The Book of Tentacles

Welcome to a new anthology from Sam's Dot Publishing. This one will be called The Book of Tentacles. The editors are Scott Virtes, Edward Cox, and Susan R. Campbell. We'll remain open to submissions as long as necessary, but we're hoping to have this one in print by April 2009. We will issue periodic updates in our Current Events newsletter, which you can read at http://www.samsdotpublishing.com/currentevents.htm

The premise of The Book of Tentacles is very simple. We're looking for original science fiction, fantasy, and darker stories and poems that have something to do with tentacles. That's it. The interpretation is up to you.

The stories must be well-crafted, with characters we care about, and with plots and subplots and themes and layers. Stories must feature proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. We are not open to first drafts or other unspeakable shash. Send us your best work. Good enough will not be good enough.

No single genre will dominate the final selections. Undoubtedly, many of you will try your hand at horror. This means the competition will be extremely difficult for this genre. Others of you will try your hand at Cthulhu or Cthulhu sex stories. Again: no single genre will dominate the final selections. Your chances for landing a story with us will probably be better in the genres of science fiction or fantasy. A word to the wise . . .

Formatting: all stories and poems are to be submitted either as Word or rtf attachments or in the body of the e-mail. Text should be double spaced, and paragraphs should be indented five spaces. If submitted as Word or rtf, italicize those words you want italicized. If submitted IBOE, indicate italics with underscores. Include your contact information at the top of the first page of the attachment and in the e-mail itself.

Now let's talk specifics:

1. Story length should fall between 2,000 and 7,000 words. We'll pay 1/2 cent per word plus one contributor's copy upon publication. We'll probably accept between twelve and fifteen stories. No simultaneous submissions, please. No multiple submissions--wait until we respond to your first story before you submit your second.

2. Poem length should not exceed 100 lines. We'll pay $5.00 per poem plus one contributor's copy upon publication. We'll probably accept between five and ten poems. Please submit no more than three poems at a time.

3. Submissions process: submit all work and queries to bookoftentacles@yahoo.com . We will respond to queries within 2 weeks. We will respond to submissions within 2 months. If you have not received a reply to your submission in 3 months, please query.

And if you have any questions, please ask.