Democracy isn’t a new concept, but its parts and parameters have shifted across the centuries. Cultural changes and technological advancements have impacted how it is perceived and how it functions. Suffrage has, in many places, expanded, but is still not universal. Different systems and ballot designs have influenced election outcomes in unpredictable ways. Electronic voting machines abound, but in some places, marbles are dropped into containers as stones were thousands of years ago. Political manipulation can be subtle or overt, from propaganda to gerrymandering to outright violence.

What will the future bring? That’s what we’re here to find out.

Escape Pod is opening for a special Democratic Futures submission window from now until June 30th. We’re looking for science fiction stories about the future of democracy, whatever that might look like to you. Send us eccentric alien elections, post-human propaganda machines, dystopian door-knocking campaigns, opposition research spy operations—anything that examines and interrogates the myriad interconnected aspects of democratic systems, and their constellations of possibilities and permutations in the near- or far-term.

Escape Pod leans in the direction of escapism, hope and optimism rather than grimness and gloom. We love to see funny stories, which can include dark humor that doesn’t punch down, and satire that isn’t painfully bleak. Remember that the failure mode of irony is sincerity, so if you’re mocking something, be sure you’re hitting the right target.

We’re not interested in stories that contain sexual assault, rape, child abuse, animal cruelty, gore, or horror. We also do not want to see stories that treat the hardships of marginalized people or groups as thought experiments. While we may have published stories with that type of content in the past, they are not currently a good fit for Escape Pod.

Our primary audience is adult listeners and readers. Strong language and sexual situations are fine, but we are not an erotica market.

We publish our stories in text and audio, but audio is our primary format. Because our audience cannot easily reread or skim, we prefer stories of high clarity and tight pacing. Complex syntax, elaborate structures and typographic novelties (e.g. footnotes) are difficult for us to publish.

For original fiction, we want stories from 1,500 to 6,000 words (our sweet spot is 2,000 to 4,000), and for reprints we accept 1,500 to 7,500 words.

We look forward to seeing what your democratic futures hold!