Call for Submissions: SciFi Anthology

Hey readers and fellow authors, some talented author friends of mine are creating a new anthology that I wanted to share. The title of the project is not yet finalized, however they are taking submissions from now through November. If you’re interested, check out the details below.

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Call for Submissions for an anthology highlighting the capabilities and contributions of disabled people in science fiction. This will be a charity anthology with the proceeds and any royalties donated to the Special Olympics. We welcome involvement from disabled authors or those that would be interested in beta reading the final anthology.

Genre: is geared toward science fiction, however, science fantasy, urban fantasy, space opera, other types of fantasy and speculative fiction are also acceptable as long as we’re focused on now or the future instead of ancient history. Other planets and non-human characters are acceptable. Dark fantasy/SF and horror are also acceptable as long as disabled heroes are not turned into victims.

Theme: The main characters must be disabled and succeed through their own efforts and without normalizing (i.e. undoing their disabilities with technology). This book is about celebrating the people who exist today and making them represented in the future.

Age level: should be no racier than PG 13 and YA is not precluded but we will not be targeting a YA or underage audience.

Length: 1500-7500 words

Deadline: All submissions should be received no later than November 30th, 2018 with expectation of a February 2019 publication date.

Send submissions to stephanieebarr@Dragonfaeriecreative.org with the subject “Disabled Heroes.”

Format: Word .doc/.docx file, 1″ margins, 12-14pt Times (or other serif font), double-spaced, contact info and word count on first page, running header w/name, title, page #, etc. The usual stuff. And please include your name and the story title in the filename. I will accept reprints if you (a) have the rights and (b) it fits our criteria.

Please edit your story carefully. We’re all busy indie authors and will not take the time to help you rewrite your work into something that works for us. Please make an effort to send something in finished form that meets the criteria we’ve set.

Title and cover are not yet finalized.

You can find out more on facebook by joining: https://www.facebook.com/groups/disabledheroes/

Behind The Story

Not many readers know I like to hide surprises in my writing. I want to share one of those with you today.

 

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

My young adult scifi series “The Forgotten Chronicles” is set on an alien world similar to ours yet orbiting a red sun. I based it off of a NASA travel poster released several years ago for the planet Kepler 186f. I wanted an Earth-like world where readers were familiar enough with how it worked yet still completely alien. If you’ve read The Selection or the follow-up book Rise of the Forgotten, you know what I mean.

What hardly anyone knows is they may have read a story about this series before it was ever released. I had it hiding in plain sight.

I honestly didn’t know if The Selection would ever see publication. I enjoyed the story but still wasn’t sure if I was going to put the time and effort (and money!) into making it a novel I wanted to release. I wrote the book leaving the ending in a way that if enough readers enjoyed it, I could continue the series. As it happened, many readers loved the book and that gave me the impetus I needed to write Rise of the Forgotten. The final book in the series, The War for Truth, is due out in May (and can be pre-ordered for the ridiculously low price of .99. Go here to get it: The War for Truth)

However, one of the questions I often get asked is why are there so many boys born on the planet Anastasia? What causes this? Why does it happen?

As an origin story mostly for myself, I wrote a short story called The Long Sleep which answers these questions. If you’ve read any of my short story collections, you may recognize it. I released it in my first ever book, (Almost) Average Anthology, back in 2016. It was the last story in the collection and gives a great explanation as to how things got to be in The Selection.

I released (Almost) Average Anthology in Jan. of 2016, well over a year before I released The Selection. The story The Long Sleep isn’t my favorite of the collection, but it most certainly belongs with my series as an origin story.

So, for fans who like to know behind the scenes info, there ya go. You can get the entire 16 story collection (Almost) Average Anthology for .99 or if you subscribe to my newsletter, you get it for FREE. Either way, I hope you enjoy the dark tales and I hope you continue to follow along with my scifi series. It’s been so much fun to write and the reader response has been amazing.

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For those interested in the series, here are the links.

The Selection: ebook, paperback, audiobook.

