Call for Flying Story Submissions!
Over the last three years, the From the Rock series has become one of the preeminent anthology series’ in Atlantic Canada. We have been home to some amazing established talent and ‘broken’ some new authors that have gone on to dominate their fields, becoming genre bestsellers in their own right. From the Rock is a title readers consistently ask for, review well, and a great way for avid readers to get introduced to indie talent they might find interesting. In March 2018 the series’ third entry, Chillers from the Rock, went Bestseller on pre-orders alone!
And this year, we’re doing it again… twice!
After the colossal success of Sci-Fi from the Rock, Fantasy from the Rock, and Chillers from the Rock, Engen Books has decided to continue the From The Rock line with a second entry in 2019: Flights from the Rock, to be available in Summer 2019.
Guest editor Lisa M. Daly helps explain this new collection: “2019 marks 100 years since the Great Atlantic Air Race when aviators left, or attempted to leave, Newfoundland to be the first to fly across the Atlantic. To celebrate, we are accepting submissions for Flights from the Rock, a collection of air powered stories! The theme is early aviation, from hot air balloons and dirigibles, to early aircraft and the technological advances of the war era, and those who dream of taking to the skies. Stories can range from science fiction to fantasy to dystopia to steampunk and all genres in between, as long as they are about flight. For inspiration, look to Newfoundland’s own aviation history, the early flights of Santos-Dumont and the Wright Brothers, or the science fiction writers of the 1800s whose characters traveled the skies and through space.”
Editors Ellen Curtis and Erin Vance are scheduled to return to helm the project, along with special-guest editor Lisa M. Daly.
Many authors have expressed interest, but anyone can submit to be a part of this Spring 2019 collection! Deadline is February 15, 2019 but get your stories in as quick as you can, as it gives our wonderful editors more time to work with you and make sure it is as good as it can possibly be!
What is the target audience?
For this specific collection, we’re going for an equivalent of PG to PG-13. Rather than limit our authors creatively, we encourage them to write from the heart and allow us to work with them to fine-tune the work after the fact.
Example: for Sci-Fi from the Rock, Christopher Walsh’s story had featured a fair amount of cursing. As a compromise, we settled on switching it out for classic-comic style “#@$#” bleeps. We feel it captured the classic all-ages style we were going for while remaining true to his work, and both parties were happy with the arrangement.
