Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned From the Cat

101 Stories about Life, Love, and Lessons

Cats have always been wonderful companions and playmates that brighten and enrich our lives but they are also amazing teachers. We want cat lovers, both lifelong and reluctant, to share the lessons they have learned about life from their furry companions. The stories in this book will delight readers with the often humorous, heartwarming, poignant and always inspiring lessons taught to us by our feline friends and family members.

We are looking for true stories and poems written in the first person of no more than 1,200 words. Stories can be serious or humorous, or both. Remember, these stories should be about lessons learned from your cat rather than general stories about your cat.

If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book if you so choose. You will also receive a check for $200 and 10 free copies of your book, worth more than $100. You will retain the copyright for your story.

SUBMISSIONS GO TO
http://chickensoupf orthesoul. com/form. asp?cid=submit_ story.

The deadline for submissions is March 31, for publication in September 2009.

CONTACT US

Please do not reply or send questions to this address. For any further questions or correspondence, contact webmaster@chickenso upforthesoul. com or visit our website at
http://www.chickens oup.com.

Friendship Star

Mention friends and everyone has a memory or story to share. Choice Publishing Group (CPG) is collecting these stories and memories about, by, and from friends for their new book Patchwork Path: Friendship Star.

CPG is looking for original stories and essays from 250 to 2000 words about friendship. Each submission will be reviewed and considered based on creativity, originality, concept, and style. Reading will be continuous and submissions will be considered as they arrive. Not all works will be accepted. There is NO Entry or Reading Fee. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2009.

Submissions will be selected for publication in Patchwork Path: Friendship Star by Choice Publishing Group president Tena Beth Thompson and bestselling author Gregory A. Kompes.

The Patchwork Path story collection titles are all based on quilt block names and have quilt and quilter themes. In addition to Friendship Star (to be published fall 2009) other titles include Grandma's Choice (November 2008), Dad's Bowtie (June 2009), Wedding Bouquet (2010), Treasure Box (2010), and Star Spangled Banner (2011).

Miss Thompson writes about her life experiences with humor. "If I can put a smile on one person's face for a second, easing their pain, I will consider my book a huge success," she says with conviction. Thompson's book, Separation Survival Guide, When Your Marriage Catapults into Limbo, will be available in 2008.

Mr. Kompes, Patchwork Path Production Director, holds a degree in English literature from Columbia University, New York, and an MS. Ed. from CSU, East Bay. He is the author of the bestselling 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live (Career Press) and editor of The Fabulist Flash, a newsletter for writers and the Eighteen Questions, a
Writer's Digest "101 Best Website for Writers" 2007 & 2008.

Choice Publishing Group (CPG) publishes books that touch people's lives and offer a respite from everyday pressures. CPG books inspire readers to view life with a positive attitude, count their blessing or make them laugh.

For more information, including complete submission guidelines, visit Patchwork Path: Piecing Together Our Lives online at http://www.Patchwor kPath.com.

Writing Calamities

We're looking for wacky, unbelievable, and/or humorous stories! What's the wildest writer-related experience you've ever had? Crack us up! Awe us! Please sum up your submission with a one-sentence lesson or quote.

Submission Guidelines

All stories must be true and about you or someone you know. Reprints are acceptable but please tell us when and where your story was printed.

Submissions must be between 750 - 1,500 words. Any submissions that do not meet the word count requirement will be deleted immediately.

Please include the following with your submission:

• your full name (or pen name - please specify)
• address
• email address
• phone number
• story title
• word count
• your bio
• the book title you are submitting to

Send your submissions to: writersguide@writergazette.com. Please make the subject line match the book title that you are submitting to. All submissions must be pasted into the body of your email - absolutely no attachments. Emails with attachments will be immediately deleted.

Please note: it may take up to a year for us to respond to your submission. Thank you for your patience with us as we review submissions.

There is no deadline to submit for these books at this time as we are considering future volumes for each themed book.

