General

Grimbold Anthologies Submissions

~ suttope ~ 15 Comments

Forgotten-sidekicks

Update 29/12/2018

3 days till the end of the year. 3 days left to submit a story

Update 21/12/2018

10 days left to submit a story!

UPDATE!

We’ve had lots of authors contact us, and so….

Submissions window will be extended to the 31/12/18!!

This allows for those who have expressed interest to get their stories polished to perfection!

Unexpected Heroines:

Why is it always the teenage girl who is the heroine?
These are the stories of female protagonists who are never cast in the feature films. The awkward, the old, the forgotten, the different.
Their adventures were never meant to be. Their save-the-world expeditions shouldn’t have happened. They are the ones who stepped forward when no-one else would.
Our unexpected heroines.

Forgotten Sidekicks:

We all know what happens when the hero saves the day, but what about their sidekicks?
Too often the hero is held high and celebrated whilst their sidekicks and comrades are brushed to the side; their own battles forgotten, and their actions airbrushed to nothingness from the tales of victory.
These are the stories of the ones who aren’t remembered; the ones who helped save the day, and got cast aside; the ones who don’t want the applause, and the ones who deserved the applause and never received it.
These stories didn’t make the headlines – but they happened, and they’re glorious.

Lost Gods:

They have slept for centuries. Buried. Forgotten. Lost.
Until they awake. Or are awoken.
When the deities of old return, will they bring blessings or destruction to a time that no longer remembers them?
Should they be left to lie in peace, or used for our own ends? Are they gods, or monsters?
What lies out there in the realms of the lost gods?

Submission Guidelines:

The submission window will run from 1st September until the 31st December inclusive.

Submissions to be emailed to:

Lost Gods – lostgodsanthology@gmail.com

Forgotten Sidekicks – forgottensidekicks@gmail.com

Unexpected Heroines – unexpectedheroines@gmail.com

All sub-genre and styles will be considered – comedic, epic, grimdark, noblebright etc. We are particularly keen on diversity – think older characters, LGBTQ, ethnic minorities and those with disabilities

Submissions should be (ideally) between 4-7,000 words (10% leeway given either side) and either 1.5 or double spaced and in an easy to read font such as Times New Roman or Arial size 12/14. Please include your contact details at the end of the story, along with a short bio and details of any writing credentials and/or social media handles.

We are aware that this is a long submission window, but hectic lifestyles for both writers and editors means that we must be patient. Editors will be reading submissions as they are received but final decisions are unlikely to be publicised until the end of December 2018 at the earliest. This allows there to be a reasonable amount of time for reading and selecting the final line-up.

Payment will be £15 per story and a physical copy of the final anthology for which the story appears and, should you also wish, copies of the eBook for your own private use and not for resale or lending.

Any questions relating to submission guidelines – please do ask away!

Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg

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blood cruise

Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg

Jo Fletcher Books

On the Baltic Sea no-one can hear you scream

Ever since hearing Mats describe this book at Archipelacon I’ve been wanting to read it. It helped that I arrived at Archipelacon on a ferry from Stockholm. The book is set on one such ferry, a booze cruise overnighter (I got the early morning one, so not quite so boozy) with a washed up former Eurovision star as the main entertainment.

Something ancient and evil gets on board and mayhem ensues. This is a vampire book with a difference. Told in multiple POVs Strandberg weaves a compelling, page-turning thriller. Not an easy feat with multiple POV.

The characters are memorable and there is a slow burn set up where you get to know them, and wonder which of them will survive. When the mayhem starts the book becomes unputdownable as the blood splashes up the walls and the emetic effects of alcohol kick in. It’s a visceral delight.

The cast is also diverse, which is a pleasant change from most horror staples, and individual; which is impressive with such a large list of dramatis personae.

But dig a little deeper and you’ll see that the author has critiqued lad culture, the double-edged role of alcohol in society and the nature of relationships. This explains the 500ish page count as it’s a more nuanced horror than the premise would indicate.

A brilliant addition to isolation horror and a modern vampire delight, highly recommended.

 

 

 

 

 

Anthology call out

~ suttope ~ 27 Comments

Happy to announce that I’ll be editing another anthology for Grimbold books. This is one of a set of three:grimbold

Unexpected Heroines:

Why is it always the teenage girl who is the heroine?
These are the stories of female protagonists who are never cast in the feature films. The awkward, the old, the forgotten, the different.
Their adventures were never meant to be. Their save-the-world expeditions shouldn’t have happened. They are the ones who stepped forward when no-one else would.
Our unexpected heroines.

