As someone who has always read a lot, I am sometimes
dumbfounded to learn that there are genres that lay claim to books I enjoy.
Perhaps I’m naïve, but I tend to separate books between fiction and nonfiction
and then add poetry and plays; I read them all. I don’t worry about genres and
subgenres when I’m reading. I simply love quality writing.
Still, as I’ve gotten deeper into publishing, I have
recognized the value of genres and subgenres. And as a lover of mathematics, I
also enjoy the Venn diagram aspect of those genres. A book can be both Young
Adult and science fiction, for example. I know a few steampunk writers who
happily added romance – or was it vice versa? – to their repertoire.
It is with this spirit of experimentation and love of
quality fiction that Elephant’s Bookshelf Press announces its next anthology:
Urban fantasy.
To me, it’s a challenging genre to nail down. Of course, the
“urban” element is vital. The idea of the city standing as a character in its
own right has appealed to me ever since I seriously studied authors and
literature. While there may be similarities, I think any native of New York,
Philadelphia, Austin, Amarillo, Chicago, or Detroit – to say nothing of London,
Dublin, Venice, or wherever – would argue their city is more different than
like the others.
I regularly commute into New York City and my mind is often
awhirl with ideas about the people and situations I see almost every day. I’ve
traveled throughout the U.S. and much of the U.K. and Ireland, and I’m always
amazed at how an urban center can vary regardless of the size of its
population.
The fantasy aspect is every bit as important to
the story as the city in which it takes place. As a reader, I’m intrigued by
the ideas of angels and demons walking among us, commuting and communing with
“ordinary” humans. But what happens when a gargoyle take flight from its perch
atop a building? How might an ancient curse affect the urban denizens? Lately,
I’ve been reading so many fairy stories to my girls, and I’ve been curious how
I might place some of their favorite pixies into New York. Indeed, the
possibilities are endless.
For our anthology,
the urban fantasies can be up to 5,000 words long. Still no erotica. The
deadline is July 11; there is no payment, but published authors will receive a
paperback edition of the completed anthology. We are aiming for publication in
late September, though it might end up being October.
You can send your submissions to submissions@elephantsbookshelfpress.com
Our team will review the stories as they come in. If history
is a judge, some stories will be obvious decisions, but other decisions might
be held until we’ve seen enough submissions. I expect we’ll publish no more
than twenty stories and it’ll probably be fewer than that.
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