CFP: Heated Rivalry: The Phenomenon

An edited collection of essays on the television series that seduced the world

Heated Rivalry appeared simultaneously across screens in Canada, the United States (via HBO Max) and other countries in late November and quickly, if unexpectedly, became a worldwide phenomenon. Audiences were immediately hooked on the story of star hockey prospects Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and the sexual and romantic relationship that blossoms between them over a span of years.

Adapted from Rachel Reid’s series of Game Changers hockey romance novels and developed by Canadian television wunderkind Jacob Tierney, Heated Rivalry explores the relationships between Shane and Ilya, as well as other gay and bisexual men, as they navigate the competing pressures of life, love, sex, family, celebrity, and the homophobia of professional sports. In interviews, Tierney describes resisting the pressure from unnamed American production companies to add more straight characters and scale back gay sex scenes in order to produce a show that unashamedly represents gay men and their love stories.

Tierney’s vision was an unqualified success, and Heated Rivalry was renewed for a second season before the first had finished its six-episode run. With season two set to debut in the spring of 2027 and Reid due to publish the seventh installment in the Game Changers series, Unrivaled, which continues Shane and Ilya’s story, in June of 2027, this edited collection intends to serve as a well-timed companion to Heated Rivalry, its source material, and its devoted fans. I am looking for diverse chapter contributions of 7,000-8,000 words (approximately 25 double-spaced pages inclusive of any notes and bibliography). Possible topics include, but are in no way limited to:

• Fan and audience studies perspectives on the reception of Heated Rivalry across different communities, identities, locations, and ages, including prominent cultural conversations around why women in particular enjoy the show (as in this Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/13/why-do-women-like-heated-rivalry)
• Heated Rivalry as a book-to-series adaptation
• How the series depicts and/or comments on gender and masculinity
• Consideration of Heated Rivalry’s sex scenes, from production to representation to discourse (including public exchanges between comedian and actor Jordan Firstman and Heated Rivalry star Francois Arnaud)
• Heated Rivalry’s key relationships, including Shane and Ilya, Scott and Kip, Shane and Ilya and their respective families, and Shane and Ilya and their female friends
• The relationship between Heated Rivalry and current authoritarian and right-wing politics, both as depicted in the series and in the real world, where politics shape the circulation, availability, and reception of gay romance in different contexts around the globe
• Locating Heated Rivalry within the history and future of LGBTQ+ television
• How Heated Rivalry addresses LGBTQ+ celebrities, sexuality, the media, and/or coming out
• Heated Rivalry and the romance genre (or subgenres like sports and/or hockey romance) and its tropes
• Discussions of race, ethnicity, citizenship, and place in Heated Rivalry
• Sports media perspectives on hockey and athleticism in Heated Rivalry
• Media industries perspectives on Heated Rivalry and Canadian television production, the HBO brand, streaming services, and more
• If there is a topic involving Heated Rivalry I have not mentioned here, but you have a great interest in pursuing, do submit an abstract

Note: No previously published or in-press work can be accepted.

Abstracts – with a brief author biography – of 300 to 500 words for this collection are due by May 31, 2026. Please email them to Dr. Anthony Patricia at: agpatricia@concord.edu. If selected for inclusion, final chapters would be tentatively due by January 31, 2027.

*** The short(ish) turnaround time is being pursued so that there is a chance to strike while the iron is hot as far as potential publication. My goal is to try and have a volume available, or at least available soon, by the time Season Two of Heated Rivalry hits television screens in late Spring 2027 AND when the third novel featuring Shane and Ilya, Unrivaled, is currently set to publish in June of 2027. ***