Open Submissions: Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology

You are hereby cordially invited to submit
your tales of demonic wickedness and diabolical wages!

For this shall be an anthology devoted to
the devilish fiends who seek to wreak havoc among mankind upon the mortal plane –
and of the paladins and warriors who return the vanquished denizens of all the hells
to whence they’ve come!

Grab thee pen and paper now!

Join in the epic battle that eternally wages betwixt humanity and all that hates it!
Face off against evil incarnate and make us whimper in despair - or cheer in triumph.

It is your choice.

Submission Period:

April 1 - June 15, 2009

Release Date:

August 15, 2009

RBE has assumed the “Clash of Steel” series and existing titles from the late Carnifex Press. The first order of business is the re-issuance of the original three CoS titles. RBE is beginning with Demons as the first CoS title to be incorporated into the “Rogue Blades Presents” series of premium anthologies and collections. Similar to other titles in the “RBP” series, every CoS cover will have a standard color and appearance — black is the CoS color! All CoS titles will have black-bordered covers, NEW cover art, titles such as “Rogue Blades Presents” Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology, and consist of 90-100,000 words. Each anthology will be re-edited by yours truly, with a salute to their creator, Armand Rosamilia, on the title page.

Almost all of the previous authors in the original version of Demon have agreed to return in the re-issued version. The current Demon contains roughly 50k in words - so I will be needing almost double its contents. CoS story lengths will remain the same — 2500-5000 words — so this anthology could reach 30 stories in length.

RBE is offering a flat $30 within 90 days of signing contracts, plus two complimentary copies (1 print/1 electronic) of the book at publication, the permanent right to purchase additional copies at the contributor price (RBE’s standard 42% off the cover price), and the opportunity to include half-page vertical ads for other works of the author for $5 each (a savings of $37).

Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology will be in print by mid-August, in time to attend Dragon*Con with other RBE titles - even if I do not hit the desired word count. Submissions will (pretty much) be read and responded to as they are received. If you have not received a rejection or request to keep your story in the running within 3 days of submission, query or submit again! IMPORTANT: Because I will be reading them as I see them, hook me immediately! Do not delay my gratification - I am too busy to continue reading stories that cannot give me the good stuff up front. I will still provide non-standard rejections with feedback - but I can only provide feedback up until the point at which I quit reading.

CoS tales should be powerful, action-oriented tales of steel versus sorcery -

in this particular case,
strength of man versus spawn of hell!

Some will win and defeat evil - but not unscathed!
Some will lose and die horribly at the hands of evil.

Don’t think - just act!

Don’t emote - just do!

Submissions should ONLY be sent via email
with .RTF attachments and a subject line that reads like this:

Submission: Demons: your story title,
e.g., Submission: Demons: Helter-Skelter

• Email? editor@roguebladesentertainment.com
• Words? 2,500 to 5,000 words - Over or under word count is not a grave disqualification, but I am not looking for flash or too much more than 5k.
• Rights? First World Volume and Electronic Display Rights (with limited exclusivity)
• Stories? Multiple submissions are allowed - but separately please! Authors may have more than one story in CoS anthologies. Reprints are allowed - so long as the author can demonstrate reversion of rights.
• Submissions? If you simultaneously submit - tell me and keep me informed.
• Format? Make sure I can read it.