#Bound Anthology ebook

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

TransRightsReadathon Sales & Freebies!

I will be collecting books that are reduced or made available for free by authors for the TransRightsReadathon here. Feel free to share any that you know of that I might have missed:

Queeird: A Collection of Unusual Trans Masculine Erotica edited by Max Turner | ebook 2,80 £, paperback 6,30 £

Androids and aliens, werewolves and vampires, furries and… tentacles? This is a collection of unusual, and at times monstrous, erotica featuring trans masculine characters. From the ridiculous to the romantic, expect kinks, quirks and tropes. All the stories feature trans masculine main characters, with a variety of cis, trans female, trans male and non-binary lovers.

Deck the Holes by WrenVLothaire | ebook 0.50$

It’s Yule, a celebration Aloysius is well versed in but never has the time of year been his favorite. But with Malachai, a partner with whom he’s come to love and cherish, this holiday may not be as somber as it’s always been. This time he has a surprise in store. Let’s just hope the owner of the home approves of the decorations. t4t, trans man MC

Tales of Genesis I-III by H.S. Wolfe | ebook free, (the book one that these short stories are based on costs 1.99$)

Out of the Rain by TinyLesbianRobot | ebook 0.50$

Echo interrupts a lazy morning with a strange request of Ender. The first in a series of shorts set in the Genesis universe and can be read as a stand alone without having read In The Garden Of Echo t4t, trans man MC & trans woman MC

The weather has taken a turn, forcing Flax and Lost to rush for shelter.  But now that they've found a place to dry off, Lost's drenched clothes are clinging to her, and Flax is finding it difficult to keep from staring... This story is a non-canon short set in the world of my novel 'Messenger': just under ten thousand words of warm, fluffy, robot-on-angel-on-human smut, a cozy and affectionate scene between women who love each other a whole lot. transfemme MC

Rien Gray's Trans Rights Readathon Sale | ebooks 60% off, $6.00 for 2 books

Follow a fellowship of sapphic knights as they’re seduced by witches, queens, goddesses—and each other—in a dark, lush fantasy inspired by Arthurian legend. genderfluid butch MC, agender MC

Valerin the Fair by Rien Gray | ebook free (+ other free sapphic books)

genderfluid butch MC

Our Monsters by Jemma Topaz | ebook 69% off, $1,23

Rosemary Dulahan, answering a strange job posting, arrives in Monstertown – a place inhabited by magical beings from another world. Navigating the politics of sphinxes, lamias, and secrets, she must learn how to get along with her non-human coworkers and maybe romance a few monster girls along the way. There's nothing she wants less than getting caught up in a murder mystery troubling all of Monstertown… but the mystery doesn't care what she wants, and she's about to discover the darker side of her new world. trans woman MC

A.A. Fairviews TransRightsReadathon Bundle | ebook free

In celebration of the second TransRightsReathon you can grab A Doctor's Touch and Peaceful in the Dark for free.  Following a trans masc vampire and queer werewolf- these stories are as sweet as they are sensual.  transmasc MC

Bury your Gays & Bound in Flesh | ebook free

Anthology of tragic queer horror & anthology of trans body horror by ghoulish books

The Fealty of Monsters by Ladz | ebook free

Winter 1917. After years on the run from a dangerous cult, twenty-three-year-old Sasza and his father have established themselves among the Odonic Empire’s ruling class. But there’s a problem: Sasza is a vampire, and vampires aren’t supposed to get involved in human governance. What the aristocracy doesn’t know, after all, cannot hurt them. Unfortunately, Sasza is far more involved than a stealth vampire should be. Not only does he work to quell the rumors of the vampires’ responsibility for an unsolved massacre, his lover is also the pro-proletariat Ilya, the Empire’s Finance Minister, who tries to recruit Sasza into the same cult hunting him. Then—the Emperor declares war against the Vampire States. Diplomacy has failed. Sasza quickly learns that he will do anything to preserve peace–including giving in to the monstrosity he spent so many years concealing from even himself. nonbinary MC

Trans Readathon by Wicked Witch Writes | ebook 50% off, $5

Your Body is Not Your Body anthology | ebook $1,99

A centaur seeks illicit surgery in an alien bodily modification club. Two medieval monks react to their transformation and demonic pregnancy in very different ways. A resourceful trans teen destroys sports bigots through the power of pluckiness...and abundant body horror. A stellar cathedral crosses galaxies to dump the corpse of God into a star before the mission devolves into a panoply of psychedelic orgies. A doxxed teen falls victim to violent assault and dishes out some harrowing retribution of their own. Over thirty Trans and Gender Nonconforming creators unite to voice their rage, and the rules of conventional Horror go out the f$%&ing window in this collection featuring murderous pleasure-bots; proselytizing zombies; acid-filled alien cops; science run amok; sorcerers, ghouls, cannibals...and that barely scratches the grave-dirt.

Blood from Stone by Bellamy Scott | ebook PWYW

Hitting a deer while driving a country road is unfortunate, but common enough that no one expects it to re-order the fabric of reality as they know it. For Sam, a rogue stag on a summer night takes his husband, his life, and his name in a single blow. As months of grief pass, he things he's begun to get used to his new reality, until an encounter with a childhood friend changes it all over again. BLOOD FROM STONE is a story of an old lady doing good deeds for bloody boys on the side of the road, of poisoned wine, and of a trans man Becoming Real.

