21st Century Wonder Stories: Call For Submissions

We are looking for 21st Century Pulp Revival stories. 

Who’s we?  Well, there’s me, Rawle Nyanzi,  Kevyn Winkless, and Sky Hernstrom. There is also a good chance that, once complete, the anthology will be published by Superversive Press.

Right now payment details haven’t been worked out, but I’ll be honest, this collection is not likely to be a money maker.  The goal of the anthology is to promote the Pulp ideals and the authors involved.  I’ll post more details when I have them.

What is meant by 21st Century Pulp Revival? Rawle came up with this list, which I have expanded on somewhat:

1) The setting must be contemporary Earth. No “Twenty minutes into the future,” no 1950s/60s period pieces, and no alternate history. Stories should be set in the world that you see outside your window.  No time travel, space travel, or dimension hopping. 

Exotic locations on Earth–uncharted islands, lost cities in the jungle, underground caverns–are allowed, but the heroes should be from a contemporary setting and purely human.  High level and exotic skills are allowed, but no werewolves, mutants, or aliens.

2) That being said, all fantastic elements are allowed, from folkloric monsters to made-up creatures and everything in between. Magic is explicitly allowed. We are looking for stories in which humans face off against extraordinary threats.  Secret histories involving supernatural creatures, hidden super-science, covert aliens and the like are encouraged. 

3) All stories must have a conflict and a resolution. No stories where nothing happens. We are looking for Pulp Action and Adventure. We want danger, we want excitement, we want last minute rescues and hairbreadth escapes. 

4) There must be a morality of some kind, but moral dilemmas and doubts can occur. We’re looking for heroes who are heroic, who stand up against evil, who gaze into the abyss and punch it in the face. 

5) Gratuitous use of obscene or profane language is discouraged. This is more a matter of taste than anything else–we’re looking to recapture a spirit of high adventure.  In the same spirit excessive gore should be avoided–violence, yes, explosive evisceration described in detail, not so much.  Sexual situations are allowed, if they fit the story, but should be kept soft-focus.  Leave it the reader’s imagination.

Submission Guidelines:  We want original stories of 2,000-10,000 words.  Submission will be via e-mail, in a standard text format (open office, rich text, word doc if you must) with a minimum of formatting (since I’ll strip it out and reformat all the stories anyway).  I like Times New Roman, 12 pnt, 1 1/2 spaced.  But I won’t reject a story based on the font.

What Happens Next?  If you are interested in submitting to this project, interested in helping out with peer-editing or beta reading, want more information, or simply want to watch it come together, contact me via my Reach Out And Touch Me Page.  I’ll add you to the Google+ page that I will be creating this evening and you can ask questions or make suggestions there.

Fortune Favors The Bold!