Taking Submissions: Noir, Shattering the Glass Slipper, and Brave New Worlds

Deadline: December 31st, 2021
Payment: 8 cents per word
Themes:

  • Noir: Science fiction, fantasy, or urban fantasy stories with a detective/private investigator set-up and a noir atmosphere
  • Shattering the Glass Slipper: Stories of known fairy tales that have been upended, gender-bent, or twisted around in some way.
  • Brave New Worlds: Science fiction stories set along the pathway of us leaving Earth for the stars.


 

The NOIR, SHATTERING THE GLASS SLIPPER, and BRAVE NEW WORLDS anthology Kickstarter (back us at tinyurl.com/ZNB2021) has hit its goal!  If you have a story idea that fits one of the anthology themes, write it up, revise it, polish it, and send it in for consideration.  I’ve posted the guidelines below.

The NOIR, SHATTERING THE GLASS SLIPPER, and BRAVE NEW WORLDS Submission Guidelines

Zombies Need Brains LLC is accepting submissions to its three science fiction and fantasy anthologies NOIR, SHATTERING THE GLASS SLIPPER, and BRAVE NEW WORLDS.  Stories must be submitted in electronic form as an attachment with the title of the story as the file name in .doc or .docx format.  The header of the email should include the name of the anthology the submission is for along with the title of the submission (for example:  NOIR:  Private Detectives Gone Wild!).  The content of the email should also include which anthology the manuscript is intended for.  Please send multiple manuscripts in separate emails; you may submit to any or all of the anthologies as many times as you wish.  Manuscripts should be in manuscript format, meaning double-spaced, 12pt font, standard margins on top, bottom and sides, and pages numbered.  Please use Times New Roman font.  The first page should include the Title of the story, Author’s name, address, and email, word count, and Pseudonym if different from the author’s real name.  Italics and bold should be in italics and bold.

Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 7,500 words in length, and must satisfy the theme of the anthology.

NOIR is to feature science fiction, fantasy, or urban fantasy stories with a detective/private investigator set-up and a noir atmosphere.  We would like a wide variety of genre settings for this anthology, specifically SF and second world fantasy settings.  In other words, we don’t want the entire anthology to be urban fantasy settings. We also want storylines where the SF or fantasy element is essential to the mystery or its solution. As always, we are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.

SHATTERING THE GLASS SLIPPER is to feature stories of known fairy tales that have been upended, gender-bent, or twisted around in some way.  Stories featuring less famous fairy tales, especially those from non-European cultures, will have a better chance of catching our eye.  In other words, we don’t want 100 Cinderella stories.  If we do, it’s likely that only one, at most, would be selected for the anthology.  Take note of which fairy tales the anchor authors intend to use (listed in the description of the Kickstarter at tinyurl.com/ZNB2021), since their stories are already guaranteed to be in the anthology. It’s unlikely we’ll select a second story using the same fairy tale.  And please note—this isn’t just a re-telling of a fairy tale: we want you to take the story and upend it. Give us a new moral lesson, tell us what happened to the other stepsister, or just surprise us. Be creative, choose something different, and have the fairy tale upended in an interesting way.  We are looking for a mix of fantasy and science fiction stories in a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.

BRAVE NEW WORLDS is to feature science fiction stories set along the pathway of us leaving Earth for the stars.  Stories can be set during our departure from Earth, on the long journey to reach a new planet, or upon arrival at said planet. Generation ship or colony ship stories are allowed, as well as terraforming stories once the new planet is reached.  Stories featuring the human element to these types of journeys will receive more attention than strictly plot-based stories.  Be creative and come up with an unusual and unexpected take on this “pathway to the stars” story.  We are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.

DEADLINE and TIMELINE:

The deadline for submissions is December 31st, 2021.  Decisions on stories should be completed by the end of February 2022.  Please send submissions to [email protected].  You will receive a receipt email within a few days of us receiving the submission and having it filed for consideration.  Notices about decisions on the stories will be sent out no later than the end of March 2022.

If your story is selected for use in the anthology, you should expect a revision letter by the end of April 2022.  Revisions and the final draft of the story will be expected no later than the end of May 2022.  These dates may change due to the editors’ work schedules.  Zombies Need Brains LLC is seeking exclusive world anthology rights (including electronic rights) in all languages for the duration of one year after publication/release of the anthology, non-exclusive world anthology rights (including electronic rights) in all languages after that.  Your story cannot appear elsewhere during that first year.  Pay rate will be an advance of a minimum of 8 cents per word.  The anthology will be published as an ebook and an exclusive mass market paperback edition, distributed to the Kickstarter backers.  The book would be available after that to the general public in ebook and trade paperback formats.  Advances would be immediately earned out by the success of the Kickstarter.  Royalties on additional sales beyond the Kickstarter will be 25% of ebook cover price and 10% of trade paperback cover price, both split evenly (not by word count) among the authors in and editors of the anthology.

Questions regarding these submission guidelines should be sent to [email protected].  Thank you.

Via: Zombies Need Brains Kickstarter.

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