Yes, that’s right: we are publishing an anthology. The idea came out of GenreCon 2025, and we have been working hard on it ever since.
The anthology will feature short stories from award-winning and dedicated emerging authors, and will be available in 2026.
Choosing a theme for the Spec. Fic. Society anthology
Ready for some behind the scenes? We started out by coming up with a theme for the anthology. As I drove home from GenreCon, ideas for the theme were spinning around my head. I knew I wanted something layered, not just a single theme, but an overarching idea that could support a range of story ideas.
I am so excited for the theme that emerged. There are four sub-themes, and each of the authors involved selected which sub-theme they’d like to write to.
Follow the @specficsociety Instagram to hear when the theme is announced! (Psst: there are clues in the author slides that we have already shared.)
The freedom that comes from feedback
We then wrote the first messy drafts of our stories. One of the joyous things about this process was the ability to be experimental. We have had two rounds of feedback on drafts, and those feedback rounds gave us a testing ground. Is the story landing as I intend? Does it make sense? Is it clear? Is there something different coming through to what I wanted to tell?
It was a completely different process to writing a finished, polished story and sending it off, fingers crossed, to a literary journal. With the guarantee of your story is included, we created an environment where stories, wavery and fragile and a bit risky, could be told.
After each round of feedback, the drafts were revised, and finally, we dove into line editing: getting that final polish on the words.
That’s where we ended 2025. In 2026, the finished, line-edited stories will be compiled and the book prepared for print. We have all the fun of cover design, special editions, and even a Kickstarter to launch this ambitious beast, to come.
For more updates, including the authors involved, theme, and cover reveal, make sure you’re following the @specficsociety Instagram.