Deadline: December 30th, 2021
Payment: $20, royalties, and a contributor’s copy
Theme: Detectives in the fantasy genre that will do whatever is needed to solve their case

Call  for  Submissions        

Fantastic Detectives is a sequel anthology to Fantastic Defenders, which covered fantasy heroes, and has the same editors: Donna Royston and David  Keener.

This new anthology is targeted at those stubborn individuals who just won’t let crimes go unsolved.   They could be members of the CityGuard, soldiers,          magicians, or anything else…but they all have one thing in common.  They’ll do whatever it takes to find the answers they need.

What We Want

We’re looking for stories about crimes in fantasy settings, ranging from “second world” settings to urban fantasies   (with a slight preference for the former—no more than a  third of the anthology will be urban fantasies). Stories can have other elements such as romance, humor, action…but should primarily be about dealing with a crime  (a theft, kidnapping, murder, etc.).

Since these are fantasy stories, magic should be featured in some fashion. It can be: used in committing the crime, used in solving the crime, the reason for the crime, an intrinsic capability of a character, or you can surprise us with something clever.

The fantasy detective sub-genre can obviously lead to some dark stories,  which is fine,  but there should be at least a   little ray of hope somewhere in each tale.     Finally, as with any good story,  make us care about your characters.

What We Don’tWant

• Erotica
• Downer Endings    (the Bad Guys win, there is no hope,  we’re all Doomed).
• Tired tropes with no unique elements  (Conan the Detective, Mary Sue Werewolf, Dashingly Deadly Vampire Hunk,  Legolas the  Elf   Clone,  etc.).
• We love magic, but not as a  deus ex machina.

Submission Details

• Length: 5  –15K      words     (Warning: The longer the story,  the tougher we are).
• MS Word  or RTF
• Keep formatting simple
• Submission Deadline:             December             30,       2021
• Submissions and questions go to: [email protected].

Expected Publication is May 2022.

Compensation

The advance is $20,     plus     Contributors will receive royalties on a semi-annual   (twice a year)   basis.   Each Contributor also receives a  free copy of the trade paperback.

Via: Worlds Enough.