Deadline: March 31st, 2016
Payment: $5 payment advance and will share equally fifty percent of the royalties

Tree-Lion Press is currently seeking submissions for an anthology of Weird Western stories.  This page includes submission instructions specific to this theme.  Please read this page, including the general submission guidelines, before sending a story in for consideration.

DEADLINE:  MARCH 31, 2016

BEFORE READING FURTHER, PLEASE TAKE NOTE.  We are seeking short fiction in the Speculative Fiction genre (by which we mean to be the umbrella term for the wide and varied range of Science Fiction and Fantasy subgenres).  Weird Westerns are generally speaking, a blend of the venerable Western and Speculative Fiction… fantasy, horror, sci-fi, etc. 

It’s a broad theme, and we encourage you to stretch even these tenuous boundaries.  Move beyond the clichés, and give us some great stories that have elements of both the classic Western and some sort of un-reality.

Word count and Deadline:  Between 500 and 10,000 words.  These are guidelines, not laws; if you have a great story that runs a few words short or long, go ahead and submit it.

Genre:  We are looking for Speculative Fiction; We tend toward (soft) Science Fiction and Fantasy, but will also accept well-written Horror or Supernatural or Whatever, as long as it is Speculative Fiction and meets the other requirements stated here.  (Need more info on what qualifies as Speculative Fiction?  Check out the Goodreads entry that discusses the term.)

Theme:  WEIRD WESTERN.  The Western element may be very slight, but the Speculative Fiction aspect of the story is non-negotiable.  Straight Western stories will not be considered.

GENERAL SUBMISSION NOTES:  Please read the entire page before clicking through to the submission guidelines for a specific publication.

Tree-Lion Press is now accepting submissions for ALL of the following

Keeping Pace with Eternity … Speculative Fiction inspired by Long-Distance Running (Deadline 01/15/2016)

Menschen and Minyanim … Speculative Fiction inspired by the Jewish Experience (Deadline 02/29/2016)

The Land of Dust and Bones … Weird Western (Deadline 03/30/2016)

We publish short fiction in the Speculative Fiction genre (by which we mean to be the umbrella term for the wide and varied range of Science Fiction and Fantasy subgenres). 

Word count :  Between 500 and 10,000 words.  These are guidelines, not laws; if you have a great story that runs a few words short or long, go ahead and submit it.

Genre:  We are looking for Speculative Fiction; We tend toward (soft) Science Fiction and Fantasy, but will also accept well-written Horror or Supernatural or Whatever, as long as it is Speculative Fiction and meets the other requirements stated here.  (Need more info on what qualifies as Speculative Fiction?  Check out the Goodreads entry that discusses the term.)

Theme:  Each publication has a specific theme.  Please study the requirements for a given publication VERY THOROUGHLY and follow those requirements EXACTLY.  Submissions that do not meet the requirements WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION.

Simultaneous Submissions and Multiple Submissions:  In short, we would prefer not to see them.  But we’re writers too, we understand that life happens.  If you happen to submit a story that is subsequently accepted elsewhere, we ask that you let us know AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and we will celebrate your good fortune with you.  And while we feel that it is HIGHLY unlikely that you have multiple stories that meet our criteria AND also happen to be GREAT stories, we will concede that such an occurrence is possible.  If in doubt, submit, and let the chips fall where they may.

Format:  Look, we’re not going to kick your story back because you use Courier instead of Times New Roman, or your submission is 10 point instead of 12.  We’re most comfortable reading a story in standard submission format, with a 12 pt. Times New Roman font.  But there are these cool new inventions called computers, and if you can get your story to us in a .doc or a .docx file, chances are, we can read it.  If we can’t, we’ll let you know.

Compensation:  Tree-Lion is small.  Tree-Lion is independent.  Tree-Lion works on the Travis McGee model.  Authors whose submissions are included in the anthology will receive an initial $5 payment advance and will share equally fifty percent of the royalties received from sale of the anthology.

Some Final Thoughts:  If you want to write Spec-Fic, we hope that you have read Spec-Fic.  (We really, really hope that you have read Spec-Fic  And that you love Spec-Fic.)  And if you have read Spec-Fic, you know that some stuff has already been done.  Some stuff has already been done A LOT.  Strange Horizons, an online speculative fiction magazine, has put together a list of Stories They’ve Seen Too Often, and it’s worth a read.  Again, it’s not a law that you can’t submit a story that resembles something on the Strange Horizons list.  Just be aware that it’ll have to be really,really good to be a contender.

More Final Thoughts:  But while we’re on the subject, there actually are some laws that we want to lay down, right here and right now.  These include:  No gratuitous sex and/or violence.  No preaching.  No gratuitous exoticization/spiritualization.  No splatter gore.  No adult content.  No stuffed-in-a-fridge shockers.  If you wouldn’t want your teenage daughter to read it, then this probably isn’t the right market for it.

Final Final Thoughts: It’s all kind of like the judging criteria on Alton Brown’s Cutthroat Kitchen television show.  1. Does it taste good, i.e., is it a great story?  2. Is it presented well, i.e., have you used correct spelling and grammar and such?  3.  Does it remind me of the dish that it is supposed to remind me of, i.e., is it Speculative Fiction and does it fit the theme?

If you’ve digested all of this, and still think you’ve got a great story that fits the criteria, we want to see it.  Please save your 500-10,000 word speculative fiction story (that fits the theme) as a Word .doc or .docx file– along with your 1-3 paragraph background information, in the same file,  of HOW the story was inspired or how you feel that it fits the theme–  and send it to [email protected].  Please include the words “Submission” and the Theme for which you are submitting.

Via: Tree Lion Press.