Homework: Arcane Intelligence
Some reading for those of you who want to play The Great Game
Yes, you may note some changes from what was originally titled A Spy Who Conjured Me. Don’t worry, editor Nick Nethery will guide you through your assignment, should you choose to accept it.
Hey gang! Nick here, and I’m just dive bombing you this hale morn to drop some Homework on those of you who might be interested in submitting to our upcoming anthology, Arcane Intelligence.
The original inspiration for this was Declare, the amazing supernatural espionage thriller from The One himself, Tim Powers. It says something that while I maintain that another work of his, The Stress of Her Regard, is maybe the best book ever written, I still think Declare is my favorite book from Powers. It just hits all the right notes for me.
World War II? Check. Spies? Check. Sexy, dusky, possibly-a-double-agent femme fatale? Check. Cold War espionage? Check. Betrayal? Fallen angels? Noah’s Ark? The casual in-text use of the word “crenellation?” A bit of sex? A suicide mission? Real-world duplicity exceeding even that of famous turncoats like Quisling, Arnold and Alcibiades? Check check check check CHECK. A whole big back of checks, with a big check sign on it like the old money bags from Warner Bros cartoons.
My point: check.
Declare. Read it.
If you haven’t read it, rectify your life, heathen. If you want to submit to this anthology, it’s basically required reading. This is what I’m looking for: real-world espionage, with a supernatural or magical flair. The CIA or MI6 (or MI5! Giant Slow Horses fan here) conducting ops using magic spells, or summoning a demon to help them spy on a Soviet agent. The Stasi using a trapped soul as an intel source. The Mossad employing a golem, the Mukhabarat working with Set or Anubis, or a war within VEVAK between the new and old religions where their own versions of angels and demons are brought into play.
Some more comps:
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross.
Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson.
Magic, Inc. by The Heinlein.
Non-supernatural but nonetheless great spy novels:
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Harlot’s Ghost by Norman Mailer
The Charm School by Nelson Demille
Not all of these are totally state-sponsored spying. A couple of them are more like corporate espionage. Unfortunately, this is a vein that is largely untapped. But you can change that! Give us a good story with the themes I listed above. Maybe take one of my suggestions of topic (although this is NOT a guarantee of acceptance).
What I’m not looking for:
-Espionage among various kingdoms or factions of elves, gnomes, or fairies. (And God help you if I even see the word “fae.”) I’m not looking for the Rivendell Intelligence Service here.
-A spy thriller with anthropomorphic cats, dogs, or other domesticated animals. Leave the furry convention stuff in your mom’s basement with the rest of your bits and baubles.
-Having said that, it won’t make it into the anthology, but I would read a story about espionage among sapient spiders or octopi. I’m an Adrian Tchaikovsky fanboy. Sue me.
-Also not looking for a boring spy story with a vampire or werewolf jammed in. Sometimes people take this to mean “no vampires or werewolves.” I say thee nay. Nay, I say. What I mean is, story uber alles. Just like in science fiction: the ray gun or spaceship is not the plot. It’s the dressing. Don’t substitute a character gimmick or trait for your story. A character still needs to make a decision to overcome an obstacle. A list of actions that happen one after another, but one of the characters happens to be a spy who’s also a werewolf, isn’t a story.
-Anything that, if filmed, would be rated R.
-Another Raconteur entry that we have rejected, but you just changed some peripheral characters to be part of a spy agency. No. No! Imagine I’m hitting you on your nose with a rolled-up newspaper like you would a dog that pooped inside. Dude, there are literally thousands of open calls in every medium you can imagine. Go check out Submission Grinder or Team And More for giant lists of them. I believe in you. Just not here. I believe in you over there.
I won’t kick an unhappy ending out of bed. Sometimes the bad guys win. Man, do I know that intensely from my own previous career. But it still needs to have a generally hopeful tone and not depress the hell out of people. You want to move units, right? You want to sell as many of these as possible so that you yourself make more money? Then don’t give it a terrible ending. Unhappy is okay. An eff-you to the reader gets you bounced.
I’m…well, dreading this. I will inevitably get like 10% to 25% of you that think you can go totally against my wishes, but since you’re so sparkly and brilliant, I’ll have an epiphany and drive a dump truck full of money up to your house. But I don’t own a dump truck. I wouldn’t even know where to rent one. How do you even rent a dump truck? Also I would need to get a C class on my license, and I just hate going to the DMV. So, not gonna happen.
Easier to just follow the guidelines.
Okay, this has been fun, but I have whiskey to drink and lies to tell. And I am, being honest, looking forward to reading these. Some of you are damn fine writers. Some of you have a damn fine writer inside you, but you’ve been lurking and timid. Now’s the time. Write that thing, and polish it up, and send it. The worst that can happen is a polite No, and then you can polish it some more and submit it somewhere else. The very first thing I ever sold was rejected over ten times before it landed. You can do it. You just need to keep going.
Arcane Intelligence. The submission window opens on June 19th. Of THIS YEAR, Goose. Closes on the 31st of July. So get crackin, boys and girls.
Great talk. I’ll see you out there.
-Nick, the OG unpaid intern in a cage
Arcane Intelligence
Edited by Nick Nethery
Open Call date: 06/19/2026
Submissions Close: 07/31/2026
Contracts: 08/14/2026
Publication Date: 09/18/2026
The Cold War was not just between the US and USSR, but literally between the side of angels and the side of demons. A spy planting a haunted listening device in an enemy embassy finds that the ghost inside it has his own ideas. Codewords that are also magic spells, assassins using curses, and undead drops. Espionage with magical elements.
Declare is a fantastic book. Great use as an inspiration.
Nick how did you know Declare was on my reading list for the Summer?