jhameia:

JoSelle Vanderhooft, who edited both Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories anthologies, is now taking submissions for a ghost anthology featuring gay characters! It will be published by Zumaya Publications, and they’re taking suggestions for the name! 

Guidelines as follows:

Stories should be 8,000-15,000 words with longer preferred. The number that will ultimately be accepted will depend on story lengths. Payment will be based on length up to a maximum of $400. Reprints are acceptable, provided you have rights to them.


What We Do Want:

* Stories with compelling protagonists who identify as gay men. Note that this term includes a variety of subcultures and other identities.

* Stories about gay men who are underrepresented in fiction, including gay men of color, gay men who live with disabilities, gay men of size, gay trans* men, and older gay men. 

* Romantic stories that aren’t necessarily romances. In other words, a story that has romantic elements but does not—again, necessarily—follow the trajectory of most fiction that is marketed as romance, gay, straight, or otherwise. However, happy endings, happily for now endings, and bittersweet endings are preferred. This is also not an anthology of erotica; if sex is featured, it must be a natural part of the story, not something that is shoehorned in for titillation.


What We Don’t Want


* Stories that denigrate homosexuality or any identities under the LGBT umbrella (eg. no stories bashing bears), or employ anti-gay stereotypes (i.e. gay men are pedophiles, gay men are all sex-hungry and unable to control themselves, a gay couple has to involve someone being the “man” and the other being “woman”).

* Likewise, stories that suggest homosexuality can be “cured” or “changed” by God/drugs/alien technology/the love of the right woman.

* Stories that portray sexual assault or rape as sexy or desirable.

* Stories that are racist, sexist, ableist, or hateful towards any group of people.

* Stories in which the antagonist does bad things because he or she is “crazy.” (This is a big NO).

* Poetry

* Fan fiction (that is, stories that make use of copyrighted characters to which the author holds no claim)

Queries and Submissions:

Before submitting, please query at upstart.crow @ gmail.com with the title of your story and a brief synopsis and/or description. If your query is approved, send your story as an .rtf, .doc, or .docx file to the same address.

When querying, please put the following in the email subject:Query: Gay Ghost Anthology [your last name]

When submitting a story, please put the following in the email subject line: Submission: Gay Ghost Anthology [your last name] 

Submission Period:: Nov. 15-Jan. 15.