Anthology

Pre-Announcement:​ Worlds Enough, Volume 2

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The second volume of the Worlds Enough anthology series is now in the planning stages. The series was always envisioned to span the different sub-genres of the speculative fiction field. Since the first volume, Fantastic Defenders, covered fantasy heroes, the second will be targeted at the fantasy/detective sub-genre.

The title for the second volume will be “Fantastic Detectives.” We’re looking for stories about crimes in fantasy settings, ranging from urban fantasies to “second world” settings. The fantasy detective sub-genre can obviously lead to some dark stories, which is fine, but there should be at least a little ray of hope somewhere in each tale.

With this volume, we’re adding more variety to the story lengths, so stories may range from 5K to 20K words. Since we’re targeting 100K words for the entire volume, longer stories are welcome but will need to hold up under harder scrutiny.

Note that this is a pre-announcement. The official Call for Stories has not yet been released, though the schedule for the Call for Stories, submission deadlines, and anticipated publication dates are already available on our Schedule page.

Packaged Up “The Curator”

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The Curator

Worlds Enough has done the packaging for The Curator, the new anthology from the Hourlings writing group. Although not responsible for editing, we formatted the print edition, created the ebook, and did the cover design. The cover painting, of course, was licensed from the incomparable Luca Oleastri. The cover design was commissioned from Don Anderson.

The anthology will be published by Tannhauser Press around the end of December, 2018.

Three Hoarsemen Interview

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Interview on The Three Hoarsemen Donna Royston, Martin Wilsey, and David Keener were interviewed a week ago for Episode 44 of the Three Hoarsemen podcast. They got to discuss the new anthology, Fantastic Defenders, in their various roles as editors or, in Marty’s case, as the publisher (Tannhauser Press) of the volume. That podcast episode is now available online.

Fantastic Defenders Of the interview, David Keener said, “We had a lot of fun being interviewed. We got to talk about the anthology, our other works, Tannhauser Press, and a few other subjects.” The podcast is an hour and forty-two minutes long, but you can skip to the interview at the 1:07:48 mark if you’d like.

Since the podcast hosts also discussed the movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, earlier in the podcast, the title they chose for the episode was: “Fantastic Defenders of the Guardians of the Galaxy.” Check it out now!

Worlds Enough: Back Cover Blurb

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The stories are all in for Volume 1 of the Worlds Enough anthology series, with Fantastic Defenders clocking in at a highly respectable 88K words. Now that the stories are off to the copyeditor for final revisions, we thought it would be interesting to share the back cover blurb for the volume:

YOU CAN’T KEEP A GOOD HERO DOWN

Across astounding and magical worlds, five heroes step forward to defend against fantastic threats:

  • A sorceress in a besieged city faces a malignant force even more dangerous than the city’s would-be conquerors.
  • An unassuming bureaucrat stumbles upon a threat to a vast empire and deals with it in his own inimitable fashion.
  • A resourceful bodyguard for an infant princess, trapped and surrounded by merciless assassins, finds a unique way to hold them at bay.
  • A mage press-ganged into the Royal Navy finds himself volunteered for a dangerous, secret mission on foreign soil.
  • A disgraced royal guardian who failed in protecting his king hunts down those who cost him his honor.

These are…the Fantastic Defenders!

David Tatum Makes the Cut!

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David Tatum, author of fantasy books like In Treachery Forged and The Kitsune Stratagem, has been selected for the fifth and final slot in the anthology, Worlds Enough: Fantastic Defenders.

His story is “A Gun for Shalla,” about a hapless wizard named Kusk who gets press-ganged into the imperial navy. After serving on board a ship-of-the-line, he’s singled out thanks to his unique combination of magical talents. He’s forcibly volunteered to assist in a dangerous mission to rescue the imprisoned relative of a high-level diplomat. Naturally, things don’t go as planned.

Look out for it on May 5, 2017, when Worlds Enough: Fantastic Defenders is published.

The Submissions Are Coming In!

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Worlds Enough: Fantastic DefendersToday is Deadline Day, or D-Day, for submissions for our first anthology: Fantastic Defenders. It’s terribly exciting to see all the stories coming in. It’s the culmination of the first phase of a journey that started when I said to a bunch of my fellow writers, “I have an idea for an anthology.” Wonder of wonders, they took me seriously. Equally as important, Tannhauser Press took us seriously, too.

It’s also scary because it means that I have to start the second phase, providing the necessary editorial feedback to help the contributors tune their stories to the max. Technically, I guess this makes me an Editor, a role in which I’m happy to have also enlisted the help of Donna Royston (who also has a quietly powerful story in the anthology).

It’s an anthology of novelettes/novellas in the range of 10-20K words each, with a total of five slots. As a “mostly” curated anthology, four of the writers were pre-selected, and I have three of their stories in hand. The fourth writer is in the final stages of finishing up his story, which I expect to have in about a week. The stories are:

“The Mists of Lu-Shan” by Donna Royston
“Once Damned” by Martin Wilsey
“The Rooftop Game” by David Keener
“The Iron Garden” by Jeff Patterson

We opened up the fifth slot for competition. I’ve also received three submissions thus far for the last slot. I’ve heard that there may be a few more on the way.

We’re planning to publish the anthology on May 5, 2017 in print, ebook, and audio formats. Stay tuned for more news!

Call for Stories: Fantastic Defenders

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Worlds Enough: Fantastic DefendersWe’re producing an anthology called Fantastic Defenders. It’s targeted for five novelettes/novellas in the range of 10K to 20K words. It’s a semi-curated anthology, which basically means, at least in this case, that four of the slots have been filled by hand-picking authors we’re familiar with and who have a track record of doing excellent stories at this length.

That leaves us with a fifth slot that we still need to fill. Accordingly, we’re opening the slot up for competition, with a deadline of December 31, 2016.

Basic description is:

Looking for novelettes or short novellas in a fantasy setting featuring heroes defending against the forces of evil. Examples range from a royal bodyguard defending an infant princess against a well-organized assassination attempt to an aging bureaucrat defending an empire using only his wits. No elfie-welfie fiction.

Other information can be obtained via email inquiry (to dkeener _at_ davidkeener.org) if you’re interested in competing for the slot.

NOTE: This Call for Stories is closed. The anthology was published on May 19, 2017 and is now available on Amazon.