Shimmer has announced next year’s special double-length themed issue–The Clockwork Jungle Book, guest-edited by George Mann of Solaris Books .

Think “Steampunk Fables.” We’re looking to explore the steampunk sub-genre through a series of short, succinct fables, preferably using a variety of animals to give the issue a particular feel and theme.

Like any well-written fiction, good steampunk will blend adventure with speculation, wonder with insight, and fun with a sense of appropriate gravitas. This is all true of the stories we are looking to publish in this special issue of Shimmer.

Your story can be a steampunk re-imagining of a classic fable (such as those attributed to Aesop), or something entirely new. The animals do not have to be simple steampunk-inspired ciphers of their real-life counterparts (ie: we don’t want fifteen stories about clockwork chipmunks), but we encourage you to find imaginative ways to explore the topic. You may decide to write about a real-life, biological animal in a steampunk setting, a pseudo-bionic experimental monkey, a clockwork Pinocchio-like creation, or a world where intelligent rats have taken over the universe. We’re looking for an eclectic range of stories.

 

It’s scheduled for release in Autumn 2008. For more information, check out the writer’s guidelines.