Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Andrews McMeel Universal today announced the launch of the first Comic Strip Superstar, the international competition in search of the next popular comic strip artist. The winner will receive a publishing contract from Andrews McMeel Publishing, a $5,000 advance from Universal Uclick and a monthly stipend for the development of 20 comic strips that will be considered for syndication.http://blogs.gocomics.com/2009/08/amazon-and-andrews-mcmeel-universal-announce-first-comic-strip-superstar-competition.htmlRead more…
Monthly Harlequin, a manga-style magazine for girls http://tinyurl.com/8b5znn********************************************Baen Books and The National Space Society have announced the third annual Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest. The word limit: 8000 words. Near futuristic. No space opera or paranormals. Deadline April 1 http://williamledbetter.com/contest"Tir Na Nog [Press] will be launching a new incarnation of 'Fantastic Stories' as a quarterly magazine, with Warren Lapine as the editor. The first 8.5" x 11" issue will have a January 2010 cover date, andshould be available in September 2009...Fantastic Stories will start reading unsolicited submissions in March or April of this year, and will be paying, on acceptance, 4-10 cents per word for new fiction (2 cents per word for reprints of storiesthat first appeared on the web). Checks will go out with contracts. While Lapine, personally, prefers hard sf and magic realism, he'll be reading all sorts of sf/f/h for the magazine."http://sfscope.com/2009/01/warren-lapine-returns-to-sf-wi.htmlRead more…
Suvudu is giving away three pairs of Weekend Tickets to Comic Con New York, one of the biggest Comics, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Manga, Television, Movies, You-Name-It-They-Got-It Extravaganzas known to mankind! All you need to do is email us your name, phone number, and mailing address at infosuvudu@randomhouse.com. It's just that easy, but be sure to read the legal for all the fine print.To enter, submit your name, phone number and mailing address to info@suvudu.com between 12:01 AM EDT January 12, 2009 and 12:00 AM EDT on January 26, 2009. If you send in your name, phone number and mailing address, you will be entered in a raffle to win one of three prize packs, each containing two (2) Weekend tickets to attend Comic Con New York City. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.
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Call for Submissions - She Nailed the Stake Through his Head - Tales of Biblical TerrorCall for SubmissionsSeeking short stories for the Dybbuk Press anthology She Nailed the Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror (working title).What I'm looking for: Short stories primarily, ideally between 1000 - 12000 words. All stories must be based in some way on Biblical stories. Actually have a familiarity with the Bible. I may consider poems if they are particularly good but I hate 99% of all poems I read. This is primarily a horror anthology so the creepier the better. In many of these stories, you really don't have to work too hard to make them horrific.Shouldn't be said, but please don't send me stories that are so ungrammatical and clumsy in their execution that they hurt to read. Style counts. Style counts a lot. I am a great fan of authors with great style. I'll read Tanith Lee's 5th grade essay on why she wants a pony before I even think of picking up another Dan Brown book for any other purpose beyond hurling it at the wall.Suggested:Retellings of Biblical Stories from the perspective of another character.Kiastic StorytellingDeconstructionist Commentary akin to RashiBiblical stories retold in different literary styles (high adventure, Victorian, Romance, Mystery, etc.)Modern stories told in the Biblical style (Best use Robert Alter's Art of Biblical Poetry and Art of Biblical Narrative if you want a crash course)Parodies of Prophets"Queen Esther vs. The Brain Eating Penis Monster from Outer Space" (note that just sticking this title on a lame story is not going to endear you to me. Write a story that would justify this kind of title and I'm interested)Biblical Movie Parodies (kind of a tough one considering that this genre gave us Lot freeing the slaves of Sodom, Edward G. Robinson playing Aaron in full gangster mode, splatterpunk Jesus and Richard Gere disco dancing in a diaper)Basically if you're sticking with Biblical tales in Biblical times you have about 1500 years to work with. Empires rose and fell in this time.Lists of Some books that may Help:Torah Study 101Ibn Ezra25 Jewish BooksBible Study SamplerOutrageous Tales from the Old TestamentWhat I'm NOT looking for:Normally this is the place where I say that I don't want any vampires, werewolves or ghosts but if you can stick a vampire into a King David story or put zombies in Ancient Assyria then I actually want to see it.One Caveat to the last note: I read The Last Days of Jesus the Vampire. I thought it was a very clever idea that was poorly executed. Regardless, I'm not going to be terribly enthused with "Jesus was a vampire" stories.Primarily, no preachiness. If your story is nothing more than an excuse to get on a pulpit, I'm not interested. That cuts all ways. The Left Behind series would have been fun in a goofy crazy way if it didn't keep stopping to tell the reader that JESUS IS LORD (then again, it's audience