Future Britains - Contributors Announcement

The British speculative fiction anthology

Photo by Nik on Unsplash

Something new is dawning on these British Isles…

Introducing Future Britains

Future Britains will be a speculative fiction anthology depicting alternative visions of a near future Britain, by British creators from across these isles. The anthology will present grounded sci-fi and dystopian short stories of varying lengths, supplemented with other content including poems and illustrations. Each work will comment on the social, political, technology, or environmental issues of today, by depicting perceivable outcomes and choices that Britons could face tomorrow.

By centering on grounded sci-fi and dystopia, Future Britains will explore plausible and relatable ‘what-if’ scenarios, and the topics that people in Britain (and elsewhere) are anxious and curious about right now. Our current ideas include themes around artificial intelligence controlling creativity, invasive corporate surveillance, living alongside robots, the collapse of capitalism, and mother nature fighting back against human over-population.

Representing Britain’s cultural and demographic diversity is key to the curation of this anthology. Future Britains will be available online and in British bookshops by Autumn 2026.

One week ago…

It started with a spur of the moment idea on the train home from work. Impulse got the better of me, and that idea became a hastily drafted note before my stop:

I then experienced, for the first time in my life, what my eldest daughter might describe as ‘my phone blowing up’. Well, I had a few dozen likes and comments, but for a social media-phobic, forty-something like me with <100 subs, that reaction felt off the chart. Kinda like this chart:

Within 24 hours, I had as many amazing British speculative authors onboard, who I have since found out represent the four nations of the UK, from the English south coast, to the Scottish Outer Hebrides in the north. We have English, Welsh and Scots-Gaelic speakers, and four generations of authors from Baby Boomers to Gen Z. One of my personal goals last year was to level up the number of female sci-fi writers I have read, so I am really proud that we have ten awesome women contributing too.

So now I find myself the unwitting curator and publisher of an anthology, with no experience doing any of that whatsoever! Think before you post, Martin. Think! But post shell-shock, I really believe in this idea, so do others, and I cannot wait to start collaborating and learning from everyone involved.

The Contributors

Without further ado, I’m delighted to present to you the confirmed authors and poets of the Future Britains anthology:

• Alex Gough
  Author of historical fiction including the Mark Antony series, the Imperial Assassin series and the Carbo of Rome series.

• Brad James
  I dropped my soul on the kitchen floor and it somehow fell through a hidden trapdoor! There's some wonders down there... join me, why don't you?

• Caitriana NicNeacail
  Loves physics, history, theology, sci-fi, birds, beetles, the sea, and exploring new places far and near.

• Caroline Barnard-Smith
  Award-winning horror, science fiction, and fantasy writer from the UK. Collects haunted clowns. Paints it black.

• 🌸 Carolyn Jones 🌸
  English teacher. MA in Creative Writing. Inspired by nature’s rhythms, music’s magic, and worlds within books.

• Evelyn K. Brunswick
  Counter-subversion agent; writes ironic speculative fiction and offbeat philosophy and dark dissociative poetry.

• FranB (Frances Brindle)
  I write ghost stories and cosy horror (nothing too gory!). My work has been published in various literary magazines and anthologies.

• Gaby Jai-Devi Brogan
  Dispatches from a fiction writer living on a small island. I write speculative and sci-fi stories that are literary and a little unhinged.

• Gary Mucklow
  I write stories that ask what it means to be human in a world of dreaming machines and fractured memory.

• Graeme Brandham
  Waxing lyrical about story and writing my novel, creating a serialisation where I show the entire process from start to finish.

• Hanna Delaney
  Author of unsettling Gothic mysteries set in the north west of England. Writes dark thrillers, dystopia, fairy tales and more.

• Johnathan Reid
  Speculative novel, short story & poetry writer who 'shows' fiction, not 'tells' writing advice. Traits include pragmatic futurist, intelligent humanist and rational skeptic.

• LIMINAL BRITAIN (Lawrence Gray)
  I wrote episodes of UK cop and doc dramas before moving to Hong Kong, where I made indie-movies, wrote TV drama series for Singapore TV, published short stories, novels, and newspaper articles.

