Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Got paranormal? “Losers weepers” calls for your stories…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 26, 2015

Okay, calling all authors… or aspiring authors…

Xchyler Publishing’s fall paranormal anthology has a call for submissions that begins next week and runs through the month of April. The theme is “Losers weepers.” What that means is subject to your own imagination.

losersweepers650For the definition of “Paranormal,” I think you’ll have to look that one up. It’s a matter of some debate among authors and editors who work in the speculative fiction arena. It’s somewhere in that murky realm of fiction taking place in something that could pass for the “real world” (including the future and past) with supernatural / magical / unexplainable elements that don’t stray too far into the horror, fantasy, or science fiction genres.

You’ve got a month. Xchyler isn’t a big publisher, but I’ve really enjoyed working with them. When they say they are like a big family, they aren’t kidding. It’s a great, friendly community of authors and editors. For me, it was not only a kick in the pants to get moving on getting published and improving my writing chops. Once accepted, it’s been like taking an advanced college course on creative writing. Only instead of paying for the privilege, I receive royalties.

It’s a cool opportunity. You can read the details here on their anthology submission page.

And yes, I’m fully aware that by doing this, I’m fostering my own competition for this anthology, as I will be submitting a story. But the part of me that really wants to improve my craft and hone my “A” game says, “BRING IT!” I wanna support that part of me. It’s going places.

Besides, I figure someone – hopefully many someones – in this community here has some really cool stories in ’em, and I’d enjoy reading them. So it’s totally a win/win on my end. 🙂

So if you are so inclined, go for it! It’s five to ten thousand words in the paranormal genre. A thousand words a day, and you’ll have your first draft done this time next week, with plenty of time for editing. (By comparison, this blog post is over a third of that length, so it’s very do-able!)

And, as always, have fun!

 

 


Filed Under: Writing - Comments: 2 Comments to Read



  • Vatina said,

    I’ve been wanting to submit something for their contests for a while, and had my eye on the fantasy one this summer. The theme “Worldwide Folklore and the Post-modern Man” really stumped me though, and seem so scary to tackle!

    I guess it might not really be as daunting as the long title suggests. Hmm will have to consider it some more…

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    I’ve actually got a very *old* concept for that one I’ve been considering. 🙂 Something I’ve been noodling on for a decade (which I hope, one day, will also be an RPG series…)

    But yeah. What I’ve found (in retrospect) is that the theme is usually pretty loose and they welcome interesting interpretations. They try very hard *not* to elaborate on it because they want authors to come away with different takes on the theme. While it’s important to at least touch on it, I think it’s there more to inspire creativity and originality.

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