Introducing your authors - round A!

The other day Sorin asked me why on earth we have author announcements 'round one' and 'round a'.  I explained it's because both groups are equally awesome!

With no further ado, here are the other authors participating in the 'In Memory' anthology:

• Anna Mattaar, Netherlands, www.annamattaar.nl.  Writer for computer games and soon-to-be novelist.
• Charlotte Slocombe, UK, student and future writing superhero
• Steven McKinnon, UK, independent author
• R McK, UK, freelance writer
• P E, UK, pioneer of the dramatic arts

Plus three more who are remaining a mystery for the time being.

Meet your authors (round one!)

Now that acceptances have been sent out, we're happy to let you know who our authors are.  Round one is below (round 'A' will be following shortly!).  We judged submissions based on their quality, not on whether the writer had been published before.  As such, we have a fantastic mix of published and unpublished authors, who are all coming together for this fantastic cause.

• Michael Schaefer, Germany (new author)
• Mike Reeves-McMillan, New Zealand (prolific novelist, website: http://csidemedia.com/gryphonclerks/)
• J E Nice, UK (fantasy and paranormal writer)
• Caroline Friedel, Germany (scientifically prolific)
• Chris Drew, UK (new author)
• Peter Knighton, UK (new author)
• Jay Vee Choong, Malaysia (published in Esquire Malaysia and KL Noir Yellow)
• DK Mok, Australia (novels include The Other Tree and Hunt for Valamon, website: http://www.dkmok.com/)
• Luke Kemp, UK (writer for criticalgamer.co.uk)
• Faiz Kermani, France (award-winning children's author, website: http://www.faizkermani.com/)
• Cristian Englert, Netherlands (novelist, previously published in Romanian)

Many of our writers will be doing guest blog posts over the upcoming months, so keep an eye out!

All authors have been notified!

All authors who responded to the call for submissions have now been emailed, and all rejections and acceptances sent out.  In the end we had hundreds of submissions, 43 short-listed authors, and 19 selected.  We saw an amazing variety of texts, from people in all kinds of positions and all over the world.  We had to make some very difficult choices due to the high quality of submissions received, and we look forward to producing a truly excellent anthology.

Submission are closed!

Thanks to everybody who submitted their ideas and writing samples.  Further correspondence will be going out in the next few days, so don't panic if you haven't heard from us yet.

In the interim, this is where our several hundred submissions came from:

Final day for submissions!

It's the final day for submissions for the anthology, so if you want to take part, get in quick!  We must receive your submission by midnight on May 31st (check the current time here).

We've received a huge number of fantastic submissions so far, and look forward to producing a truly excellent collection.  We have been using a short-listing process for likely candidates (barring those who have submitted in the last few days), and final selections will be made by June 7.  We are also trying to give feedback to all unsuccessful submissions, so bear with us—it may take us a little time to get to you.

- Laura

Call for Submissions

In memory of Sir Terry Pratchett, we are putting together an anthology of short stories to raise money for one of his favourite charities. If you are an author (or suspect you have the makings of one!) and are one of the millions of readers out there who has been touched in some way by the writings of Sir Terry, then read on.

We have reached out to Alzheimer’s Research UK, offering to put together a fan tribute anthology on the theme of Memory. The book will be dedicated to Sir Terry Pratchett, with all proceedings going to the charity. They were thrilled and have offered their support.

If you’re up to the challenge, here are the details:

Short Story Guidelines

• The story should follow the theme of Memory
• The story should be between 3,000 and 8,000 words
• Humorous writing is preferred, given the nature of Sir Terry’s work
• The genre can be any flavour of fiction that tickles your fancy.

Submission Rules

Send your initial submission to WeLikeThemShort (at) gmail (dot) com between April 25 and May 31. One submission is permitted per author. If your submission is accepted, we will contact you and ask for your complete story text, with a deadline of June 30. Your initial submission should include:

• A brief author biography
• A short synopsis (no more than two lines) of what you will write about
• A writing sample: up to 500 words of your original published or unpublished work.

Legal Terms and Payment

• All profits will go towards Alzheimer’s Research UK
• Authors are not expected to contribute to the publishing costs
• Authors will receive an eBook of the full anthology, and may purchase up to four printed copies of the book at cost price (plus shipping)
• The costs of final editing and artwork will be covered by the organisers. Note that final short stories are expected to be in a suitably publish-ready state, and the organisers reserve the right to dismiss or return works if they do not meet this requirement
• Authors retain the right to be recognised as creators of their work.

Who We Are

Your humble anthology orchestrators are Sorin Suciu, author of The Scriptlings, and Laura May, author of Pickles and Ponies.