Taking Submissions: Croatoan: What really happened to the lost colony of Roanoke

Deadline: Open Until Filled
Payment: Exposure Only

Croatoan: What really happened to the lost colony of Roanoke

Deadline: ?

Projected Publication Date: 2012

April 27, 1584 – Sir Walter Raleigh sends two cousins and several dozen people to the new world.

July 4, 1584 – Expedition lands on Roanoke Island and makes first contact with locals

Fast forward a few years.

A fort is built, a colony is established. Then they return to England. Then more people come. (A lot of flopping around happens.) By 1587, there are 90 men, 17 women, and 11 children, all trying to make this colony thing work. Included in those people are a little girl named Virginia Dare (August 18, 1587 – ?), the first English person born in America. John White and a few other people return to England with the plan of coming back soon.

In August 1590, the men finally come back to Roanoke. Except the colony is gone. Totally empty. Buildings dismantled and taken, people gone. With no signs of struggle, and no clues, except one. The word “Croatoan” carved into a post on the fort, and “cro” carved into a nearby tree.

He decided that this meant they went to nearby Croatoan Island, but a storm popped up, and instead of ever checking the island, he went all the way back to England. Way to go.

So what happened? History has a few ideas, all of them boring, and none of them can be proven. So let’s write our own endings. Tell me who and what and where and how. Give me the Why. It’s up to you.

There are numerous resources for info on the colony. Wikipedia’s info base is decent.

Standard Ink Monkey Press submission guidelines apply.

Editors will chose up to three favorite stories, and those winning authors will receive copies of the anthology. All other stories are accepted for the love (meaning there is no payment for this antho).

[via: Ink Monkey Mag.]

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