I never knew dancing in a skydiving trainer chamber was a sport, but apparently it is, and it's pretty awesome. Check out Kyra Poh in a dance that apparently won the whole thing. This is amazing. :D
Angie
Friday, October 19, 2018
Monday, October 15, 2018
Anthology Markets
If you've just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn't dated in the same month you're in, click here to make sure you're seeing the most recent one. If you want to get an e-mail notification when the listing is posted, get the list a week early, or get a full listing of everything I've found (as opposed to the two months' worth I post here) a week early, you can support my Patreon.
Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, with "Always Open" and "Until Filled" markets (if any) at the bottom.
Markets open only to writers in a limited demographic are marked with a [NOTE:] from me, in italics, right after the main header.
There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.
***
1 November 2018 -- Unlocking the Magic -- ed. Vivian Caethe
Word limit: 3000-6000 words.
Pay rate: $300/story + royalties
Genre: Fantasy only (no Science Fiction or Horror, although horror elements may be present in the story). Urban Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Steampunk, and other genres of fantasy are all encouraged.
Language: English (translations are welcome).
Submissions close: November 1, 2018
Rights: We claim first world English rights (no reprints). For an excellent break down of what this means, please see Neil Clarke’s post here.
In fantasy, we read about how people with mental illness are more susceptible to magic, closer to breaks in reality, more likely to be able to see the unseen. These stereotypes are harmful and contribute to keeping people from seeing the good in getting help, taking their meds, or talking to someone.
This anthology is about changing the narrative and telling stories of strength and perseverance, of getting help despite the darkness. Not the myth that getting help will kill creativity and magic. Not the story our society tells about mentally ill people: that art and magic must come from suffering.
I want stories that show what can be accomplished when we take care of ourselves and seek help. I want stories that show the reality of being mentally ill within a fantasy setting. I want to see how mental illness and its treatment affects the magic that lies within all of us. I want to read realistic portrayals of mental illness in magical worlds.
Send your stories formatted in Standard Manuscript format attached as a .doc to cuppateaanthologies at gmail dot com. Include your name, byline, email address, mailing address, and approximate word count. In your cover letter, also include the mental illness diagnosis your story addresses (e.g. depression, PTSD, bipolar, etc).
When writing your story, consider that you’re writing about real experiences that real people have, not just something fictional characters have to deal with. Do your research and write with compassion. I am looking for noblebright, not grimdark.
Submissions from diverse individuals and those with mental illnesses are encouraged.
***
30 November 2018 -- Monstrous Outlines -- Martian Migraine Press
[NOTE: The guidelines page lists the due date as 31 November. November has only 30 days, so I adjusted the date. If you want to take a chance and sub on 1 December, which is sort of the equivalent of 31 November, that's up to you. :) ]
Monstrous Outlines will be an anthology of horror and weird fiction with a focus on the theme of camouflage: people, entities, monsters, gods, even concepts, that masquerade as things other than themselves. Predators in plain sight, deities on their down time, sublime extra-dimensional terrors slumming in 4D. We want to see stories of exceptionally well done camouflage, all the more baffling and frightening for its seamless nature. We want to see stories of seeming where the hidden thing is poorly hidden for a number of reasons: perhaps there are layers to its camouflage, or perhaps it doesn’t care how well it hides. Imagine the moment when the perfectly hidden thing reveals itself. When the poorly hidden thing reveals itself. We’re also interested in duplicates, doppelgangers, and shapeshifters. Think John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? and its cinematic offspring, The Thing, for the latter. The seed story for this anthology will be Algernon Blackwood’s classic tale, The Willows, a story of two worlds touching, of men meeting the unnameable through the medium of the nearest natural analogue, the titular willow trees.
Submission period closes 30 NOVEMBER 2018. The anthology will be released in trade paperback and electronic book formats in early March 2019.
SUBMITTING
Please use Standard Manuscript format when submitting. That's double spaced, left justified, Times New Roman or Courier or something at least readable, a header on the first page (at least) with your author info and word count and… well, you know the drill. RTF or DOC files preferred, but DOCx and text files also accepted. Obviously, you could send us something that's not in Standard Manuscript format, but it will lower your chances of it being looked at seriously.
We will look at both original work and REPRINTS.
To submit a story to Monstrous Outlines, send an e-mail (with the story file attached, not in the body of the email) to: submissions@martianmigrainepress.com, with subject line: OUTLINES, title of your story, and your name.
LENGTH
For short fiction, we’d like to see anything from 1,500 to 7,000 words. If your story goes over 7k, please inquire first.
FLASH FICTION: got something under 1500 words? Send it in. However, the following still applies…
NO POETRY.
PAYMENT
All accepted submissions will be paid .03CAD per word, via Paypal, as well as a contributor copy (paperback) of the anthology, and copies in all electronic formats (mobi, EPUB, and PDF). Authors are also entitled to complete access to all titles in the MMP ebook catalogue.
REPLIES AND QUERIES
We will try to acknowledge receipt of your submission within a week of its arrival in our inbox. The submission period itself will close on 30 NOVEMBER 2018 and we should be responding to all submissions, yay or nay, by early January 2019. If you haven’t heard from us by 15 January 2019, please query.
***
1 December 2018 -- Rosalind's Siblings -- ed. Bogi Takács; Galli Books
[NOTE: DO NOT SUBMIT BEFORE 1 NOVEMBER.]
Rosalind's Siblings is an anthology of speculative stories about people of marginalized genders/sexes who are scientists: scientists doing good, changing the world, or just getting on with their work of expanding human knowledge in a speculative context, presented in a positive light. This anthology is named for Rosalind Franklin, the so-called Dark Lady of DNA, one of the most famously erased female scientists in history, and a direct relation of the founder of Galli Books. The anthology is being edited by Bogi Takács.
The stories do not need to problematize gender/sex, though this is also welcome, and we would like to publish a mix of approaches. We are generally interested in positive portrayals of science and the protagonists doing research, but this can include a critical reappraisal. (E.g., we would very much like to see stories in which science is decolonized and/or Indigenized, or in some other ways incorporates approaches beyond Western neo-positivism.) We are not interested in "mad scientist" tropes or "evil science." We are also not interested in disability cure narratives and related tropes, unless they are actively subverted / deconstructed.
Stories must contain a speculative element. We are happy to read works from any speculative subgenre: science fiction, fantasy, horror, alternate history, magical realism, fabulism, mythic work, Weird fiction and so on. Any amount of science detail is welcome with thoughtful engagement.
Protagonists can be trans and/or nonbinary people, women, intersex people, genderqueer or gender-nonconforming people, people of culturally specific genders/sexes, and any combinations thereof. They do not need to identify as women, feminine or femme specifically, but those stories are particularly welcome; as are stories with trans, nonbinary and/or intersex men or masculine protagonists. Protagonists can have any sexual orientation.
You do not need to belong to any marginalized group to submit, but we are very happy to consider submissions from people who belong to underrepresented / marginalized groups in speculative fiction, including Black, Indigenous people and/or people of color, non-Western and/or non-Anglophonic people, migrants, QUILTBAG+ people, disabled, chronically ill and/or neuroatypical people. We welcome people from all letters of the QUILTBAG+, including trans, intersex, asexual, aromantic and bisexual people, who are more commonly ignored. Please don’t self-reject!
You do not need to disclose your marginalizations in your cover letter, but you are welcome to do so. Please send submissions to galli-books@galli-books.co.uk with "ROSALIND" in the subject line and the story title. Format submissions reasonably close to Standard Manuscript Format, and send them in .doc, .odt, .rtf formats, or .pdf if the story has unusual formatting that needs to be preserved. Please do NOT send .docx files.
Submissions open on 1st November and close on 1st December. Please do not submit outside that window.
We pay £0.08/word upon signed contract and are interested in previously unpublished short stories between 500 and 7500 words, and nonfiction essays on our theme.
