Now taking submissions for the Fae World anthologies #FaeWorld

Fae World

Melusine Muse Press is currently taking submissions for the Fae World series of anthologies.

This one will either be one large anthology or four smaller ones. 

The four themes are Autumn Court, Winter Court, Spring Court and Summer Court and may include both dark and light Fae (Seelie and Unseelie). 

The word count should be between 300 and 3,000 words. 

Not all submissions will be accepted. 
These are adult stories, but gratuitous sex, gratuitous foul language and gratuitous violence will earn a rejection. 

Depending on the quality of the stories sent in, there will either be a one volume, 50+-story anthology or four volumes with 25 to 35 stories in each (depending on average length of stories). 

At this moment, I cannot afford to pay for stories that are accepted, but there will be a $10 Amazon gift certificate awarded to the best story in each category ("court") and a $25 gift certificate for the best story overall (once the required number of stories has been submitted and accepted).

At the moment, the closing date remains open. Submissions will remain open until the correct number of acceptable stories is reached. Each book needs to be a minimum of 50,000 words (if broken into four separate books) or 125,000 words (if published as one book).

Once all stories have been chosen for the anthology, winners will be chosen. All those with stories accepted in the anthology will get badges for their blogs or websites.  Winners in each category and the over-all winner will get separate "winner" badges.

I am hoping to be able to begin work on the anthology during 2016, so the earlier submissions come in, the better.

Please include a one-paragraph, third-person author bio with your submission. Website links to your sites may are allowed within reason.

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Idea-generating for the Fae World anthology series #FaeWorld

Do you plan on submitting some stories for the Fae World anthology series? You can refer to the post about the Fae World for more information on the world you will be setting your story in and you can refer to the submission page to find out more about the rules for submissions for this anthology series.

From Pinterest board

You might be finding it difficult to come up with an original idea for your story. To help generate ideas, there is a wonderful Pinterest board, full of fantastical creatures and magical images, for you to peruse.

From the Pinterest board

Formatting your submission

Now taking submissions for the Fae World anthology series

About the Fae World and its four courts for the Fae World anthology series

Pinterest: Magical Realm: Faeries, Elves, Unicorns and more

Quick visual anthology of some mythical creatures

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Fae World anthology series - Melusine Muse Press still taking submissions! #FaeWorld

We are taking submissions for the Fae World series of anthologies.

Fae World  

 

This anthology will either be one large anthology or four smaller ones. 

The four themes are Autumn Court, Winter Court, Spring Court and Summer Court and may include both dark and light Fae (Seelie and Unseelie). 

The word count should be between 300 and 3,000 words. 

Not all submissions will be accepted. 

These are adult stories, but gratuitous sex, gratuitous foul language and gratuitous violence will earn a rejection. 

Depending on the quality of the stories sent in, there will either be a one volume, 50+-story anthology or four volumes with 25 to 35 stories in each (depending on average length of stories). 

At this moment, I cannot afford to pay for stories that are accepted, but there will be a $10 Amazon gift certificate awarded to the best story in each category ("court") and a $25 gift certificate for the best story overall. (The overall winner will be ineligible for the section winner prizes. That means that there will be four $10 winners and one $25 winner.)

For now, the closing date remains open. Submissions will remain open until the correct number of acceptable stories is reached. 

Once all stories have been chosen for the anthology, winners will be chosen. Winners will get winner badges for their blogs or websites. 

I am hoping to be able to begin work on the anthology during 2015, so the earlier submissions come in, the better.

You may submit multiple stories. Please follow the guidelines for submissions.

E-mail stories to Rebecca (at) Fyfe (dot) net

Authors retain all rights to submitted stories. If your story is accepted, you will be e-mailed a contract.

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Sale on Custom Book Covers

Some of you know I make custom covers for myself or others. I use stock photos, and sometimes I use photos I photographed myself for stock photos. (I have a large family and many props, so there is a lot of variety for models.) I also take scenic photos wherever I go.

