Historical Lovecraft Anthology

Historical Lovecraft anthology opening this September to submissions. The anthology will be available in print and as an e-book in 2011, and is produced and edited by the eldritch duo of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles.

What They Want

Historical fiction with a Lovecraftian twist. Stories should be set in a variety of places, cultures and time periods. While they might buy one story set in 1920s New England, they want to stray far from the normal Lovecraft milieu. If you’re going to do 1920s, why not ship them off to China and tell the story from the point of view of a native of Shanghai? Some examples of ideas they’d like to see:

• There’s something afoot in Henry VIII’s court.
• A Mayan warrior discovers evil lurking in Tikal.
• A trader in Byzantium finds a rare artifact.
• The Pharaoh’s latest advisor is a man of vast knowledge and even vaster secrets.
• The Necronomicon! Take them to Damascus as Alhazred pens the manuscript. Or to the printing of the 17th century edition in Spain.
• Journey to Inuit Canada, where the ice holds prisoner an old foe.
• Political intrigue in Edo leads to blood, tragedy and a brush with a fearsome entity from beyond the stars.
• What happened to Machu Picchu? How bloody were its last days?
• How did the jungle really claim Angkor Wat?
• The rainforests of the Congo groan under Belgian tyranny at the turn of the 20th century. What deadly deals are made to free it?

Please note that for their purposes they consider historical anything up to 1937 (the year of Lovecraft’s death).

If you are curious to know what they enjoy reading, look at some of the fiction issues ofInnsmouth Free Press. The latest one is here.

Length

From flash fiction (1,000 words or under) to novelette (10,000 words). Keep in mind they have a payment cap of $50 CAD, so your long novelette might be better served by finding another home.

Payment

One cent per word up to a maximum of $50 CAD. One physical copy of the anthology and one e-book copy.

Payment made via PayPal or Canadian check upon acceptance.

They are purchasing first English print and electronic rights for the anthology.

Reprints

Considered, with a few caveats:

1. Indicate where and when the story was originally published in your cover letter.
2. Reprints offered should not be easily available in print or online.
3. Payment is a flat $25 CAD for reprints.

If you published it in a small collection in 1985 and it’s no longer on the market, that’s fine. If it was published in a German magazine and never translated to English, they’d like to see it. If it appeared in a now-defunct zine, that’s okay, too. If it was in a recent issue of an English-language zine that is currently online, no.

Submitting

E-mail them at innsmouthfp AT gmail.com. Subject line: Historical Antho, [Title of your Story, Author's Name]. The subject line is important; otherwise, the story might go into the wrong pile.

Do not send simultaneous submissions. Do not send more than one submission. If they reject one story, you can send another one.

Include a cover letter with the story word count, salient writing credits and any reprint information (if applicable). Yes, they do read cover letters, so please include the information (Paula gets cranky when stories arrive sans byline, title or cover letter).

Attach story as RTF (preferred) or Word (doc, not docx) document. Use standard manuscript format. Italics as italics, bold as bold. No fancy fonts.

Stories can be sent in English, French or Spanish.

Submissions are accepted from September 1, 2010 to January 3, 2011. Do not send anything before or after that date.

They will reject some stories as they come in and send others to the hold pile. Final story selection will take place in January 2011.