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Detective short story anthology
Hi there.
I'm looking to put together an anthology of detective short stories. I myself have a growing passion for the 1930/40/50s LA detective stories, the most well-known been the Philip Marlowe adventures by Raymond Chandler. Wanting to get more involved with the genre I am now gathering short stories for a modern-day pulp magazine that could be published over a number of issues, each containing a few stories with the regularity determined by how many contributions I get.
It would be great if anyone here would like to contribute a short story for the anthology (a free ebook at first with a limited number physical) or if anyone could point me in the direction of somewhere I could put a call out.
The only submission guidelines are that it must be an urban detective story (it does NOT have to fit the same time or style of Chandler, that's just a starting point/expample) and it must be no more than 8,000 words because I want people to be able to read each story in about half an hour.
Thoughts, questions or even submissions would be great. It's a hobby/experiment at the moment so I'm learning more than anything.
Submissions to: Tom dot Pakinkis at Gmail dot com
I'm looking to put together an anthology of detective short stories. I myself have a growing passion for the 1930/40/50s LA detective stories, the most well-known been the Philip Marlowe adventures by Raymond Chandler. Wanting to get more involved with the genre I am now gathering short stories for a modern-day pulp magazine that could be published over a number of issues, each containing a few stories with the regularity determined by how many contributions I get.
It would be great if anyone here would like to contribute a short story for the anthology (a free ebook at first with a limited number physical) or if anyone could point me in the direction of somewhere I could put a call out.
The only submission guidelines are that it must be an urban detective story (it does NOT have to fit the same time or style of Chandler, that's just a starting point/expample) and it must be no more than 8,000 words because I want people to be able to read each story in about half an hour.
Thoughts, questions or even submissions would be great. It's a hobby/experiment at the moment so I'm learning more than anything.
Submissions to: Tom dot Pakinkis at Gmail dot com
Comments
It might be worth setting up a blog or a simple website, so that you can give people a better idea of what you're aiming to do. You'll need to be clear about whether you can offer payment for people's work, and whether you expect the submissions you receive to be previously unpublished. Have a look for other 'calls for submissions' online and see what kind of information goes with those. Be aware you might be in a bit of a catch-22 situation, as without a previous issue to reference, people won't know your credentials and may be reluctant to submit. Many writers have been stung by sending their best stories to anthologies that never materialise, so you'll need to prove that you're prepared to put the work in.
Good luck with it all - it's not really my genre but it's undoubtedly popular so you may well make a success of it.
And, as Webbo says, spend a bit of time here and interact with the other writers; it can only help you in the long run.
Yep did jump in a bit but trust me I do intend to stick around! :-)
The thing that got me into the genre was writing this 'live radio play' - www.dickbackard.com - we've had a few showings around London already at some small theatres and are trying to get more.
The anthology is just a way of further exploring and being involved in the genre.
I'll get things a bit more nailed down and keep researching.