Deadline: May 31, 2015
Payment: 2 cents/word for new fiction, half-cent/word for reprints and contributor’s copy

Call for Submissions for the Hides the Dark Tower anthology.

Tower. What comes to mind when you hear the word?

According to A Dictionary of Symbols by J.E. Cirlot: the tower in Egyptian hieroglyphics denotes the act of rising above the common level. It is a signal of ascent. In the Middle Ages, towers held the same symbolism as a ladder. Enclosed and walled in, a tower is emblematic of the Virgin Mary and can be found in many allegorical designs.

The athanor — the alchemists’ crucible — was given the shape of a tower, since ascension often implies transformation and evolution. A tower can also be likened to man, the top-most windows seeming like eyes. It’s from that sense that the Tower of Babel acquired the symbolic point as a wild endeavor bringing disaster to mankind. The Tarot‘s Tower card — depicting a tower being struck by lightning — echos this symbolism.

Yet Nietzsche found a dual symbolism in towers, descent as well as ascent. In Aurelia, Nervel says, “I found myself in a tower, whose foundations were sunk so deep into earth and whose top was so lofty, reaching up like a spire into the sky, that my whole existence already seemed bound to be consumed in climbing up and down it.”

Where does the Hides the Dark Tower title come from?

What else should he be set for, with his staff?
What, save to waylay with his lies, ensnare
All travellers who might find him posted there,
And ask the road? I guess’d what skull-like laugh
Would break, what crutch ‘gin write my epitaph
For pastime in the dusty thoroughfare,
If at his counsel I should turn aside
Into that ominous tract which, all agree,
Hides the Dark Tower.

~ From Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, by Robert Browning

What do we want from you?

Pole to Pole Publishing is seeking original science fiction, fantasy and horror stories of 500-5000 words to be published in the Hides the Dark Tower anthology, slated for December 2015.

Query for reprints at [email protected]. Tell us the publication history of the story and whether it’s available. You must be able to provide documentation that rights have returned (or will return to to you, by publication). (We’ll ask for that if we accept your story.)

Edition and Rights

Hides the Dark Tower will be published in electronic and trade paperback in English. We are asking for exclusive, worldwide rights to your work for both electronic and print for six months.

Payment

Payment is 2 cents/word for new fiction, half-cent/word for reprints, paid at publication.

Bonus Royalties Multiplier: If the anthology “earns out,” that is, recoups all up-front costs to produce, authors will receive a royalty-share payment based on word-length of their story, at six-months from date of publication.

Authors will receive a copy of both the electronic and trade paperback versions of the anthology.

Submission Procedures

Submit stories through the Pole to Pole Publishing Submission Manager only.

A brief cover letter should contain the length of your story, your publishing history, and any other relevant information (e.g, if you send us a time-traveler thriller and you’ve time-traveled, mention that).

All stories should be in standard manuscript form and in rich text format (.rtf) only.

Hides the Dark Tower is not accepting poetry. Please do not send poems. Poetry will be deleted without a response.

We do accept simultaneous submissions, but not multiple submissions. If you story is rejected, feel free to send another before the submission window closes.

If you’re not sure if your story is suitable, don’t query; just go ahead and submit it and let our editors decide.

Deadline: May 31, 2015 (or until filled).

Via: Pole to Pole Publishing.