Becoming Light by Riley Nash | ebook free

When people meet me, they see a bright faced, happy-go-lucky kindergarten teacher who will do anything to support his friends. Not everyone knows the struggle I’ve faced to become the man I am today.  Now it’s finally time for the gender-affirming surgery I’ve been dreaming of for years. But when an emergency leaves me without a caretaker, the only person who can take me in is my best friend’s aloof, reclusive, and incredibly sexy dad. The one who has no bedside manner and struggles to communicate. The one I’ve had a crush on for years. The deeper we see into each other’s worlds, the stronger the attraction gets. I’m not sure either of us can make it through the next four days without giving in. Trans man MC

​TransRightsReadathon Sale by Matthew Zakharuk | ebook 50% off, $2.50

a story of trans transhumanism + a dystopian gothic

[delilahdesanges]

[Publishing] FREE BOOK ALERT!

Fantastic news! In celebration of Sim Kern’s Trans Rights Readathon, Ghoulish Books are prereleasing a FREE ebook version of the Bound In Flesh anthology for Readathon participants. Click through to Sim Kern’s Trans Rights Readathon to learn what’s involved in signing up, and which charities you can donate to. My current preference is TENI, the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, but there are…

[kimiiko-x]

books are cool

I really enjoy reading books, A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images. Modern books are typically in codex format, composed of many pages that are bound together and protected by a cover.A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images. Modern books are typically in codex format, composed of many pages that are bound together and protected by a cover.

The book above was one of the first ever books printed with a printing press. Modern books are usually in codex format, composed of many pages. They are connected together by a cover. One of my favorites was The Great Gatsby, a classic book by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterpiece and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel. As a conceptual object, a book refers to a written work of substantial length, which may be distributed either physically or in digital forms like eBooks. These can be fiction or non-fiction. A physical book may not contain such a work: for example, it may contain only drawings, engravings, photographs, puzzles, or removable content like paper dolls. It may also be left empty for personal use, as in the case of account books, appointment books, autograph books, notebooks, diaries and sketchbooks.

The picture above is a notebook, not all books contain stories in them, they can be used to write stories. Writing stories such as diary entries are so relaxing. Who knows, your diary might become a famous story in the future. Books are sold at different stores, online for delivery, and can be borrowed from libraries.

TYPES OF GENRES, WORDS, ETC. ↓

Literature

Oral literature Folklore-(fable - fairy - tale - folk play - folksong - heroic epic - legend - myth - proverb) Oration - Performance (audiobook - spoken word)- Saying Major written forms Drama- (closet drama) - Poetry-(lyric - narrative) - Prose - Nonsense - (verse) - Ergodic - Electronic Long prose fiction Anthology - Serial - Novel/romance Short prose fiction Novella - Novelette - Short story - Drabble - Sketch - Flash fiction - Parable - Religious - Wisdom Prose genres Fiction Speculative - Realist - Children's - Genre -(adventure - coming-of-age - crime - erotic - fantasy - military - paranormal - romance - science fiction - supernatural - western - horror) - Historical - Encyclopedic Non-fiction Academic - (history - philosophy) - Anecdote - Epistle - Essay - Journalism - Letter - Life - Nature - Persuasive - Travelogue Poetry genres Narrative Children - Epic - Dramatic - Verse novel - National Lyric Ballad - Elegy - Epigram - Ghazal - Haiku - Hymn Limerick - Ode - Qasida - Sonnet - Villanelle Lists Epic - Groups and movements - Poets Dramatic genres Comedy - Libretto - Play - (historical - moral) - Satire - Script - Tragedy - Tragicomedy History Ancient - Classical - Medieval - Modernist - Postmodern Lists and outlines Outline - Glossary - Books - Writers - Movements -Cycles - Literary awards - (poetry) Theory and criticism Sociology - Magazines - Composition - Language - Narrative - Feud - Estate

↓ There are many different genres and type of books, that's why it is cool. ~Information and pictures by Wikipedia and Pinterest~

[liapher]

2 6 9 12 14 16 22 24 <33333333 + favourite cover/binding/typography you've seen this year?

2+12 & 24 :)

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

Was there ever 🙃 The City & the City (China Miéville) (you will be the first to know when I read it). La vie mode d'emploi and/or Espèces d'espaces (Georges Perec) (ditto). About half the books in this post (oops). Art on Fire (Hilary Sloin), Chroma: A Book of Colour (Derek Jarman), Flights (Olga Tokarczuk).

9. Did you get into any new genres?

Hmmm not really, unless you want to count "short story anthology" as a publishing category?

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

Maybe I'll finish Cover (Peter Mendelsund) or read A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Becky Chambers), but I'll probably stay firmly in Whale Mode until the year is over.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Counting myself lucky enough not to really know what books are currently getting hyped up. That said, I read a couple books hyped up by acquaintances that were mediocre-to-okay but not amazing :(

22. What’s the longest book you read?

Le ton beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language (Douglas Hofstadter), which was 600-odd numbered pages plus a couple dozen unnumbered pages long

Favourite cover/binding/typography?

Love this question, thank you!