Having a custom cover made can be costly. That's why I learned to do most of the work myself. When I have difficulty with something or don't have the skill to crate exactly what I want, I turn to my husband who has been doing photo-manipulations longer than I have.

Well, we've had a minor, but expensive family emergency this past month. Our kitten, new to the family, somehow managed to break a bone in his paw. We don't know how he broke it. One minute he was fine and speeding around the house, as kittens do, and the next, he was favoring his right front paw and unable to put any weight on it. We took him straight to the vet where he had an x-ray and we found out he had broken the middle bone (metacarpal?) in his paw.  The poor thing has had to remain in a crate for the past three weeks.

He just had his follow-up x-ray at the vet's, and his bone is healing but not completely healed. The vet understands that, even being in a crate had not kept the kitten from leaping and running, despite his broken paw, so she has given him permission to be on room-rest, as long as we keep an eye on him so that he doesn't jump too much.

All of this was very expensive, which, under normal circumstances, would have caused us a bit of a financial strain, but we would have been okay. But this time of year could hardly be considered normal circumstances. Our 5 year old turns 6 in two days' time. My eldest daughter turns 23 on the 26th of December, and, of course, Christmas is nearly here.

My children do not NEED anything. They have more than they could ever need, and we have decided that this year, presents will be small and simple, and most likely hand-crafted. But it will still be a stretch to pay all of the bills this month after paying all of Loki's vet bills.

That was very long-winded, wasn't it? Well, I am explaining all of this in order to explain why I am running a huge sale on my custom book covers. (They are made using photos, not illustrations.) If you would like a custom book cover made for you, as long as it is not immensely difficult and complicated, I will make it for you for $25. You contact me and tell me what you want, what vision you have for it. If it's do-able, I will agree and you will pay the money through PayPal. I will then make your custom book cover, and you may have up to three revisions after the orginal. I will make you an ebook cover, and, for an additional $15, you can also have a print cover version of it. Your book cover will be sent as png, jpg and psd files.

Here are some examples of previous custom book covers:

I also create fairy photo-manipulations (and occasionally mermaid photo-manipulations for people to print as gifts. (sent to you as png and jpeg files). Check out Fairy Magic Photos on Facebook and go into the folder with the photos "by Rebecca" to see examples. I am having a similar sale on these.














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A New Way to Illustrate a Picture Book

I want to illustrate a picture book entirely through photo-manipulations. This might not be an entirely new way to illustrate a picture book; I'm sure someone somewhere had already done this, but it's a new idea for me. If anyone knows of a quality picture book that uses photo-manipulation for its illustrations, I'd love for you to let me know the title so I can have a look at it.

I often write picture book manuscripts. I rarely submit them to agents or publishers, but I know that, when I do, the publisher who takes on one of my picture books will choose an artist to illustrate my book, and I won't get much say over the choice or the illustrator's style. I would love to have the control over my picture books that self-publishing gives, but I cannot really afford the cost of an illustrator to illustrate the book.

Here's how the idea started percolating in my mind. My husband is great at sketching, but he's not quite at the level of an illustrator and I am far behind him in ability when it comes to drawing. However, he is incredibly skilled when it comes to photo-manipulations, often seeing and thinking of little details that would escape most of us. I am also learning quite a bit about photo-manipulations and how to create some stunning work.

So the idea is to choose one of my picture book manuscripts to illustrate entirely through photo-manipulations. It would have to be one that would be well-suited for this type of art. But the idea intrigues me, and of course, my mind is now running a million miles a minute with ideas for the art.

The main question is: Can I convince my husband to take the time away from his limited relaxation time to work with me on this project? (He works a lot of hours at the day job and spends hours a day commuting.) And, following on that question is: If he can't make the time to help, am I far enough along in my abilities to create the photo-manipulation illustrations myself?