***
15 December 2018 -- Young Explorer's Adventure Guide, Vol. 6 -- ed. Corie and Sean Weaver; Dreaming Robot Press
We’re looking for stories that:
== Have a main character that a middle grade reader (ages 8-12) can identify with;
== Show a diverse set of real characters;
== Are well written, fun to read, and encourage a love of reading science fiction;
== Tell of adventure, space, science. Give us rockets, robots and alien encounters, and we’re pretty happy; Steampunk, time travel, weird west and alternate history are all fine;
== Are between 3,000 and 6,000 words.
To be super clear – we’re looking science fiction, in all its variants. While we love fantasy as well, please don’t submit fantasy stories for this anthology.
We’re especially looking for stories:
== Of adventure! We love a good dystopia as much as the next robot, but remember – this is the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide;
== Where the main character is of a population that has traditionally been under-represented in science fiction, e.g. girls, people of color, differently abled people;
== Where the main character has agency, exercises it, and isn’t just along for the ride.
We are strong supporters of both the #weneeddiversebooks and #ownvoices movements.
We’re not interested in:
== Stories where the female characters primarily exist to be rescued or as a prize for the males;
== Stories where the primary plot or subplot is romantic in nature;
== Stories with graphic violence or any form of sexual activity;
== Stories with any violence towards animals;
== Stories about the first girl to do X, surprising everyone;
== Stories that depict any ethnicity or gender as universally bad or stupid.
Please note: although we’re aware kids have a wide and varied vocabulary, we’d prefer not to have swearing in the stories. If your story has swearing, please rephrase before submitting.
Submission deadline, mechanics and planned schedule:
== Anthology will be open for submissions from July 15, 2018 – December 15, 2018, with a reading period of January and February 2019.
== We read blind. Please do not put identifying information on your manuscript. We’ll track it by the form information.
== While we prefer original stories, if you have something perfect that had a limited run elsewhere, query us and we’ll talk;
== Acceptance notices will be sent by March 30, 2019;
== In the summer we will launch a crowd-funding campaign to help with pre-publication costs. Regardless of results of crowd-funding campaign, we are committed to publishing the anthology. We’ve successfully funded the previous three anthologies this way, chances are favorable.
Rights and Payments:
== Authors will be provided with a complete Anthology Contract for review and consideration with the notice of accepted submissions.
== In keeping with SWFA’s guidelines, we pay $0.06/word on final edited word count for one-year exclusive worldwide English rights and nonexclusive right to republish, print, or reprint the complete anthology in any language or format after the first year, print and electronic, and two contributor copies. Payment upon final edit.
== If the crowd-funding fails, please note that we are still committed to this anthology, and will find other ways to fund the project. However, there may be delays. If authors feel the need to withdraw their submission due to delays, we understand.
== We will provide professional editing, primarily for issues of grammar and spelling.
== If authors have other questions about rights or payments, please contact us before submission. We want to make sure all concerns are addressed.
More questions? Check the full description page for last year's anthology here. Still have more questions? Contact us!
***
24 December 2018 -- Machinations and Mesmerism: A Tribute to E.T.A. Hoffman -- ed. Farah Rose Smith; Ulthar Press
"Machinations and Mesmerism" is an anthology of fantastic, strange fiction written in the vein of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, the oft'-unsung artistic polymath and writer of Dark Romanticism, Gothic Horror, and Fantastic literature.
E. T. A. Hoffmann was a Prussian lawyer, artist, composer, and writer. His stories are ripe with strange atmospheres and peculiar characters (including automata, madmen, and spectres), which would go on to influence the Gothic and macabre writers of the following generations including Poe, Gogol, Kafka, and Baudelaire. Though his writing lingered primarily within the parameters of German Romanticism, Hoffmann's literature would also impact the fantasy and science fiction genres as well, as many of his works illuminate the struggle between science and magic. This carefully curated anthology honors the literary dance between mesmerism, mechanics, and magic through which Hoffmann explored issues of Romantic idealism and the self.
ULTHAR PRESS is looking for strange, gothic, and fantastic fiction in the manner of E.T.A. Hoffmann between 2,000 – 5,000 words in length. Stories that merely graft his characters into a new story will not be accepted.
Fiction submissions: Email submissions to farahrose9@gmail.com with the subject line as follows: HOFFMANN ANTHOLOGY: [YOUR TITLE]. Please send in .doc, .docx, or .pdf file types, only.
We are not accepting reprints, multiple submissions, or simultaneous submissions.
We respond within 60 days or sooner, and ask that queries regarding submissions not be sent out until after this period has passed.
Payment: 2 cents USD per word and a contributor copy.
***
31 December 2018 -- Apotheosis 2 -- ed. Jason Andrew; Simian Publishing
[DO NOT SUBMIT UNTIL 1 DECEMBER]
Apotheosis 2 – More stories of human survival and defiance in a world subjugated by the return of the Elder Gods. Humanity struggled to grow and evolve as a species for thousands of years forever caught in the shadow of a dread threat known only to a devoted few. When the stars are right, the Old Ones will return to claim utter dominion of the world. Lovecraft Mythos stories often climax at the moment of the fateful return of the Elder Gods and the audience is left to ponder what might happen next. This anthology features stories about humanity under the reign of the Elder Gods and ancient terrors.
What do we mean by Lovecraft Mythos stories in relation to Apotheosis? We’re looking for stories inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft and associated writers such as August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, Henry Kuttner, and Frank Belknap Long. We’re also interested in writers that inspired Lovecraft such as Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood and Lord Dunsany. We're interested in classic mythos gods and monsters and originals that have inspired by the mythos.
Good Fiction Examples:
== Apotheosis: Stories of Human Survival After The Rise of The Elder Gods
== "Boojum" by Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette
== "A Colder War" by Charlie Stross
== In the Hall of the Yellow King by Peter Rawlik
What type of stories are we looking for? We're looking for character-driven stories set during a time in the future where the ancient terrors that once ruled the Earth have claimed complete and utter dominion of the Earth. We’re less concerned about the strict interpretation of the Elder Gods than good stories that deal with real human concerns. How do people survive? How does life change? Will people accept their new gods or will they rebel? What will it mean to be human in such a world of gods and monsters? Surprise us. Don’t give us stories that we’ve read before. We want worlds that feel real populated by characters from different cultures, genders, and ethnicities. Avoid cultural appropriation. Do your homework. We recommend that you read our last anthology to see the types of stories we enjoy.
What types of submissions should I avoid? We’re not as interested in the moment the ancient horrors return and conquer the world, but how humanity survives after the war is lost. Flashbacks are OK, but the story should not be about that time. We enjoy historical mythos fiction, but this is not the anthology for it. Stories must be set in the future. We are not looking for poetry for this anthology.
Submission Details:
== Word-count: 2,000 to 7,000
== Worldwide print and e-book rights (exclusive for 6 months, non-exclusive for an additional 30 months).Exceptions will be made for stories accepted for “Best Of” anthologies.
== Apotheosis will be available in both Print on Demand and e-book formats.
== Submissions open December 1, 2018, and will close at 11:59 PST on December 31, 2018. You may submit at: apotheosis.anthology@gmail.com via an attachment. (Do not submit before December 1st 2018 or your submission will be deleted)
== Queries and questions may be sent to : apotheosis.anthology@gmail.com. (You may send queries and questions anytime.) All responses will be accepted or rejected by August 15th, 2018. Please do not query about submitted stories before then. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. Our word count limits are hard for open submissions. Reprints may be submitted, but we’re only accepting three or four at the most. (It should be clearly stated that the submission is a reprint in your cover later or this will be an automatic rejection later.)
== Please use standard format guidelines. If it is difficult to read, we will reject your story. Your story must include your name, address, telephone number, email address, and approximate word count on the first page. Your cover letter should include your complete contact information, story title, approximate word count, and a short bio.
== We're only accepting a limited number of reprints. If you are submitting a reprint, please tag the subject with #Reprint. If we find out later your submission is a reprint and it wasn’t tagged, it will be dropped from the anthology.
== Payment: 3 cents per word (or 1 cent per word for reprints), paid within 90 days after publication. Plus contributor copy of print and e-book.
***
31 December 2018 -- Pink Triangle Rhapsody: Volume 1 Mixed Genre -- Lycan Valley Press
NOTE: Submissions open to gay male writers only.