wouldn't have made it a bestseller.) But that also goes for atheist stories.And please, no stories about how all the goddess worshippers were beautiful earth mothers until the mean old monotheists ca me along and killed everyone. I read enough of that Starhawk crap during my collegiate hippie phase.I should also note that I've been publishing a lot of books geared toward adolescent males recently - splatterpunk, tough guy fiction, etc. - and I'm getting a little sick of the lack of decent female characters. So stories with strong women characters (there are plenty in the Bible - Sarah, Jezebel, Yael, Devorah, Rivkah, Esther, etc.) will make me happy.I'm also 99% certain that I won't like your Adam & Eve story. Don't know if anyone writes these things anymore. I suspect that they've been ridiculed into the historical dust bin, but just in case, please don't send yours my way.Format: Attach as either a .doc or an .rtf. DO NOT send .docx attachments. All .docx attachments will be deleted unread.Pay: $50 advance against equal share of royalties to be paid out no later than publicatoin.Reading Period: December 1 - December 31, 2008. All stories submitted before December 1 will be deleted unread! And yes, I do mean BEFORE December 1. I might extend the deadline for after December 31 if I don't find enough stories to fill an anthology (I'm shooting for between 8 and 12. I can go as low as 7.) I'm putting out the call for stories now because I want interested parties to write their stories and revise them before submitting them. I don't want trunk stories with cover letters trying to explain why your vampir e is a Christ figure.Reprints: Yes, I will take reprints, but let me know if it's a reprint or not when you submit.Send to: tim_lieder (AT) yahoo - .rtf or .doc format only. If you want to put it in the body of the text, well go ahead.Things Aren’t What They Seemby From the Asylum Books and Pressedited by Katherine SangerIn 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 - 10/31/08Things 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 1519Dickinson, TX 77539Include 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.comPlease 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.Co-edited by Erzebet YellowBoy & Sean WallacePublished by Prime Books.We are seeking short stories and poems for the fourth issue of Jabberwocky, scheduled for publication in July 2009.The elements and bedrock of Jabberwocky can be largely described as the -ical approach: lyrical, whimsical, mythical, in all its forms, particularly short fiction, poetry, and illustrative. There are no boundaries, no restrictions, no genres. If you love the art of the written word, its structure, its flow, its language, I suspect you'll love Jabberwocky.Original fiction only. No reprints. Multiple submissions accepted.PAYMENT:$.01 per word for fiction$5.00 per poemPayable on acceptance.WORD LIMIT: 4000 words.RIGHTS: First world English rights, non-exclusive world anthology rights, and non-exclusive audio anthology rights. Download the20author-anthologist contract here.READING PERIOD: 1 October, 2008 - 1 February, 2009Our response time is 2 weeks.Email your story in rich-text format (RTF) to us at jabberwocky.magazine@gmail.com. Include the title of the story in the subject of the email and a brief bio in the body of the email.Please send queries to the same address. Thank you!http://anthologynewsandreviews.blogspot.com/Also check out the anthology sections on www.ralan.comRead more…
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2009 GLYPH COMICS AWARDS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED;JUDGES NAMEDThis past May, in the closest race in the brief history of the Glyph Comics Awards (GCA), Sentences, the autobiography of underground rapper MF Grimm, a.k.a. Percy Carey, walked away with the grand prize of Story of the Year. This year promises just as competitive a race.The GCA Committee has selected their panel of judges for the 2009 competition. They are:• Valerie D'Orazio, president, Friends of Lulu• Mathan Erhardt, writer, Comics Nexus• Ed Mathews, columnist, Pop Image• Tim O'Shea, writer/interviewer, TalkingWithTim. com• Elayne Riggs, comics reviewer and commentatorAny comics publisher – small, large, corporate, independent, self-published – as well as online comic creators and cartoonists for newspapers and other periodicals, are invited to submit black-themedmaterial released from January 1-December 31, 2008 for consideration for award recognition. The Committee defines black-themed work as any comic with any combination of the following: a black protagonist( s), or at least a black character(s) pivotal to the direction of the story; a setting(s) or a theme(s) that explores the black experience within the United States and/or abroad, past, present, and/or future; and/or a comic of any kind written and/or illustrated by a black creator(s).Anyone wishing to submit their comic book or comic strip for consideration in the 2009 competition should e-mail GCA Committee Chair Rich Watson at rich.watson@ gmail.com The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2009.The 2009 Glyph Comics Awards ceremony will be held at the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) in May 2009.For more information about ECBACC, contact blackageofcomics@ ecbacc.comGot this from the www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com ning
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