Pull out your pens and pencils, folks. It’s time to write a novel!
I am so excited to be announcing my very first editorial open call for Urania Books. So here are the crunchy bits (as my friend Jennifer Brozek likes to call it). Read them carefully!
SPECIAL CALL:
What Honor Requires
Some soldiers serve because they feel a call to duty. Others serve out of obligation. Whether they enlist or are drafted, fight in wars or patrol the homefront, these military men and women have one thing in common: their honor. Even when they don’t seek conflict, honor requires them to protect their loved ones or fulfill their mission.
In a special call for Veteran’s Day of 2013, Musa is seeking stories of military valor for our Urania Imprint. From the lowest grunt to the highest general, we want know what sacrifices it takes to serve a space navy or a warlord wizard. How did they get where they are now? What did they give up to be here? Tell us the story of the grizzled veteran finding his place in the world after the wars are ended, or the rookie grunt defending her country in a foreign conflict she doesn’t understand. How does a lone supply sergeant keep up with the requirements of a steampunk army?
Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Heat Levels: 0-2
Length: 20k+
Submissions call opens February 1, 2013.
Submissions call closes May 27, 2013.
Expected Publication dates November 2013.
Special requirements: All stories must feature science fiction or fantasy elements (or any subgenre of these two) to qualify for the Urania imprint. All accepted authors must be available for manuscript edits during June/July 2013.
To submit: Send a cover letter including word count and synopsis in the body of an email to urania @ musa publishing dot com (fix the spaces and punctuation) and attach your complete submission as either a .doc or .rtf with the following formatting: Times New Roman 12 point, double spaced, left-aligned, non-justified, no bolding.
Any submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be rejected. Make sure to include WHAT HONOR REQUIRES in the title of your email. Any submissions sent before the submission call opens will be deleted unread.
EDIT: I just got a question on what the heat level means for this open call. Here are the Musa Publishing definitions.
0 – Stories with no romance and no sex. You can mention a guy’s girlfriend or that a woman goes to a brothel, but there will be no graphic details. It’s just a character fact or a background detail.
1 – Stories will either not have consummated love scenes, or if the loves scenes are consummated detail is not given. Sweet stories that usually result in no more then a kiss.
2 – Stories will have some love scenes. These will be more sensual then graphic and will mostly rely on euphemism.
3 – Stories will have sensual, yet more explicit love scenes, and the language used to describe them may be more graphic and direct.
4- Stories have frequent love scenes that are explicit and described using graphic and direct language.
5- Stories have a high frequency of love scenes that are explicit, described using graphic and direct language, and/or contain subject matter that some readers may consider objectionable. Including multiple partner, bdsm, menage.
Heat levels 3-5 get into erotica territory. Erotica goes to a different imprint and I don’t want stories driven by the sex or the romance. They can be an important part of storytelling and character motivation, but when the chips are down, the main motivator for the protagonist’s actions should be honor. That’s what this call is all about.
