A Cup of Comfort® for Mothers:

Stories that celebrate the women who gave us everything

While it's true that each of us has "only one mother the wide world over," there are many different ways to be a mother and many different forms and flavors of mother-child relationships. And in this Cup of Comfort anthology we want to capture it all—with personal stories about a wide range of mothering and mother-child experiences, including those that test your mettle as well as those that enrich your life. The book will include stories written both by mothers and about mothers (by their adult children, spouse, own mother). Any topic and tone goes, as long as it’s meaningful to mothers and suitable for Cup of Comfort. Whether a story is endearing or entertaining, inspiring or insightful, humorous or heartwarming, poignant or empowering, or all of the above, it must be uplifting and authentic. And most should be about living mothers/children. Although a story may be about a deceased mother (or a deceased child, if written by the mother), it should focus on her life, not on her death. Narrative essays preferred. Story length: 1000–2000 words.

Submission Deadline: May 15, 2009 Submit Your Story Now
Finalist Notification: June 1, 2009

Grandmother's Necklace

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS GRANDMOTHERS' NECKLACE DEADLINE: Midnight, May 15th

Are you a grandmother? Have you had/do you have, a grandmother? This, then, is for you.

What is it? An anthology of poetry and prose — gems written by and about grandmothers (hence, the plural title) including some from those in the sub-Saharan African countries. This title stems from the beautiful Emerald Necklace Trail system in Petawawa, Ontario, Canada.

Wanted: A variety of pieces from men and women of diverse ethnic and experiential backgrounds — amusing, touching, encouraging, up-lifting anecdotes, short stories, letters and poetry.

Editor: Patricia (Anne) Elford, B.A., M.Div., editor of various genres of books for adults and children, of newsletters, individual pieces and articles, an award-winning professional poet and writer, frequently published in periodicals (e.g. The Presbyterian Record, Artspaper, Glad Tidings, Esprit, The Link), newspapers and anthologies, as well as on line.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
e-mail attachment preferred. Submit to granniesnecklace@hotmail.com, after March 15, 2009, with “MY GEM” in the subject line. For answers to questions as yet unanswered, please use the same address and “QUESTIONS” subject line.

√Microsoft Word or Word Perfect √12-pt Times New Roman √ one-inch margins
If hard copy: One side only, Address: “The Pines”, 614 Airport Rd., Pembroke, ON, K8A 6W7, Attention: My Gem

Prose: Short fiction, creative non-fiction or brief opinion piece, double-spaced
Word Count: 500 to 650 words maximum (excluding title)

POETRY: (non-rhymed preferred but not required), single-spaced
Limit of Lines per poem: 40

PHOTOS: If submitting related photos (e.g. the grandmother, a special item which belongs/ed to the grandmother), use the camera as an external device and cut-and-paste images to a folder. When e-mailing, attach the image directly from its folder to the email; the way you would a Word document. Preference: digital photographs, 300 dpi minimum, high quality uncompressed JPEGs.
Please do not send originals through surface mail.

A brief bio and photo will be requested from all whose work is accepted for publication

ALL PROFITS WILL GO TO "GRANDMOTHERS TO GRANDMOTHERS", Stephen Lewis Foundation.
http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/grandmothers.htm

REMEMBER! ALL SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE, AT THE LATEST, BY THE IDES OF MAY. EARLIER WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED.

Nurse Anthology - Beyond the Borders

Call for Stories from Nurses

Kaplan Publishing, the publisher of a broad range of educational and consumer books by and for healthcare providers, is now accepting stories for a new and exciting anthology, Beyond Borders: Nurses´ Stories about Working Abroad.

Kaplan wants nurses from all over the world to reveal what it´s like to practice nursing outside of their hometowns, in places like the United States, Jamaica, France, Indonesia and beyond.

Whether confronted with unfamiliar cultural norms, new medical language, or greater or fewer resources than you would experience at home, your story will open a window into the commonalties and cultural differences in how the art and science of nursing is practiced around the globe.

SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES.
§ Tell your story. If you are a nurse´s aid, a nurse, or a nurse practitioner please share your unique experience of working somewhere other than your native country. If you have a story of working in a town that is culturally very different from your hometown, we hope you will share this story as well.
§ Tell us how your experience has shaped the person that you are today.
§ Make us laugh, make us cry; allow your words to open a broader world for your readers.
§ All stories must be true and you must you retain the copyright if previously published.
§ Story Length:1,000 - 2,500 words
§ Submit stories in Microsoft Word, 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced.
§ Each submission should include your name, address, phone number, and email address.
§ Tell a story that has a beginning, middle, and end.
§ Write from your heart about a life-changing or life-defining experience.
§ Multiple submissions are welcome.
§ All manuscripts selected for publication will be subject to editing.
§ Before final acceptance, you will receive an agreement that outlines the terms and conditions of publication.
§ Submission Deadline: May 29, 2009
§ Payment:$100 if published, along with two complimentary copies of the book

*By Email - Beyond Borders@live. com Please put your story title in the subject line. You can type the story into the body of the email, or send as an attachment.

