Category Archives: Call For Submissions

Call For Submissions, Swashbuckling Cats

Swashbuckling Cats Open to Submissions

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Swashbuckling Cats: Nine Lives on the Seven Seas

If you think cats and water don’t mix, think again.

I’m putting together an anthology full of feisty felines on the high seas! I want pirate cats, and Viking cats. Submariner cats and explorer cats. This book is going to be filled with adventure-loving cats, puns and fun. I want it to be a wild, rollicking ride complete with sword fights, sea monsters, treasure hunting, discovering new worlds and lots and lots of kittehs.

Be careful not to get too caught up in the fun and forget to include a strong plot and detailed characters for your story, though.

I’m a sucker for a great setting, three-dimensional characters and high stakes. And if your story elicits real emotion from me–laughter, tears, anger or anything in between–you will have increased your chances of success significantly.

Rights and compensation: Payment: $50 CAD flat fee and a paperback copy of the anthology. In exchange we are seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology.

Open submission period: June 1, 2019 – July 31, 2019

Length: Under 9,000 words

Publisher: Tyche Books

No simultaneous or multiple submissions.

No reprints.

Canadian spelling, please.

Submission form –> https://niteblade.submittable.com/submit/141693/swashbuckling-cats-nine-lives-on-the-seven-seas

Edited to add an FAQ:

Q: What if I’m not good at Canadian spelling?

A: Do your best. I won’t be judging your story based on how well you nailed Canadian spelling and if it’s accepted myself or the copyeditor will catch and correct any words you missed. But try.

Q: Does Canadian spelling mean you are only open to submissions from Canadian authors?

A: Not at all. I am open to submissions from anyone, anywhere.

Call For Submissions, Earth: Giants

Earth Open to Submissions

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It’s today! Today is the day that Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles opens to submissions! This will be the second volume in my elemental anthologies series and I’m really looking to build on the awesome that was Fire: Demons, Dragons and Djinns.

Call for Submissions: Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles

Keep your feet on the ground. Sink in roots. Stay grounded. Mother Earth. We come from dust, and to dust we return…

Earth is steady. Solid. Reliable. It is the source of life and the thing which sustains it. But it’s not always serene and peaceful. It takes a lot to stir the earth but when it does, things get dramatic. Quakes swallow cities. Oceans rise. Mountains crumble. Earth is not weak, and it knows no pity.

In this, the second installment of the Elemental Anthology series, I want to explore the many facets of this often under-estimated element and the creatures associated with it so Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles will be filled with stories about every kind of earthy creature you can imagine, not only those listed in the subtitle. I’m looking for trolls, dwarves, earth dragons, goblins, ogres, orcs, grotesques and earthen beasts no one has ever heard of before. And of course this anthology will not be complete without at least one giant, golem and gargoyle!

Rights and compensation: Payment: $50 CAD flat fee and a paperback copy of the anthology. In exchange we are seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology.

Open submission period: January 1, 2019 – February 28, 2019

Length: Under 7,500 words

Submit here: https://niteblade.submittable.com/submit/131075/earth-giants-golems-and-gargoyles

No simultaneous or multiple submissions.

No reprints.

Canadian spelling, please.

Call For Submissions, Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles

Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles

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Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles

Keep your feet on the ground. Sink in roots. Stay grounded. Mother Earth. We come from dust, and to dust we return…

Earth is steady. Solid. Reliable. It is the source of life and the thing which sustains it. But it’s not always serene and peaceful. It takes a lot to stir the earth but when it does, things get dramatic. Quakes swallow cities. Oceans rise. Mountains crumble. Earth is not weak, and it knows no pity.

In this, the second installment of the Elemental Anthology series, I want to explore the many facets of this often under-estimated element and the creatures associated with it so Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles will be filled with stories about every kind of earthy creature you can imagine, not only those listed in the subtitle. I’m looking for trolls, dwarves, earth dragons, goblins, ogres, orcs, grotesques and earthen beasts no one has ever heard of before. And of course this anthology will not be complete without at least one giant, golem and gargoyle!