I really liked the typography of Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style (pics). Also, the paper of that book and of Two Titans: Tschichold & Mardersteig (Hans Schmoller, pics) was sooooo nice

I also really liked the typesetting of and reproduced graphics in the Tufte books I read (pics) as well as the other data viz book I read (Picturing the Uncertain World by Howard Wainer), which had a table of contents design I really liked:

I do enjoy paintings on book covers, such as the Hockney painting on Ali Smith's Autumn (pic), which also has paintings printed onto the inside of the cover

The typesetting of Das Parfum was super restrained -- one typeface, different font sizes only used on the title page IIRC, chapters don't even start on new pages but are simply set off by two or three empty lines and a centred header, and it worked so well. The Diogenes typesetter probably was a Tschichold fan

Many of the books I read were ebooks or audiobooks so no typesetting/binding/etc to speak of :(

If I may say so myself I am extremely proud of the two books I typeset and bound this year :) (: I feel like I finally figured out how to do typesetting I actually still really like half a year later. (People with my 2021 typesets, avert ye eyes.) And I'm so happy with these covers too. I had so many additional typesetting plans but no time to realize them RIP (next year!!!)

[unbearable-lightness-of-ink]

so here's where we're at:

a moveable feast is bound badly as a proof of concept and I think it really captures the intended vibe.

six word peace corpse poems are bound tidily except for the page sizes which I gave up on caring about. the thing triggered a week of trauma dreams so frankly I don't think it deserves neatly aligned pages.

hell's librarian is typeset, imposed, and printed, and about a quarter of the pages are cut (nicely). I have white bookcloth and am going to try printing the cover design directly on it with my inkjet. (this worked fine with the purple cloth on the peace corpse poems but didn't have enough contrast to see clearly on the darker background.) I may wind up making headbands out of whatever I find in my craft room because I'm impatient.

the ghost of you haunting the ghost of me is typeset but not exported or imposed. I need to do a color test with that one too because it has colored chapter headers. I have absurd sparkly endpapers for it and assuming the printing on bookcloth experiment works for hell's librarian I am going to give it an extremely extra cover.

war crimes is typeset but I need to do another pass because I think I've changed my mind about the margins, and I vaguely remember the table of contents giving me grief. I also have to decide how hard I'm committing to the cover design, and i don't remember whether I have endpaper I like for it.

haven v1.0 is typeset but in checking the page breaks I realised I'd typeset the last draft, not the final one, and there are some mistakes, so I have to reconcile it. with the final draft. fml. I also might hate my cover design for that, idk.

the accidental poetry is mostly typeset but I have to take another look and decide whether to make it a single volume or several and, if several, where to break it. then I need front matter etc which I haven't looked at yet because it took so long to just sort the poetry.

the fucked up short story anthology is still in the editing phase by which I mean I haven't yet finished reading all the submissions. there are, like, 100 of them. literally thousands of pages of short stories for me to read. and then I will have to decide how to order them and whether to put them in multiple volumes or one fuck-off massive tome. I did do page spreads for a couple of the short stories as proof of concept and I think I have a plan for design if not for content.

the short stories for posterity are sloppily tossed into the publisher and I might do them in between the others if I need a break from things I care about. I just want them printed so I don't lose them to my computer. might toss all my other sentimental stuff into that one just to have it printed. then I will shove it to the back of a shelf where nobody will see it bc frankly I'm not sure I want people reading the short story I wrote in 2011 or whatever yknow? it was probably not good. same with my poetry. I am not a poet but I don't really want the computer to eat them when my hard drive inevitably fails etc.

I need a cover design and I need to buy the ebooks before I can do the rest of the kate kane novels, which i plan to bind because some of them are not available on paper.

I know it sounds absurdly unrealistically ambitious but I really am going to compile a comprehensive kinyarwanda language guide from all the incomplete resources I have found and downloaded. I personally want to be able to find the table I want when I want it and I can't remember where I chucked my notes from rwamagana if I even still have them.

which is all to say, I can't believe i have to go to work tomorrow instead of playing with my little crafts. this is homophobia thank you and goodnight

[halflingkima]

Slumpy First Chapter Test

I have not been reading. Moreover, I have not been liking what I'm reading. My average rating has been sub-2 stars all year. I want to fix this not so I read more, but so I can read books I really want to without my bad mood affecting the experience. It's been going so badly that I'm gonna start tracking my DNFs. I know I've put down at least 20 books in the last couple months bc they weren't working and ironically I feel like that's part of the mood. So I'm gonna track how far I get and where I stop (esp now that storygraph doesn't count them as 'unrated' or 'books read' anymore) so that i get a better view of how much i'm actually reading vs only what i finish.

as typical in my slumpy flailing, i panic-checked-out a lotta library books so here's what i'm currently reading, how i feel about it, and impressions of the first chapter of all the books currently staring at me.

Currently Reading

Spell Bound by FT Lukens: An author I usually like, especially when I'm slumpy or not really in the mood to read or focus. Much like TJ Klune where the writing style is a little too.. simple? to ever really get more than a 3 star, but I typically love their characters and plots and the fantasy worlds they build, but for some reason this one is simply Not Hitting. Something about too few characters, mainly single POV, and the love interests not having much interaction at the 100-ish page mark isn't working for me. Think this might be a DNF tbh but isn't yet.

Speculative Fiction for Dreamers Anthology: Heavy literary-style anthology. I picked this up to maybe cure a slump with easy one-off short stories, but they're all so dense that it's having the opposite effect. I'm also not liking a large portion of the stories – I think the subject is too broad/vague to work as a coherent collection for me. It makes a much better textbook. I'm gonna finish it, but probably even slower than I have been.

Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun: This one's dicey bc it's definitely a 5-star for me, but I put it down at a point of Overwhelm in the story (it was so good and happy and I wanted to stay in that spot for a bit) but then the slump struck and I don't want my poor reading mood to negatively affect what so far has been a nearly perfect story.

Palace Project

Vampires Never Get Old Anthology: I have the audiobook and my headphones have gone missing so that's an issue. I only read the front material and a small bit of the first story, but it's promising! the audiobook has good production, thank god – i hated the narrator for the intro (she was pronouncing stuff weird??) but each story is narrated individually, and I love that in an audiobook, especially a collection from multiple authors. the first story is by tessa gratton, so idk if it's the topic or her writing (since i tend to like her short stories) that has given me hope for this one.

The September House by Carissa Orlando: I liked the prologue, it was very readable. It set up a character voice and a full backstory very efficiently and got me excited for the story to come. idk if I'd be excited about phyiscally reading it, but it sounds like a stellar audiobook option.

Thorn by Anna Burke: For some reason this sounds very familiar. I wonder if I read an ebook sample or a preview somewhere. It feels very much like something someone maybe posted here circa 2014 as an interest check and now has finally gotten it published. i'm not exactly a fairytale retelling fan, and it very much reads as such, but I'm intrigued enough to continue. I don't think it's a slump cure, though, it seems a smidge too dark for that. but i do like drama – i think it'll depend on the style and amount of romance tbh.

Libby

New Adult by Timothy Janovsky: A reliable author that i'm tempted to crack the seal on. Like FT Lukens, he's kinda a reliable 3-star writing style, but i have had a 5 star and I dont have many more books of his to save for rainy days. This first chapter seems par for the course and i'm intrigued by the sliding doors/midnight library/life choices concept. i think it's gonna be the In Case Of Emergency on this list - if all else here fails, i'll crack that spine.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles: idk if i get kj charles and cat sebastian's writing styles confused just bc they're kinda the only regency m/m i read or if theyre actually that similar. this chapter was a great example of why i do prefer cat sebastian just a smidge – this opening chapter was a little abrasive and fast-paced with some immediate character conflict while i'd prefer to slowly adjust to a book. regardless, it does seem promising.

Afterlove by Tanya Byrne: This was very interesting. Again had a fairytale retelling tone, but isn't a retelling in content. I'm intrigued by the worldbuilding here. I knew it was a post-death teen romance but the way it's introduced still fascinated me. tbh I'm looking forward to the plot more than the romance per se.

Sutphin Boulevard by Santino Hassell: Like Thorn, this one also feels. weirdly familiar?? but more recent. I did probably read the libby sample at one point when I was really short on gay romances and reading it again, I remember why I put it down. It starts off real um. Intense. and kinda escalates from there. I might give this one a chance though, since the prose itself isn't insufferable. it's way too long to be simply erotica so I guess i'm curious where things go after a threesome in the first chapter.

Hoopla

Delay of Game by Ari Baran: much like kd casey's unwritten rules series, this has become my favorite reading-in-progress sports romance series. i'm a little afraid to burn the last remaining book (so far) on a slump break, but it has been a long slump. this first chapter launches into the past which is a little weird to contend with since the leads were attached-at-the-hip bffs in the previous book. ironically kd casey did that too. either way, i'm intrigued and locked in. but i hope i can save this till i can figure out how to get ahold of the third ebook.

Physical Library Books

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus: it starts off with a poem and a first person dialect that tells me 1) i'm probably gonna love it 2) it may break me and 3) it requires some solid focus and immersion. I don't think i'm gonna pick this one up very soon, but i'm now much more sure that i will pick it up at some point.

Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism by Kristen Ghodsee: I've only read the author's note, but it's surprisingly conversational/readable for a nonfiction text, especially on such a dense subject. I tried the audiobook a while ago and the narrator's accent like uhh repulsed me, i have no clue why. I'll definitely keep reading, but perhaps slowly. Unlikely that a physical nonfic would cure a slump, but idk maybe it'll shake up my routine enough to jolt it back into place.

The Written World and the Unwritten World by Italo Calvino: These are supposedly essays, but from the first one i got more of a satirical, meandering creative nonfiction think piece vibe. the structure is much more like a story than an essay, and the style reminds me of mark twain's nonfiction. i can see myself dnfing in the future, but i'll give it a shot for now.

[catgirlbulge]

Hi, I know some of your followers were looking for more stories by trans authors. I'm an autistic trans editor and writer, and worked on Bound In Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror--if anyone wants an ebook copy pls DM me.

Cool! (i haven't read it so i can't speak to its content, but it seems like the kind of thing that might make cis people uncomfortable so that's neat)

[avalonciara]

NEEDY AUTHOR POST! 💚💚💚

Anyone's group I can share a new release in today please?

Or just grab this and share for me, since I'm probably going into FB jail for posting too much.😬

#AuthorSharing RELEASE DAY!

I am so Excited to tell everyone that Bound to the Fae is currently available in paperback format!

And for all of you ebook readers, Realm of Midnight is still available for only 99c!

#IndieAuthor #KroseAuthor #Realmofmidnight #Anthology #Fantasy #NewRelease

Get access to thirty full length Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels by one-Clicking today!

