Zombie Zoology Anthology: Stories Wanted

Severed Press seeks short stories for its new anthology, Zombie Zoology. Stories must include themes revolving around living-dead animals, beasts, creatures, or anything of the sort. We are looking for variety in both animals and the locations in which the story is set. Stories involving local myths, legends and superstitions will be well regarded as will the use of science. Stories can be set in the past or present.

Payment: Payment will be $0.01 per word based on the final edited version plus one Author copy.

Stories should be between 2000-8000 words and be submitted with a brief synopsis and bio in standard form as an attachment to zombiezoology@gmail.com. Closing date is the 30th January 2010 and replies will go out after this date.

BFS short story competition

The results of the BFS Short Story Competition 2009 were announced at FantasyCon:

Winner:
"Dead Astronauts" by Patrick Whittaker

Runner-up:
"In the Moment" Elana Gomel

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Crimewave: submission guidelines

From their website:

We are always open to submissions of new modern crime and mystery short stories of up to about 10,000 words in length. Follow these simple guidelines:

• Send your manuscript mailed flat or folded no more than once, in standard manuscript format — typed (not handwritten!), double spaced, good margins all round, printed in black ink on one side of white paper, numbered pages, keyword from story title and author's name on each page — with a covering letter and adequate return postage (ie a stamped, self-addressed envelope).
• Please include a covering letter but don't worry too much about it, just introduce yourself and list any relevant credits, things like that. If you've never been published before tell us this too — we've published many debut stories over the years.
• Use a paper clip to hold pages together, not staples or any kind of binder. There is no need to place your manuscript inside a folder. An ordinary paper envelope is sufficient, don't use bulky padded envelopes.

There are more guidelines. To read these go here.

Steampunk Tales: submission guidelines

The following is taken from the Steampunk website:

If you have authored an original story and would like us to consider publishing it in Steampunk Tales, please follow these submission guidelines. We'd love to consider publishing your Steampunk Tale!

Guidelines:Submission content shall follow the following guidelines:

Stories shall be a minimum of 4,500 words in length. The word count for the story should be displayed at the top of the first page.

Submissions must not have been previously published or posted publically in any form. All content published in Steampunk Tales must be first run.

Stories must be submitted by the author(s) who wrote them. Stories submitted by a third party will not be accepted.

Submissions must consist entirely of original content.

Submissions must not contain any profanity, offensive or obscene content. Steampunk Tales is not intended solely for mature audiences. Content shall not exceed what would be generally found in a PG-13 movie.

For further information on manuscript presentation, visit their website.
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Hint, hint...

"Hint fiction" (n) : a story of 25 words or less that suggests a larger, more complex story

Check out this website
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The Turing Test Wins Edge Hill Prize

Chris Beckett's collection, The Turing Test, from Elastic Press, has won the prestigious Edge Hill Short Story Prize, earning Chris a remarkable £5,000 cash prize. The judges said:

"I suspect Chris Beckett winning the Edge Hill Prize will be seen as a surprise in the world of books. In fact, though, it was also a bit of surprise to the judges, none of whom knew they were science fiction fans beforehand. Yet, once the judging process started, it soon became clear that The Turing Test was the book that we'd all been impressed by, and enjoyed, the most - and one by one we admitted it. This was a very strong shortlist, including one Booker Prize winner in Anne Enright, and two authors who've been Booker shortlisted in Ali Smith and Shena Mackay. Even so, it was Beckett who seemed to us to have written the most imaginative and endlessly inventive stories, fizzing with ideas and complete with strong characters and big contemporary themes. We also appreciated the sheer zest of his story-telling and the obvious pleasure he had taken in creating his fiction."

Andrew Hook (publisher of Elastic Press) said: "Naturally, we're very pleased about this."

Copies of the book are still available from Elastic Press. More on the Edge Hill Prize here.

Giving away the trade secrets

Christopher Fowler writes exceptionally good short stories (novels, too). And he's prepared to tell you how to write them! Chris says: "In weekly parts, I’m helping you to write a story. This is a free tutorial with a specific aim; finding a practical way to write something that pleases you and readers."

Full details can be found on Chris' Blog.
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Things Kids Say

I have just received this press release:

Can members of your writing group help us with a book we are producing to raise money for Barnardo's? We are looking for very short stories of about 100 words. They must be on the theme of "Things Kids Say" and should be funny illustrations of amusing things that children have said.

We hope you can help because we need more material for the book and half of the £5.99 cover price goes to Barnardo's.We launched the book with the help of actress and TV celebrity Lynda Bellingham recently, and your members can see more details and an interview with Lynda at http://www.unitedpress.co.uk/itn.php.

We are also looking for people to do simple black ink illustrations of some of the funny stories, so if you can help in any way please let us know.

Many thanks, Peter Quinn, Managing Director, United Press

Write On, and on and on...

The Stoke-on-Trent Library has announced The Write On Anthology. This book will be published later in the year, and will contain a mix of prose and poetry. The submission date is 1st September 2009 -- so get your pens, typewriters and keyboards cooking...

Each contributor may submit prose up to 1200 words or verse up to 40 lines, or a combination of the two (on a pro rata basis). The anthology is only open to the participants of the various Stoke workshops held over the past 18 months. Every contributor will receive a copy of the book and will be able to purchase further copies (approx £5 each).

The Library's press release states: no salacious, libellous or offensive material; submissions may be edited; submission does not guarantee acceptance; and contributors must keep copies of all their work in case stuff goes missing.

Send submissions (preferably on disk plus a hard copy) to:

Write On Anthology (c/o Emma George)
City Centre Library
Bethesda Street
Hanley
Stoke-on-Trent
ST1 3RS

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