Rights and compensation: Payment: $50 CAD flat fee and a paperback copy of the anthology. In exchange we are seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology.

Open submission period: January 1, 2019 – February 28, 2019

Length: Under 7,500 words

Publisher: Tyche Books

No simultaneous or multiple submissions.

No reprints.

International submissions are welcomed but use Canadian spelling, please.

Call For Submissions

Prairie Starport

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Not the actual cover. Just a pretty blog graphic :-pA couple months ago Greg Bechtel and I were supposed to be working on stuff for Tesseracts Twenty-one but we’d become distracted and were instead talking about Candas Jane Dorsey and the advice we’d received from her over the years. For both of us, she’d told us precisely what we needed to hear exactly when we needed to hear it. Possibly, in my case, more than once.

During my conversation with Greg I was struck by the fact that for years and years–decades, really–Candas has offered advice, encouragement, education and been a mentor to writers, editors and friends. She has worked tirelessly both inside publishing and outside of it, doing what she can to fight the good fight and stand up for what she believes in. She’s given so much to so many and I wanted to give something back.

After talking with her partner, Timothy Anderson, we decided the thing to do would be to create an anthology of stories (and poems) that celebrate Candas–her life and her work.

We tried to keep this anthology a secret from Candas while still soliciting contributions from people in her circle. Do you know how difficult it is to keep a secret from Candas? It’s freaking tricky! There were [Top Sekkrit] emails, whispers and plenty of abbreviated conversations at conventions, lemme tell you! In the end I gave up — and so today, on Candas’ birthday, I’ve decided to lift the veil of secrecy and share this with the world. And with Candas.

Happy birthday, Candas!

 

We’re calling this anthology Prairie Starport: Stories in Celebration of Candas Jane Dorsey and I would like to invite you to contribute to it.

And here’s the thing — I’m not asking you to ‘submit’ I’m asking you to ‘contribute’. I’m not accepting or rejecting works for this anthology, I am collecting them. Similarly, I’m not going to be editing the works sent to me — I’m much more of a compiler than an anthologist for this project, because everyone who wants a chance to contribute and honour Candas should be able to, no matter where they are along their publishing journey.

 

What to send me:

  • A story or poem of any length up to 7,500 words long formatted in something resembling standard manuscript format
  • A short description of how the story/poem relates to, was influenced by, or is otherwise connected to Candas, her writing or her mentorship.
  • A short bio (written in the third person) of no more than 100 words long.

Contributions should be emailed to me at rhonda.l.parrish@gmail.com before Valentine’s Day 2018. That is, before February 14, 2018. Please use the words ‘Prairie Starport’ in your subject line to maximize the chances of it getting filed in the correct place.

Reprints are welcome and encouraged.

Payment to contributors is a token payment of $1, an electronic copy of the completed anthology and the option to buy physical copies at a 50% discount.

All the profits from this project will be donated to a cause Candas cares about. Nothing has been finalized yet but, the money will be going somewhere other than my pocket and all contributors will be kept in the loop as that aspect of the project develops.

Any questions or concerns should be addressed to me at the above gmail address.

Note: If we receive too many submissions to fit into a single paperback one of two things will happen. Either all the stories will be included in the electronic version of the book and a select number in the paperback or, if there are enough to fill two physical books, all the stories will be included in the electronic version of the book and we’ll have ‘Volume 1’ and ‘Volume 2’ in paperback. This decision will be solely at my discretion but I will keep all contributors in the loop.

Call For Submissions, Editing, Tesseracts Twenty-one

Tesseracts Twenty-one Opens to Submissions

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EdgeEDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
www.edgewebsite.com

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – (Embargo to February 15, 2017) 

Tesseracts Twenty-one opens to submissions!

The submission period for Tesseracts Twenty-one officially opens, February 15, 2017. Submissions will be accepted until Midnight April 30, 2017.

