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Taking Submissions: Attack of the Zombie Hippies
July 11, 2011
Attack of the Zombie Hippies
Deadline: July 11 2011
Payment: Exposure/Charity
We are now accepting short story submissions and training articles for: ATTACK OF THE ZOMBIE HIPPIES
Undead beatniks of the Zombiepocalypse and other stories © 2011 BreachBangClear.com
*Proceeds to support the Independence Fund (www.IndependenceFund.org) and veterans who have suffered extensive traumatic injury.*
Overview
Imagine the epic picture (to the right) if the protester getting the smackdown was a zombie, and there were more of the walking dead sporting peace symbols and long unwashed hair walking up behind. Picture a riot policeman of the late 60s with a face shield on his helmet, a handlebar mustache and a Sten gun fending them off…
Submission Guidelines
800 word minimum, 20,000 word maximum (unless it’s so good and full of zombie killing, hippie stomping goodness it makes us want to make an exception). Should take place between 1965 and the present.
Due: First draft due NLT 31 July 11. Submissions should be in the form of a Word document or PDF in an attachment to [email protected] . Please include Anthology Submission in the subject line.
Clarification: In your fiction, zombies don’t actually have to be zombie hippies. You just need to make some kind of reference to hippies where your zombies are concerned. It can be something as simple as the mention of a corpse in a NO HIPPES t-shirt shambling by, to a troop of zombie skateboarders trying to eat National Guard troops at a skate park in Atlanta while one of the sergeants yells “Die, hippies!”, to a story revolving entirely around a zombie attack beginning at Woodstock or Berkley back in the 60s. Up to you. Just make sure there’s peace symbols, tie dye, beads or the like in there somewhere.
In your non-fiction: there will be serious articles spaced between the stories about genuine training issues, just with a zombie flavor. For instance, if you wish to write about an efficient way of engaging multiple targets in a gunfight, do so. You just need to reference the undead in your explanation. Write it the same you would for a tactical magazine and pit your theoretical operators against shambling dead guys instead of hostage takers or insurgents.
What we do and don’t want to see: Weaponry descriptions must be accurate and the explanation of their use correct. You can write the action waaay over the top (like ‘The Expendables’ or ‘The A-Team’) if you wish, but get the gear right. Don’t have a character take the safety off a revolver or brain some zombie beatnik with the wooden stock of an M4A3. A majority of the reading audience will be tactically and technically proficient. Don’t turn ‘em off with inaccuracies.
The zombie cause/virus/whatever is up to the individual author (and doesn’t need to be explained necessarily in any event). Scientific, drug-related, governmental program gone wrong, it’s all done at the author’s discretion.
Authors submitting a story will acknowledge in advance that the equivalent of their pay (figured at .03/word in the final draft) will go towards proceeds donated to IndependenceFund.org. You will not receive a paycheck: that money will also be donated. Authors will be provided a statement to that effect for tax use or personal edification. Stories remain the property of the author, though we reserve the right to reprint them in electronic or hard copy form without further remuneration in perpetuity or until we get distracted by something else.
Zombie fighting is a trope. That’s okay, but try to be a little original. Stories with military, police or other shoot-em-up heavy-on-the-action are preferred but by no means mandatory: however, police departments or military units used in the context of the story should also be written with at least some accuracy in mind. The Army doesn’t use Lance Corporals. The Navy doesn’t have SEAL Majors and Colonels. The 173d Airborne isn’t based at Ft. Benning. Get the basic stuff correct. It’s one thing to suspend disbelief and accept the zombiepocalypse. It’s another thing entirely to try to swallow a female infantry paratrooper holding the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade going home on leave with a pair of PVS-14s she just happened to have in her bag when she left.
It’s not hippy. It’s hippie. Read a little history on the matter and get it right. You can download the guidelines here.
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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!