Deadline: August 14th, 2012
Payment: Contributor’s Copy

The Pitch:

Almost two hundred thousand years ago, HomoSapiens fought a war against the HomoHelmei for the coastal passages out of Africa. Although modern man won, the deadly virus that had infected the HomoHelmei infected the early migrants. The disease lay dormant in their DNA until the year 2012. Every descendant of those migrants, from India to China to the United States has been infected. All will die.

The only survivors are the children of the Africans who did not migrate, whose DNA did not contain the virus. There is no test, no method of determining who will live and who will die to rise again as the living dead. If you’re dark skinned, there is no hope.

If not, you have 24 hours to live.

The Truth:

There are tons of zombie stories out there. Most of them create a lame back story and dive right into the killing and slaughter. I decided if I was going to do my own version, it had to be done differently. Using the retroviruses and genetic differences between the racial groups on Earth, I had a basis for an idea.

It is important to tell stories that have cultural relevance, that touch upon issues of the day and explore themes we may not be comfortable talking about. Such as race issues.

The comic industry has a lack of characters of color. It is primarily a white industry run by white people creating books about white characters. At the very least I wanted to create a property with an all black cast. One that didn’t have anything to do with sports or crime.

THE ANTHOLOGY:

As a way to promote the book I will be publishing a novel anthology of short stories. Any interested writers should contact me with their ideas.

Submissions Due Date: August 14th, 2012.

Conditions: The story is set in the modern day. There are many different diseases which are more likely to occur in certain racial groups. In this case, the African American community, those who are descended from the first species of Man, are the only people not carrying the “zombie”gene which is activated by an unknown toxin in the environment.

Twenty-four hours after becoming sick, the person would die. The symptoms were flu-like.

All stories will have to meet editorial guidelines. You will own all rights to your story, it will not be reprinted without your permission. All contributors to the anthology will be given the opportunity to appear in the comic book once an artist has been found for that series.

The stories can be about any racial group, anywhere in the world. Just remember, if they aren’t black, they will be dead.

Compensation: Free copy of the book, which should be available digitally and in print through Amazon.

Send inquiries to: ravenheisenberg AT gmail.com

[via: The Work Of Raven Heisenberg.]