Edited by Rhonda Parrish and Greg Bechtel, the anthology focuses on optimistic speculative fiction and will be released by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing in the spring of 2018.

The theme of the anthology is ‘optimism’ – which doesn’t necessarily exclude dark or scary settings – but requires some sort of optimistic twist or element. Whether that takes the form of a solar-punk tale set in a sustainable world with a post-scarcity economy, a POV character existing as an advocate of optimism or something else entirely, the editors want to see it.

“We’re not looking for saccharine sweetness, but rather stories which offer a little brightness and hope in one way or another,” says Rhonda Parrish, co-editor.

“While we’re certainly interested in submissions where a Canadian setting (a specific city, region, or province) plays a role, we’re also open to stories set anywhere in the world, the universe, or the multiverse,” says Greg Bechtel, co-editor.

Stories must be previously unpublished, in English, between 500-5000 words.

Submissions are only open to Canadian writers (citizens, residents, expats, etc.). The editors will accept stories previously published in a language other than English, but they must first be translated into English before submission.

Submissions should be e-mailed to: tesseracts21@edgewebsite.com. The e-mail must contain the word “submission” in the subject line. Submissions must be sent as an attachment: in .DOCX, DOC. or .RTF format.

For more information please read the submission guidelines:

http://edgewebsite.com/books/tess21/t21-catalog.html

 

About the Tesseracts Series

The Tesseracts anthology series is Canada’s longest running anthology. It was first edited by the late Judith Merril in 1985, and has published more than 563 original Canadian speculative fiction (Science fiction, fantasy and horror) stories and poems by 335 Canadian authors, editors, translators and special guests.

Some of Canada’s best known writers have been published within the pages of these volumes – including Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, and Spider Robinson.

Tesseracts Twenty-one will be released in Spring, 2018 in paperback and eBook editions.

 

About the editors

Rhonda Parrish is driven by a desire to do All The Things. She was the publisher and editor-in-chief of Niteblade Magazine, is an Assistant Editor at World Weaver Press and is the editor of several anthologies including, most recently, Sirens and C is for Chimera.

In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been published in Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast, Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing (2012 & 2015) and Mythic Delirium.

 

Greg Bechtel’s occasionally prize-winning writing has appeared in several magazines and anthologies, including Avenue Edmonton, The Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire, the Tesseracts anthologies, and Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. His first story collection, Boundary Problems, won the Alberta Book of the Year Award for trade fiction and was a finalist for the William L. Crawford Fantasy Award, the ReLit Award, and the City of Edmonton Robert Kroetsch Book Prize. Currently, Greg is serving as 2016-2017 Writer in Residence for the Canadian Authors’ Association (Alberta branch), and he also teaches writing and literature at the University of Alberta, where he completed his PhD on Canadian syncretic fantasy.

-30-

For further information please contact:
EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
www.edgewebsite.com
events@hadespublications.com
403.254.0160

Call For Submissions, Corvidae, Equus, Fae, Scarecrow, Sirens

Magical Menageries Colouring Book

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Unicorn in an autumn forestI’m currently open to submissions of speculative stories about all things equine for Equus, the latest title in my Magical Menageries series. If you’re interested in submitting check out the call for submissions here, or find out what happens after you submit here.

But this is not about that 🙂

Not only is Equus the fifth title in my Magical Menageries series, it’s also meant to be the final book in that series. With the series coming to a close I wanted to come up with a way to mark and celebrate it because it is one hell of a collection.

So I’m going to produce a Magical Menageries colouring book!

The idea is that I will give it away as swag at conventions or sell it at the cost of shipping from my website for those who won’t be at the same conventions that I am. The only problem is I am *so* not an artist.

Which means I need to hire some.

