Furry Writers' Guild Forum

The Symbol of a Nation

Goal Publications is announcing its first original short story anthology.

Title: The Symbol of a Nation. Theme: national animals. Deadline: December 1st, 2016.

Wanted: original short stories (no reprints) of 2,000 to 15,000 words, featuring furries that are the national animals of countries, such as Afghanistan’s snow leopard, Algeria’s fennec, Bangladesh’s tiger, Canada’s beaver, Denmark’s mute swan, Estonia’s barn swallow, France’s rooster (fighting cock), Gambia’s hyena, Honduras’ white-tailed deer, Italy’s wolf, the U.S.’s bald eagle … There are over 200 countries and most of them have a national animal or bird.

For this anthology, we are extending the theme to the official animals of provinces and states. There are several animals such as the koala (Queensland) and platypus (New South Wales) of Australia, or the giant squirrel (Maharashtra) and red panda (Sikkim) of India, or the coyote (South Dakota) and raccoon (Tennessee) of North America that are not national animals, but are the official animals of provinces or states.

But: this is limited to the officially adopted animals (including birds) of national or sub-national entities only. No sports team mascots, corporate mascots like the NBC peacock, political party mascots, or breakfast cereal mascots. No fictional official animals or countries like Transylvania and vampire bats. However, some countries have both a national animal and a national bird, such as Chile – its animal is the huemal, an Andean deer, and its bird is the Andean condor. We will accept stories featuring either or both.

Please make sure that they are official. There are many animals that are often associated with countries, such as the eagle & snake on the Mexican flag, or Mexico’s Chihuahua, but they are not official animals. (Mexico’s official animal is the xoloitzcuintli. Don’t know what that is? Look it up.)

If you would like to submit a story, write to the managing editor (Fred Patten) first to find out if that animal or country is already claimed. If you would like to use an animal or country but don’t know what to pair it with, ask the editor or look it up. Stories sent to the editor without checking first may be wasted effort.

The rules are more complex than for most furry anthologies. (1) There must be a connection between the animal and the country. If you feature a tapir, the national animal of Belize, make sure that there is something about Belize in the story. (2) No funny animal stories where the characters could just as easily be humans. Make your characters feel like uplifted or evolved animals. Most animals with fur don’t sweat. (3) Try to match the animals to their environments. If they have thick fur, don’t have them wearing thick clothing in humid tropical lands. (Or justify the discrepancy.)

Stories may be humorous or serious. There may be humans in the story as secondary characters, but the main character(s) should be furry.

On sale at Fur the More 2017, in Baltimore on April 28-30, as a trade paperback. Payment: 1¢ per word upon publication, plus a contributor’s copy of the book. Contributors may buy additional copies at a 30% discount.

Goal Publications is looking for First Rights on stories, as well as exclusive sales rights to digital and print versions of accepted stories for six months following publication. We also do not want simultaneous submissions.

If you have any questions, please write to fredpatten@earthlink.net.

What a great idea! These resources might help:



I’m sorry, I have to ask, does this include the national animal of Scotland? :smiley:

Yes. Also the red dragon of Wales, and North Korea’s winged horse. We’ll accept mythological animals if they’re official.

No national fish, insects, or arthropods, though.

Apparently some popular national animals are not recognized by their governments, such as Australia’s red kangaroo or emu, or Germany’s black eagle. If it’s so popular that almost everyone in those countries uses them, and they’re included in most lists as those countries’ national animals, we’ll accept them. But watch out for the unofficial websites that lump all the wildlife of a nation as national animals; or include the supporters of a country’s coat-of-arms.

Very good to know, thank you. Also stresses the point to run it through you guys first to make sure so it’s not wasted effort or a missed opportunity.

I updated Fred’s main post with the deadline for applications for Associate Editors, since I completely forgot to mention that the first time. Oops! There’s been enough interest that I’m only opening applications for a week.

For most countries, the national animal is considered at best somewhat paternally as almost a pet, or a subject for political cartoons, and at worst as a bureaucratic fribble. But in Turkmenistan, they take it very, very, VERY seriously! I wrote about it.

I feel kind of bad. Of all the fantastic choices out there, and all the excuses to read up on new lands and animals I never would have considered before, my mind keeps thinking “California bear” :stuck_out_tongue:

I will need to think about this, especially since I’m going to Fur the 'More already.
Already thinking of an animal, I just need to handle it a little carefully to avoid some of the “avoids.”

I think that’s what might be one of the factors that has me pushing for ‘domestic’ lands that I personally lived in. It’s so easy to accidentally fall into stereotypes and such >.< Best of luck Jaden!

So, just to clarify, you are looking for stories focusing on national/state/provincial animals, and that’s the only requirement, right? No political twist or social commentary required? Just as long as it makes sense for the animal-person and the locale?

If you can work a political twist or social commentary into your story without it seeming like a current commentary, go ahead. Keep the physical characteristics of your animal or bird in mind, too. Remember; no funny animals.

Can you submit a story and apply to be an associate editor?

Surely. Send your story idea to me, and write to Sean to apply for an associate editorship.

Ironically, it is because of where live that this is a problem. :stuck_out_tongue:
That, and thinking of the con it will be released at, and my brain jumped straight to Schrödinger’s Animal for this anthology: one that at the same time is perfectly acceptable, while also being on the “do not use” list.
Short version: my local state’s official animal was used for the name of one of the local professional sports teams. So I expect that more people will know the team than it being an official animal.
I have something in mind though that doesn’t involve sports- though I will shoot an ask to see if it’s ok.

It should be okay. It sounds like people need to be reminded that your state animal is more than just a sports team mascot.

Six animals/countries are “taken” already. They are the Olympic marmot/Washington, Spirit bear/British Columbia, Coyote/South Dakota, Beaver/Oregon, Lynx/Romania, and Bull/Spain. I don’t need any more stories featuring these animals and countries or provinces/states, although some of these animals are official in more than one country or state, so they can still be used with another country or state.

Looks like the west coast is getting represented fairly well X3

Yeah. I was expecting lots of national animals; some really exotic ones. The emphasis so far is on the authors’ own provincial and state animals.

Okay, but I’ll be disappointed if nobody chooses the national animals/birds of Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. by the time the anthology is filled.

I’m a bit concerned about ‘bagsying’ an animal. What if I don’t get around to writing the story, or it gets rejected? How far down the line should I query - straight away, or when I’m pretty sure I have a solid idea, or when I’ve already written something?

Modifying this with another question because I’m blind :stuck_out_tongue:

So I know we have to message about what country/animal we want. Is it okay if other animals from other countries are involved, as long as the one we called is the focal point of our story? For example, could we have a story focused on the British Bull Dog, but also including a Unicorn from Scotland, a Barbary Lion from England, and a Mute Swan from Northern Ireland?