Here are just a few examples of my husband's photo-manipulations (below):

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Talk Like a Pirate Day - Teapot Tales Volume 2 Book Blast & Giveaway!

“I'm no longer a child and I still want to be, to live with the pirates. Because I want to live forever in wonder. The difference between me as a child and me as an adult is this and only this: when I was a child, I longed to travel into, to live in wonder. Now, I know, as much as I can know anything, that to travel into wonder is to be wonder. So it matters little whether I travel by plane, by rowboat, or by book. Or, by dream. I do not see, for there is no I to see. That is what the pirates know. There is only seeing and, in order to go to see, one must be a pirate.” ~Kathy Acker

"Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea" is having its very own book blast and giveaway in honor of "Talk Like a Pirate Day" which falls on September 19th this year.

About the anthology:

In the spirit of “Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales” is this wonderful second volume of short stories to enjoy! With stories to enchant readers of all ages, this collection of pirate and mermaid stories will open your eyes to the magic that can be found under the sea. Let yourself be pulled into the magical worlds found within these stories. From pirates and sea monsters to kind-hearted mermaids and flesh-eating sirens, let these charming ocean tales sweep you away into the realm of fantasy. With twenty-six stories, including four poems, written by seventeen different authors from around the world, “Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea” is a wonderful collection of short stories, each story just long enough to enjoy with a cup of tea.

The proceeds from this anthology go exclusively towards providing for the Chapter Book Challenge, and the stories in this anthology were written and illustrated entirely by ChaBooCha members.

There are two separate versions of the book, both in kindle and paperback, a version with US spellings and a UK edition with UK spellings and language.

This is the second volume of the Teapot Tales anthologies. The first one was published in 2013, and it was called "Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales."

“Darwin may have been quite correct in his theory that man descended from the apes of the forest, but surely woman rose from the frothy sea, as resplendent as Aphrodite on her scalloped chariot.” ~Margot Datz, "A Survival Guide for Landlocked Mermaids"

Other Book Blast Participants:(Go check out their blogs!)

Julia Stilchen

Melissa Gijsbers

Ashley Howland

Melusine Muse Press

Chapter Book Challenge

Jo Hart

Melissa Writes

Now that you know all about this wonderful anthology, it's time to let you know what the you might win by filling in the Rafflecopter for this giveaway.

magnet

mini poster print

Teapot Tales Volume 1 and Volume 2

- a print copy of "Teapot Tales" (Volume 2)


- a kindle copy of "Teapot Tales" (Volume 2)


 - a mermaid-themed bookmark (with charms)

 
- a magnet with the "Teapot Tales" (Volume 2) cover on it


- a mini poster print of the "Teapot Tales" (Volume 2) book cover
  

- an e-book copy of "Swallow Me, Now" by Melissa Gijsbers

To enter for a chance to win one of the above prizes listed above, fill in the Rafflecopter. Come back and check in as new prizes will be added and new ways to earn points. The winners will be chosen and announced on September 25th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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"Swallow Me, Now!" by Melissa Gijsbers - Go support a talented new author!

There's only a week left of my friend Melissa Gijsbers's crowdfunding campaign for her new kids book "Swallow Me, NOW!" It's aimed at kids aged 9-12 and is about a girl who is dealing with a new school, a new country, and a new bully. If anyone would like to support it by pledging and/or sharing, that would be awesome.

The project: http://www.pozible.com/project/184562 

She's aiming for a book launch on 25 October in Oakleigh, Victoria, but with only one week left and still only half-way there, she's going to need all of our help.