Pink Triangle Rhapsody is our newest anthology series in celebration of and dedicated entirely to gay men and their cultural history.
Although we realize this may create some controversy, this anthology series is open to gay male writers only. While we appreciate that women and straight men are able to accurately portray gay characters, our intent with this series is to highlight and explore the gay male cultural experiences on a more personal level.
The Pink Triangle Rhapsody series is a non-themed anthology series, with the exception of the required genre and inclusion of one or more of Lycan Valley’s required elements. The series is intended to be a collection of stories written with "effusively rapturous or emotional expression."
Volume 1 is a mixed genre volume and will feature 5 stories in each of 5 genres for a total of 25 stories — Horror, Sci Fi, Dark Fantasy, Thriller, Pulp Mystery. See definitions here.
Each story must include a supernatural, paranormal or occult element (horror may include psychological horror with or without one of the other elements). See definitions here.
Regardless of genre and element, we're looking for unrestrained and emotional writing, interpreted as you see fit for the story.
Word Count: 2500 to 8000 words. Stories less than 2250 or more than 8250 will be declined unread.
Payment: $0.04 per word based on final published word count.
Submission: Please read our general submission guidelines before submitting, including basic Shunn formatting with blind submission requirements.
Submissions that do not follow proper formatting guidelines or meet the minimum required elements will be declined unread.
No simultaneous submissions. If you submit to us, please wait until you receive a response before submitting elsewhere. Declined story notifications are sent out immediately upon making that decision. If your story is still in-progress, it means it is still under consideration pending the final TOC.
No multiple submissions. Submit only one story per open submission call unless invited to resubmit.
No unsolicited reprints or poetry submissions.
Please do not send email inquires asking us to consider a reprint, adjust the word count, alter the genre or element requirements or make other exceptions to the guidelines.
All status updates are made via submittable. If you have not received a notification that your story has been declined, it is still under consideration. Short-listed stories will be held until the final deadline as we make the final TOC decisions.
***
31 December 2018 -- Portals; Temporally Deactivated; Alternate Peace -- ed. Joshua Palmatier, Patricia Bray, S.C. Butler, David B. Coe, Steven H. Silver; Zombies Need Brains, LLC
Zombies Need Brains LLC is accepting submissions to its three science fiction and fantasy anthologies PORTALS, TEMPORALLY DEACTIVATED, and ALTERNATE PEACE. Stories must be submitted in electronic form as an attachment with the title of the story as the file name in .doc or .docx format. The header of the email should include the name of the anthology the submission is for along with the title of the submission (for example: WERE-: WereJellyfish Gone Wild!). The content of the email should also include which anthology the manuscript is intended for. Please send multiple manuscripts in separate emails; you may submit to any or all of the anthologies as many times as you wish. Manuscripts should be in manuscript format, meaning double-spaced, 12pt font, standard margins on top, bottom and sides, and pages numbered. Please use Times New Roman font. The first page should include the Title of the story, Author’s name, address, and email, and Pseudonym if different from the author’s real name. Italics and bold should be in italics and bold.
Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 7,500 words in length, and must satisfy the theme of the anthology.
PORTALS is to feature science fiction or fantasy stories that contain a portal opening up between two different worlds and the consequences that come from that portal. We are attempting to fill half of the anthology with science fiction stories and half with fantasy stories. Stories featuring more interesting settings and twists on the typical portals will receive more attention than those that use standard tropes. In other words, we don’t want to see 100 stories dealing with a door in the back of the wardrobe leading to a fantasy world of gnomes, dwarves, and elves. If we do, it's likely that only one, at most, would be selected for the anthology. We do NOT want to see time portals, connecting one time to another; however, it can be a portal from our reality to an alternate reality. We are interested in all kinds of portals: doors at the back of wardrobes, stone archways in the middle of the forest, wormholes, cracks in reality, etc. Be creative, choose something different, and use it in an unusual and unexpected way. We are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.
TEMPORALLY DEACTIVATED is to feature stories where the author explores what the phrase "temporally deactivated" could mean with regards to a person, place, or thing. Stories featuring more interesting takes on the twisting of time and how it is integrated into the story will receive more attention than those with more typical twisted time stories. We do NOT want to see stories where "temporal deactivation" means simply death. So be creative and use time in an unusual and unexpected way. We are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.
ALTERNATE PEACE is to feature alternate history stories where the divergence from our timeline comes from some kind of peaceful change to our past. It must explore the consequences of this divergence, not simply introduce the divergence. Stories featuring more interesting historical settings and twists on the consequences of the peaceful divergence from our timeline will receive more attention than those with more standard changes to the course of history. So be creative and come up with an unusual and unexpected break from the timeline. Please note that while the divergence in the timeline must be from some peaceful change, that change CAN lead to violence; in other words, you are allowed to have violence in the story, it just can’t be what’s initiating the alternate history. We are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.
Here are some example stories for ALTERNATE PEACE -- stories where the divergence from the timeline comes from a peaceful change:
Stephen Baxter: The Twelfth Album (Interzone 13, Hartwell's Best Science Fiction of the Year 4)
Michael F. Flynn: Quaetiones Super Caelo et Mundo (Analog, 7/07)
Janet Kagan: Love Our Lockwood (Alternate Presidents)
John Kessel: The Franchise (Pure Product, Fields of Fantasies)
Mary Robinette Kowal: The Lady Astronaut series (Tor Books)
Ian R. MacLeod: Snodgrass (Dozois's Year’s Best Science Fiction 10, Past Magic)
Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Recovering Apollo 8 (Asimov's, 2/7, Recovering Apollo 8)
Howard Waldrop: Heart of Whitenesse (Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction 15, Heart of Whitenesse)
DEADLINE and TIMELINE:
The deadline for submissions is December 31st, 2018. Decisions on stories should be completed by the end of February 2019. Please send submissions to contact@zombiesneedbrains.com. You will receive a receipt email within a few days of receiving the submission and having it filed for consideration. Notices about decisions on the stories will be sent out no later than the end of March 2019.
If your story is selected for use in the anthology, you should expect a revision letter by the end of April 2019. Revisions and the final draft of the story will be expected no later than the end of May 2019. These dates may change due to the editors' work schedules. Zombies Need Brains LLC is seeking exclusive world anthology rights (including electronic rights) in all languages for the duration of one year after publication/release of the anthology, non-exclusive world anthology rights (including electronic rights) in all languages after that. Your story cannot appear elsewhere during that first year. Pay rate will be an advance of a minimum of 6 cents per word. The anthology will be published as an ebook and an exclusive mass market paperback edition, distributed to the Kickstarter backers. The book would be available after that to the general public in ebook and trade paperback formats. Advances would be immediately earned out by the success of the Kickstarter. Royalties on additional sales beyond the Kickstarter will be 25% of ebook cover price and 10% of trade paperback cover price, both split evenly (not by word count) between the authors in and editors of the anthology.
Questions regarding these submission guidelines should be sent to contact@zombiesneedbrains.com. Thank you.
[NOTE: I had a story published in one of the ZNB anthologies a few years back. I found the ZNB people good to work with, they paid promptly, and I've received several royalty checks since then. Highly recommended for anyone who writes short SFF.]
***
31 December 2018 -- Curse the Darkness -- Unlit Press
For our inaugural anthology, Curse the Darkness*, we're throwing our doors wide open and inviting submissions on the theme of darkness. That could be the absence of light, the presence of evil, or the sinister thoughts of the afflicted. However you choose to interpret the theme, just make sure you leave us afraid to turn out the lights.
We're looking for stories with compelling characters, sparkling dialogue, and strong, original voices. Send us stories that step off the well-trod paths into the unlit wilderness of the unusual, the interesting, and the provocative.
Please review our submission guidelines below before submitting your story via the submission form.
*Curse the Darkness is a working title. Unlit Press reserves the right to change the title as necessary.
Submission Guidelines
Word Count: 3,000 to 10,000 words.
Payment: Accepted authors will receive a one-off payment of £75 (approximately $100) or the equivalent in their local currency.
Format: We accept .doc, .docx, .rtf or .odt.
Multiple Submissions: No, send us one great story.