Forgotten Sidekicks:

We all know what happens when the hero saves the day, but what about their sidekicks?
Too often the hero is held high and celebrated whilst their sidekicks and comrades are brushed to the side; their own battles forgotten, and their actions airbrushed to nothingness from the tales of victory.
These are the stories of the ones who aren’t remembered; the ones who helped save the day, and got cast aside; the ones who don’t want the applause, and the ones who deserved the applause and never received it.
These stories didn’t make the headlines – but they happened, and they’re glorious.

Lost Gods:

They have slept for centuries. Buried. Forgotten. Lost.
Until they awake. Or are awoken.
When the deities of old return, will they bring blessings or destruction to a time that no long remembers them?
Should they be left to lie in peace, or used for our own ends? Are they gods, or monsters?
What lies out there in the realms of the lost gods?

Submission Guidelines:

The submission window will run from 1st September until the 30th November inclusive.

Submissions to be emailed to:

Lost Gods – lostgodsanthology@gmail.com

Forgotten Sidekicks – forgottensidekicks@gmail.com

Unexpected Heroines – unexpectedheroines@gmail.com

All sub-genre and styles will be considered – comedic, epic, grimdark, noblebright etc. We are particularly keen on diversity – think older characters, LGBTQ, ethnic minorities and those with disabilities

Submissions should be (ideally) between 4-7,000 words (10% leeway given either side) and either 1.5 or double spaced and in an easy to read font such as Times New Roman or Arial size 12/14. Please include your contact details at the end of the story, along with a short bio and details of any writing credentials and/or social media handles.

We are aware that this is a long submission window, but hectic lifestyles for both writers and editors means that we must be patient. Editors will be reading submissions as they are received but final decisions are unlikely to be publicised until the end of December 2018 at the earliest. This allows there to be a reasonable amount of time for reading and selecting the final line-up.

Payment will be £15 per story and a physical copy of the final anthology for which the story appears and, should you also wish, copies of the eBook for your own private use and not for resale or lending.

Any questions relating to submission guidelines – please do ask away!

 

Radio Silence

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You may be wondering why there has been an extended period of silence? There’s not been much writing news to share. I’ve got stories coming in a couple of anthologies this year – but nothing I can share at this stage.

I’m now waiting on the copyedit for Seven Deadly Sins and have signed off on the art for the cover so hope to have a series of newsworthy items in the next couple of months.

In the meantime I did an interview with The Speucluative Fiction Showcase here

Writing without Rules -a review

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Writing without Rules 

Publisher Blurb:

Stop What You’re Doing and Write! Yes, You; Write!

Most writing guides imply–or outright state–that there’s a fixed, specific formula or list of rules you must follow to achieve writing and publishing success. And all of them are phonies. Well, not completely. There are real, applicable techniques and strategies in any writing reference to help you.

But the idea that there’s only one way of writing? Nuts!

without rules

I was sent this book in return for a review. It’s interesting that I’ve never heard of Jeffrey Somers (sorry) or read any of his books – but now I’m tempted to do so after reading this book. Somers was asked to write this book after some successful lectures and articles for Writers Digest 

As I have written (here) I have somewhat of a penchant for writing books and therefore it is no great chore for me to have to read one for review. I really enjoyed this one – it’s entertainingly written and is from a very similar place to how I approach writing. My first writing book was, like so many others, Stephen Kings’s On Writing and, well, I thought I’d been doing it wrong (I also did a couple of posts about doing it wrong – here & here and I may do more in the future) because he was a writing guru and what he was describing was ‘how you MUST write’ (it wasn’t but that’s how I read it).  I wish I’d read this book first – it would have saved a bunch of heartache…

“There is no ‘right’ way. You have to do things the way you want to, learn your lessons, and take your wins… The fact is, there will be plenty of times when you feel like a fraud or an amateur, convinced that every other writer knows more than you do and is playing the game better. They don’t, and they aren’t. It just seems that way from the outside.”

Somers also introduced me (or re-introduced, although I do wonder if it was his article on Writers Digest I originally read) to Plantsing – Plotting and Pantsing using whatever works from both strategies.

So this is a great first writing book to grab as a starting out writer and reminds you as an experienced writer that there are no rules (I still get hung up on that occasionally) and I’d thoroughly recommend it – not least for the entertaining way it’s written, and the many, many amusing footnotes.