Speculative Nonfiction #9: Promise
The theme for this issue is Promise. We look forward to reading your work about how you relate to this word:
Consider the promise as widely as you can imagine. Promises made, promises lost, promises broken, promises never uttered, promises made mute by time, promises betrayed, promises reaffirmed.
Promise is one of the few words that has no direct opposite. It is not a Janus word, meaning two things at once. You can break a promise like a locket, but can a broken promise be repaired?
The Latin word for promise is promissum from “send forth” so ponder, imagine, explore and send forth your promising speculations. We eagerly await them.
Reading Period: We will be accepting submissions for Issue #9 through June 15, 2025
Note on Submission Fee: Speculative Nonfiction waives the submission fee for writers who make a financial contribution (any amount) to either the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or The Movement for Black Lives. Please send donation receipts to speculativenonfiction@gmail.com. Thank you for supporting these organizations working to dismantle white supremacy. Additionally, if, for reasons of financial hardship, you are unable to pay the $3 submission fee, please contact us directly at speculativenonfiction@gmail.com to request a fee waiver.
We welcome craft essay submissions that explore the possibilities for speculation in nonfiction, or reflect on the role of speculative nonfiction in the wider field.
For an example, see Rachel Toliver's "Shifting Borders: Race, Class, and Speculative Placemaking" in issue #2 here.
Writers are sometimes advised to write the book they'd most like to read. We invite you to write the book review of a book of speculative nonfiction you wish was out there, or a book that was never written but could have been, or a lost book of which there is scant evidence, or a book to be written in a hundred years. We invite you to consider the aesthetic qualities of this book and to use the opportunity of your review to push, adhere to, or reconsider the boundaries of speculation in nonfiction, as you see them. We see these reviews as furthering the conversation this journal seeks to encourage. We invite you to have fun. The limit is the limit of your speculation. Traditional reviews of nonfiction books that utilize speculation are also welcome.
Typically, we imagine these reviews will be no longer than 1000 words. Examples of the form can be found here.