Working on a New Lovecraft Anthology

The guidelines are simple. The working anthology title is The Year’s Best Lovecraftian Horror: 2020. That alone tells you most of what you need to know. I want good, solid Lovecraftian stories. I specifically say Lovecraftian rather than Cthulu because I’d like stories across the entire mythos including additions by the original group of mythos authors like Robert Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. Likewise, specific mythos references are not as important as getting the right style and tone. For example, I would happily take Smith’s Seed From the Sepulcher over a Deep One tale. This style preference also applies to gore and sex: think early Weird Tales. Having said that, science fiction horror is strongly encouraged; this is not an anthology of period pieces.

I’m not overly concerned about length. 2,500 to 10,000 words is preferable but I also know from personal experience that horror doesn’t always lend itself to a strict word count. I don’t care about submission formatting as long as it’s legible, clean copy. Electronically, I need the story either in the body of an email or an as rtf file.

The goal is a final book with about ten stories averaging 5,000 words apiece. I’m working on having internal black-and-white line art and a paperback size layout. Unless something changes, I’ll probably use Amazon KDP for e-book and print and the goal is to release the book officially on Halloween. Logistically that means I need the stories submitted ASAP and certainly no later than the end of July.

What's in it for the author? Mainly exposure. There will be a token payment of $20 and a comp copy for the author but the really useful part is that each contributor gets a bio to promote their own stuff. (I’m trying to avoid a specific word limit on bios but please respect the reader and the fact that every additional page raises the cover price.) Copyright will be retained by the author and rights will revert to the author on publication. Payment upon acceptance with comp copy to follow at release.

On a personal note, I know of at least two workshop submissions that I would take in a heartbeat if the stories were finished and even though it’s not expressly Lovecraftian, I would love to include Fade’s mermaid story.

The decision to do this anthology was based on, first, the “Covid situation” (we need a convention but we can’t have a convention.) The second was the staff at my local bookstore repeatedly bringing up the fact that they can’t keep Lovecraftian horror on the shelves but no one is putting it out. This is a small attempt to alleviate both things.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and thank you for your time and support.