• Louis Urbanowski
  Tales from a Liminal Town on Mondays, short stories on Wednesdays, and updates on The Right Members Club every Friday.

• Martin Grace (that’s me!)
  Serialising my debut science fiction novel, The Moon Talker. Plus sharing other speculative stories and musings about humanity, technology and the environment.

• Nick Grace (that’s my Dad!)
  Speculative fiction writer and Douglas Adams super fan, who grew up in East Africa and thinks he’s too cool to be on Substack. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• Science Fiction Stories (Nick J. Taylor)
  Writer and musician lives with a black cat called Spangle in the rather nice Cotswolds. He has no problem with toasters.

• Nick Winney
  I experiment with style and am on a mission to reach literary nirvana. A particular love for the bizarre, the horrid, the beautiful ugly and mysterious.

• Olympia Black
  Writer of dark dystopian sci-fi romance set inside a galactic empire.

• Rebecca Harrison
  Rebecca Harrison sneezes like Donald Duck and her best friend is a dog who can count. Her first book, The White Horse, is a gothic folk horror.

• Samuel Evans
  I’m a long-time teacher of English literature, a proud father and a would be author of stories on the human condition, with all its beauty and frailty.

• Sophie Thompson
  Writer originally hailing from Northern Ireland, living in Essex. Shares short and serialised speculative fiction (mostly spooky or folky).

• Stephen Barrett
  Stephen Barrett is an emerging fiction writer. His work explores the darker aspects of the human condition, often through a surreal or speculative lens.

• Steve Kelsey
  I lived through the first Cold War. I’m a Londoner, contrary, widely traveled, prone to wild exaggeration and prevarication in equal measure.

• White Craw Press (Anndrais mac Choluim)
  Weekly historical fiction.

Check out our Substack profiles and subscribe if you love what you read.

It’s fair to say that some of our profile descriptions are more cryptic than others! But all of these contributors are amazing speculative fiction authors, with dozens of published stories between us. Some are even poets, illustrators and musicians as well. Show offs.

A few of us have moved to the UK from our country of origin, and a few have recently left these chilly isles to live and write from elsewhere in our beautiful blue planet. But we’ll all British, because of — not in spite of — our distinct voices, experiences and viewpoints. Some of us will be proud of our nationality, and I know a few who aren’t! We’re all living through complicated and dangerous times, and through the limitless lens of speculative fiction, each of these talented writers has something to say about that.

And that’s why all of our stories and other content will depict a near-future Britain: to make it real, to bring it home — to our home.

So what’s next?

This is not an open submissions and judged entries anthology. I have shared the submission guidelines to the contributors, and we are busy coming up with ideas, and bouncing them off each other on a group chat. The vast majority are going to be writing a brand new story specifically tailored for this theme and collection. Nearer the submission due date, we will form small peer review teams, to BETA read and critique each others’ work.

Meanwhile, I have to learn EVERYTHING about self-publishing, so I am deciding on the distribution channel(s) and royalty payment mechanisms as a priority. Then I will turn my attentions to branding and the marketing plan. Oh yeah, I also have to write my own short story for Future Britains, and keep up the serialisation of my climate fiction novel, The Moon Talker, meanwhile.

I also (unconsciously) decided to make the submission due date for Future Britains the same day as when I need to handover the unfinished manuscript for The Moon Talker to a development editor. All on top of leading a busy family life and day job. I really do have it in for myself. But I am not alone — this is the reality for most creators.

Acknowledgements

The Midnight Vault II anthology and it’s recent submission process and launch was a great example for an effective community-driven process on Substack. And a huge personal thank you to its curators, Shane Bzdok and J. Curtis, who have been so generous and prompt in giving their time and advice to my out-of-the-blue questions. Those guys have brought me down from the edge of panic mode for sure!

Thank you too Hazel Cushion, literary agent (not open to submissions) for Jodi Taylor, who offered up her vast publishing experience and giving me the confidence to self-publish.

And of course, thank you to all our amazing contributors for putting your hands up, and leaning into my proposed collaborative approach to creating Future Britains together. I cannot wait to work with you all, and start reading your stories and poems. And I’m sure I will grow as an author through this exciting experience.

Watch this space!
Martin