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

[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...

[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?

[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?

[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.

[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!)