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Taking Submissions: Are You A Robot?
July 15, 2022
Submission Window: June 1st, 2022 – July 15th, 2022 11:59 pm EST
Payment: $5.00
Theme: Your story about raging against the machines, surviving attacks on your privacy, navigating the deliberately confusing systems out there, or dealing with the trials and tribulations of ever advancing technology.
West Mesa Press Anthology Call Summer 2022
Title: Are You A Robot?
Opens: June 1, 2022
Closes: July 15, 2022 11:59 pm EST
Theme: Tired of verifying that you’re a human online. Sick of dealing with automated protocols rather than talking to real people when you call for service. Worn out by having to give your personal information to make a purchase. Maybe the machines (robots, computer programs, etc.) are taking over.) Send us your story about raging against the machines, surviving attacks on your privacy, navigating the deliberately confusing systems out there, or dealing with the trials and tribulations of ever advancing technology. Only the other day, in a national fast food restaurant, there was a sign in the lobby that orders weren’t taken in person, you had to enter them on a kiosk. In a national department store, standing in front of the clerks, people are required to identify themselves as human. Has your robotic vacuum been watching you? WE’RE NOT ROBOTS AND WE AREN’T GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE! Use your imagination and interpret the call as broadly as possible. Just be careful, because you know that THEY’RE watching everything you type.
Word Limit: 1500 words-4000 words. No exceptions.
Genre: Open. Whatever you can imagine except erotica. Science Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Horror, Urban, Mystery, Adventure, Cyberpunk, and even western, if you can figure that out.
Author Eligibility: Open to All
Reprints: Not Allowed
Simultaneous Submissions: Of course, as they always should be. Just let us know if you sell it someone else. No harm, no foul.
Multiple Submissions: NO
Author Compensation: $5.00 US and author’s copies at cost.
Where to send it: Send your story and up to a 150-word author bio with up to 2 (two) links as an attachment to: [email protected].
Please include Submission: Not a Robot / Story Title / and Author name in your email subject line, with your document file name as: Author Name – Story Title.
Devil in the details:
First publication rights and non- exclusive right to use the story as long we keep the anthology available. All rights revert to the writer immediately upon publication. Payment is by PayPal – no exceptions.
Send the story as an attachment in standard manuscript format with your name, contact information, and word count on the front page – doc, docx, or rtf. English only, but you don’t have to use American spelling. No headers or footers. Indentions but no tabs, single spaced, and no extra space between paragraphs. Edit for typos and grammar before you send it to us. Put your name, contact information, PayPal address, email, and word count in your short cover letter. The harder you make us work to use your story, the more likely it is that the robot gremlins will reject it.
We format every story to create a uniform, cohesive anthology. Formatting takes hours of time, when instead we could be reading someone else’s amazing story. By following the formatting guidelines, you’re being helpful and saving us time, but you’re also showing us you’re a professional who pays attention to details. Those are the kinds of people we will always want to work with and seek out when we do invitation only submissions.
Rated G with violence and mild profanity permitted, but don’t go splatterpunk. No child abuse, no rape, and don’t kill or injure any animals. If you hurt a dog in your story, well, we have your address and are on good terms with the internet robot overlord.
Via: West Mesa Press’s Facebook.
- About the Author
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Stuart Conover is a father, husband, published author, blogger, geek, entrepreneur, horror fanatic, and runs a few websites including Horror Tree!