Rise of the Forgotten: ebook, paperback.

The War for Truth: ebook (special low pre-order price)

 

Gallows Hill Magazine

Hey everyone, I wanted to let you know about the latest place to catch one of my stories.

In October, there’s a new horror magazine starting up called Gallows Hill Magazine. It’s run by author/editor/publisher Joshua Demarest.

The inaugural issue contains an interview with Father Gary Thomas, America’s leading exorcist and inspiration behind the movie The Rite.

It also features an in-depth interview with Richard Chizmar, author and founder of the long running and highly successful magazine Cemetery Dance. If you’ve read horror for a long time, you should be familiar with Cemetery Dance.

The issue contains writing tips and a calendar of horror genre events.

It seems like a solid offering for a start-up magazine and amongst all this goodness are two (only two!) short stories. One of them is by author T.J. Tranchell and the other is mine! I remember seeing the call for submissions and figured “why not?” I’m so fortunate I did. I can’t express how humbled and excited I am to be part of something so amazing!

Please consider pre-ordering this new magazine. If not to support my story, do so because of all the awesomeness involved. If you’re a horror fan, you’ve gotta check it out. I can tell you from experience that Joshua is excellent to work with and has high standards. I imagine the magazine will certainly carry on those traits.

Pre-order it here: Gallows Hill Magazine

Follow them on Facebook.

Summer of Writing (revisited)

If you missed my post the other day (Summer of Writing) let me visit it once again. Starting July 4th and ending on Sept. 5th (Labor Day in the US) the goal is to write everyday. There is no word limit. There are no projects off the table. It can be something you’re already working on and need a boost to finish. It can be daily blog posts. It can be a novel. It can be short stories. It doesn’t matter what you’re working on so long as you’re writing! I know the 4th has passed but it’s not too late to join us! Whenever you read this post get to writing until Sept. 5th, you’ll be rewarded with your work.

Why did I start this? I want to encourage others to finish what they start. I want to encourage anyone wanting to write to develop the habit of putting words on paper or on the screen. Selfishly I want others to join me. It’s a lonely road as a writer. Having others involved in the same thing as me helps. It’s what I love about NaNoWriMo. If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, tag your posts with #sow16 so I can find you and bring us all together. You can also add your Twitter name or Facebook link in the comments below. Let’s do this! Start today!

Continuing with this theme of writing, I want to give an update on what I’m doing and what to expect next.

I’ve been revising a short story (5,ooo words) that a critique group sent back to me. They had a ton of suggestions to help tighten the story and I think it’s a whole lot better because of it. But while working on it I developed an idea to make it part of a larger work. At the moment I think I’m going to make it one part of a collection of short stories revolving around a central theme. All the stories will be connected in one way or another. My initial plan is to shop them around as individual stories or release them on my own one at a time. Once they’re all released I might bring them together in one volume. Each story will come in around the 5,000 word mark with a total of 4 stories. It’s a darker collection of horror stories that I’m tentatively naming “Dark Corridors.” That name will most certainly change.

I’m also still in the early stages of outlining (yeah this pantser is structuring a novel AHEAD of writing it!) a larger Medieval fantasy novel. It will feature dragons, knights, mages, and the like. I’m revisiting a concept from one of the stories I wrote in (Almost) Average Anthology and expanding it for this novel. I’m taking my time with it and hope to have the basic structure ready by early to mid-August. If it comes together sooner that would be great but that’s the deadline I’m working with for now. I’ve attempted and failed at writing a large fantasy story for years. I think this might be the one I see through to the end!

Finally I have a manuscript in the hands of a freelance editor to work it over, tell me what’s wrong, and help me tighten the prose. It should be a couple weeks before I get the first edit back and I anticipate the entire project to be done by mid-August. I also have an artist lined up to create the cover. I’m pumped about releasing my first novel and hope you’ll be part of the excitement when it’s released this Fall!

That’s it for now. Thanks so much for your encouragement and support. It means everything to me. And get to writing…you got this!