Calls for Submission

Selena Chambers

Selena Chambers’ debut collection guides readers out of space and time and through genre and mythos to explore the micro-cosmic horrors of identity, existence, and will in the face of the world’s adamant calls for submission. Victorian tourists take a virtual trip through their (and the Ottoman empire’s) ideal Orient; a teenage girl learns about independence and battle of the bands, all while caring for her mesmerized, dead mother; a failed Beat poet goes over the edge while exploring the long-abandoned Government Lethal Chambers. Visceral, evocative, and with a distinct style that is both vintage and fresh, Calls for Submission introduces a glowing, new writer of the weird and strange.


“Selena Chambers is a genuine spirit medium, and every story is a séance. Few fantasists are as versed in literary history, and none can summon up the decadent past as easily and as entertainingly.” Nick Mamatas, author of The Last Weekend and I Am Providence

“I have always loved the richness of Selena Chambers’ writing, and that richness is made even more apparent when her stories are gathered together in her collection, Calls for Submission. These stories are full of elegance and strangeness, written with a fierce intelligence that will haunt you. It’s an excellent collection.” Kat Howard, author of Roses and Rot

“Eerie and captivating—blissfully unnerving. Beautiful. Powerful. Selena Chambers is a radiant light among the foremost writers of horror and weird fiction working today. I am in awe of this lady’s talent!” Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., editor of The Madness of Dr. Caligari

“Combining a welcome scholarly bent with a punk rock attitude, Selena Chambers pens tales as fresh as they are fierce. From suicidal Beat poets to alt-historical travelogues to a modern take on Poe’s “M. Valdemar” (complete with rock bands), the stories in this brilliantly-titled debut may vary in tone, setting, and form, but they all share one thing in common: the unmistakable timbre of a resonant new voice in weird literature.” Orrin Grey, author of Painted Monsters & Other Strange Beasts

“Selena Chambers’ collection Calls for Submission is a wonderful, irresistible mix of the historical and modern, the literary and fantastic. These stories burst with humor, genuine emotion, wonder, and the dread of those who see the end coming.” Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil’s Rock

“Selena Chambers is a rare visionary who is able to illuminate the poetry that lurks at the heart of the macabre. Her sumptuous prose and boundless imagination conjure a blazing pyre of souls, eras, worlds. I am in awe of her talent.” Richard Gavin, author of Sylvan Dread

“From the dazzling mind of Selena Chambers, we are treated to fifteen provocative stories. Whether in collaboration with other writers, or on her own, her voice shines brightly through each tale. Although these stories have an underlying darkness within them, they are still gloriously illuminating.” Ann VanderMeer, co-editor of The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories and Sisters of the Revolution

“Reading Selena Chambers’ fiction has the same unsettling sensation as walking into the waters of what you think is low tide–the sand is beneath your feet, the waters are warm and beautiful, all seems as a dream; and only when you have been lulled beyond the point of no return do you realize that you have stepped off into the deep, into a world stranger and more cruel and wondrous than you thought you’d been bargaining for. These are masterful and powerfully emotional stories that will lure you, enchant you, overwhelm you, and leave you gasping for air, and for more.” Livia Llewellyn, author of Furnace and Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors

Selena Chambers’ fiction and non-fiction have appeared in a variety of venues including MungBeing, Clarkesworld, The Non-Binary Review, Pornokitsch, Tor.com, Bookslut, and in recent anthologies such as Cthulhu’s Daughter (Prime Books, 2016), and Cassilda’s Song (Chaosium, 2015). Writing as S. J. Chambers in 2011, she co-authored the critically-acclaimed and best-selling The Steampunk Bible with Jeff VanderMeer (Abrams Image), but has since eschewed the initials. You can find out more at www.selenachambers.com.