Payment Upon Publishing: At this time we can pay CDN$15 per submission with your full bio and a free copy of the ebook. We are paying via PayPal and by cheque (CDN funds). It is our intent to increase the payment amount in the future when possible. If you do not agree to these payment terms, please do not submit.

Rights: We require one time rights and editing rights (if needed). You retain all copyrights. Upon acceptance of your submission, we will send you publication contract and a copy of your formatted story. This form must be signed and returned in order for your submission to be published in our series. Upon acceptance of your submission, you hereby grant Topzone Publishing/Krista Barrett the right to publish and reproduce your submission in book form or any other media form that may result from publication worldwide.

Disclaimer: We have the right to refuse any and all submissions that we believe will not fit with the theme of our books.

About Us: Krista Barrett, owner of Writer Gazette, Writers Manual and EbooksCafe, is the running force behind this new book series. Books will be available in electronic and printed formats.

The Mission for this book series:

• To provide encouragement and inspiration to writers worldwide.
• To provide a new market for writers worldwide

Raw Terror

~Raw Terror~
A horror anthology, edited by Ian Hunter

What we want:

We're looking for scary, horrible, terrifying stories that would fit into an anthology called “Raw Terror”. They can be traditional horror,supernatural, or psychological, but no Fantasy or Science fiction, unless your story really merits that framework.


Short stories should be 500 to 5000 words in length, 12pt, Times New Roman font, double spaced, two spaces after sentence ending punctuation. Please do not use headers or footers.


Stories should be sent as .rtf or .doc documents. Please include details (name, address, word count) and a brief (250 word) bio in the body of the e-mail.


We will pay £10 per story and a contributor’s copy for 1st worldwide anthology rights. No reprints. Authors will be paid upon publication.


Send your submissions to ihunter24601@hotmail.com as attached .rtf or .doc file. On the subject line, put RAW TERROR and your story’s title. If you do not receive confirmation that we received your submission within 7 days, please feel free to query.

You may send multiple submissions, but only one per e-mail, and while we also accept simultaneous submissions, please notify us of where else you have submitted--and if/when it is accepted elsewhere.


Submissions are open from now and will remain open until 28 February 2009. All submissions will be responded to by 31 March 2009. Publication date is scheduled for the Glasgow BFS open night on the 11 June 2009.

The Blackness Within

The Blackness Within will be published by Apex Book Company
Edited by Gill Ainsworth


Outline:

Somewhere in a parochial village in Herefordshire, England, the Celtic God, Moccus, was re-born. Whether the winds were blowing in the wrong direction, or whether the times were accommodating, no-one knows, but it happened.

If you haven't heard of Moccus, google. You'll find he's a Celtic pig-god whose influence affected all aspects of life, particularly fertility. The word pig has many connotations in today's world and doesn't necessarily limit Moccus to a pig-like appearance. Neither does it make a pig-like appearance mandatory. In other words, there is a lot for the imagination to explore.

I'm looking for stories that encompass all stages of Moccus's reappearance from infancy -- contemporary -- to death (his middle age and near-future) -- and how his influence spread throughout the world. He is powerful; his presence will be felt even in the backwaters of the Nile Delta. What I'm looking for are truly international takes on this theme, with settings from all over the world. The UK has already been covered.

This is primarily a horror/dark fantasy anthology but will stretch to the near future. That means no space exploration, nor out-and-out far-fetched science, and I don't want apocalypse-type stories -- the world will continue even after his death. However, psi stories, dark fantasy (not high fantasy) will all be considered. I'm not afraid of a little adult content. If in doubt, try me. Worst-case scenario is rejection -- in the nicest possible way.

But please proof read. I don't take grammatical problems well. Know your its from your it's, effect from affect and please, please, to lay is a different verb from to lie. I rest my case.

Specifics:


Open to submissions on 1st March 2009 and will close when full. If you submit before this date, your story will be deleted.

