Call for Submissions: Dressed in Black: Erotic Tales of Edgar Allan Poe edited by Jennifer Williams

Deadline: February 15th, 2018

Details: Murder. Revenge. Madness. These are the hallmarks of Edgar Allan Poe’s fiction. But so are love, longing, and loss. It may seem strange, at first blush, to compile a collection of erotica inspired by Poe’s work. Much of his writing explores themes of death and isolation. But gothic fiction has long been ripe ground for examining human sexuality and Poe’s work in particular is overdue for just such an agitation.

Send me stories that flip the narrative. Give the outsiders a voice. Think outside the box. I don’t want simple rewrites of his work with sex thrown in. Make it crucial to the tale.

While best known for his horror fiction, Poe was also a pioneer in the science fiction and detective fiction genres. I am looking for stories in any genre so long as the influence is Poe’s work. They do not need to be set during the time period he was alive in. Send me futuristic Poe stories. Send me Poe stories that are inclusive and exist outside of the standard narratives. And of course, send me stories that are hot and exciting too.

All gender pairings are welcome so long as the sex is between consenting adults. And to be absolutely clear, the consent must take place BEFORE the sexual act.

Length: Our preferred length is approximately 3,000 to 7,000 words, but we will consider the range from 2,000 to 8,000 words.

How to submit: All submissions must be made via email to jwsubs13@gmail.com

Please include a short bio with your submission.

Standard manuscript formatting rules apply. Send manuscript as an attachment (MS Word .doc or .rtf preferred). Please note that this means your name, address, and email contact must appear on the manuscript itself and not simply in your email message.

No simultaneous submissions (that is, don’t also send your story elsewhere at the same time, and don’t send it to multiple Circlet editors, either), and no multiple submissions to the same book. One story per author, per anthology.

All stories must include explicit sexuality and erotic focus. Romantic content is welcome, but in a short story remember to keep the details on the action and its effects on the main character’s internal point of view. We favor a strong, singular narrative voice (no “head hopping” or swapping between different character’s points of view within a scene). For more details on our editorial preferences, see the general submission guidelines on circlet.com. We highly recommend reading the guidelines, especially the “do not send” list, to increase your chances of sending us something we’ll love. Try to avoid cliches. Fresh and direct language is preferred to overly euphemistic. Sex-positive, please. No rape/nonconsensuality/necrophilia.

Originals only, no reprints. We purchase first rights for inclusion in the ebook anthology for $25, with the additional rights to a print edition later which would also be paid $25 if a print edition happens. Authors retain the rights to the individual stories; Circlet exercises rights to the anthology as a whole.

An Anthology of Fantasy Erotica
edited by Cecilia Tan

DEADLINE: February 1, 2018

Seeking erotic short stories with magical beasts and shapeshifter tropes. Although the title of the anthology is somewhat comedic–and levity is definitely welcome!–we’re not looking for parody or satire. Open to all mythical and magical creatures with sentience–centaurs, werewolves/human-animal shifters, intelligent dragons, merfolk, etc. Definitely open to unicorns, griffins, banshees, minotaurs, etc. so long as the spark of sentience is present. (There’s a fine line between bestiality and what we’re allowed to publish and sentience draws that line.)

As for what kinds of stories we’re looking for? We’re tired of the “same old” werewolf stories, but not tired of how magical beasts can represent sexuality and erotic need in fiction, especially marginalized sexuality and repressed needs. We’re tired of the “alpha meets fated mate” trope, but  not tired of encounters with the magical being life-changing. We’re tired of the “(white) colonial explorer goes into wildest place and tames native beast” trope, too, but not tired of diverse characters and settings, especially when told by #ownvoices.

We’re always interested in characters and stories that include various marginalized sexual identities and practices including polyamory, kink, genderqueer and gender variant, BDSM, bisexuality/pansexuality, trans identities, as well as “regular ol'” gay or lesbian characters. (General note: We’re also all for asexual representation though we realize that may seem out of place to some for an erotica anthology. Please no stories where someone’s asexuality is “cured” — please yes to stories that include affirmations that asexuality is valid.)

Finally, although the anthology title is explicitly a riff on the universe of a certain famous boy wizard, stories do not have to be in any way related to or parodies of said universe. In fact it’s probably better not to tickle that sleeping dragon, unless you’re really really clever about it.

Submission Details:

Continue reading Call for Submissions–Fantastic Beasts and Where to F*** Them! →