Published 15 November 201815 January 2019 · Writing / Announcement / callout Writers, submit your short fiction to our ‘future sex’ edition! Editorial team About the ‘Future sex’ edition Overland is seeking fiction submissions for a special online edition themed around ‘future sex’, to be edited by Michalia Arathimos. We are looking for stories that engage with what our changing sexualities look like, both now and in the future. We think of sex as primordial and innate, but it is both the target of market strategies and highly mediated. The inventions of virtual reality, sexbots and realdolls have broad implications. Dick pics, sexting, Tinder and Grindr have revolutionised the hook-up and, by extension, our sexual moralities. Alternative communities find connection online, where before there may have been nothing. A perfect example of what we are looking for is a narrative thread from Krissy Kneen’s An Uncertain Grace, in which a man relives a sexual experience he had with a student, but as that student, via a virtual reality sex suit. Another example is ‘Sister Company’ from Julie Koh’s collection Portable Curiosities, in which a woman who works as a writer of erotic simulations, circa 2030, discovers the dark side of android therapy. We don’t need your narratives to be dystopian, or futuristic, however. Any stories that deal with unexplored aspects of how we approach sexuality now are of interest. And anything that explodes taboos or investigates the intersections of permission and desire would be welcome, too. Contributors for this edition will be paid $150 per story. Submissions close 11.59pm, Monday 14 January. The special issue will be available online in mid March. About the guest editor Michalia Arathimos has published fiction, poetry and nonfiction in Westerly, Landfall, Headland, JAAM, Best New Zealand Fiction Volume 4, Sport and Turbine. Her debut novel, Aukati / Boundary Line, was published by Mākaro Press in 2017. She is currently Overland’s fiction reviewer. Guidelines for submission Stories can run from flash fiction to longer short stories, but the maximum word length for submissions is 4000 words. Kindly note: writers may submit no more than two stories for consideration for this special issue. Submit your story as a: Current Overland subscriber? Submit your story here. Not yet an Overland subscriber? Submit your story here. (Remember, you can support Overland by becoming a subscriber.) Read one of our previous fiction editions Dave Drayton – False documents issue Anna Spargo-Ryan – Our hour issue Linda Godfrey – 230.5 Autumn fiction Mandy Beaumont and Craig Bolland – The Idea of Women issue Ben Walter – Anti-/dis-/un-Australian fiction issue Rachel Hennessy – 219.5 Winter fiction SJ Finn – 213.5 Summer fiction Image: Marco Verch / flickr Editorial team More by Editorial team › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 10 March 202610 March 2026 · Writing The role of the committed writer in an unfree world André Dao No, the committed writer is a movement writer. I mean that the committed writer knows that they know very little, and that the way to remedy that ignorance is through solidarity with people in struggle. 1 1 December 20251 December 2025 · Writing With respect to the poor essay Jonno Revanche Style is now a feature that we surrender to a digital pattern recognition machine, which attempts to replicate our own but often falls short, feeling convincing enough but too superficial in its noticing to get to the heart of human concerns.
