Detours
Peculiar Places of West
Virginia
Submission Guidelines
Thank you for your interest
in Detours. This anthology will be published through Woodland Press,
publishers of the Legends of the Mountain State series, the Stoker
award-winning Writers Workshop of Horror, and my anthology Mountain
Magic: Spellbinding Tales of Appalchia.
I am looking for stories that
take place in West Virginia, at a real location with a strange or unusual
history. It can be haunted, weird, or unusual. The place cannot be incidental
to the story, but must be a part of the plot, as if it were another character
in the story. You can find some ideas for places here: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/location/wv/all. But there are other places as well; nothing beats
good, old-fashioned research.
Here are the particulars:
·
Short stories up
to 2500 words.
·
The setting must
be a real place in West Virginia, and the history of the location must also be
real. No UFO lands in Parkersburg stories, unless people in Parkersburg
actually saw a UFO.
·
Although this is
not a purely horror anthology, stories with spooky elements to them are
encouraged. But they shouldn’t be graphic in their descriptions.
·
Although
this anthology is targeted to adults, stories should not contain explicit
language or content.
·
None
of the standard, and considerably unflattering, Appalachian clichés.
·
No
reprints, including stories which have been posted online.
·
No
simultaneous submissions.
Submissions will be taken
from April 10th to May 31st, 2011. Electronic submissions only. The submission should be in
.rtf, .doc, or .docx format and attached to the
e-mail, not included in the body of the e-mail. Only one short story per
e-mail, and please put “Detours” in the subject line. All submissions should be
sent to subs@brianjhatcher.com. I will send a response when I receive
your story. Please do not send inquiries about submissions until June 1st,
2011.
Payment will be 5¢ a word for
short stories, along with one contributor’s copy of the book.
Thank you again, and good
luck.
Brian J. Hatcher, Editor
Detours: Peculiar Places of
West Virginia