*By Mail - Only a paper copy of the story - no disks or CDs please.
Kaplan Publishing - Beyond Borders
P.O. Box 51
Wever, IA 52658 USA
Due to the volume of submissions we cannot acknowledge receipt or provide status updates.

LifeBytes...Real Stories of Online Dating

We are accepting submissions for "LifeBytes...Real Stories of Online
Dating" (est. publication date spring 2010)

Who doesn't love sitting around with friends and family over coffee
or a cocktail sharing stories about life, work and love? LifeBytes is
interested in YOUR Online dating story. Make a cup of coffee or stir
up a cocktail and tell us your cyber dating adventures - the good,
the bad and the ugly! "LifeBytes...Real Stories" will be a
compilation of the true stories that singles love to share with one
another about the ups and downs of searching for Prince (or Princess)
Charming.

We are looking for evocative stories that can be funny, poignant,
provocative, scary, weird, sexy, edgy or happy. We're looking for the
full range of experiences that make online dating such an adventure.
Writers whose work is chosen for publication will receive payment for
their story in the market range of $50-$100 (word count dependent).

Our initial deadline is June 15, 2009.

For complete submission guidelines please visit our website at:
http://www.lifebytesbook.com[

2]

Also, stop by our blog at:
http://lifebytesrealstories.wordpress.com[3] to put your digital feet
up and chat for a while.

And don't forget to join our Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=67366205943[4]

Let us know who you are through your unique voice. We're looking
forward to meeting you.
Regards,
Sharon Sommerhalter

Audience with an Agent Contest 2009

It's the moment you've all be waiting for! THE announcement you've been hankering for. Yep, today is the day we announce the first MAJOR contest from Novel Matters.

Audience with an Agent Contest 2009!

Let's all take a deep breath, and steady ourselves. It doesn't get more exciting than this!

You could win an Audience with an Agent!

Who can enter? Novelists in North America.

How does it work? We will post full contest rules in the "Promotions" section of the blog so you can refer back to them whenever you need to - or print them out.

Who is the agent? None other than the amazing uber agent: Wendy Lawton of Books & Such Literary Agency.


There are two stages to the Audience with an Agent Contest:

Stage one: Submit as an attachment a sample chapter of your completed novel along with a one page synopsis to us at novelmatters@gmail.com by July 31, 2009. (This means you will have until that time to finish your novel if it isn't yet complete, but it is important that your book be finished when you submit your chapter and synopsis. Details of what is expected in a sample chapter and synopsis is posted in the "Promotions" section of the blog).

Stage two: If your manuscript is chosen, it will land on the desk of Wendy Lawton in October, 2009. Wendy will read the sample chapter and synopsis. There will be a total of six manuscripts that will make it to this stage. At that point, it is possible that Wendy will contact one or more of six authors and ask to see a full manuscript. It is completely up to Wendy Lawton's discretion to seek out more information from a writer.

What? Only ONE Chapter?
Yes. Just one.
Latayne shared this story with us one evening: "Once I interviewed several prominent editors from Christian publishing houses for an article I was writing for Christian Retailing magazine, for an article entitled, "What Makes a Bestseller?" One very prominent editor told me of the importance of the first few lines of a manuscript. She said that if the writing didn't "grab" her on the first page -- or conversely, turned her off in those first few lines -- she didn't read further.
All the editors I talked to said that they read manuscripts, proposals, query letters etc. trying to find a reason to reject them. Now, they may not have said it so baldly, but that's what they meant. That's because everyone is inundated with writing. They simply don't have the time to keep reading through boring/illiterate/inappropriately-pitched materials to find something good later on.
When I conducted the interview with this editor, she told of hiring kids from her church youth group to come to her corporate office on Saturdays once a month. She would pay them and buy them pizza just to stuff manuscripts and proposals back into SASEs with form-letter rejection slips. She pictured mountains of materials that deserved a response -- but did not deserve to be published.
Now, that was a decade ago when major publishing houses were all still accepting manuscripts directly from authors; and in the early days of electronic submissions. But I would imagine the story is even more overt today: The ease of electronic submission has made it even easier for increasing numbers of people to send off their projects. Now, if a synopsis or first chapter doesn't compel an agent or editor to read further than the first computer monitor screenful, why would they?"

Some writers ask, "How can an agent or editor really know if they want my book based only on the first chapter and a synopsis?"

The answer is that while you probably won't be offered a contract from a first reading, there is more than enough information in the first chapter and synopsis to let an agent or editor know she wants more. It shows you've got the chops for writing. And it leads to the next step.

Get your submissions ready to send in. We look forward to hearing from you.

