination presented in a positive light.
Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18 presented in a positive light.
Rape, torture, dubious consent, forced seduction presented in a positive light.
Snuff or Necrophilia presented in a positive light
Bestiality presented in a positive light.

All the hell banned. :slight_smile: Joking of course, heh. Very interesting task, I will consider taking part in this.

#7

I can probably come up with something for this. I’ve had a lot of dreams about going to Jahannam.

#8

Does it have to be a story about someone going to hell? What about a demon from one of the levels of hell?

#9

It needs to focus on what a character does to land themselves in Hell. Their fate could be that they become a demon, sure. But I’m personally looking for stories that focus on the Inferno being where the characters end up. That way, the entire anthology reads like a tour of the circles. :slight_smile:

#10

I think I just found an idea for this purely by accident that I’m excited to work on!

#11

How many stories will be accepted per circle? One per level, or will it vary depending on the kind of level? Some of them have sub-levels/rings. The eighth in particular has ten!

#12

No limit really. :slight_smile: Just depends on the quality of the subs.

#13

Was curious when you said “…a little above and a little below”, that if I submitted something with a 9,000 word count if that would be fine or it would need to be within that 8,000 word limit.

#14

Good question. Generally, if I think a story is too long, it won’t affect acceptance really. It will just mean I might say, “We’ll accept it if you can shorten it,” assuming we like it enough. :slight_smile: So, 9,000 words is fine, but note that we may ask it to be shortened all the same.

#15

That’s a great response thank you :slight_smile: As I sit here going back over things and doing deletions/additions, I don’t think I’ll hit 9,000 (Insert Dragon Ball Z joke reference) but it’s good to know in the back of my mind that there is that option.

#16

Submitted! I ended up going with a different idea that I think worked to the theme better, but still slogging away at the original idea and hope to have it done before the deadline!

#17

Table of Contents for Infurno:

Interludes by Thurston Howl

1st Circle - Limbo:
Blur by Weasel

2nd Circle - Lust:
A New Toy by Tarl Hoch
----- by Kyell Gold

3rd Circle - Gluttony:
Down Among the Damned by R. S. Pyne
Go Nuts for Donuts by Jensyn Grayves

4th Circle - Greed:
The Eyes of Aquana by Faolan
The Cold by Cedric Bacon

5th Circle - Anger:
Je Reviendrai by Kirisis
A Cat in Hell’s Chance by James Hudson

6th Circle - Heresy:
Metal Hellth by Ferric

7th Circle - Violence:
A Soul Removed by Stephen Coghlan
In the Name of Science by Allison Thai

8th Circle - Fraud:
Waiting by TJ Minde

9th Circle - Treachery:
The Night Betrayed by Jaden Drackus
[and one other tentative submission]