We all love stories about great intellects whose work frequently crosses moral and ethical boundaries. From Cronenberg’s The Fly, where Dr. Seth Brundle drunkenly splices his DNA with an insect’s while trying to perfect teleportation, to medical student Herbert West’s fanatical quest to re-animate the dead; from Dr. Moreau and his macabre island of genetically manipulated half-human beasts, to Walter Bishop manipulating and altering reality in FOX’s Fringe—or the granddaddy of all “mad scientists,” Dr. Frankenstein, and his creation of Life, assembling a creature from the body parts of the deceased.

These are the kinds of stories we’re looking to include in the inaugural charity anthology from Shadow Work Publishing, DARK DESIGNS. If you have a story of the fantastic, about a “mad scientist” character who is somewhat scatterbrained or altogether insane, whose practices are questionable (at best), and whose works frequently meet some sort of insidious end… then please, send us YOUR story!

Length: 3000-7,500 words. For longer stories, please query first, but be aware, they have to be pretty damn good to get our attention!

Considerations: Please do not submit nonfiction, fanfiction, poetry, or children’s stories, as these are not the types of submissions we are looking for. What exactly are we looking for? This is a “mad scientist” anthology—so think dark fiction, twisted thrillers, and bizarre, horrifying tales of ambiguous ethics.

 Selection: We will choose up to 20 (but not limited to) stories for inclusion—the best of the best—through a finely tuned selection process. Please, once you submit your story, give us to the deadline date before asking if you were selected. If you submitted a story near the deadline date (better late than never, right?), please give us two weeks before asking if you were selected.

 Pay: This is a charity anthology, all proceeds benefiting Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières. Each author selected will receive a digital copy and a paperback contributor’s copy.

ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSION CALL!

DARK DESIGNS: Tales of Mad Science

Benefiting Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières

Deadline: Sept. 30th, 2016

Expected Publication Date: December 2016

Format: Times New Roman, 12 point font, single spacing, no space between paragraphs, indentation .35. Do not use manual tabs or five individual spaces to indent the first line of paragraphs.

Note: Shadow Work Publishing does not require exclusive rights, however we do ask that you not submit your story (should it be selected) to another publisher for a period of six months. No reprints. If we discover that your story was previously published and submitted to us without permission from the original publisher, we will automatically remove it. However, if your story is self-published, we will consider it.

Once all stories have been collected and selections have been made, you will receive an invitation to join the DARK DESIGNS: Tales of Mad Science Facebook group. In this group we will distribute promotional items, reveal release date, and other bits of information.

No multiple submissions. If this is a simultaneous submission, please let us know if your story is accepted elsewhere.

 How to submit: Please email your story as a .docx file to [email protected]. Please include a short bio (about 200 words or so) that includes links to your other works or social media pages in the email space. Also, include a 100 words or less brief description of your story. If accepted, this bio will be included in the book so those who enjoyed your work may find you. We do our utmost to promote every author we work with.

 FINALLY, though SWP reads all submissions as they come in, do not inquire about a decision before the deadline date. It might take us longer to read through all of them, but we will keep you updated via Facebook or Twitter. If you e-mail asking about an update, we will try to get back to you, but please know everyone will get a response one way or another. If you haven’t heard from us, it likely means our decision hasn’t been made.