Word count between 3000 and 7000 words

No simultaneous submissions and no multiple submissions; please wait until you've heard back before sending another story

Stories should be sent either as a Word DOC (.doc) or RTF (.rtf) and attached to your e-mail. A short covering letter stating approximate word count and giving contact details is expected. If you send your story in the body of an e-mail, it will be deleted unread

Contact details should be given on the manuscript as well as in the body of the e-mail

Courier New, 12 point. Double line spacing, with indented paragraphs. A hash (#) denotes a section break.
Single space between full stops and double speech marks for dialogue. Otherwise, follow your UK/US/SA/Aus... formatting, spelling etc, but please remain constant throughout; don't switch from one to another.

Payment is £15 per story or equivalent according to XE.com (through PayPal -- I can't issue dollar cheques) upon publication. If no currency preference is stated in the covering letter, payment will be made in pounds sterling.

I ask for FNASR

If you have any questions, please ask. Submissions and questions to be sent to gill@apexdigest.com. Please put 'Blackness Within' in the subject line followed by either your story title or the word 'question'. You should receive a 'got it' or answer to your question within 48 hours; if you haven't received such, assume that it didn't arrive and resend


I will endeavour to respond to submissions within 4 weeks but please don't query until at least 2 months after sending your story.

2012AD Anthology

Severed Press seeks short stories for its new Apocalypse anthology, 2012AD. Stories should be based around the Ancient Mayan prediction of the world ending on December 21st 2012. Stories can be Horror, Dark humor, Monsters, Zombies, Sci-Fi, Biblical (Antichrist, four horseman ETC) Evil from other dimensions in fact anything goes.

Payment: Payment will be $0.01 word based on the final edited version. Rounded to the nearest hundred words, plus one Authors copy.

Stories for anthologies should be between 2000-8000 words and be submitted with a brief Bio and a synopsis of your story in standard form as an attachment to anthologies@severedpress.com please advise us if story has been published before.

The deadline for submissions are as follows:

2012AD - 15/04/09

MISCARRIAGE ANTHOLOGY

Catalyst Book Press is seeking literary essays telling personal stories of miscarriage, in particular emotional and spiritual ramifications of miscarriage or the transformations that occurred in people's lives as a result of undergoing or observing a miscarriage. We are looking for essays that reflect a diversity of experiences and outcomes. Authors of accepted essays will receive $50 for their stories and one copy of the publication.

Submissions can be sent by August 15, 2009 to editor Jay Gibson at jaygibson@catalystb ookpress. com or:

care of Catalyst Book Press
709 Masson Ave. Apt. A
San Bruno CA 94066

If you wish your manuscript returned, please include an SASE.

* * *

To support the author of this blog, consider buying her books.

Pumping Your Muse (Creative writing book)

Windwalker (Fantasy)

Beyond the Fifth Gate (Fantasy)

For more about the author of this blog check out Theinkslinger.net.

Dysfunctional Family Anthology

Almost everyone thinks their own family is dysfunctional, or at least has a dysfunctional member or two.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is looking for true stories and poems about your family. Stories can be serious or hilarious, or both, and should help readers understand that their families are not so different from those of other people. Many of us have the same in-laws, siblings, parents, etc.

Submit under your real name, but rest assured they expect most of you to use pen names for publication and change the names of family members to protect the innocent (or guilty!). They prefer stories and poems written in the first person of no more than 1,200 words.

Here are some suggested topics, but they know you can think of many more, since there is no way we can think of all the ways that families can be dysfunctional:

Wedding woes
Compulsions
Holiday meltdowns
Mean or controlling family members
Crazy but lovable
Interventions and family meetings
Abandoning a family member, sometimes to preserve the rest
Funny foibles
Serious family issues such as abuse, mental illness, substance abuse
Reconciliations
Funeral flare-ups and estate issues
Acceptance
... Anything else that you think is interesting about your
dysfunctional relatives

They are not looking for stories about divorce or the normal trials and tribulations of raising children and teenagers.