I will be asking each participating artist to provide me with one colouring page to represent each book in the Magical Menageries collection, so five in all. Those books are:

  • Fae — fairies, forests, fairies, green men, fairies… you get the idea. Mostly fairies… but not so much of the Tinkerbell variety.
  • Corvidae — Magpies and ravens and jays, oh my!
  • Scarecrow — D’oh! I should have saved the Wizard of Oz reference for this description. Because yes. Scarecrows.
  • Sirens — Sirens from both the sea (mermaid type) and sky (winged type)
  • Equus — Horses, unicorns, Pegasus, centaurs…

If you’re not familiar with the books and find yourself stuck for subject matter I will be happy to provide a sample story to help inspire you.

I’m looking for colouring pages however you define that. It might be something as complex and detailed as this:

Detailed zentangle mermaid for coloring page

something simpler, like this:

Coloring page The magic bird

Or even this:

Outlined illustration of an adorable fairy

I want a mixture of styles and detail levels and will be asking for the nonexclusive use to the images (which means you’ll be free to sell or use them elsewhere too).

I will offer a token payment per image (starting around $5-10) plus contributor copies.

If you are interested in contributing to the colouring book please contact me at rhonda.l.parrish@gmail.com with a sample of your work or a link to your portfolio and a note about your expected rate of payment.

I’d like to have all the artists lined up by January so I’ll be open to receiving emails about this until December 15th, 2016.

Thank you!

Call For Submissions, Equus, Fae, Sirens

Equus

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I am incredibly excited and proud to announce the fifth and final installment to the Magical Menageries anthology series:

Equus

Horses, unicorns, Pegasus…

OMG right?

!!!

I can’t even begin to tell you how difficult it has been to sit on this announcement and not shout it from the rooftops… though I did enjoy answering ‘Nay’ when people asked if I’d give them a hint of what was coming next. Nay/neigh, get it? Ha! I kill me!**

Without further squealing on my part, here are the details:

Equus Submissions Banner

Magical Menageries #5: Equus

 

Horses are represented in mythology and folklore from Paleolithic right up to modern times. What is it about these magnificent creatures that fascinates us and captures our hearts? Is it their intelligence, their power, their beauty or something else that draw us to them? That is just one of the questions we’re going to explore in Equus.

I will be looking for stories about every kind of horse from the earthly to the mythological and though I’ll be placing a special emphasis on horses, unicorns and Pegasus, every kind of magical equine is welcome (and really, aren’t they all magical?). Stories with a strong sense of place will have an advantage, as will those which explore the connection (for better or for worse) between equines and humans.

 

Rights and compensation: Payment: $10 and a paperback copy of the anthology from World Weaver Press. We are looking for previously unpublished works in English. Seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology.

Publisher: World Weaver Press

Anthologist: C’est moi

Open submission period: September 1st – November 30, 2016

Length: Under 7,500 words

Simultaneous submissions = okay. Multiple submissions = no.

Expected Publication Date: Summer 2017
submit

But wait! There’s more! While I have you here allow me to update you on a couple other Magical Menageries details 🙂

First, for a limited time electronic versions of Fae are currently on sale now for only $0.99! That link will take you to Amazon but it is available at all the other usual suspects as well.

Second, don’t forget that you can enter to win an advance copy of Sirens or reserve your copy now.

…and I’m just gonna leave this banner here again because it’s just so damn pretty!

Equus Submissions Banner

*sighs happily*

**If you read this in Alf’s voice, you totally deserve a high five 🙂

Call For Submissions, Corvidae

[Call for Submissions] Corvidae

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Magpie[Call for Submissions] Corvidae

 

Anthologist: Rhonda Parrish
Publisher: World Weaver Press

Corvidae are the family of birds which include such iconic species as crows, ravens, magpies, rooks and nutcrackers. They are known for their high intelligence (they use tools and recognize themselves in mirrors!) and appear in fiction and mythology all through the ages and in a great many different cultures as well.

