Women with Weapons Anthology

Your story should prominently feature a woman wielding a weapon.

Or many weapons. Or many women, wielding many weapons.

Trans women are women.

Non-binary weapon wielders are also welcome.

Your story must FAIL the REVERSE BECHDEL TEST. [What does this mean? See below.]

Your story may be in any genre. It may be set in the past, present, or future.

You can include sex. You can include violence. But we are not so keen on sexual violence--this should not just be a collection of stories about women avenging r*pe.

This call is open to writers of all genders residing anywhere in the world. However, we are an Indian company, and will give preference to stories that will work for our primarily Indian audience. Nevertheless, don't be shy to send in your Congolese swordswomen, medieval Vietnamese vampire slayers, or Belizean Mennonite harpoonists.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FAIL THE REVERSE BECHDEL TEST?

The Bechdel test requires that a story features

a) at least two women

b) who talk to each other

c) about something other than a man.

The reverse Bechdel test is the same thing but with the genders swapped.

To FAIL the reverse Bechdel test, then, your story must feature

a) at most one man

b) or, if it does feature more than one man, the men must not talk to each other

c) or, if the men do talk to each other, they must ONLY talk about the women; they are not allowed to discuss anything else.

(Exceptions may be considered if your story is extra genderspicy and you find all this binary logic constraining.)

Country of Publication & Year Established

AI Policy

Human-created work only; no AI use allowed