If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book if you so choose. You will also receive a check for $200 and 10 free copies of your book, worth more than $100. You will retain the copyright for your story and you will retain the
right to resell it.

SUBMISSIONS GO TO
http://chickensoupf orthesoul. com/form. asp?cid=submit_ story.

DEADLINE IS JUNE 30, 2009. Book is tentatively scheduled for publication in fall 2009, in time for the next holiday season!

* * *

To support the author of this blog, consider buying her books.

Pumping Your Muse (Creative writing book)

Windwalker (Fantasy)

Beyond the Fifth Gate (Fantasy)

For more about the author of this blog check out Theinkslinger.net.

CATASTROPHIA

Edited by Allen Ashley

Guidelines

Catastrophia will be a collection of stories loosely themed around the theme of catastrophes, disasters and post-apocalyptic fiction. I will be looking for original, unpublished stories which deal in a modern manner with these classic SF- and Horror-based tropes.

Rights and other technical details

I’m looking only for original material - no reprints. I will be buying First British and First North American Rights for your story with a one-year moratorium subsequent to publication. I can offer 3p/6c a word up to a maximum payment of £100 / $200 per story. The book will be published by PS Publishing and the current expected pub date is summer 2010.

Submissions

The submission period will open on 1^st August 2008 and will last until 31^st May 2009 or whenever the book is full. Unless specified otherwise, all submissions should be sent as disposable hard copies to:

Allen Ashley
Editor: Catastrophia
110d Marlborough Road
Bounds Green
London, N22 8NN
England

Please include an email address for reply or a stamped and addressed envelope. Response time will be three months or less.

Stories should ideally be in the range of 2000 to 6000 words although both longer and shorter tales will be considered.

Catastrophe? What catastrophe?

In short, some event that rapidly changes the world social order, threatens the survival of humankind or the Earth, reduces people to a state of mere hand-to-mouth existence, puts the clock of progress back a couple of thousand years almost overnight, takes our attention off the exploits of celebrities, footballers and politicians and instead focuses it on keeping ourselves and our loved ones alive until sundown . . . and so on. As I said in my own story ‘The Overwhelm’ (in which the world was engulfed by fog): “Truly it didn’t take much for the veneer of civilisation to be stripped away.”

I will be taking a broad view of what constitutes a catastrophe/disaster / apocalypse but authors should note that I am not seeking gratuitous rape and violence fantasies.

A brief history of catastrophes

These tales have a long and prominent history within the genre and are among the first titles that spring to mind when listing SF classics. Discounting Biblical, mythical and similar precedents, this sub-genre probably started with:

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (invading Martians destroy Britain) and M. P. Shiel’s The Purple Cloud (Polar toxins kill everybody bar the protagonist).

Brian Aldiss famously labelled many of these stories as “cosy catastrophes” but that certainly hasn’t got in the way of our enjoyment. Your editor grew up on these stories and with Catastrophia expects to reinvigorate the genre for the twenty-first century. Indeed, recent films such as The Day After Tomorrow (environmental disaster), Deep Impact (comet strikes Earth) and the re-make of The War of the Worlds suggests the desire is there to be faced with the apocalyptic all over again.

Further reading

• Brian Aldiss - Greybeard (no children are born);
• Brian Aldiss - Barefoot in the Head (LSD contamination causes social breakdown);
• J. G. Ballard - The Drowned World, The Drought, The Crystal World, The Wind From Nowhere - early quartet of psychological /environmental disaster novels from the master;
• Edmund Cooper - All Fool’s Day and Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (benchmark post-apocalyptic last man on Earth tales);
• Edmund Cooper - Kronk and Charles Platt - The Gas (rampant venereal disease / sex plagues);
• John Christopher - The World in Winter (new ice age);
• John Christopher - Death of Grass (aka No Blade of Grass) (All grass / wheat / rice crops fail);
• Keith Roberts - The Furies (giant wasps);
• John Wyndham - The Day of the Triffids (blindness and killer plants);
• John Wyndham - The Kraken Wakes (marauding sea monsters);
• Roger Zelazny - Damnation Alley (Mad Max started here).