Chimeraworld

MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, DETENTION CAMPS FOR DISSIDENTS, RFID CHIP GLOBAL TYRANNY, FALSE FLAG TERRORISM, BIOCHEMICAL ATTACK, MARTIAL LAW ON OUR STREETS, TOTAL SURVEILLANCE STATE, THE SUPRESSION OF KNOWLEDGE IS POWER . . . following a mass awakening, the Global Elite are annihilated.

For Chimeraworld #6, I want stories depicting THE WORLD AFTER THE COMING REVOLUTION, as mankind returns to a life stripped of Capitalism and Mass Media Propaganda. Is this a worse or a better world, without the Google-fuelled glare of the bankers dictating every move you make? I want insane stories about a travelling life, a journey through real freedom. I want uncensored stories about chaos, uncertainty and anarchy. I want enlightening stories about how the world deals with no money, no banks and no business loans.

I want your story of how yourself and your family get by once everything you know about Modern Society has been eradicated, when the Global Elite's power grab has been exposed and has failed in spectacular fashion. I want stories about life after global brain-washing, stories of life filled with compassion and promise that one day we'll be embraced by the wider society of our galaxy. What was your part in the revolution and how you made a difference to the new world disorder?

I want Chimeraworld #6 to be a testament to the awakening of mankind, stories about immersion in the galactic melting pot – hardcore experimentation, dimensional travel, body-swapping with alien races, DNA bartering, galactic superheroes, real cultural exchange. Everything is permitted. Nothing is a crime. Surrealism is your saviour.

Chimeraworld #6 (new world disorder) will be published by Chimericana Books, late 2009 in American format 6" by 9" trade paperback. Word count: 2,000–4,000 words, strict. Payment: £10.00UK (approx $20.00US). Esubs: only to m.i.k.e.@m.i.k.e.philbin.com (remove the dots in m.i.k.e. ). Format: Rich Text Format only. Font: Times Roman, 12 point, single space. Add postal address, email and word count to first page. Add 50–100 word bio after THE END.

For those of you reading this who are still a tad confused and might have read/submitted to previous Chimeraworlds where the guidelines were much more prescriptive, let me reiterate that I want what you think you can offer to this anthology. How you think the future pans out.

It could talk about a continued civil war as clan-ism takes root once again.
It could talk about Capitalist-free utopias where freelove is the new social Macaq.
It could talk about a world stunned into peace by the arrival of a new race, uncloaking from the rags of society.

Anything you wanna submit has the potential to be appropriate, as long as it's after the Global Banking Elite, and the present structure of society, has been vanquished.

NEW MORALITY, NEW BELIEF SYSTEMS, NEW FAMILY, NEW SOCIAL LIFE, NO MORE WARS, CREATIVITY IS KING, LIBERATION FROM THE DAILY GRIND, COME OUT FROM UNDER THAT STOMPING COMBAT BOOT AND SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!

Mike Philbin, editor for Chimericana Books

Shadows of the Emerald City.

Submission period ending: July 31^st, 2009.

POD Anthology.

No other story has touched as many hearts and endeared itself into the American fabric as 'The Wizard of Oz' by L. Frank Baum. Often toted as America's first Fairy Tale, this heartwarming classic has been made and remade again and again across every medium known to man. The themes are timeless, the characters themselves beloved.

And now, here is your chance to rip that all to bloody, meaty pieces.

Like all fairy tales, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has one foot rooted in the fantastic, and the other foot planted in blood. There are some very adult themes taken lightly in this novel, themes of child abduction, murder, cannibalism, torture, witchcraft, and more. Shadows DO fall in the Emerald City, and where they are their darkest is where you will find the true terror of Oz.

What we want to see are horror stories based on the world of Oz. This includes the characters, the settings, the world itself. We're deconstructing an American institution, so we'd like to see what you can come up with. Blood and gore, or explicit sex? By all means. As long as it reads as part of the natural progression of the story and not some fucked up penthouse letter.

Scare us. Disgust us. More than anything though, give us a reason to turn the page.

Tentative Publication Date: Fall 2009.

Particulars

Stories should come in under 10k words. Now I say should, because I�m not going to leave something amazing on the floor because it's 11k words, but it had better be something very special to be seriously considered. Anything in the 5-10k range is perfect. Unpublished work preferred, but please query if you have a previously published work that you think would fit this collection.

Payment

Payment is $20.00 US and 1 contributor copy, paid on publication. I am paying for the right to use your stories one time (AKA ONE TIME WORLD WIDE RIGHTS) for this particular short story collection, and all rights will revert back to you upon publication.

Submission Format

Please send all stories, questions, and complaints BY EMAIL ONLY to ozhorror @ gmail.com. Please remove the spaces prior to mailing. or click the TWO handy links I created just for you. Standard submission format is acceptable. RTF files only please. Return time will be <4>