Thursday, April 26, 2012

Cowboy Poetry Press

This site was just set up.  They're looking for Western poetry and flash up to 400 words.  They're also looking for art work and photography about the Western culture.  There's no mention of who the editor is behind this new zine.  You can check it out here  http://cowboypoetrypress.wordpress.com/

The Submission Process

You're not alone.
http://richard-parks.com/2012/04/26/barking-at-nothing/#more-979

YA Anthology Call

"Futuredaze" is looking for YA science fiction shorts that will instill a love for the genre in its readers.  Submissions open on May 1 and will remain open until filled.  Stories up to 6000 words will be paid $200 and poetry, $25.  You can find all the details here  http://underwordsblog.com/publications-projects/guidelines-futuredaze/

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Lovecraft eZine

The Lovecraft eZine is open to submissions.  There are several themed issue and one that is for female writers only.  This is a paying market, for stories over 3000 words the payment is $50 and under 3000 is $25.  You can find all the details here  http://lovecraftzine.com/submissions

Anthology Call

This call looks like fun.  There's actually two calls for a pair of anthologies that mix fairy tales with 1/the apocalypse and 2/ Lovecraft.  Called "Once Upon an Apocalypse", they're looking for shorts of 2000 to 4000 words.  Payment is 3cents a word with a July 31 deadline or until filled.  You can find all the details here  http://onceuponanapocalypse.com

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Driving on a Dirt Road

I always find it strange what will kick off a ton of memories in my head.  Yesterday it was Jason Aldean's song, "Dirt Road Anthem"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ5IIDn_JXE

I spent most of my life on dirt roads so this song just stirs the memories.  Lazy summer days walking down that dusty dirt road to meet my first love whose job was to watch the cows while they pastured in the hay fields where there were no fences.  Of course your memories don't stop there.  That first love turned out to be gay and on down the line he propositioned the wrong red neck.  The results weren't pretty.

On another dirt road sits a house that always gave me the shivers because it was built next to a graveyard.  Years later the woman who lived there got up in the middle of the night and used a shotgun to kill her adult daughter and husband, then killed herself.  To this day nobody knows why.  Oddest thing to me is that her youngest son moved into the house and still lives there.

Across the dirt road and down through the pasture was the creek we used to swim in as kids.  Lots of great memories there yet, there was a section of the creek that was kind of creepy and that creepy wound up in a story that I wrote.

My parents were looking at a house one evening when the road behind us was suddenly filled with State Troopers.  A young man they were after was on foot and running through the woods that led down into the deep cut where another creek ran.  There was lots of shouting and guns drawn, but they finally took him down without shooting.  Funny thing was, the kid was a neighbor of ours.  And my parents wound up buying that house.

I have all kinds of great memories about those dirt roads, but like anything there's always a darker side and that darkness usually finds it way bit by bit into my stories.  How about you?  What sparks your memories and do you use those sparks to create new short stories?

Friday, April 20, 2012

Anthology Call - Steampunk

Kerlak Publishing has an anthology call out for Dreams of Steam III. There's a May 31 deadline, payment is $20.
http://www.kerlakpublishing.com/storycall.html