Cover Of Darkness 2007 Guidelines

 

I.  What this is:

 

Cover Of Darkness 2007 is an anthology of dark stories, poetry, and b&w art published in magazine format.  Projected publication date is 1 May 2007.  There . . . that's simple enough. 

 

II.  What we want:

 

Stories:

 

Cover Of Darkness 2007 is looking for original dark urban fantasy, dark urban science fiction, and urban horror stories.  Generally, the settings for these stories should be in urban areas--cities, domed habitats, settlements, or even blighted and beknighted areas. 

 

HALT!  STOP RIGHT THERE!  Don't even think about what you might be about to think.

 

Let me be explicit about darkness and horror:  Cover Of Darkness 2007 does NOT want splatter, splash, blood, gore, feces, intestines, kidneys, bowels, slice, or dice.  These things only elicit responses of disgorgement [think about it:  do you really want your readers ralphing while they're reading?].  Cover Of Darkness 2007 wants stories that make you think and make you shudder, not puke. 

 

BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!

 

To give your story an even better chance of acceptance, write it in the third person.  I would prefer not to read about first-person hypothetical personal experiences with close encounters of the worst kind.  Write a story about other people, not about yourself, please.

 

[WARNING:  if you send me a first-person story in which the protagonist dies, I swear to Huitzilopochtli I will hunt you down.  Why?  If the protagonist of such a story dies, who the &%$# is telling the story???][Yes, I get a lot of these, thus the hostility.  Sorry].

 

To continue:

 

These stories should be between 2000 and 5000 words long.  They should be eerie.  They should reflect reality to the extent that the events in the story could happen, and should be written to give the reader reason to wonder whether they might happen to him or her.  If there are believable undertones of dark magic or dark science, so much the better, as these will really get my attention.

 

Stories accepted by Cover Of Darkness 2007 will have sympathetic and developed protagonists and three-dimensional antagonists.  Stories will have a discernible plotline, a satisfactory denouement that proceeds logically from the plotline, and sufficient tension throughout the narrative to compel the reader [and editor] to turn the page.  Foreshadowing is de rigueur, especially if you are planning a surprise twist at the end.

 

To give your story a superior chance of acceptance, heed the rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  Heed 'em!  Don't expect the editor to polish your story; that's your job.

 

Special Note:  If you are a writer who follows rules of the Queen's English [e.g., you live in United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Pitcairn Island, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, or the BVI, to name but a few][or if you drive on the left side of the road, which is a major indication that you follow such rules of English, except in Japan], please use the rules with which you are familiar.  You need not Americanize your story for us.

 

One last note about stories:  dark urban fantasy is the preferred genre for Cover Of Darkness.  As stated above, we will consider dark urban sf and urban horror.  But if we have to choose between two stories of relatively equal quality, one fantasy and one horror, we'll choose the fantasy.  Just so you know . . .

 

Poems:

 

Cover Of Darkness is looking for poems to 50 lines [but will consider longer pieces].  Content should be dark and psychological, or paranormal, and retaining the urban theme--again, no slice and dice.  A typical Cover Of Darkness poem would be something like Cathy Buburuz's "Claudette."

 

Probably we will accept no more than five poems, so competition should be fierce.  Bring your A game.

 

Art:

 

Cover Of Darkness is looking for three or four black-and-white illustrations that stand by themselves.  By now you should know what sort of themes would interest us, so there's no need to winge on about them.  [Cover art for the anthology has already been selected].

 

 

III.  Loot

 

Cover Of Darkness pays 1/4 cent per word for stories, with a $5.00 minimum, plus one contributor's copy. 

 

Cover Of Darkness pays $4.00 per poem, plus one contributor's copy.

 

Cover Of Darkness pays $5.00 per illustration, plus one contributor's copy.

 

Extra copies may be purchased by contributors at a 20% discount.

 

 

IV.  How to submit:

 

Send all submissions to coverofdarkness2007@yahoo.com . 

 

Stories should be submitted as rtf or Word attachments.  Submit one story at a time, please.

 

Poetry should be submitted in the body of the e-mail.  Submit no more than three poems at a time, please.

 

Art should be submitted as jpeg attachments, of size 700x900 at 300dpi.  Submit one piece at a time, please.

 

Response Time:

 

We'll try to respond within two months.  If you haven't heard from us in three months, query.

 

Okay, off you go.  Let's see whatcha got.