Simultaneous Submissions: Yes, but please let us know as soon as possible if your submission is accepted elsewhere.
Previously Published: No, we want original unpublished stories only.
Formatting: Double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12pt, with a single space after periods.
Rights: Unlit Press will have first world rights for an exclusive period of 12 months from the date of publication. At the end of the exclusive term, rights will revert back to the original author with Unlit Press retaining world distribution rights for the format(s) originally contracted.
Contributor Copies: Contributors will receive one free print copy of the anthology.
***
ALWAYS OPEN -- Future Visions Anthology Series -- ed. Brian J Walton; Camton House Publishing
The Future Visions Anthologies is a science fiction anthology series, aiming to deliver excellent and diverse short story collections on a quarterly basis. In the tradition of great television anthology series such as The Twilight Zone, and Black Mirror, the Future Visions Anthologies will broadly explore all genres and traditions of science fiction and speculative fiction, seeking in each story to explore deeply themes that are relevant to a modern audience.
Themes:
What do you hope the future will bring? What are you afraid we may become? How do our visions of the future inform and give shape to the hopes and fears that we have today?
These questions are what defines anthology series like The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror. Rather than mandating a theme for each publication, (one publication for cyborgs, one for time travelers, etc...) I want authors to feel free to explore these larger questions using any and all of the popular science fiction tropes: new technology, exploration, nightmarish dystopians, alien species, baffling utopias, the list goes on...
Diversity:
The Future Visions Anthologies seeks to bring diversity to all aspects of their publications, from the stories and authors we publish, to the themes and genres we explore. All authors may apply regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or political affiliation.
Terms:
The Future Visions Anthologies seeks to engage authors with fair and equitable terms through participation in the anthologies. The anthologies will be enrolled in Kindle Unlimited for an initial six-month term, during which stories will be exclusive to the anthology. After this, anthologies will continue be available as an ebook (not in KU) for an additional six-month term. During this term, partial publication rights will return to the author to publish as an ebook, except for in KU. After one year, the ebook will be unpublished, returning all rights to the author.
Payment will be based on a profit-share model with a guaranteed minimum payment of $150. Authors will receive royalties during the first six months of membership. At the end of the royalty period, if the author's royalties do not meet the minimum payment of $150 then the remaining amount will be paid. There is no cap to the amount of royalties that may be earned. Earning reports for the anthology will be provided to all participating authors to ensure complete transparency. Specific terms will be available after initial acceptance of the author's story.
Submission Guidelines:
== Authors must read and be in agreement with the above before submitting.
== There is no fee to submit.
== Submissions must be original, never before published works.
== Submissions may be set in a larger universe, but should be a complete story; do not send excerpts, parts, or volumes.
== Word Count is 2k-7k words (exceptions for up to one story per anthology can be made).
== Submissions should be written to the best of the author's ability. Professional editing is not required but may help in the consideration of your piece. Camton House Publishing will provide professional editing and proofreading, approved by the author, and a final, edited version will be submitted to the author upon publication.
== Adult language and sexual situations are permitted, but no hate speech, erotica or "X-rated" material.
== Formatting: 12pt Times New Roman font with 1.5-line spacing; 1-inch margins on all sides; no extra spaces between paragraphs; leading indentations, but no tabs.
== Include "Future Visions Short Story Submission" in the header and the following information in the body of the email:
o Author Name
o Story Title
o Word Count
o Brief Bio, written in the third person. 100-300 words.
== Submissions should be submitted in docx format as an attachment.
== Submissions should be emailed to futurevisionssubmissions@gmail.com
Submissions that do not follow the above guidelines will not be considered.
Deadlines:
Submissions are always open. Authors who have submitted will be notified within 4-6 weeks of submission regarding whether their story has been selected.
[Okay, this is different. I'll be treating this one like an "Until Filled" market, in that I'll be checking every month to make sure they're still alive. Unlike a UF, I'll keep posting this so long as it's still alive. (Unless it turns morbid or skeevy, the usual.) Note that this is a royalty split with a guaranteed minimum, which works out to pro rates up to 2500 words, and semi-pro after that. Best practice IMO is to assume that the minimum is all you'll ever get from this market; that way, so long as you do get paid, all your surprises will happy ones.
Interesting business model; it's basically a magazine that's being treated like an antho series, more or less. I'll be keeping an eye on this one, and may revisit the listing in the future.]
***
UNTIL FILLED -- Black Superheroes Do It Too! -- Black Books Publishing -- First Listed January 2018
[Note: the domain name for this publisher has expired. If it hasn't been reinstated by next month, I'll pull this listing. In the mean time, use your own judgement about submitting.]
We are currently accepting submissions for our Black Erotica/Superhero Anthology (Working Title: Black Superheroes Do It Too!). Submissions should be full stories, not just sex scenes and between 3500 and 10,000 words. Writers, feel free to query to ensure your story idea hasn't already been submitted.
This anthology pays $100US. The submission period will remain open until our goal of a 225+ page anthology has been reached.
Thoroughly edited material has the best chance of acceptance. You don't need to pay someone to edit your material, but if you're serious about your writing, we do recommend it. At a minimum, we suggest you have others read over your work for typos and grammatical errors.
All manuscripts should be in Microsoft Word and should be double spaced with an extra space between each paragraph. THIS EXTRA SPACE SHOULD BE DONE IN MICROSOFT WORD, THROUGH YOUR PARAGRAPH SETTINGS, NOT BY YOU ACTUALLY HITTING "ENTER" TWICE. There should be no indention at the start of each paragraph.
Send to: submissions@blackbookspublishing.com with "Superhero Erotica" in the subject heading.
***
If you've found this listing useful, and especially if you've sold a story to a market you found here (score!) I'd love to hear about it. You can e-mail me at angiepen at gmail dot com.
If you'd like to support these listings in a more concrete way, here are a couple of ways to do it:
Become a Patron!
Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, with "Always Open" and "Until Filled" markets (if any) at the bottom.
Markets open only to writers in a limited demographic are marked with a [NOTE:] from me, in italics, right after the main header.
There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.
***
1 November 2018 -- Unlocking the Magic -- ed. Vivian Caethe
Word limit: 3000-6000 words.
Pay rate: $300/story + royalties
Genre: Fantasy only (no Science Fiction or Horror, although horror elements may be present in the story). Urban Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Steampunk, and other genres of fantasy are all encouraged.
Language: English (translations are welcome).
Submissions close: November 1, 2018
Rights: We claim first world English rights (no reprints). For an excellent break down of what this means, please see Neil Clarke’s post here.
In fantasy, we read about how people with mental illness are more susceptible to magic, closer to breaks in reality, more likely to be able to see the unseen. These stereotypes are harmful and contribute to keeping people from seeing the good in getting help, taking their meds, or talking to someone.
This anthology is about changing the narrative and telling stories of strength and perseverance, of getting help despite the darkness. Not the myth that getting help will kill creativity and magic. Not the story our society tells about mentally ill people: that art and magic must come from suffering.
I want stories that show what can be accomplished when we take care of ourselves and seek help. I want stories that show the reality of being mentally ill within a fantasy setting. I want to see how mental illness and its treatment affects the magic that lies within all of us. I want to read realistic portrayals of mental illness in magical worlds.
Send your stories formatted in Standard Manuscript format attached as a .doc to cuppateaanthologies at gmail dot com. Include your name, byline, email address, mailing address, and approximate word count. In your cover letter, also include the mental illness diagnosis your story addresses (e.g. depression, PTSD, bipolar, etc).
When writing your story, consider that you’re writing about real experiences that real people have, not just something fictional characters have to deal with. Do your research and write with compassion. I am looking for noblebright, not grimdark.
Submissions from diverse individuals and those with mental illnesses are encouraged.