For a really modern catastrophe story in the short form, I recommend that you track down ‘Approaching Zero’ by John Lucas (contemporary lifestyles as catastrophe!), most recently available in my anthology from Elastic Press, The Elastic Book Of Numbers (2005).

Catastrophes for the new millennium

With the current prominence of ‘Green’ issues, you may well decide to try your hand at environmental disaster, biological agents running amuck, responses to the future fuel and water shortages or similar themes . . .

I’ve always quite liked the idea of the animal and plant kingdoms getting their own back on Humankind (See The Furies, Day of the Triffids, the film Them, etc) - so I would be quite receptive to an idea along those lines. No zombies or vampires, though, which have been done to death.

Similarly, I’m open to something based on our dependence on technology in the so-called Information Age. But no cyberspeak gobbledegook, please, and no rehash of Transformers.

I’m sure there’s plenty of material to extrapolate from. Better still, come up with a fresh catastrophe idea, something that has not been explored before but is still close enough to the real world to convince as an extrapolation or a possibility.

Good luck!

Things Aren’t What They Seem:

Things Aren’t What They Seem
by From the Asylum Books and Press
edited by Katherine Sanger

In the grand tradition of SF, we are looking for stories about aliens among us. They can be trying to fit in, take over, or steal away the promotion that you deserve. Does your neighbor drink an awful lot of milk? That guy at work not seem right? Who are they? What are they doing here?

We’re looking for flash fiction (up to 1,000 words) and short fiction (1,001 to 5,000 words) that tell the story of aliens in our world. (Please note: No “jar of Tang” endings. No “dream” endings. No elaborate set-ups on aliens planets to make it look like Earth in order to…you get the idea.) Word count is firm. Any pieces above or below the word count will not be read. Please submit only one story. Please do not submit poetry -- this is for fiction only.

Your story can fit anywhere in the speculative rainbow -- SF, fantasy, horror, or just plain strange! Humor is a plus, but is not strictly necessary. (Yes, you can have aliens in your medieval of fantasy-based world…the aliens can be good or evil..or just trying to survive on $6.50 an hour.)

Payment is $15 for flash fiction and $30 for short fiction. All authors accepted will also get one copy of the anthology.

UPDATE - 10/31/08

Things Aren’t What They Seem:
Acceptances and rejections of all submissions have gone out, both mail and email. If you have not heard from us, please send us an email at ksanger@fromtheasylum.com as some of the emails did bounce and I’m sure if it’s my system that is at fault.
We are re-opening the submission period, to last from October 31 until December 31. While we received a number of excellent stories, we have not yet reached our desired length as the anthology will not be heavy enough to assist in beating our alien neighbors.
Guidelines remain the same. We are still looking for both flash fiction (under 1,000 words) and longer works (up to 5,000 words).
There are two important things I would like to emphasize, however.

• Aliens *must be* the main thrust. No tacked on aliens that don’t figure into the plot.
• Humor is preferred over horror (although humorous horror often works for us!).

To enter:

Please send your submission to:

From the Asylum Books and Press

“Things Aren’t What They Seem”

PO Box 1519

Dickinson, TX 77539

Include a cover letter with your name, your pseudonym (if applicable), your email address, your phone number, your mailing address, the name of the piece, the word count of the piece, and a short biography. Include a SASE if you would like to be notified of rejection.

Or email:

fta@fromtheasylum.com

Please cut and paste your file (text, not html) into the email. We do not accept attachments.

Please be sure to use the subject line “Things Aren’t What They Seem Submission” or your piece may be put into the general submissions.

In your email, include your name, your pseudonym (if applicable), your email address, your phone number, your mailing address, the name of the piece, the word count of the piece, and a short biography.