Amazon.com (USA) https://www.amazon.com/Realm-Midnight-Limited-Paranormal-Collection-ebook/dp/B0BRGMK91M

Universal Link for Outside of the USA and Other retailers:

www.books2read.com/realmofmidnight

Paperback of Bound to the Fae:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CK3VFXH6

[hangofwednesday]

Every Halloween I try to post every week a old piece of comic work I was involved with in college.

These pages were done with different artist. We published them in many college printed anthologies and websites we all worked on. The idea of The Wall Bound was dips into stories from all realities that I created, wrote in, or read of during those days between classes.

Brief moments from larger tales I planned to be told later. Each week in October I will post a new page from the past :)

#tinuniverse #trees #comics #webcomics #comicbooks #horror #horrorcomics #prowrestling #prowrestlingcomics #freecomics #freewebcomics

[writingwithcrows]

Ooh look, a publishing announcement!

I’m pleased to share that my short story, “The Great Burning”, has been published in The Librarian Reshelved! This is a sequel to the wildly successful Kickstarter backed anthology The Librarian that came out late last year. Published by The Air and Nothingneess Press, they make absolutely gorgeous, collectible paperback books!

Originally this was going to be a limited run of only 150 copies but due to the popularity, Todd increased it to 250 copies. This book will not have a digital ebook edition, only this single limited print run, so grab a copy while you can! Originally planned to be ready in March, edits and printing moved so quickly that editions are now available to purchase.

Each copy is printed perfect bound with French flaps with this gorgeous artwork.

“A collection of speculative fiction stories about the Librarian's adventures roving through the multiverse getting in and out of trouble and paying people's library fines.

The Librarian Reshelved is a continuing collection of speculative fiction stories about one Librarian's adventures roving through the multiverse.”

http://aanpress.com/aanorder.html#TLR

*Happy squeeing author noises! *

[chapters-of-mylife]

Bound by Blood Anthology by Cora Reilly {Book Review}

-------------------------------------------

GENRES: Romance, Contemporary, Dark, New Adult, Adult, Mystery, Fiction

rating: ⭐️⭐️ out of 5 Stars

------------------------------------------- Born in Blood Sworn in Blood… …isn’t only the motto the Famiglia lives by. Bleeding for love is something every couple in this book has experienced. Through hardships their love morphs into something even more beautiful and resilient. A love each of them is willing to fight for.

This anthology contains stories for the following couples:

Aria & Luca Romero & Liliana Growl & Cara Mauro & Stella Matteo & Gianna (From Goodreads)

-------------------------------------------

Didn't like this book that much. I felt it was a waste of time. I was happy to see some of the characters again, But most of the book was about Matteo & Gianna, and I don't like Gianna, and she made me hate her more in this book!

if someone did summarise this book in just a few sentences which would've been telling me how many kids each couple has with their names and ages, I could've skipped this book. because literally, the only thing I could get out of this book was that, and the new couple? Mauro & Stella. I don't know if I can call them a couple or not TBH. and lastly, the mention of a new character, if I'm not mistaken this character is going to be featured in Cora Reilly's new series (Sins of Fathers)

[sfsucw]

Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Chapbook/Novelette Contest

The winner of the annual Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Chapbook / Novelette Contest wins a $1,000 prize, publication of the perfect bound pocket series chapbook / novelette with a full color cover by Omnidawn, 100 free copies of the winning chapbook / novelette, and extensive display advertising and publicity, including prominent display ads in Poets & Writers Magazine, Rain Taxi Review of Books and other publications.

Guidelines:

For this contest, Fabulist Fiction includes magic realism and literary forms of fantasy, science fiction, horror, fable, and myth. Stories can be primarily realistic, with elements of non-realism, or primarily, or entirely non-realistic.

Open to all writers worldwide. There are no citizenship or residency requirements or limitations.

Postal and online submissions are accepted from around the world.

Manuscripts must be in English, although it is perfectly acceptable to include some text in other languages.

This contest is identity-hidden (formerly referred to as a blind contest), so you can submit manuscripts that contain identifying information, but please be aware that such information will be removed from manuscripts before they are passed on to our editors who select manuscripts to be sent to the judge.

Manuscript submissions for all contests must be original.

Stories are NOT eligible for inclusion within a submission if they have been previously published online or in print or Ebook editions.

We recommend that you keep the total length of your manuscript between 7,500 and 17,500 words, consisting of either one story or multiple stories.

Simultaneous submissions to other contests are perfectly acceptable. Please send us an email to let us know if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

Revisions are not allowed to a manuscript after it has been submitted to the contest. However, the winning author will have time to revise the manuscript before publication. We do reserve the right to get approval from the judge if those revisions are significant.

The reading fee is $18 per entry. For $2 extra to cover shipping cost, entrants may choose to receive a copy of the winning chapbook or any Omnidawn fiction title, including our highly acclaimed ParaSheres anthology of fabulist and new wave fabulist fiction. A complete list of all Omnidawn fiction titles is available at www.omnidawn.com/product-category/fiction

Multiple submissions to this contest are acceptable, but each manuscript must be submitted separately, with a separate entry fee.

Online entries must be received and postal entries must be postmarked between September 1 and October 31, 2021 at midnight Pacific Daylight Time.

NOT ELIGIBLE are translations; collaborations by more than one author; students, colleagues, or close friends of the judge, Kellie Wells; Omnidawn past and present staff and interns; authors of books Omnidawn has published, and winners of previous Omnidawn BOOK and CHAPBOOK contests. Winners of Omnidawn's Broadside Contest are still eligible to enter and win Omnidawn BOOK and CHAPBOOK contests.

[connectjoe]

         1) The Erik Dalton Anthology is an extensive collection of his most popular published articles and features. This beautifully designed ebook with full color images covers a range of topics from thoracic outlet syndrome and stomach sleeper's headaches, to treating "text neck" and dowager's hump. Erik Dalton has been a regular contributor to the profession's largest publications, including Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Massage Magazine, Massage Today and others.

         2) Chair massage expert, Eric Brown, will lead you step-by-step through the process of conducting simple massage workshops. You’ll learn how to teach 42 powerful, but easy to master techniques. Unlike most introductory massage classes where participants need to undress or need to work on the floor, the Massage Anytime Anywhere workshop is super practical: All the techniques in this workshop are done over the clothing and are taught with the participants sitting in standard chairs. This makes it incredibly accessible to anyone.

There is no discomfort associated with disrobing –people remain clothed

You don’t need to supply tables or other special equipment – a standard chair is all that’s needed

No messy oils are used

You can do it practically anywhere – from your reception room or a client’s home to a church basement or a tradeshow floor

All techniques are easy to understand and teach

There is no discomfort associated with disrobing –people remain clothed

Almost anyone can do these techniques – they’ve been taught to kids, seniors and even the wheelchair-bound

It consists of 10 separate modules and can be taught in various formats from one-hour “lunch and learns” to weekend workshops

All techniques are done over the clothing in a standard chair. The only equipment you need is your hands.

The program comes with downloadable class handouts that you can customize with your contact information at the touch of a button. It's truly a unique product!

Discover how to:

​​​​​​​ *Pivot to offer new services

* Learn advanced hands on skills so you can attract and treat clients that need a new therapist

* Add income streams (virtual and hands on)

* Strategize your comeback, and plan for your future

[ink-splotch]

Grey had always loved books (for as long as he could remember, anyway, and he could remember a long way). It was why he had come to the Academy. The Academy was the way to the Library, and he had decided he wanted the path of his life to meander to those halls of books and stay there. What was the use of this one world at his fingertips, compared to the thousands hidden within all those pages? A week into his Academy life, comfortably settled among the books and quills scattered in his bed just the way he wanted them, a tardy redheaded barbarian had stepped into Grey’s room (Grey’s life). Jack had been barefoot and staring, tentative within the old walls but standing in his own skin as though he’d never thought of living any life but his. (Grey couldn’t count the number of times he had felt bound and breathless in skin too small to belong to his father’s callused son; or stared at his long fingers and felt they were too big for him, that they could stretch out and grasp things he wished were safely out of his reach, dreams he didn’t want to dream, power he didn’t want to have at his beck and call. It was why he kept them inkstained, smudges between whorls of fingerprints and faint freckles. When Grey felt lost, drowning in too much self, straining against too little, he’d rub his thumb over drying cursive, paint his name in the palm of his hand). A week into the Academy, a boy with the calluses Grey’s father had always dreamed of stepped through the dorm room door. Grey didn’t ask his name; he’d already read it off the door. It was the part of the boy that had been written down so of course it was the only part that mattered.   Nineteen months later, and Grey was waist deep in the river shouting advice about krakens, was cross-legged in his room with books piled above his head and a young woman chewing on her pen and spitting answers back at him like it was something to win, was wrapped up in a quilt drinking Jack’s best tea while the Elsewhere played a brass band in his bones, was breaking curses and ducking stray manticore thorns and chasing down gremlins with enchanted silver nets.   Nineteen months later, and Grey was wrapped up in a guide’s wide grin, tinged with a bravery that was earned and not born, a mage who shot bulls-eyes like it was something she owed the world, a hero who slipped them forgotten jackets and green apples and bruise balm like someone might punish him for the kindness. Nineteen months later, and Grey could see worlds in the curl of Jack’s bare toes when the wind blew down from the north. Stories were being written in every flick of Laney’s eyelashes, her slyest grin and the way she disappeared into perfect propriety when someone walked into the room, except for the taut muscles of her forearms. Rupert’s pen filled in forms and files and reports but all Grey wanted to do was to ask him about the scar on his left hand, or the farthest he had ever been from home. (Grey, presently, was as far as he had ever been, or possibly the very closest). They were anthologies. They were dictionaries and thesauruses for words he would never be able to translate. They were plays and rotting scrolls and old love letters and standing rune stones worn by centuries. They were being written before his ink-smudged nose. He would never catch up; he would die trying to read all of them, to find their translations, the best poems in their worst days. But Laney would yank the fire from his hands and run her fingers through it like she was carding wool, looking for secrets. Rupert would slip him a pair of thick mittens and travel cake stuffed with blueberries, which Grey had never admitted were his favorite (on her best days, his mother had gone out and picked them from spindly mountain bushes and held his hand, inkstained even then). And Jack would grin at him from across the hall, wrinkle his nose like it was another language to learn, and Grey would have to look down and bite his tongue to keep from laughing aloud, because somewhere, somehow, impossibly, he had learned it after all.

Beanstalk by E. Jade Lomax (download the (free) ebook here)

[writeinspiration]

How Long Should Your Novel Be? (The Definitive Answer)

Text of the article pasted below!

Many aspiring novelists ask themselves, “How long should my novel be?” The answer to this question is surprisingly complex. There are multiple issues that need to be to addressed… and I’m going to cover ALL of them in this article.So let’s get it!

My Journey

It took me eight years to craft my debut novel, The Page Turners.

Eight years is far too long to spend writing a first book. Looking back, I cringe at the thought of what I could have created in the time I wasted drafting and redrafting that novel.

One of the many reasons it took me so long to write my first book was that, like many rookie authors, I wanted my debut to be an epic story. I had twenty-five years worth of life experiences, thoughts, emotions, and stories to draw from, and I was determined to cram all of it into a novel that would dazzle readers and immediately launch my literary career into the stratosphere of superstardom!

At one point, the manuscript for The Page Turners was up to 130,000 words, but the published version is a little over 55,000; hardly an epic.

But you know what? Stephen King’s first novel wasn’t The Stand. It was a tight-packed little masterpiece called Carrie.

Once I followed King’s lead by focusing on intimacy and letting go of my aspirations of a sweeping and grand narrative, the project finally become manageable. After years spent struggling with this beast of a story, I was suddenly dealing with a focused and fast-paced narrative that had a clear theme and a nice sense of rhythm and harmony.

Before long, finally publishing the book was no longer a distant pipe dream; it had actually become an attainable goal. In shortening the length of my novel, I made my life as a writer much easier.

The Benefits of Short

It’s easier to redraft and review a shorter novel.

It’s easier to convince beta readers to give it a look, and you get their feedback much quicker.

As an indie author, it’s significantly cheaper to pay for copy-editing of a shorter novel, and the production costs of printing the final books are also more affordable.

Across the board, virtually everything becomes easier and more do-able once you commit to shortening your novel.

A shorter book also forces an author to focus with laser-like accuracy on the story’s most important elements: the plot and lead characters. Tangents, supporting characters, and non-relevant aspects of the narrative are kept to a bare minimum because there simply isn’t room for them in a short book.

Tell an enthusiastic young writer you need them to write a 2,000-word article, and there’s a good chance they’ll return with 4,000 words of mostly unusable material. On the other hand, tell them you need 500 words and not a single word more… and they might just come up with something great!

I’m quite fond of the Orson Well’s quote, “The enemy of art is the absence of limitations,” and I think it can be applied wonderfully to word count. Keep the book short, and you’re much more likely to create good art. At the very least, you’ll reduce the chances of creating bad art. (The only thing worse than a bad novel is a bad novel of epic length!)

With all of this in mind, I tell my writing students to aim for a 55,000 word novel for their debut book. A total of 55,000 words is the perfect length for a rookie author. It’s short and sweet, and it forces the writer to stick to the point, something young writers often struggle with. And, of course, as mentioned earlier, it makes the entire project more manageable.

Is a 55,000 Word Manuscript Novel Length?

In his article, “Word Count: How Long Should a Book Be?”, Glen C Strathy turns to The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s (SFFWA) criteria for the Nebula Awards to determine his word count criteria.

Here’s how the SFFWA defines the stories they review for the award:

Short story – under 7,500 words

Novelette – 7,500 to 17,500 words

Novella – 17,500 to 40,000 words

Novel – anything over 40,000 words

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) (an annual event that challenges writers to craft a novel within the month of November) identifies 50,000 words as the minimum target for their definition of a novel.

As such, by either the SFFWA or the NaNoWriMo’s definition, a 55,000-word book is certainly novel-length.

That said, if you would prefer to turn to general opinion and/or critical regard to determine the minimum length of a novel, consider The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece is only 55,000 words long, and it’s considered by many – myself included – to be one of the greatest novels ever written.

In fact, a number of my favourite novels of all time are around this length: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Catcher in the Ryeby J.D. Salinger, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde, Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, to name but a few!

As this list clearly demonstrates, despite what many young authors mistakenly believe, more words are not always better. From Kafka to Carroll, some of the greatest prose writers ever to live chose to produce shorter novels.

In Praise of Long

Despite my recommendation that aspiring authors focus their efforts on producing a shorter book as their initial publication, I would be remiss to ignore the variety of well-loved long novels out there.

In her Salon.com article, “Why we love loooong novels”, Laura Miller provides a convincing argument in praise of the epic. She also references the New York Times report that author Garth Risk Hallberg received a $2 million advance for his 900-page debut, City on Fire – a clear indication a shorter debut novel is not always the best route to critical acclaim and financial riches!

Riffing on Miller’s article, Maddie Crum’s Huffington Post article, “An Ode to Unaccelerated Reading” lists ten excellent novels well worth their page count, and I’m sure we all have a beloved epic tome or two weighing down our bookshelves.

In fact, it was likely my love of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Stephen’s King’s The Stand that got me into trouble with The Page Turners word count in the first place.

I’m not arguing that a novel must be short to be great; I’m simply suggesting that if you want to make the transition from aspiring author to published author in as smooth a manner as possible, you may want to save your epic for your sophomore release.

Industry Standards by Genre

Of course, only a few of the short novels I mentioned earlier were debut releases, and today’s modern writers, especially those looking to break into the mainstream publishing industry, would be wise to take into account industry standards when it comes to determining world count for their work in progress.

In a helpful article written for Writer’s Digest in 2012, Chuck Sambuchino outlines recommended word counts for various different genres of books. His recommended word counts are as follows:

Commercial and literary novels for adults – 80K to 90K

Sci-fi and Fantasy – 100K to 115K

Young Adult – 55K to 70K

In another article on word count and book length, “How Long is a Book? Determine Your Novel’s Genre, Subgenre, and Best Word Count”, Ronnie Smith expands on Sambuchino’s list by adding some additional genres to the mix:

Romance – 80K to 100K

Mystery – 75K to 100K

Thriller – 90K to 100K

Western – 45K – 75K

These recommendations are extremely helpful to keep in mind while working on your book, particularly if you intend to secure an agent and a traditional publisher for your work.

Keep in mind, however, that Sambuchino and Smith’s recommendations are based on the long-entrenched requirements of the traditional book publishing industry. As such, the recommended word counts are largely the result of industrial standards and therefore have more to do with the production requirements of paperback books than they do anything related to storytelling technique, artistic aspirations, or the preferences of readers.

New Standards

In recent years, the rise of ebooks, along with the ever-increasing ease with which independent authors can self-publish their work via web and print-on-demand has completely changed book industry standards in terms of word counts requirements.

With storytelling becoming increasingly digitalized, the very meaning of terms like “books” and “novels” are being consistently destabilized.

Ebooks come in a variety of forms and lengths, and print-on-demand can turn a project of any reasonable word count into a paperback publication. Authors are now free to craft books and novels with word counts that are bound only by the author’s imagination and creativity, and the audience’s receptivity.

Hugh Howey’s hit self-published “novel” Wool was originally released as a series of e-novellas. Authors Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt are releasing serial fiction that is then collected together into “seasons”, thereby combining 19th century Charles Dickens-like publishing model with that of modern television. Erotic authors, riding the surging 50 Shades of Grey wave, are consistently finding new and innovative ways to get their work into reader’s hands, including bundling books from several authors together to create what is, essentially, an anthology of novellas.

Where to From Here?

If it was difficult to determine exactly how long a novel should be in the past, it’s only going to become increasingly more difficult in the future. As independent authors continue to push the boundaries and test what digital publishing and print-on-demand have to offer, and as the traditional publishing industry attempts to keep up with technological innovations reshaping the publishing landscape, there’s no telling what a “book” might look like in the years to come.

If you’re looking for a career in traditional publishing, educate yourself on the word counts the publishers and agents you’re targeting are looking for. If you are embracing independent publishing, get creative! There’s an exciting world of storytelling possibilities out there, and whether your book is a short jaunt or an epic journey is totally up to you. Remain true to your vision, give your audience the read of a lifetime, and the last thing they will be thinking about is word count.

[scripturient-manipulator]

Happy STS! I'm new to your blog so could you tell me about your main writing project(s)? - @fruzsiwrites

Hi @fruzsiwrites! So I’m working on a lot of things right now, in various different stages. Usually I work by completing a draft, completing the draft of a different project while the first one sits, going to another draft while the first two sit, and so on. But due to deadlines and such, I’m doing a lot!

Highest on the list in terms of finished is Where The Lost Boys Go To Play, a retelling of Peter Pan where Wendy is an imaginary friend from 1888 trying to take down Neverland which, in actuality, is a trap set up by Tinkerbell (an UnSeelie Fae) to catch and keep the human souls she wants to eat. Peter Pan is deeply out of it, he’s been her broken pet for centuries now. She loves him, but in a twisted way. I got to do some research on a sadly now gone Native American tribe which was wonderful; the Calusa tribe who I set Tiger Lily in, I love writing about things I know nothing about because then I get to research. That one is being queried to agents!A Hand Extended is currently kind of being worked on, I’m trying to stay on track with a different story but it keeps drawing me back to write the first draft. In a fantasy world a pediatric doctor goes to treat a sick girl, the only child in her particular village in decades. While the doctor is there she falls in love with the girl’s mom, but something dark in the mountain’s woods keeps drawing her in.The story I’m trying to focus on doesn’t have a name yet, it’s for a Holocaust Memorial contest that my college does every year. A Romani woman in 1938 is desperately keeping her family safe during the Night Of Broken Glass, hating that she’s glad how for once it’s not her people being assaulted. Until the next day’s newspaper hits, with a decree that all Romani, at the moment shoved away into slums on the outskirts of the city, are now illegal in Germany. And then the gunfire starts. It’s just barely in the first draft’s stage but the deadline is March so I gotta get moving on it.My first draft that’s resting right now is for an anthology @crankygryphon told me about that I’m very excited for; a princess in a fantasy country moves to another for an arranged marriage, thinking she’s coming to a place that isn’t wretchedly bound by hierarchy and she won’t need to wear weighted clothing to slow her down because she’s a woman. Except her new husband likes the old ways, the complete lack of privacy and use of public shame to keep people in line. So she and her girlfriend-bodyguard are gonna tear the whole government down. They’re so cute together. I really like her girlfriend’s religion, she’s a bodyguard who’s bound by faith to never kill. But she does. For her girlfriend-queen.I’m also working in the mental realm on a sequel to my published novella Perfect World; unfortunately my publisher shut down, so I can only sell ebook copies right now. My dad really wants a sequel to learn more about Mary 1308, so even if it’s only for him I’m gonna write it.