***
30 November 2018 -- Monstrous Outlines -- Martian Migraine Press
[NOTE: The guidelines page lists the due date as 31 November. November has only 30 days, so I adjusted the date. If you want to take a chance and sub on 1 December, which is sort of the equivalent of 31 November, that's up to you. :) ]
Monstrous Outlines will be an anthology of horror and weird fiction with a focus on the theme of camouflage: people, entities, monsters, gods, even concepts, that masquerade as things other than themselves. Predators in plain sight, deities on their down time, sublime extra-dimensional terrors slumming in 4D. We want to see stories of exceptionally well done camouflage, all the more baffling and frightening for its seamless nature. We want to see stories of seeming where the hidden thing is poorly hidden for a number of reasons: perhaps there are layers to its camouflage, or perhaps it doesn’t care how well it hides. Imagine the moment when the perfectly hidden thing reveals itself. When the poorly hidden thing reveals itself. We’re also interested in duplicates, doppelgangers, and shapeshifters. Think John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? and its cinematic offspring, The Thing, for the latter. The seed story for this anthology will be Algernon Blackwood’s classic tale, The Willows, a story of two worlds touching, of men meeting the unnameable through the medium of the nearest natural analogue, the titular willow trees.
Submission period closes 30 NOVEMBER 2018. The anthology will be released in trade paperback and electronic book formats in early March 2019.
SUBMITTING
Please use Standard Manuscript format when submitting. That's double spaced, left justified, Times New Roman or Courier or something at least readable, a header on the first page (at least) with your author info and word count and… well, you know the drill. RTF or DOC files preferred, but DOCx and text files also accepted. Obviously, you could send us something that's not in Standard Manuscript format, but it will lower your chances of it being looked at seriously.
We will look at both original work and REPRINTS.
To submit a story to Monstrous Outlines, send an e-mail (with the story file attached, not in the body of the email) to: submissions@martianmigrainepress.com, with subject line: OUTLINES, title of your story, and your name.
LENGTH
For short fiction, we’d like to see anything from 1,500 to 7,000 words. If your story goes over 7k, please inquire first.
FLASH FICTION: got something under 1500 words? Send it in. However, the following still applies…
NO POETRY.
PAYMENT
All accepted submissions will be paid .03CAD per word, via Paypal, as well as a contributor copy (paperback) of the anthology, and copies in all electronic formats (mobi, EPUB, and PDF). Authors are also entitled to complete access to all titles in the MMP ebook catalogue.
REPLIES AND QUERIES
We will try to acknowledge receipt of your submission within a week of its arrival in our inbox. The submission period itself will close on 30 NOVEMBER 2018 and we should be responding to all submissions, yay or nay, by early January 2019. If you haven’t heard from us by 15 January 2019, please query.
***
1 December 2018 -- Rosalind's Siblings -- ed. Bogi Takács; Galli Books
[NOTE: DO NOT SUBMIT BEFORE 1 NOVEMBER.]
Rosalind's Siblings is an anthology of speculative stories about people of marginalized genders/sexes who are scientists: scientists doing good, changing the world, or just getting on with their work of expanding human knowledge in a speculative context, presented in a positive light. This anthology is named for Rosalind Franklin, the so-called Dark Lady of DNA, one of the most famously erased female scientists in history, and a direct relation of the founder of Galli Books. The anthology is being edited by Bogi Takács.
The stories do not need to problematize gender/sex, though this is also welcome, and we would like to publish a mix of approaches. We are generally interested in positive portrayals of science and the protagonists doing research, but this can include a critical reappraisal. (E.g., we would very much like to see stories in which science is decolonized and/or Indigenized, or in some other ways incorporates approaches beyond Western neo-positivism.) We are not interested in "mad scientist" tropes or "evil science." We are also not interested in disability cure narratives and related tropes, unless they are actively subverted / deconstructed.
Stories must contain a speculative element. We are happy to read works from any speculative subgenre: science fiction, fantasy, horror, alternate history, magical realism, fabulism, mythic work, Weird fiction and so on. Any amount of science detail is welcome with thoughtful engagement.
Protagonists can be trans and/or nonbinary people, women, intersex people, genderqueer or gender-nonconforming people, people of culturally specific genders/sexes, and any combinations thereof. They do not need to identify as women, feminine or femme specifically, but those stories are particularly welcome; as are stories with trans, nonbinary and/or intersex men or masculine protagonists. Protagonists can have any sexual orientation.
You do not need to belong to any marginalized group to submit, but we are very happy to consider submissions from people who belong to underrepresented / marginalized groups in speculative fiction, including Black, Indigenous people and/or people of color, non-Western and/or non-Anglophonic people, migrants, QUILTBAG+ people, disabled, chronically ill and/or neuroatypical people. We welcome people from all letters of the QUILTBAG+, including trans, intersex, asexual, aromantic and bisexual people, who are more commonly ignored. Please don’t self-reject!
You do not need to disclose your marginalizations in your cover letter, but you are welcome to do so. Please send submissions to galli-books@galli-books.co.uk with "ROSALIND" in the subject line and the story title. Format submissions reasonably close to Standard Manuscript Format, and send them in .doc, .odt, .rtf formats, or .pdf if the story has unusual formatting that needs to be preserved. Please do NOT send .docx files.
Submissions open on 1st November and close on 1st December. Please do not submit outside that window.
We pay £0.08/word upon signed contract and are interested in previously unpublished short stories between 500 and 7500 words, and nonfiction essays on our theme.
***
15 December 2018 -- Young Explorer's Adventure Guide, Vol. 6 -- ed. Corie and Sean Weaver; Dreaming Robot Press
We’re looking for stories that:
== Have a main character that a middle grade reader (ages 8-12) can identify with;
== Show a diverse set of real characters;
== Are well written, fun to read, and encourage a love of reading science fiction;
== Tell of adventure, space, science. Give us rockets, robots and alien encounters, and we’re pretty happy; Steampunk, time travel, weird west and alternate history are all fine;
== Are between 3,000 and 6,000 words.
To be super clear – we’re looking science fiction, in all its variants. While we love fantasy as well, please don’t submit fantasy stories for this anthology.
We’re especially looking for stories:
== Of adventure! We love a good dystopia as much as the next robot, but remember – this is the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide;
== Where the main character is of a population that has traditionally been under-represented in science fiction, e.g. girls, people of color, differently abled people;
== Where the main character has agency, exercises it, and isn’t just along for the ride.
We are strong supporters of both the #weneeddiversebooks and #ownvoices movements.
We’re not interested in:
== Stories where the female characters primarily exist to be rescued or as a prize for the males;
== Stories where the primary plot or subplot is romantic in nature;
== Stories with graphic violence or any form of sexual activity;
== Stories with any violence towards animals;
== Stories about the first girl to do X, surprising everyone;
== Stories that depict any ethnicity or gender as universally bad or stupid.
Please note: although we’re aware kids have a wide and varied vocabulary, we’d prefer not to have swearing in the stories. If your story has swearing, please rephrase before submitting.
Submission deadline, mechanics and planned schedule:
== Anthology will be open for submissions from July 15, 2018 – December 15, 2018, with a reading period of January and February 2019.
== We read blind. Please do not put identifying information on your manuscript. We’ll track it by the form information.
== While we prefer original stories, if you have something perfect that had a limited run elsewhere, query us and we’ll talk;
== Acceptance notices will be sent by March 30, 2019;
== In the summer we will launch a crowd-funding campaign to help with pre-publication costs. Regardless of results of crowd-funding campaign, we are committed to publishing the anthology. We’ve successfully funded the previous three anthologies this way, chances are favorable.
Rights and Payments:
== Authors will be provided with a complete Anthology Contract for review and consideration with the notice of accepted submissions.
== In keeping with SWFA’s guidelines, we pay $0.06/word on final edited word count for one-year exclusive worldwide English rights and nonexclusive right to republish, print, or reprint the complete anthology in any language or format after the first year, print and electronic, and two contributor copies. Payment upon final edit.
== If the crowd-funding fails, please note that we are still committed to this anthology, and will find other ways to fund the project. However, there may be delays. If authors feel the need to withdraw their submission due to delays, we understand.
== We will provide professional editing, primarily for issues of grammar and spelling.
== If authors have other questions about rights or payments, please contact us before submission. We want to make sure all concerns are addressed.
More questions? Check the full description page for last year's anthology here. Still have more questions? Contact us!