Here's the information she has posted on the crowdfunding page about the book:

"The story of the project
‘Swallow Me, NOW!’ is the story of Samantha Phillips, a ten year old kid in grade 5 who relocates back to Australia after spending three years in Nepal. On her first day she meets Felicity, the most popular girl at Green Oaks Primary School, who bullies her, first with exclusion, and then escalating to teasing. The story tells the tale of how Sam overcomes the bullies and builds her confidence to find some new friends.
‘Swallow Me, NOW!’ was written during the 2013 Chapter Book Challenge, and draws on my own experiences as a missionary kid adjusting back to life in Australia in the 1980s. I found it very hard to make friends and was bullied, mostly due to differences in experiences, but also due to a lack of confidence.
My younger son partly inspired the ending to ‘Swallow Me, NOW!’ after one incident. The teacher was reading a story about bullying where the bully and victim became best friends at the end of the book. He told me that he just wanted the bully to stop and that he didn’t want to be friends. Looking in to other stories that were available, I found similar endings, or that the bully got in trouble and changed their ways.
The other aspect I noticed was that many stories were trying to get children to solve the issue of bullying by themselves. With my story, I want to encourage children to tell someone if they or someone they know, are being bullied. They may be able to come up with a solution, however they should do this with the support of the adults around them.
My goal with this book is to give children an understanding of bullying as well as encouraging them to speak up if it’s happening to them or someone they know."

The part highlighted in red is highlighted by me to point out that, not only is this a book about bullies, intended to help kids through their own bullying problems, but it was also written during ChaBooCha!

A $6 donation helps her reach her goal and also gets you an e-book copy of the book once it's published. If you want to donate more, there is an option to buy a copy for yourself and have a second copy donated to a local school library.


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Now taking submissions for "Fae World" anthology series

Melusine Muse Press is taking submissions for the Fae World series of anthologies.

World of the Fae  

This one will either be one large anthology or four smaller ones. 

The four themes are Autumn Court, Winter Court, Spring Court and Summer Court and may include both dark and light Fae (Seelie and Unseelie). 

The word count should be between 300 and 3,000 words. 

Not all submissions will be accepted. 

These are adult stories, but gratuitous sex, gratuitous foul language and gratuitous violence will earn a rejection. 

Depending on the quality of the stories sent in, there will either be a one volume, 50+-story anthology or four volumes with 25 to 35 stories in each (depending on average length of stories). 

At this moment, I cannot afford to pay for stories that are accepted, but there will be a $10 Amazon gift certificate awarded to the best story in each category ("court") and a $25 gift certificate for the best story overall. (The overall winner will be ineligible for the section winner prizes. That means that there will be four $10 winners and one $25 winner.)

For now, the closing date remains open. Submissions will remain open until the correct number of acceptable stories is reached. 

Once all stories have been chosen for the anthology, winners will be chosen. Winners will get winner badges for their blogs or websites. 

I am hoping to be able to begin work on the anthology during 2014, so the earlier submissions come in, the better.

You may submit multiple stories. Please follow the guidelines for submissions.

E-mail stories to Rebecca (at) Fyfe (dot) net

Authors retain all rights to submitted stories. If your story is accepted, you will be e-mailed a contract.

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"Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea" is available now!

A new anthology has just been published through Melusine Muse Press. It is a second volume of short stories in the Teapot Tales series. I'm the editor. My good friend Kelly McDonald is the cover designer, and we had several illustrator contributions within the book. I have three stories in the anthology. My husband Robert Fyfe has one story in it, and my grown daughter Angelica Fyfe has a story and a poem in the anthology. There are a lot of other really fantastic authors who contributed, and I know you will all love the stories within this book.

Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea

From the blurb:

In the spirit of “Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales” is this wonderful second volume of short stories to enjoy! With stories to enchant readers of all ages, this collection of pirate and mermaid stories will open your eyes to the magic that can be found under the sea. Let yourself be pulled into the magical worlds found within these stories. From pirates and sea monsters to kind-hearted mermaids and flesh-eating sirens, let these charming ocean tales sweep you away into the realm of fantasy. With twenty-six stories, including four poems, written by seventeen different authors from around the world, “Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea” is a wonderful collection of short stories, each story just long enough to enjoy with a cup of tea.

To buy in the US: 

Paperback

Kindle

*****

To buy in the UK: 

Paperback

Kindle

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