Red Peacock Press

[beckyh2112]

I continue my experiment with editing an anthology by actually providing submission guidelines!

So what am I looking for? Speculative fiction about exploration. Going places where no one has gone before, going places where everyone has gone before but you never have, doing things no one has ever done, doing things your people have never done before, getting deliberately lost, seeking new riches, bringing war, bringing religion, bringing only a sense of wonder at what lies over the horizon.

Stories with non-Western settings and protagonists are preferred. Western protagonists or settings will be a harder sell. Western protagonists and settings will be a nigh-impossible sell.

ETA: Fictional cultures are welcome as long as they fit the above guidelines.

Length: 1500-6000 words, but I will consider flash fiction and poetry as well. Nothing longer, please.

Submission Deadline: March 30, 2011.

Please send your submission as a .doc or .rtf attachment to redpeacockpress@gmail.com.

Story submissions must have the subject of Submission: Title of Story. Please title your document with story title/your last name.

Use standard manuscript format with 12 point Times New Roman font. Please be sure to include your name.

Details such as payment rates, publisher, release date, etc. have yet to be finalized. I hope to pay semi-pro rates, and I will update this post (as well as make new announcement posts) as I decide on more.

A few suggestions as to resources:
- 1421: The Year China Discovered America
- 1432: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance
- 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
- Ibn Battuta

I welcome more resource-recommendations in the comments of this post.

(I have never been as scared-with-anticipation as I am right now.)

Comments

Some more resources

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Fail-Succeed/dp/0143036556/) -- contains some overt messages about modern climate change, but expresses it through historic and prehistoric case studies of exploration and colonization

Last Around Cape Horn (http://www.amazon.com/Last-Time-Around-Cape-Horn/dp/0786714611/) -- explores and inverts the idea of exploration, both personally and globally

Guns, Germs, & Steel (http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393061310/) -- a classic for examining the differences between cultures

Re: Some more resources

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

Furthermore, I am curious as to how you are defining "Western" here. Would you elaborate?

Re: Some more resources

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

The answer I gave gamiel still seems to mostly hold up: Not Europe, and outside the various European colonies. A story set in British-occupied Shanghai with the main characters as Chinese, I would consider non-Western as well as the more obvious settings.

Re: Some more resources

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

Excellent. Thank you!

Excellent Non-Western Fantasy

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

Because I've been obsessing over the lack, too:

Demon Drums (http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Drums-Carol-Severance/dp/0345374487/) by Carol Severance -- Polynesian and pan-Pacific

The Jaguar Princess (http://www.amazon.com/Jaguar-Princess-Clare-Bell/dp/0759296146/) by Clare Bell - Aztec and Olmec

Spirit Gate (http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Gate-Crossroads-Book-1/dp/0765349302/) by Kate Elliot - Asian-inspired high fantasy by my ever-favorite author

Re: Excellent Non-Western Fantasy

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Dragon in Chains (http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Chains-Daniel-Fox/dp/0345503058/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288388952&sr=8-1) by Daniel Fox - Asian-inspired fantasy

Silver Phoenix (http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Phoenix-Beyond-Kingdom-Xia/dp/B002VPE7JW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288388961&sr=8-1) by Cindy Pon - Asian-inspired YA fantasy

Snake Agent (http://www.amazon.com/Snake-Agent-Detective-Inspector-Novels/dp/1597801070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288388986&sr=8-1) by Liz Williams - Chinese urban fantasy

Book of a Thousand Days (http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thousand-Days-Shannon-Hale/dp/B0043GXXOC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288389000&sr=8-1) by Shannon Hale - YA fantasy Mongolia

The Gaslight Dogs (http://www.amazon.com/Gaslight-Dogs-Karin-Lowachee/dp/0316021792/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288389025&sr=8-1) by Karin Lowachee - really hard to define, First Nations, pseudo-America