***
24 December 2018 -- Machinations and Mesmerism: A Tribute to E.T.A. Hoffman -- ed. Farah Rose Smith; Ulthar Press
"Machinations and Mesmerism" is an anthology of fantastic, strange fiction written in the vein of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, the oft'-unsung artistic polymath and writer of Dark Romanticism, Gothic Horror, and Fantastic literature.
E. T. A. Hoffmann was a Prussian lawyer, artist, composer, and writer. His stories are ripe with strange atmospheres and peculiar characters (including automata, madmen, and spectres), which would go on to influence the Gothic and macabre writers of the following generations including Poe, Gogol, Kafka, and Baudelaire. Though his writing lingered primarily within the parameters of German Romanticism, Hoffmann's literature would also impact the fantasy and science fiction genres as well, as many of his works illuminate the struggle between science and magic. This carefully curated anthology honors the literary dance between mesmerism, mechanics, and magic through which Hoffmann explored issues of Romantic idealism and the self.
ULTHAR PRESS is looking for strange, gothic, and fantastic fiction in the manner of E.T.A. Hoffmann between 2,000 – 5,000 words in length. Stories that merely graft his characters into a new story will not be accepted.
Fiction submissions: Email submissions to farahrose9@gmail.com with the subject line as follows: HOFFMANN ANTHOLOGY: [YOUR TITLE]. Please send in .doc, .docx, or .pdf file types, only.
We are not accepting reprints, multiple submissions, or simultaneous submissions.
We respond within 60 days or sooner, and ask that queries regarding submissions not be sent out until after this period has passed.
Payment: 2 cents USD per word and a contributor copy.
***
31 December 2018 -- Apotheosis 2 -- ed. Jason Andrew; Simian Publishing
[DO NOT SUBMIT UNTIL 1 DECEMBER]
Apotheosis 2 – More stories of human survival and defiance in a world subjugated by the return of the Elder Gods. Humanity struggled to grow and evolve as a species for thousands of years forever caught in the shadow of a dread threat known only to a devoted few. When the stars are right, the Old Ones will return to claim utter dominion of the world. Lovecraft Mythos stories often climax at the moment of the fateful return of the Elder Gods and the audience is left to ponder what might happen next. This anthology features stories about humanity under the reign of the Elder Gods and ancient terrors.
What do we mean by Lovecraft Mythos stories in relation to Apotheosis? We’re looking for stories inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft and associated writers such as August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, Henry Kuttner, and Frank Belknap Long. We’re also interested in writers that inspired Lovecraft such as Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood and Lord Dunsany. We're interested in classic mythos gods and monsters and originals that have inspired by the mythos.
Good Fiction Examples:
== Apotheosis: Stories of Human Survival After The Rise of The Elder Gods
== "Boojum" by Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette
== "A Colder War" by Charlie Stross
== In the Hall of the Yellow King by Peter Rawlik
What type of stories are we looking for? We're looking for character-driven stories set during a time in the future where the ancient terrors that once ruled the Earth have claimed complete and utter dominion of the Earth. We’re less concerned about the strict interpretation of the Elder Gods than good stories that deal with real human concerns. How do people survive? How does life change? Will people accept their new gods or will they rebel? What will it mean to be human in such a world of gods and monsters? Surprise us. Don’t give us stories that we’ve read before. We want worlds that feel real populated by characters from different cultures, genders, and ethnicities. Avoid cultural appropriation. Do your homework. We recommend that you read our last anthology to see the types of stories we enjoy.
What types of submissions should I avoid? We’re not as interested in the moment the ancient horrors return and conquer the world, but how humanity survives after the war is lost. Flashbacks are OK, but the story should not be about that time. We enjoy historical mythos fiction, but this is not the anthology for it. Stories must be set in the future. We are not looking for poetry for this anthology.
Submission Details:
== Word-count: 2,000 to 7,000
== Worldwide print and e-book rights (exclusive for 6 months, non-exclusive for an additional 30 months).Exceptions will be made for stories accepted for “Best Of” anthologies.
== Apotheosis will be available in both Print on Demand and e-book formats.
== Submissions open December 1, 2018, and will close at 11:59 PST on December 31, 2018. You may submit at: apotheosis.anthology@gmail.com via an attachment. (Do not submit before December 1st 2018 or your submission will be deleted)
== Queries and questions may be sent to : apotheosis.anthology@gmail.com. (You may send queries and questions anytime.) All responses will be accepted or rejected by August 15th, 2018. Please do not query about submitted stories before then. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. Our word count limits are hard for open submissions. Reprints may be submitted, but we’re only accepting three or four at the most. (It should be clearly stated that the submission is a reprint in your cover later or this will be an automatic rejection later.)
== Please use standard format guidelines. If it is difficult to read, we will reject your story. Your story must include your name, address, telephone number, email address, and approximate word count on the first page. Your cover letter should include your complete contact information, story title, approximate word count, and a short bio.
== We're only accepting a limited number of reprints. If you are submitting a reprint, please tag the subject with #Reprint. If we find out later your submission is a reprint and it wasn’t tagged, it will be dropped from the anthology.
== Payment: 3 cents per word (or 1 cent per word for reprints), paid within 90 days after publication. Plus contributor copy of print and e-book.
***
31 December 2018 -- Pink Triangle Rhapsody: Volume 1 Mixed Genre -- Lycan Valley Press
NOTE: Submissions open to gay male writers only.
Pink Triangle Rhapsody is our newest anthology series in celebration of and dedicated entirely to gay men and their cultural history.
Although we realize this may create some controversy, this anthology series is open to gay male writers only. While we appreciate that women and straight men are able to accurately portray gay characters, our intent with this series is to highlight and explore the gay male cultural experiences on a more personal level.
The Pink Triangle Rhapsody series is a non-themed anthology series, with the exception of the required genre and inclusion of one or more of Lycan Valley’s required elements. The series is intended to be a collection of stories written with "effusively rapturous or emotional expression."
Volume 1 is a mixed genre volume and will feature 5 stories in each of 5 genres for a total of 25 stories — Horror, Sci Fi, Dark Fantasy, Thriller, Pulp Mystery. See definitions here.
Each story must include a supernatural, paranormal or occult element (horror may include psychological horror with or without one of the other elements). See definitions here.
Regardless of genre and element, we're looking for unrestrained and emotional writing, interpreted as you see fit for the story.
Word Count: 2500 to 8000 words. Stories less than 2250 or more than 8250 will be declined unread.
Payment: $0.04 per word based on final published word count.
Submission: Please read our general submission guidelines before submitting, including basic Shunn formatting with blind submission requirements.
Submissions that do not follow proper formatting guidelines or meet the minimum required elements will be declined unread.
No simultaneous submissions. If you submit to us, please wait until you receive a response before submitting elsewhere. Declined story notifications are sent out immediately upon making that decision. If your story is still in-progress, it means it is still under consideration pending the final TOC.
No multiple submissions. Submit only one story per open submission call unless invited to resubmit.
No unsolicited reprints or poetry submissions.
Please do not send email inquires asking us to consider a reprint, adjust the word count, alter the genre or element requirements or make other exceptions to the guidelines.
All status updates are made via submittable. If you have not received a notification that your story has been declined, it is still under consideration. Short-listed stories will be held until the final deadline as we make the final TOC decisions.
***
31 December 2018 -- Portals; Temporally Deactivated; Alternate Peace -- ed. Joshua Palmatier, Patricia Bray, S.C. Butler, David B. Coe, Steven H. Silver; Zombies Need Brains, LLC
Zombies Need Brains LLC is accepting submissions to its three science fiction and fantasy anthologies PORTALS, TEMPORALLY DEACTIVATED, and ALTERNATE PEACE. Stories must be submitted in electronic form as an attachment with the title of the story as the file name in .doc or .docx format. The header of the email should include the name of the anthology the submission is for along with the title of the submission (for example: WERE-: WereJellyfish Gone Wild!). The content of the email should also include which anthology the manuscript is intended for. Please send multiple manuscripts in separate emails; you may submit to any or all of the anthologies as many times as you wish. Manuscripts should be in manuscript format, meaning double-spaced, 12pt font, standard margins on top, bottom and sides, and pages numbered. Please use Times New Roman font. The first page should include the Title of the story, Author’s name, address, and email, and Pseudonym if different from the author’s real name. Italics and bold should be in italics and bold.
Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 7,500 words in length, and must satisfy the theme of the anthology.
PORTALS is to feature science fiction or fantasy stories that contain a portal opening up between two different worlds and the consequences that come from that portal. We are attempting to fill half of the anthology with science fiction stories and half with fantasy stories. Stories featuring more interesting settings and twists on the typical portals will receive more attention than those that use standard tropes. In other words, we don’t want to see 100 stories dealing with a door in the back of the wardrobe leading to a fantasy world of gnomes, dwarves, and elves. If we do, it's likely that only one, at most, would be selected for the anthology. We do NOT want to see time portals, connecting one time to another; however, it can be a portal from our reality to an alternate reality. We are interested in all kinds of portals: doors at the back of wardrobes, stone archways in the middle of the forest, wormholes, cracks in reality, etc. Be creative, choose something different, and use it in an unusual and unexpected way. We are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.
TEMPORALLY DEACTIVATED is to feature stories where the author explores what the phrase "temporally deactivated" could mean with regards to a person, place, or thing. Stories featuring more interesting takes on the twisting of time and how it is integrated into the story will receive more attention than those with more typical twisted time stories. We do NOT want to see stories where "temporal deactivation" means simply death. So be creative and use time in an unusual and unexpected way. We are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.
ALTERNATE PEACE is to feature alternate history stories where the divergence from our timeline comes from some kind of peaceful change to our past. It must explore the consequences of this divergence, not simply introduce the divergence. Stories featuring more interesting historical settings and twists on the consequences of the peaceful divergence from our timeline will receive more attention than those with more standard changes to the course of history. So be creative and come up with an unusual and unexpected break from the timeline. Please note that while the divergence in the timeline must be from some peaceful change, that change CAN lead to violence; in other words, you are allowed to have violence in the story, it just can’t be what’s initiating the alternate history. We are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.
Here are some example stories for ALTERNATE PEACE -- stories where the divergence from the timeline comes from a peaceful change:
Stephen Baxter: The Twelfth Album (Interzone 13, Hartwell's Best Science Fiction of the Year 4)
Michael F. Flynn: Quaetiones Super Caelo et Mundo (Analog, 7/07)
Janet Kagan: Love Our Lockwood (Alternate Presidents)
John Kessel: The Franchise (Pure Product, Fields of Fantasies)
Mary Robinette Kowal: The Lady Astronaut series (Tor Books)
Ian R. MacLeod: Snodgrass (Dozois's Year’s Best Science Fiction 10, Past Magic)
Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Recovering Apollo 8 (Asimov's, 2/7, Recovering Apollo 8)
Howard Waldrop: Heart of Whitenesse (Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction 15, Heart of Whitenesse)
DEADLINE and TIMELINE:
The deadline for submissions is December 31st, 2018. Decisions on stories should be completed by the end of February 2019. Please send submissions to contact@zombiesneedbrains.com. You will receive a receipt email within a few days of receiving the submission and having it filed for consideration. Notices about decisions on the stories will be sent out no later than the end of March 2019.
If your story is selected for use in the anthology, you should expect a revision letter by the end of April 2019. Revisions and the final draft of the story will be expected no later than the end of May 2019. These dates may change due to the editors' work schedules. Zombies Need Brains LLC is seeking exclusive world anthology rights (including electronic rights) in all languages for the duration of one year after publication/release of the anthology, non-exclusive world anthology rights (including electronic rights) in all languages after that. Your story cannot appear elsewhere during that first year. Pay rate will be an advance of a minimum of 6 cents per word. The anthology will be published as an ebook and an exclusive mass market paperback edition, distributed to the Kickstarter backers. The book would be available after that to the general public in ebook and trade paperback formats. Advances would be immediately earned out by the success of the Kickstarter. Royalties on additional sales beyond the Kickstarter will be 25% of ebook cover price and 10% of trade paperback cover price, both split evenly (not by word count) between the authors in and editors of the anthology.
Questions regarding these submission guidelines should be sent to contact@zombiesneedbrains.com. Thank you.
[NOTE: I had a story published in one of the ZNB anthologies a few years back. I found the ZNB people good to work with, they paid promptly, and I've received several royalty checks since then. Highly recommended for anyone who writes short SFF.]
***
31 December 2018 -- Curse the Darkness -- Unlit Press
For our inaugural anthology, Curse the Darkness*, we're throwing our doors wide open and inviting submissions on the theme of darkness. That could be the absence of light, the presence of evil, or the sinister thoughts of the afflicted. However you choose to interpret the theme, just make sure you leave us afraid to turn out the lights.
We're looking for stories with compelling characters, sparkling dialogue, and strong, original voices. Send us stories that step off the well-trod paths into the unlit wilderness of the unusual, the interesting, and the provocative.
Please review our submission guidelines below before submitting your story via the submission form.
*Curse the Darkness is a working title. Unlit Press reserves the right to change the title as necessary.
Submission Guidelines
Word Count: 3,000 to 10,000 words.
Payment: Accepted authors will receive a one-off payment of £75 (approximately $100) or the equivalent in their local currency.
Format: We accept .doc, .docx, .rtf or .odt.
Multiple Submissions: No, send us one great story.
Simultaneous Submissions: Yes, but please let us know as soon as possible if your submission is accepted elsewhere.
Previously Published: No, we want original unpublished stories only.
Formatting: Double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12pt, with a single space after periods.
Rights: Unlit Press will have first world rights for an exclusive period of 12 months from the date of publication. At the end of the exclusive term, rights will revert back to the original author with Unlit Press retaining world distribution rights for the format(s) originally contracted.
Contributor Copies: Contributors will receive one free print copy of the anthology.
***
ALWAYS OPEN -- Future Visions Anthology Series -- ed. Brian J Walton; Camton House Publishing
The Future Visions Anthologies is a science fiction anthology series, aiming to deliver excellent and diverse short story collections on a quarterly basis. In the tradition of great television anthology series such as The Twilight Zone, and Black Mirror, the Future Visions Anthologies will broadly explore all genres and traditions of science fiction and speculative fiction, seeking in each story to explore deeply themes that are relevant to a modern audience.
Themes:
What do you hope the future will bring? What are you afraid we may become? How do our visions of the future inform and give shape to the hopes and fears that we have today?
These questions are what defines anthology series like The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror. Rather than mandating a theme for each publication, (one publication for cyborgs, one for time travelers, etc...) I want authors to feel free to explore these larger questions using any and all of the popular science fiction tropes: new technology, exploration, nightmarish dystopians, alien species, baffling utopias, the list goes on...
Diversity:
The Future Visions Anthologies seeks to bring diversity to all aspects of their publications, from the stories and authors we publish, to the themes and genres we explore. All authors may apply regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or political affiliation.
Terms:
The Future Visions Anthologies seeks to engage authors with fair and equitable terms through participation in the anthologies. The anthologies will be enrolled in Kindle Unlimited for an initial six-month term, during which stories will be exclusive to the anthology. After this, anthologies will continue be available as an ebook (not in KU) for an additional six-month term. During this term, partial publication rights will return to the author to publish as an ebook, except for in KU. After one year, the ebook will be unpublished, returning all rights to the author.
Payment will be based on a profit-share model with a guaranteed minimum payment of $150. Authors will receive royalties during the first six months of membership. At the end of the royalty period, if the author's royalties do not meet the minimum payment of $150 then the remaining amount will be paid. There is no cap to the amount of royalties that may be earned. Earning reports for the anthology will be provided to all participating authors to ensure complete transparency. Specific terms will be available after initial acceptance of the author's story.
Submission Guidelines:
== Authors must read and be in agreement with the above before submitting.
== There is no fee to submit.
== Submissions must be original, never before published works.
== Submissions may be set in a larger universe, but should be a complete story; do not send excerpts, parts, or volumes.
== Word Count is 2k-7k words (exceptions for up to one story per anthology can be made).
