Games played in fiction often symbolize more than winning and losing. Games represent risk and reward, wealth and class, strategy and blind fortune. In science fiction and fantasy, games can be matters of cosmic importance and of literal life and death—whether the idle pastimes of Star Trek’s 3D chess, the all-consuming TTRPG of the Gamearth trilogy, a frenetic quest as in Ready Player One, the lethal reality TV shows of The Hunger Games, or choosing a new interstellar emperor as in The Player of Games.
In GAME ON!, we’re looking for unique science fiction and fantasy takes on games, game playing, and games in culture. A game or games—real or imagined—should be central to the story in some fashion.
Please note anything considered a ‘sport’ (i.e.: baseball, soccer, rollerball, etc.) won’t be a fit for this anthology. Games used in stories must also not infringe on real-world trademarked names or third-party copyrights.
Edited by Stephen Kotowych & Tony Pi, GAME ON! will contain approximately fourteen stories with an average length of 6,000 words each. Anchor authors and their selected games include: