THE OBSTRUCTION ANTHOLOGIES
BROWN PAPER PUBLISHING is accepting works for a series of Anthologies, to be released in the upcoming year. The Anthologies will be between 250 and 300 pages in length, Trade Paperback, 5.25” x 8” with full colour, glossy covers and white interior pages. Stories submitted should be between 2,000 and 15, 000 words. We would prefer the stories to be works composed new, for the purpose of inclusion, but do not require them to be as long as they meet with the stipulations outlined below.
Currently, we have three Anthologies in the works. There are specific stipulations that must be met to have work included, specific to each Anthology.
Anthology One: NOTHING LESS LIKE A ZEBRA
NOTHING LESS LIKE A ZEBRA is an Anthology of Science Fiction Stories concerned with the Specifics and Minutia of life in future worlds. The main idea is to present Science Fiction stories that are not concerned with commentary on the current state of the world, but that explore the daily life of individuals in worlds that do not exist. The stories should contain intricate details of ordinary processes that, to the reader, seem referenceless, but to the characters in the stories are so obvious it is almost pointless to describe. The idea is to write stories that would be the equivalent of
I got on the bus today and had to run some errands, this is what happened or
I was at work today and had to deal with this, again or
I’m trying to get into a new apartment and these are the things that are coming up in the current world, but with the references displaced to the future. It is best to think of the works as kind of Documentary or Case Study like. The obstructions that must be worked around are as follow:
The stories must be told in first person
The stories should be work, for all intents and purposes, of Realism (most importantly, they should not be Satirical or Psycadelic)
The stories cannot, in any way, reference the current world (even in the sense of treating the current world like The Past)
The stories must, at some point, outline a Trivial, even Dull, Process that the characters in the story are very familiar with (that is, nothing that happens to the characters in the stories should be happening to them For The First Time).
The stories should not explore the lives of Revolutionaries, Politically Involved Individuals, People Visiting Our World From The Future or any situation involving grave consequences (the world should not be about to end, basically, but should be just grinding along, as it always does)
To submit your work for consideration, use the following link
Anthology Two: I AM WHAT YOU ARE BREATHING
I AM WHAT YOU ARE BREATHING is an Anthology of stories concerning Voyeurism and Voyeurs. The main idea is to present stories about people watching other people, purposefully, that emphasise what the Voyeurs are doing more so than what the people they are watching are doing. The characters in the stories should not have any specific (and certainly not malicious) agendas for their voyeurism. The stories should be told in terms of blunt detail, avoiding mentioning what the Voyeur is thinking, as much as possible. The obstructions that must be work around are as follow:
The Voyeur can never have direct contact with the person or group of people (or, for that matter, the animal or location etc.) that they are watching (not by telephone, letter, conversation etc.)
The stories must be told (in any narrative voices) in reference only to the Voyeur. That is, if a description of what the Voyeur is watching is given, it must be filtered through the eyes of the Voyeur (instead of
The man was, just then, having trouble getting his suitcase open the matter should be addressed in terms of
He watched the man trying to get the suitcase open, watched the man make multiple attempts at selecting the correct key)
The Voyeur cannot perpetrate any grossly illegal action, such as breaking into an apartment or stealing a handbag.
To submit your work for consideration, use the following link
Anthology Three: A NEW TRICK, MR. KNOX
A NEW TRICK, MR. KNOX is an Anthology of stories concerning Petty Crime. The main idea is to present stories, in great detail, about the lives of people who are involved in Shoplifintg, Short Change Cons, Pickpocketing, Purse Snatching, Vandalism and other types of small crimes (a car being stolen, for example, is too big of a crime). The stories should contain as much intricate description of the processes the individuals use to commit their crimes, as possible, but at the same time should not focus only on the perpetration of the crimes (that is, these should not be Suspence Stories or stories in any way concerned with whether or not the criminal Gets Away With It. Think more in terms of a documentary format). The obstructions that must be worked around are as follow:
The stoires (in any narrative voice) must be only concerned with the criminal's actions and need to be filtered only through the criminal's perspective (that is, in a Shoplifting story, the narrative can mention that the criminal sees a clerk and that the criminal might wonder what the clerk is thinking, but cannot Say what the clerk is thinking or express what, exactly, the clerk is Seeing).
The crimes must be Petty. There should be no sense of large dollar amounts being obtained or that any single crime will do anything to change the criminal’s position in life.
While the stories can contain sections illustrating a criminal getting caught, it cannot be suggested that this is the last time a criminal will do what they do or that getting caught is even a rariety. That is, once again, the point is not whether or not the criminal gets away with it.
The stories cannot make commentary on the Moral Implications of what the characters are doing, unless filtered through the character (if a character is concerned about what sort of person he is, this must be expressed by the criminal thinking about this, to himself, for example)
Violence, in any but the slightest form (for example, the violence contained in snatching a purse) should not be contained in the stories. This is not to suggest that the stories should be watered down or that anything should be tip toed around. In fact, the prose should be as gritty and vulgar as it wants to be. The avoidance of any violent confrontation is simply to drive home the point of the dull, ordinary drudge of crimes being described.
To submit your work for consideration, use the following link