== Submissions should be written to the best of the author's ability. Professional editing is not required but may help in the consideration of your piece. Camton House Publishing will provide professional editing and proofreading, approved by the author, and a final, edited version will be submitted to the author upon publication.
== Adult language and sexual situations are permitted, but no hate speech, erotica or "X-rated" material.
== Formatting: 12pt Times New Roman font with 1.5-line spacing; 1-inch margins on all sides; no extra spaces between paragraphs; leading indentations, but no tabs.
== Include "Future Visions Short Story Submission" in the header and the following information in the body of the email:
o Author Name
o Story Title
o Word Count
o Brief Bio, written in the third person. 100-300 words.
== Submissions should be submitted in docx format as an attachment.
== Submissions should be emailed to futurevisionssubmissions@gmail.com
Submissions that do not follow the above guidelines will not be considered.
Deadlines:
Submissions are always open. Authors who have submitted will be notified within 4-6 weeks of submission regarding whether their story has been selected.
[Okay, this is different. I'll be treating this one like an "Until Filled" market, in that I'll be checking every month to make sure they're still alive. Unlike a UF, I'll keep posting this so long as it's still alive. (Unless it turns morbid or skeevy, the usual.) Note that this is a royalty split with a guaranteed minimum, which works out to pro rates up to 2500 words, and semi-pro after that. Best practice IMO is to assume that the minimum is all you'll ever get from this market; that way, so long as you do get paid, all your surprises will happy ones.
Interesting business model; it's basically a magazine that's being treated like an antho series, more or less. I'll be keeping an eye on this one, and may revisit the listing in the future.]
***
UNTIL FILLED -- Black Superheroes Do It Too! -- Black Books Publishing -- First Listed January 2018
[Note: the domain name for this publisher has expired. If it hasn't been reinstated by next month, I'll pull this listing. In the mean time, use your own judgement about submitting.]
We are currently accepting submissions for our Black Erotica/Superhero Anthology (Working Title: Black Superheroes Do It Too!). Submissions should be full stories, not just sex scenes and between 3500 and 10,000 words. Writers, feel free to query to ensure your story idea hasn't already been submitted.
This anthology pays $100US. The submission period will remain open until our goal of a 225+ page anthology has been reached.
Thoroughly edited material has the best chance of acceptance. You don't need to pay someone to edit your material, but if you're serious about your writing, we do recommend it. At a minimum, we suggest you have others read over your work for typos and grammatical errors.
All manuscripts should be in Microsoft Word and should be double spaced with an extra space between each paragraph. THIS EXTRA SPACE SHOULD BE DONE IN MICROSOFT WORD, THROUGH YOUR PARAGRAPH SETTINGS, NOT BY YOU ACTUALLY HITTING "ENTER" TWICE. There should be no indention at the start of each paragraph.
Send to: submissions@blackbookspublishing.com with "Superhero Erotica" in the subject heading.
***
If you've found this listing useful, and especially if you've sold a story to a market you found here (score!) I'd love to hear about it. You can e-mail me at angiepen at gmail dot com.
If you'd like to support these listings in a more concrete way, here are a couple of ways to do it:
Become a Patron!
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Dragged Kicking and Screaming into Social Media
So, I've finally succumbed to the Dread Lord Zuckerberg, and joined Facebook. :P An anthology project I'm in is organizing on Facebook. I'm not going to be precious about it, so I signed up. If you want to friend me, I'm here.
I have no idea how much time I'll spend on Facebook. I don't need another timesink, but I'll probably browse through periodically. We'll see how it goes.
There's a whole lot of stuff here, and I'm sure my page or wall or whatever it is looks pretty bare. I refrained from dumping my entire contact list from Gmail into the system. If I've ever e-mailed you, you're welcome. :) I still need to go digging through the privacy settings and figure out how to turn off as much of that stuff as I can. I've heard it's a pretty horrific experience, requiring a machete and several maps, so I'm not looking forward to it. :/
With any luck, it'll be fun too, though. I might even run into some folks I've lost track of over the yars; that'd be cool.
Angie, looking over her shoulder
I have no idea how much time I'll spend on Facebook. I don't need another timesink, but I'll probably browse through periodically. We'll see how it goes.
There's a whole lot of stuff here, and I'm sure my page or wall or whatever it is looks pretty bare. I refrained from dumping my entire contact list from Gmail into the system. If I've ever e-mailed you, you're welcome. :) I still need to go digging through the privacy settings and figure out how to turn off as much of that stuff as I can. I've heard it's a pretty horrific experience, requiring a machete and several maps, so I'm not looking forward to it. :/
With any luck, it'll be fun too, though. I might even run into some folks I've lost track of over the yars; that'd be cool.
Angie, looking over her shoulder
Monday, October 1, 2018
Habitica Update
So, it's been almost a month since I joined Habitica, the site that helps you build good habits, break bad ones, and get your to-do list done. Check out my first post about Habitica for a description. I figured the first day of a new month was a good time to report on how it's going.
It's going great! I wrote at least a few hundred words every day in September from the fifth on, and I wrote 34,280 in total -- a little over 30K on the novel I'm working on, plus a short story I wrote in the middle of the month. That's almost half my total for the year! Which is both depressing and exciting at the same time. [wry smile]
I've also been drinking more water, eating veggies more often, doing more Italian lessons, and replying to people's e-mails faster.
I'll admit I haven't been working on my to-dos as fast/much as I wanted, but the way I have it set up, just doing my dailies takes a while, and I've been doing well with most of my habits. To-dos are one-time projects, and I have clicked off on a bunch of them. I'm finding more free time as I go -- I only played one session on a computer game since starting Habitica, and that only for a little over an hour -- so I'll get to the rest of them eventually.
The important thing is that the shiny hasn't worn off yet. :) I'm still just as enthused as before, and it feels good to get so many things done, which makes me feel better about doing more, and around we go in a spiral of productivity.
Seriously, if you're any kind of a gamer geek, such that earning gold and experience, and levelling up your character is a strong motivator for you, give this a shot. :)
If you'd rather focus on writing (which you can totally do on Habitica, if you want; it's fully customizable) I've heard of another site called 4TheWords that's a game just for writers. I checked it out and it gives you points and such for the actual numbers of words you write. It seems to focus a lot on producing X number of words within Y time, though, sort of like a NaNoWriMo WordWar? I'm not into that -- IMO pushing to write faster than your brain wants to naturally produce story is how the whole "banging out crap" thing happens, and that doesn't work for me -- but if you are, give 4TheWords a look.
Heading off to write (and kill some goblins),
Angie
It's going great! I wrote at least a few hundred words every day in September from the fifth on, and I wrote 34,280 in total -- a little over 30K on the novel I'm working on, plus a short story I wrote in the middle of the month. That's almost half my total for the year! Which is both depressing and exciting at the same time. [wry smile]
I've also been drinking more water, eating veggies more often, doing more Italian lessons, and replying to people's e-mails faster.
I'll admit I haven't been working on my to-dos as fast/much as I wanted, but the way I have it set up, just doing my dailies takes a while, and I've been doing well with most of my habits. To-dos are one-time projects, and I have clicked off on a bunch of them. I'm finding more free time as I go -- I only played one session on a computer game since starting Habitica, and that only for a little over an hour -- so I'll get to the rest of them eventually.
The important thing is that the shiny hasn't worn off yet. :) I'm still just as enthused as before, and it feels good to get so many things done, which makes me feel better about doing more, and around we go in a spiral of productivity.
Seriously, if you're any kind of a gamer geek, such that earning gold and experience, and levelling up your character is a strong motivator for you, give this a shot. :)
If you'd rather focus on writing (which you can totally do on Habitica, if you want; it's fully customizable) I've heard of another site called 4TheWords that's a game just for writers. I checked it out and it gives you points and such for the actual numbers of words you write. It seems to focus a lot on producing X number of words within Y time, though, sort of like a NaNoWriMo WordWar? I'm not into that -- IMO pushing to write faster than your brain wants to naturally produce story is how the whole "banging out crap" thing happens, and that doesn't work for me -- but if you are, give 4TheWords a look.
Heading off to write (and kill some goblins),
Angie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)