Forbidden Tales: Sword (http://www.amazon.com/Forbidden-Tales-Sword-Chen/dp/0061447587/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288389045&sr=8-1) - Asian fantasy

Servant of the Underworld (http://www.amazon.com/Servant-Underworld-Obsidian-Blood-Book/dp/0857660314/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1288389238&sr=8-2) - Aztec fantasy/murder mystery

Re: Some more resources

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

More non-fiction:

Indians In the Making (http://www.amazon.com/Indians-Making-Relations-Identities-Crossroads/dp/0520226852/) by Alexandra Harmon. Disclaimer: I have not read this book. HOWEVER, I took a class from the author that was the single most interesting, most perspective-changing experience I had in six years of higher education, and has done more for my own fiction than any other single source.

The first day of lecture stands as the only time that I truly felt spellbound outside of reading good fiction, and sets a standard that I try to for in my own non-western writing. It very much changed my ideas of how to write "the other" in narrative.

[floranna.livejournal.com]

Uhmm. Just asking, is it possible for me to write it in Finnish setting? You know, characters Finnish, happens in Finland etc etc... Because I have started to get this idea...

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

You can write such a thing, but it would have to be very good.

[floranna.livejournal.com]

Just question, if it happens deeply in Finnish mythology and before the time Christianity arrived?

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Edit after someone made some points to me: Yes, you could reasonably do that for this anthology.

[floranna.livejournal.com]

Yeah, soorry about all of this. But I just noticed that when I get a new idea for a fic, I really really need to talk about it. So, sorry. ^^'

[keppiehed.livejournal.com]

I have a story that is set in 19th century Canada, 900 words. I do believe it is a high quality, as it won a writing contest, but I don't want to waste your time because I know that you are not interested in that region. Should I bother to submit it?

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Is it focused on the settlers or the First Nations people of 19th-century Canada?

[keppiehed.livejournal.com]

It talks about the settlers of the Puget Sound region.

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

To be honest, such a submission would be stacked against you. You're welcome to submit anyway; it may appeal enough to me to beat the odds.

[keppiehed.livejournal.com]

Okay, thanks for your response. I might just clean it up and send it along anyway. It has a theme of exploration, both physical and personal, so I can let you be the judge, but I understand that it is a long shot. Thanks for your time!

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

Puget Sound != Canada. :P

[melengro.livejournal.com]

I would imagine that pre-Columbian America would be more than acceptable, but are modern American Indians/First Nations people (in relatively undeveloped areas) okay?

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Yes, they're more than okay. ^_^

[melengro.livejournal.com]

What about reservation settings? Would that still fall under non-Western?

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

I would have to see how it's implemented in the story.

[melengro.livejournal.com]

Okay. I should have it written in a few days.

[dunmurderin.livejournal.com]

Towards a Steampunk Without Steam (http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/10/towards-a-steampunk-without-steam) by Amal El-Mohtar about wanting to see Steampunk divorced of Victorian English settings and tropes.

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

This is a steampunk I could almost support.

Hm....

[nuitsongeur.livejournal.com]

This may be a sort of, "well duh" question but, I feel like getting this somewhat approved before I consider working on it.

From what I can tell, you're primarily wanting Asian-type settings and characters. Given I'm not overtly familiar with that cultural, I wanted to verify if an Egyptian (or Arabic) setting/characters is/are acceptable. Or, if you think that's an area too widely covered or not an interesting subject choice. Certainly, if I did decide this path, I'd have to do more research. (A lot of my books involve the mythology and relgious beliefs).

I don't want to promise anything and then end up not delivering. But, I thought I would ask in case I did come up with something.

(By the way- even if I don't enter/my entry's not accepted, I want to wish you good luck! And, I admire that you're starting this project!)

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

I want non-Western. While I'm personally most familiar with Asian-type settings, that is not the limit of what I'm looking for in this anthology.

[nuitsongeur.livejournal.com]

Okay. Thank you for the clarification!