Corvids are seen as mystical creatures, known to be companions to both Odin and Apollo, believed by the Haida to have created the earth and credited (in the form of Raven the Trickster) for stealing fire and bringing it to earth, but they are also associated with death, disease and madness. According to legend, the Kingdom of England will fall if the ravens leave the Tower of London and so are a kind of good luck charm, but they are also associated with battle and war through their connection with The Morrigan and Badb from Irish mythology. Such paradoxical creatures, it’s easy to be fascinated by them, and a great many of us are.

We are looking for fantasy and well-written horror stories (nothing gratuitously gory or violent) of up to 7,500 words long.

Corvidae will be published alongside a companion anthology, Scarecrow. We intend for the two books to be in conversation with one another and so would like some overlap between the authors included in each title. Thus we encourage writers to submit to both anthologies. Please do not submit the same story to both books (if the anthologist believes a story is more appropriate for one than the other she will let you know).

Rights and compensation: Payment: $10 and a paperback copy of the anthology from World Weaver Press. We are looking for previously unpublished works in English. Seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology.

Open submission period: July 1, 2014 – October 31, 2014

Length: Under 7,500 words

Submission method: Email story as a .doc or .rtf attachment to fae [at] worldweaverpress [dot] com. Subject line: Corvidae Submission: TITLE

Simultaneous submissions = okay. Multiple submissions = no.

About the anthologist: Rhonda Parrish is driven by a desire to do All The Things. She has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of Niteblade Magazine for over five years now (which is like 25 years in internet time) and is the editor of the forthcoming World Weaver Press anthology Fae. 

In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been included or is forthcoming in dozens of publications including Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast and Mythic Delirium.

Her website, updated weekly, is at rhondaparrish.com.

Updates

June 30, 2014 – New blog post about What I’m Looking For

Call For Submissions, Scarecrow

[Call For Submissions] Scarecrow

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Scarecrow[Call For Submissions] Scarecrow

 

Anthologist: Rhonda Parrish
Publisher: World Weaver Press

Scarecrows have been portrayed as everything from empty-headed geniuses to malevolent demons. They’ve appeared in literature and mythology, from as far back as ancient Japan where Kuebiko, the god of agriculture is represented as a wise scarecrow who cannot walk, to more modern representations in Doctor Who. They are supervillains and storybook heroes, hapless and powerful. Wonderfully paradoxical creatures, much like the birds they are (in their most practical forms) meant to scare away. It is no wonder they capture our imaginations the way they do. It’s time the world had an anthology filled with scarecrow stories.

I will be looking for fresh twists on these ancient characters, exotic locations (both real and imagined), three-dimensional characters, and engaging voices.

Scarecrow will be an anthology of well-written fantasy and horror stories (nothing gratuitously gory or violent) of up to 7,500 words long.

Note: I feel somewhat bad using this particular picture alongside this blog because I’m not only looking for dark stories. In fact, though I definitely want some stories on the dark side of the spectrum I will be sad and disappointed if I don’t receive lighter pieces as well.

Scarecrow will be published alongside a companion anthology, Corvidae. We intend for the two books to be in conversation with one another and so would like some overlap between the authors included in each title. Thus we encourage writers to submit to both anthologies. Please do not submit the same story to both books (if the anthologist believes a story is more appropriate for one than the other she will let you know).

Rights and compensation: Payment: $10 and a paperback copy of the anthology from World Weaver Press. We are looking for previously unpublished works in English. Seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology.

Open submission period: July 1, 2014 – October 31, 2014

Length: Under 7,500 words

Submission method: Email story as a .doc or .rtf attachment to fae [at] worldweaverpress [dot] com. Subject line: Scarecrow Submission: TITLE

Simultaneous submissions = okay. Multiple submissions = no.

About the anthologist: Rhonda Parrish is driven by a desire to do All The Things. She has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of Niteblade Magazine for over five years now (which is like 25 years in internet time) and is the editor of the forthcoming World Weaver Press anthology Fae. 

In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been included or is forthcoming in dozens of publications including Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast and Mythic Delirium.

Her website, updated weekly, is at rhondaparrish.com.

Updates

June 30, 2014 – New blog post about What I’m Looking For