Call For Submissions
No Safewords II – A Marketplace Fan Fiction Collection
Editor: Laura Antoniou
Publisher: Circlet Press
Deadline: November 15, 2014
Payment: $25
In brief – write me a Marketplace story by November 15! You can be in a collection, make some lunch money and… something SPECIAL.
Yes – I am opening the doors to the Marketplace once again and inviting writers to come in and play. My world, my set-up, even my characters – but your imagination. Your twisted, delightful, scary and oh-so-different style.
Yes, you can write a Marketplace story – and this is your chance to really push the limits! Use any character, any setting. Delve into the online Marketplace wiki to brush up on existing characters or create your own.
Fit the story to what already exists or imagine a sort of alternative universe to my alternative universe. You can even add elements that do not exist in the books – want to make it paranormal? Set in the past/future? Care to ship characters you thought should have hooked up, or show the dire endings that happened after that relationship I was so clearly wrong about? Now’s your chance. Do you think there should have been more gay/lesbian/straight/rubber/steampunk/food fetish/historical/Canadian/sexy accountant stories in the books? You can correct that glaring empty space in the Marketplace universe.
Especially welcome are stories depicting male bottoms, female tops, persons of varied and interesting orientations/genders and anything that shows something I haven’t written about. (Yet. Who knows what I’ll write next?) But what will get my attention will be The Story I Wouldn’t Write. (Or, couldn’t write.) Oh, and it has to be a good story.
This is a collection of stories to accompany a universe of erotica. Erotica means there should be some mention of sex. Sex is defined as any activity that increases the potential for orgasm; so by all means do not limit yourself there. It is not a requirement that a story contain a Big Honking Central Sex Scene – but sex scenes or sexual situations which are an important part of the story are enthusiastically welcomed. While your story might be dark or edgy, please do not include murder, suicide or completely unhappy endings. (Thoughtful regrets, parting, reflections on lost opportunities, cautionary tales are all acceptable, but stay away from bleak and existential. Got an idea for something you think might come up against this restriction? Query me before writing it.)
Non-consensual sex and assault written in such a way as to depict them as arousing are not welcome, nor are sexual interactions involving characters under the age of 18. If assault or NC behavior *outside the fantasy framework of a slave contract as established in the MP books* is part of the story, make me understand why.
Legal crap:
I am the sole owner of the Marketplace series and all derivative works set in that universe. Therefore, I reserve the right as the owner/creator of the universe to refer to or use any character that an anthology contributor introduces, but by the same token, you the writer also keep the right to use that character yourself in your future work, although the MP setting will not be yours to continue to play with. Neither of us would have the right to stop the other from using a version of the character or name in future work. I get the right to include the story in different formats of whatever we think a “book” is these days, and if you want to re-sell it somewhere, you have to mention the original inspiration. Fair ’nuff?
Questions I suspect will be frequently asked:
Q: I wrote this Mary Sue* story ages ago! Do you want it?
A: Is it good? Then sure!
Q: I’ve written novels all about these other characters but I have this idea about what would happen if they encountered the MP. Is that OK?
A: If you own the rights to those characters and don’t mind that I might use them again later, then sure. Talk about a short-cut!
Q: What if these Star Trek/Twilight/Farscape/Disney characters found the MP, and…
A: Sorry, no characters belonging to people other than you, the writer. Especially “people” who resemble large corporations with offices full of lawyers. That doesn’t mean you can’t use something as inspiration and just rub the serial numbers off. It’s all the rage, these days.
Q: So, Chris Parker is a vampire, see and Geoff Negel is a werewolf…
A: That story better be REAL good, that’s all I’m saying. Or, intentionally hysterical. I could go for some funny stories.
Q: Really? We can write funny stories??
A: Have you read the books? Of course you can. Read For Want of a Nail, the bonus story in The Marketplace, or in the collection Scenes from the Marketplace. That’s some funny shit there.
Q: Does it have to contain a sex scene?
A: Read the books. Sex scenes are not what drive these novels – power and the human relationships and conflicts do. While you do not have to be graphically sexual for six pages, I would like some indication that sexual interactions, especially kinky ones, are part of the deal. Especially if it is necessary to tell that story!
Q: Do I have to read the books?
A: Many other people edit anthologies! Try one of them. Seriously. If your story shows that you have no familiarity with the books, you have wasted time for us both. You can get the first five books, the first fan fiction anthology and a collection of just MY short stories at the usual big booksellers and at a number of small ones as well. Or, I suppose you could borrow them.
Q: Can I really write about any character? Doing anything I want?
A: I’m human. I am more protective about some characters and story arcs. I’d rather you didn’t kill anyone…unless it was some kinda awesome death scene, or a story about loss and good stuff like that. Read the story titled The Nurse in The Academy, and you will see how it can work amazingly well, for example. I’d rather you didn’t take one of my good characters and make ’em evil…oh, no, wait. That might be AWESOME. So the key question remains – Is the story good?
Q: May I pass this on to my friends who write?
A: Yes! Please spread the word. But keep in mind the deadline of November 15, 2014.
Q: Am I gonna get paid for this?
A: Yeah! This is a professional sale, so we’ll toss you $25 and some e-book files so you can use them as sexual favors. Plus, I’ll be talking about how fabulous you are as I promote the book.
Q: That’s it?
A: OK, FINE. How about this – anyone who gets a story accepted for this collection – will get to read The Inheritor before it is released.
Yeah, that. Aren’t you glad you read this far?
To submit your story, send it to: Editor@lantoniou.com
Do not paste the story into the body of an e-mail. For best filing results (on my end), include your full contact information, e-mail address and mailing address and a bio of under 200 words in both the e-mail and on the attached document. Also in the e-mail body, the full story title, your pen name (if used) and the word count. If you want to get fancy, include a brief description of the story. Go wild with standard fan fiction terms if you use them. I’ll understand what a “AT, F!Michael LaGuardia, H/C Slash OC” is.** If you don’t, then don’t bother with them. Use real words. If you are using characters from a story of novel you own, please give me the title of the original work, and publishing history and tell me it’s cool for you to use them.
Format a .doc file according to professional guidelines. No PDFs.
I prefer a story length between 3000-7000 words. Shorter? Then that story better pack a punch. Longer? Well…you know, if it catches and holds my attention, you win. But that’s a lot of work there.
Do not expect an answer until after November 15, 2014 has passed, although I reserve the right to answer earlier if I want to. The earlier I answer, the earlier you get that extra payment. Just saying.
*Mary Sue story – http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue
**Fan Fiction Terms –http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Transwiki:List_of_fan_fiction_terms
