What: No Shit, There I Was, an anthology of
short speculative fiction sharing one common thread: each story begins
with that immortal line. Where they end will be up to the writer.
Why: The world is full of unbelievable, hilarious,
and sometimes tragic no shit, there I was stories. Can speculative
fiction writers rise to the challenge of creating something even more
fantastical than the everyday product?
Who We Are: Alliteration Ink is run by Steven Saus
(member SFWA/HWA), focusing on anthologies and single-author
collections, with over a dozen titles across two imprints.
Rachael
Acks is a writer, geologist, and sharp-dressed sir. In addition to her
steampunk novella series, she’s had short stories in Strange Horizons, Waylines, Daily Science Fiction, Penumbra, and more. She’s an active member of SFWA, the Northern Colorado Writer’s Workshop, and Codex.
Who: This will be an open call. All who read and follow the submission guidelines are welcome in the slush pile.
When: Rachael wants stories no later than 6 Jan
- No exceptions will be made. The Kickstarter will occur after the
table of contents has been set.
What We Want From You:
Stories 2,000-7,500 words long. Query for anything shorter or longer.
All stories must begin with the line, No shit, there I was. It can be dialog or part of the regular prose.
Stories must contain a discernible speculative element, either
fantasy or science fiction, and the speculative element must be integral
to the plot. Dependent upon submission quality, the intention is for a
50/50 split of fantasy and science fiction.
The intention is to cover a wide range of subgenres to show the
versatility of a single opening linecomedies, tragedies, and everything
in between are welcome in the slush pile. That said, Rachael is not
terribly interested in horror, and erotica is right out. Salty language
is okay, gratuitous violence, gore, or sex is not. Feel free to query if
you have questions.
We are particularly interested in seeing stories from
underrepresented populations (eg: people of color, people with
disabilities, LGBT people).
Original fiction strongly preferred; query first for reprints.
Submitted stories must be in standard manuscript format and submitted
in rtf, doc, or docx file format. Please make sure your name, email
address, word count, and title of your story are on the first page of
your manuscript.
Stories that do not follow these guidelines may face summary rejection.
Submissions should be sent to [email protected]
Payment: We intend to fund this project via
Kickstarter. Authors are encouraged to provide backer rewards for the
campaign, but that is definitely not required. The initial funding goal
will provide for a flat $0.06/per word (US) for all stories. In the
unlikely event a reprint is accepted, payment will be $0.03/per word
(US). There will be no kill fees. Higher per word payment will be one of
the stretch goals for the project.
While the table of contents will be mostly set prior to the
Kickstarter for advertising purposes, contracts will not be sent out
until the Kickstarter is completed. Should the project fail to fund, it
will continue, though with a different payment structure to be
determined. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Rights: Exclusive English world first print and
digital rights for one year. Nonexclusive print, digital, and anthology
rights for term of copyright. All other rights are reserved to the
author.
Contact Information: Editorial decisions are to be
handled by Rachael Acks and questions regarding them should be directed
to her at [email protected]. Contract, money, publicity, and
business decisions will be handled by Alliteration Ink, and should be
directed to [email protected] (or any other e-mail address you have for him – they all go to the same place).
This call for submissions can also be found at