The Crossroads Theater

Editor: Rodney J. Smith

Dead Jester Press is seeking high-quality works of dark fiction for inclusion in its debut anthology.
The Crossroads Theater will feature stories from varied time periods and settings -- from the urban to the fantastic, and all the weird places between.
Theater won't be your ordinary anthology; it will present its collected stories in a new and unique way.

General guidelines
Stories should be dark and/or weird; they need not be full-blown 'horror', but they must contain creepy/unsettling narratives. Stories focusing on evil deeds in disturbing places are especially sought.
Open to all settings/periods (and hope to see a wide variety of time periods), however please note that no story should date later than the 1980s-90s. This could mean turn of the century; the middle ages; the 1960s; alternate histories; even other worlds. The only place they can't be is anywhere futuristic.
Characters and settings can be as weird and fanciful as you please, but they must be 'real' within the story (not merely a character's delusion/hallucination).
Stories must be written in third-person; omniscient narration is preferred. Narrative should lean closer toward immediate, visual story-telling than internal thoughts/flashbacks -- while characterization is important, engaging plots that 'come alive' before the reader are the priority.
Length should be between 500 and 7000 words.
No reprints. No poetry. No multiple or simultaneous submissions, please.
And NO vampires. Seriously.

*Please note: given the volume of inappropriate submissions received thus far, all stories not written in third person and/or grossly over the word count will now be deleted unread.

Rights
Exclusive Worldwide Print rights for 1 year from date of publication, and non-exclusive Print rights thereafter.

Payment
All net profits will be shared with contributors, for as long as the book is commercially available.

Deadline
The reading period closes July 29, 2008. Publication is tentatively expected to be late 2008.

Response Time
All decisions will be made on or by August 11, 2008.

Submitting
Send all submissions as .doc or .rtf attachments to submissions[at]deadjesterpress.com. Stories should be in standard manuscript format. Please don't, however, put two spaces after each sentence.


Questions? Send to: editor[at]deadjesterpress.com