Anthology2
The Second Hayven Celestia Anthology
Call for Submissions
Attention authors and artists! Rick Griffin is planning to publish another anthology set in his Hayven Celestia (HC) universe and wants you to submit your creations for inclusion in this book.
The Hayven Celestia (HC) is a shared universe created by Rick Griffin and Gre7g Luterman. Though the universe features vast empires and amazing technologies, the stories set in HC tend to be about the slaves and underdogs that unwillingly prop those empires up with their labor.
Ideally, story submissions should be in the 3k-9k range. If you would like to submit a shorter or longer story, please inquire first. Accepted submissions will pay out 1¢/word on publication. Art submissions should be either full-bleed, full-page spreads or full-bleed two-page spreads. Please consult the artwork layout templates first before you create your masterpiece! Accepted submissions will pay out $40.00 on publication. AI generated submissions will not be considered and may result in blacklisting.
Multiple submissions are allowed so long as the number of submissions is kept reasonable—like three, please, not ten. Send in your best, not everything you've ever produced.
Each contributor will receive one contributor copy, but you may purchase additional advance copies for a reduced price and resell them.
Stories and artwork must be set in Hayven Celestia and feature the races it contains. You may add your own race or races to the universe, but their design and depiction will need to "feel" consistent with the rest of the HC. Readers are unlikely to believe that a race of stone-skinned, clothes-wearing wizards belong in HC, for example. If in doubt, please inquire first. See Setting Bible below for further caveats.
Crossing over existing characters from other universes is acceptable if you have rights to use the character and if the character's race is—or can be made—generally compatible with the other races of HC, but you must treat the character as if it were a new HC character. If your writing presumes that the reader already knows your character's history or backstory, your submission will get rejected.
You may submit reprints (or older stories/art that have been retooled to fit in the HC), however your submission must not be available in its entirety from the submission date through one year after the book's publication (presuming it is accepted). In other words, if your story is currently available in a print-on-demand book, then it is not eligible for submission. If it is available in a story archive or online gallery, then you will need to take it down before submission and not put it back up until you are either rejected or the HC anthology has been in print for a year. If accepted, you will be able post teasers of your submission to help us build interest in the anthology, but the schedule for when and how much will be hammered out later.
The anthology will be targeted at an adult audience, so adult themes and situations are welcome, but it will not include any erotica, porn, fetish material, or generally objectionable content. Your characters may suffer during the course of your story, for example, but if the writing seems to be targeted for the enjoyment of sadists, it will be rejected.
As a shared universe, you may include existing HC characters in your submitted stories, provided that you can do it respectfully and in a manner consistent with how the character has been portrayed in previous stories. Ateri, for example, is a brave starship captain who will make any sacrifice to ensure the survival of his crew. If your story is about a maniacal tyrant of a captain, don't name him Ateri. Make up your own character. You will maintain copyright to your creations, but by joining this shared universe you will be allowing other creators to use your characters too—again, so long as they do so in a consistent and respectful way.
Note that while adherence to canon will be a factor, your story doesn't necessarily have to be canon-compliant. You do not have to accept other authors' creations as canon. If one author writes about Ateri's death and another writes further adventures for him, so be it. Knowledge of the current canon of stories is not necessary, but would be very helpful. See Stories.
Submission deadline is July 15th, 2025, acceptances/rejections should be out by September 15th, 2025. Publication will follow shortly thereafter.
Submission Form: HC Anthology 2 Submission Form
Inquiries Only: rickgriffinstudios@gmail.com
Setting Bible
This is still a work in progress, as is the Hayven Celestia wiki in general, but there's a few dos and do nots when it comes to writing in the Hayven Celestia universe:
- The "story" of the universe is the huge, centuries-spanning galactic war between the lio and the krakun, as well as the turek and potentially other lesser-known species. The intent, however, is not to focus on this war; to the vast majority of the universe the war is a very far-away thing and they're all just suffering (or profiting) from the fallout. Your story should not affect the trajectory of this story in any major way without significant justification.
- This is not Star Trek. There's no federation of good guys exploring just for the fun of science and discovery. Utopias do not exist even if they are yearned for. The majority of stories published thus far are of characters simply striving for a better life. This is not a requirement but it is the shape of the kinds of stories this universe prefers.
- Hayven Celestia is intended as semi-hard science fiction. Certain fantastic technologies are considered mundane, even if such technologies cannot be accessed by everyone. If you introduce a technology, it must be reasonable that this technology is adopted everywhere it would be useful, or else has reasons it cannot. For instance, the sourang DNA-altering formula would be life-changing were it to be pursued and studied, but it cannot because the sourang are living largely ignored under the krakun shadow. See Advanced Technologies for more details, limitations, and areas that can be expanded upon. Send inquiries if you have questions.
- Themes of faith and spirituality are encouraged, but not concrete incarnations of angels, demons, gods or magic except as myth and folklore (or via some other twist). Any story that is intended as myth should ideally have a framing device.
- Without contraindicatiors, it will be presumed that your story takes place in the "present" time of the setting. You are allowed to write stories that take place in the distant past or future, but it would be ideal to not "lock down" canon in this way without discussing this with other writers. See Timeline for more details.
- You are allowed to invent species as you see fit. However, for the sake of variety, it's suggested that you do not create a species that significantly overlaps with those that have been established or canonized. There are currently three canid species (anup, kyacaotl, hekiru) and two felid (geordian, lio) so no other canids or felids will be considered without significant justification. Other species have been proposed by discord members, so if you have ideas for species similar to earth animals not already listed, inquire about these on the discord server. It is also suggested that the precise role of your species does not overlap too strongly with one already established--i.e. while a slavemaster species is fine, a giant slavemaster species or a corporate slavemaster species is already overlapping with the krakun. Multiple established species have writing tips and guidelines listed for them; see Races for more information.
Discord Server
Got questions about the HC or anthology? Want to discuss a project for it? You need to be in the Discord server where we do that sort of stuff all the time!
