Celebrated cultural theorist and scholar José Esteban Muñoz once wrote, “the future is queerness’s domain.” Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity, edited by Nebula, Lambda, and Hugo Award finalist Lee Mandelo, will take these words to heart in this speculative anthology brimming with tales of literary resistance and complexity. During times of rising peril for queer and trans people worldwide, how can we create art to sustain ourselves? How can we unlock our imaginations from the social oppressions inflicted upon us daily? How can we explore new and fantastic realities for the LGBTQAI+ and other intersecting marginalized communities?
Whether speculating on new technologies and cultural shifts; envisioning social politics through utopias and dystopias; navigating an ever-changing world as well as intimate relationships; or something else entirely: Amplitudes will offer engaged, imaginative perspectives on our lives. The stories inside this anthology contain multitudes—whether playful, serious, sexy, experimental, frightening, hopeful, or all of the above—centering how queer folk are powerful and trans lives matter, and featuring works from current and emerging science fiction and fantasy voices across the spectrum of identities. Amplitudes is a clarion call that readily accepts how we’re here, we’re queer—and we’re fucking used to it!—for today’s readers and beyond.
Amplitudes is also announcing a call for submissions to round out the anthology’s table of contents. Submissions are due October 15, 2023, for consideration. Full submission details can be found on Lee Mandelo’s website, and at Erewhon Books.
The deal was made by Diana M. Pho of Erewhon Books and Tara Gilbert of The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency for World rights. Publication is slated for Summer 2025.
From Lee Mandelo:
“I can’t wait to see the stories people contribute to this project, and to work with everyone at Erewhon! Queer fiction always brings me so much pleasure, light, and inspiration—and also, provocation. My aim with Amplitudes is to gather together stories that hit these notes and more as our contributors imagine their way into many possible futures.”
From Erewhon’s Executive Editor Diana M. Pho:
“I love queer fiction as speculative fiction. Queer fiction as protest. Queer fiction as brutal honesty and rawness and fun and whimsy. Queer fiction as an evolving map tracking our celebrations, anxieties, wishes, pitfalls and—most of all, our value. With Amplitudes, I’m so honored to be working with Lee and Erewhon Books to create a fresh collection of revolutionizing and emboldening stories! So don’t self-reject—we want to see new queer and trans writers in our Inbox. The world needs your voices, more than ever.”
Lee Mandelo (he/him) is a writer, critic, and occasional editor whose fields of interest include speculative and queer fiction, especially when the two coincide. His debut novel Summer Sons, featured in publications ranging from NPR to the Chicago Review of Books, is a contemporary southern gothic dealing with queer masculinity, fast cars, and ugly inheritances. His most recent book, Feed Them Silence, is a near-future science fiction novella—and there’s also a t4t historical Appalachian horror novella in the works. Mandelo has been a past nominee for awards including the Nebula, Lambda, and Hugo, and is currently living in Louisville while pursuing a PhD at the University of Kentucky.
