Peace Fantastic Melanauts,
After quite a few hurdles, the 2nd Black Faery Antho is close to layout. There are still slots for flash fiction, a few longer tales, and images. The initial call was sent in the author-copy packets to contributors of the 1st tome. The guidelines have been pretty much the same as the first (see below).
The deadline’s been set for January 27th (*update: July 3, 2012). If you need more time, an outline or sample should be submitted by 1/27 to submit for a spot while you flesh out your vision. The aim is to have the digital version out by (edit: at least) Spring Winter and the combined print version of Books 1 and 2 released shortly after.
The call for the next Antho’s submissions (following the 2nd) will be announced likely at the end of 2012.
Guidelines:
-Stories should avoid being disempowering to Black/POC culture.
-Casts should be Black/POC in keeping with the anthology’s purpose to celebrate and restore communal culture (of color) that has been phased out/negatively rewritten in too large a part by mainstream media. Tales/Pieces shouldn’t rely upon Euro scapes/protagonists/traditions. This is an opportunity to focus on fresh scapes and those that are already a part of indigenous tradition (See the piece C’BS wrote in the first anthology for research help). We’re inundated with a glaring lack of indigenous voice/culture in the mainstream on a daily basis (I’m not counting tokenized corporate stereotypes fed to us regularly). Too many youth of color see no magik or beauty in themselves or their culture. This antho aims to increase diversity through celebration of actual diverse images/scapes/protagonists - rather than tokenism).
-Stories should be general audience friendly enough to be consumable by young minds that may read it. Media doesn’t have to be youth-targeted. Tasteful and necessary nudity and/or violence relative to a piece/story is acceptable if it’s not gratuitous.
-Reprints that fit the anthology’s purpose are acceptable.
-Simultaneous submissions aren’t accepted. If you’re submitting to the anthology, be sure to abstain from submitting the story/piece to another project or publisher until your story has been published for 3 months. This includes posting on blogs, and similar.
-Your story may be additionally optioned for the 3rd anthology which is a paid work and not a charity-focused tome as 1 and 2.
-(updated) The feel of the antho is nebulous, whimsical, imbued with the mystery of the High-feminine/Original mother/Night/Nurture/Comfort-sanctuary (even in the midst of conflict), etc.
Mer stories (especially Meingu and even Encantada-focused) flow well, but all tales don’t have to focus on aquatic fae. The feel should have a flow and enchant (even subtly).
Graphic design/photography imagery can do a lot with the antho’s feel (many ways to play with fluidity, sunset vibes, deep water, nebulous fae, willowy/spindly trees, etc). Both literal, abstract, and highly symbolic pieces are a good fit. Submit images at 300 dpi (2550x3300 for full page submissions) in .jpg or .png format.
Keeping in line with the general audience-friendly tone (at the top), profanity/vulgarity should be avoided.
Submission address: CandyAnomaly at gmail.com Add “Submission” to the subject line
*The deadline has been extended to July 3 to give authors enough time to develop new material that flows with the theme. Sneak peeks with be posted between now and then with author/artist permission. The deadline extension only applies to new works that fit the theme.
The Antho’s working title is: Keeper Of The Waters
