TESSERACTS 22 - HISTORICAL FANTASY

IT GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE TO FINALLY MAKE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. Lorina Stephens and I will be editing Tesseracts 22, the theme Historical Fantasy, through Edge Books. The 'official' announcement will appear on the Edge site shortly. When it does, I'll post the link here. In the meantime, here's a little history about how it all came about. :-)

The idea for this anthology had its genesis over a year ago. The last book of my Tattooed Witch trilogy (The Tattooed Queen) was published in December 2016 through Five Rivers Publishing; I was thinking about what I might do next. Edge had not yet published an historical fantasy themed Tesseracts, so I considered with whom I might co-edit such an anthology. Of course, Lorina came to mind. After we talked about it, I pitched the idea to Edge. Brian Hades agreed it was a workable premise and so here we are. 

I can't tell you how excited I am about this. 

Okay, I can. I am very, very excited. The feedback we've received from writers who are about to start, or who are already working on a piece, makes me certain this is going to be an excellent collection.

If you're hearing about this for the first time, here is what we are looking for: 

Alchemy and Artifacts will examine the magic behind the history, the myths arising from the artifacts, the mysteries missed (or dismissed), but which lie at the root of world events. We are looking for tales that explore laws magical as well as physical, the manipulation of reality in the past, resulting in the present. History, sorcery, alchemy, mystery. What if?

For example:

·         What if the Black Plague was a curse unleased by Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales?

·         What if Egyptian hieroglyphics were incantations that moved pharaohs into the future instead of an afterlife?

·         What if the terracotta army from the Qin Shi Huang dynasty were golem soldiers, waiting to be animated through magic?

·         What if Picasso’s Guernica was a magical attempt to fight Franco during the Spanish Civil War?

·         What if Paul Revere’s silversmithing was a spell enacted to fight England during the American Revolution?

·         What if Elizabeth I was a witch, employing Drake to find a forgotten, powerful artifact to grant her godhead?

·         What if Haida totems animated and walked the coast?

·         These are only a sampling of the sorts of story ideas we are looking for.

Alternate histories will be considered, but we are inclined to choose work that considers actual world events and characters, and how some form of magic has manipulated history in a subtle yet dramatic way.

Intrigued yet? Here are a few more guidelines:

Submission Guidelines:

·         Alchemy and Artifacts will reflect as broad a spectrum of stories as possible, highlighting unique styles and manners. The greater the magic or magical event and the subtler (yet dramatic) effect it has on history, the better. We want to raise questions about the reality of magic behind events.

·         We are looking to represent as many historical periods as possible, from places all over the world.

·         Submissions must be speculative in nature, including fantasy, dark fantasy, magic realism, slipstream, supernatural horror, weird tales, surrealism, mythic fantasy, etc. We will consider steampunk, but with an emphasis on magic rather than technology.

·         Short fiction may be up to 5000 words in length.

·         We will also consider poetry.

     Complete guidelines will be available on the Edge site shortly. 

     Stay tuned! More to come.

     - Susan.