Strange Legacy: 2025 (Creature Feature) is actually a continuation of the Strange Aeon anthology
series. We are going in a slightly different direction this year thematically
with a bit of a break from purely cosmic horror and focusing instead on the
creatures, both traditional and original. The editorial style will remain the
same. As usual, these style preferences apply to gore and sex as well: think
early Weird Tales, no excessive language or explicit sexual references. (You do
not have to remove all profanity from your submission—I can read around it—but,
if your story is accepted, you will be required to remove it from the final
version.)
The theme of this year’s anthology is the
“classic” monster story—from old favorites like vampires and werewolves to
Lovecraftian creatures [1] to the byproducts of insane science experiments.
That being said, please send anything you consider a good story. Feel free to
query for any questions. If you are planning to write a story especially for
this anthology, by all means query the idea first.
I am especially interested in stories of
mad science, monster-based horror, weird western, and stories that “peel the
onion.” Indeed, I cannot emphasize strongly enough the need for these
categories. Victoriana and Lovecraft era period pieces will have a much harder
time finding acceptance.
For this anthology I’m asking for
non-exclusive rights and will happily take reprints. Simply tell me the publication
history so that I can give proper copyright acknowledgement. I will prioritize
original stories over reprints and older, more obscure reprints over more
recent ones. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are acceptable; please do so
in a professional manner. For multiple submissions, feel free to send all
submissions attached to a single email. If you are in doubt about a story or
story idea, feel free to query.
Though I am not especially interested in
non-fiction or poetry, I will consider it. At most, only one non-fiction
piece and one work of (long) poetry will be used.
I’m not overly concerned about length.
5,000 to 10,000 words is preferable but I know that horror doesn’t always lend
itself to a strict word count and I’ll look at any length. (I think the longest
pieces that have been used have been just over 20,000 words and the shortest
about 2,000.) I don’t care about submission formatting as long as it’s legible,
clean copy. Electronically, I need the manuscript attached as an RTF, DOC, or DOCX
file. Please submit to the email address mkeatonauthor (at) gmail (dot) com
with the word Submission in the header.
The goal is a final book with ten to 15
stories averaging 5,000 to 10,000 words apiece. I will be accepting submissions
no later than the end of April (or until the anthology is filled. If you are
writing a story specifically for this anthology and are concerned about the “is
filled,” feel free to query me in advance). I will update these
guidelines and notify any already accepted authors if the date has to be pushed
back. I plan to start making final decisions beginning in June. All
submissions should have final confirmation of acceptance or rejection by the
first week of May.
What's in it for the author? There will be
a token payment of $20 and a compensatory copy for the author, or $35 for
authors outside the USA. Contributors will get a bio to promote their own work.
(I would like to avoid a specific word limit on bios; please respect the reader
and the fact that every additional page raises the cover price. I reserve the
right to edit bios for space.) Copyright will be retained by the author.
Payment will be upon acceptance with comp copy to follow release of the
anthology. If, due to unforeseen circumstances, the anthology is
cancelled, the author is, of course, to keep the $20. [2]
Important Notes:
1] Authors new to working in the
Mythos may find this a bit confusing. Let me be clear: do not use characters,
creatures, book names, or anything else from modern authors. Modern authors are
under copyright. Lovecraft and the other members of his original “circle” are
largely under public domain. Please, do not accidentally infringe on
anyone’s copyright. Always check first. In addition, gaming rules and
supplements are also copyrighted works and should not be used. If in doubt,
only use Lovecraft’s own work as a source just to be on the safe side. Better
yet, create your own. This is always important when writing but especially in
the murky pseudo-shared world of the Mythos where the lines are more difficult
to see. If you have questions or concerns about this, a quick internet search
should tell you what you need to know. (One exception is if you wish to include
Cobalt Green milieu references. Any Cobalt Green tie-ins should be queried
first but since I own the copyrights, I also have the leeway to grant usage rights.
Nevertheless, I would still rather see your original ideas.)
2] Since any publication, the first
time, in any form, is by definition a use of First Rights, if you sell an
unpublished work, even on a non-exclusive contract, then you have used your First
Rights. And once First Rights (North American, World, Print, E-, or whatever
other form they may be) are used, it's all reprints from there and most places
are no longer interested. I would love to see your work, but I don’t want
you to lose out on another market because of confusion about the rights. As
noted earlier, I am interested in reprints for this project. One of the goals
of this anthology is to help writers and readers in this specific genre
interest discover each other. For this, reprints work very well.
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