The Monkey King, Godzilla, dragons, serpents, talking animals, demons can all be categorised as creatures that occupy a place in our fantasy and narrative.  In Western colonial language and discourse, the “Other”, the “savage”, the “uncivilized” have been attributed with non-human and animalistic characteristics.  In the fantasy, horror and sci-fi genres, creatures have also come to represent difference and the multiplicity of identities.  We invite you to incorporate Peril’s Issue 9 theme – “Creatures” in your work.

Below are some prompts that we hope are only the start of what you might do with the theme:

*If you imagined yourself as a creature, what would you be?
* Xenophobia/ fear of the “Other”
* I want to be a teenage vampire
* Utopia is…
* Difference and multiplicity of identities
* Morphing/anthropomorphism
* Fur/skin/feathers/fangs
* Avatars
* Past and future creatures (folkloric creatures in global media narratives; new creatures)  * The hybrid
* The creature’s lair
* The creature in Asian horror genre
* Performing creatures – e.g. ‘cosplay’ (or costume play), fantasy gaming
* Metamorphosis
* Non- and post-humans

Let’s see and hear what you think about “Creatures” – write, create, draw, compose, collaborate! We accept submissions of any kind of text, sound or visual art, as long as it can be presented online (e.g. essays, blog entries, reflections, poetry, fiction, memoir, spoken word)

Our text limit is 1000 words.

Check out our previous issues to see what we publish at www.peril.com.au

You don’t have to be Asian-Australian to contribute, but your contribution should be related to the theme and be of Asian-Australian interest.

The deadline for Issue 9 is March 30 2010, to be published in May 2010.
For Peril submissions or queries, email peril@asianaustralian.org.

• Follow PerilMag on Twitter or  on Facebook.