Closing Date: We will be keeping the submissions for the anthology open until May 15. Responses to the first set of submissions will be going out by the end of April.

Publication Date: If closed by April 15, we will be publishing in November.

At this time, we hope to respond to entries within 4 weeks of receipt.

Wisdom of Our Mothers

Familia Books

Statement of aims and general information:

This website's aim is to gather stories about what we have learned from our mothers, how we feel about it, and how it affects the way we live our lives. These stories will be collected into a book, tentatively titled Wisdom of Our Mothers. Fifty percent of the profits from the book will be donated to shelters for mothers and their children escaping from abusive relationships.

If your work is accepted, you will be paid $100 per story upon publication of the book. (See FAQs for other payment options.)

To contribute your story, click "Send Story"

To read sample stories, click "Read Stories."

ON MOTHERHOOD

Our mothers were our first teachers. The lessons we learned were different, but for nearly all of us, they had a profound impact, laying the foundation for our feelings, values, self-image, and personalities.

This is not to idealize motherhood. We were taught by human beings, and the lessons carried with them all the flaws of which humans are capable. Sometimes they brought distress, resentments, and estrangement, as well as wisdom.

But they came from what is the most demanding task which most humans could ever face: bringing into this world another human being, nurturing, caring for that life, for as long as the mother or child lives.

No one can ever define fully what this means either to mothers or their children, but we can contribute to this site our experiences to flesh out what maternal wisdom means to us. And when, in a few months, we have gathered enough stories, we can share our experiences through the completed anthology, Wisdom of Our Mothers.

Story guidelines: Maximum length is 3,000 words (no minimum). Stories will be true accounts of life’s lessons learned from one’s mother, regarding values, ethics, relationships. They should be generally positive, but may explore areas of disagreement or conflict with one’s mother.

How to submit your story: You may submit your stories by s-mail or e-mail. Click “Contact” for details.

Include with submission: Contact information: your name, address, phone number, and email address.

Deadline: November 30, 2008 (tentative)

Diversion Press Fantasy Anthology:

The stories may include any type of sword and sorcery type fantasy, but must be original works NOT following any material owned or trademarked by other companies engaged in publishing books or games set in fantasy worlds.

Page length: Between 20-40 pages, but we would consider longer or slightly shorter pieces.

Due Date: December 1 (tentative-we reserve the right to extend this if we have not yet accepted enough stories to complete the Anthology).

Interested in submitting stories? View guidelines here.

Calhoun Gordon County Writers Guild – Animal Tales Anthology

Calhoun Gordon County Writers Guild is looking for true animal and pet stories for their proposed Animal Tales anthology. The animal in your story must play a central role in the story and should be no longer than 3000 words. Humorous and inspirational stories about pets and uncommon animals are preferred. Reprints are accepted; just tell us where the story was originally published. Simultaneous submissions are welcome but if your submission is a simultaneous, please tell us in the submission and let us know immediately if it is accepted for publication elsewhere. Submissions must be original and preferably unpublished non-fiction. If your story has been published and you own the rights, we're willing to consider it as well. Please, no novels, poetry, or stories written for children.

Writer's Guidelines:

Format: Save as a Word doc or rtf format.

Word Count: 1,000-3,000

How to submit: Email submissions only. Send to anthologynewsandreviews@yahoo.com. Type "Pet Anthology Submission" in the subject line.

Other Information: Be sure to include: Your name, address, email, and word count of your story.

Our response time is approximately 45 days.

Suggestions:

• Use few characters and stick to one point of view.
• Limit the time frame.
• Follow conventional story structure.

Payment

This anthology is a non-paying publication, but contributors get a byline and one contributor copy. Once sufficient material is collected stories will be bundled in an anthology.

Rights

The Calhoun Gordon County Writer's Guild asks for non-exclusive anthology rights for a period of six months after publication. Any accepted material gets assigned an expected publication date. If this publication date is not met, rights revert to the author immediately.