Posts tagged open call

We’re down to that just-under-the-wire time for getting in a submission to the latest anthology from Martian Migraine Press, RESONATOR: New Lovecraftian Tales From Beyond. The open subs call ends November 15 2014, a little less than two months from now. As editor of the book, I’m very pleased to report that the slush pile is quite healthy! Robust, even, with plenty of great stories from a wide range of authors (some very well known, some new, all amazing) with unique styles and interpretations of Lovecraft’s seminal story, From Beyond, and the featured bizarre “resonator” technology first pioneered by the megalomaniac Crawford Tillinghast. All that being said, there are still some things we would love to see appear in this book, so take the following bulleted list as inspiration and get writing!

• Don’t just make your piece about squishy monsters from beyond. In the original story, Lovecraft hinted at whole worlds available to the awakened pineal gland of those who fell beneath the Resonator’s malign, enlightening influence! The reader is given glimpses of strange architecture, unthinkable landscapes, uncanny angles. What’s the weather like over there? Sure, it’s a dimension of squishy monsters… but what other denizens exist in the beyond? Are there intricacies to the ecosystem that we haven’t been made aware of?

• And speaking of denizens, and architecture, might it be possible that sentient beings exist in the beyond? Would they have certain arcane technologies of their own? What books do they read? Is there a “beyond” version of the Necronomicon? Are there versions of Alhazred there, and what blasphemies would they get up to? Or scientists, scholars? Perhaps they have ways of coming here? And if so, would we notice them when they do? What are their goals in accessing our plane of existence?

• Back to monsters: falling prey to an extra-dimensional mollusc is bad, natch… but what other drives might these creatures have? Would they have other needs? To get all scriptural on you, consider: a mollusc cannot live on warm flesh alone (well, maybe they can!) and perhaps they might have other ways and means of interacting with humans when they encounter them. Is possession possible? Would there be benefits to hooking-up with a mollusc?

• Indeed, what are the psychic costs of going beyond and surviving the experience? For that matter, what would the mental and spiritual pay-off be? People don’t just build and fire up a Resonator for shits and giggles! (Although, if you can give us a story about casual Resonator use ¬– talk about your “gateway drug” – we’d be stoked!) Are there physical alterations that occur once the body is pushed into other realms? We’re thinking here, obviously, of that nasty pineal stalk waving around like a perverted little worm in Stewart Gordon’s film version of the story…

I like big glands, and I cannot lie!

… but what other types of mutation or powers might occur or be granted by going beyond? Would Resonator use affect how a person thought, or moved, or had sex? Could the molecular structure of a person be changed? Might a sting from a beyond-jellyfish alter your genes?

• Technology! We want to see classic Resonators, absolutely… but we’re also interested in new machines. How big is your Resonator? Lab or attic or cavern-sized? Bigger? Lots bigger? Or miniaturized? A pocket-Resonator? Smaller than that? Besides opening up human perception to alternate realities, what else might a Resonator be good for? Are there medical applications? The classic Resonator affects the pineal gland, so clearly there’s fun brain-science avenues to explore, but might there be other applications? What would the military do with Resonator tech? Could it be weaponized and what would such a weapon look like? What would Bill Gates (or someone Bill Gates-ish) do with it? My god! Imagine downloading a Resonator App from the Google Play store!

• Don’t feel limited to a certain period in history, either. (Yes, the 1920s-30s, looking in your direction.) Break away from HPLs standard model and timeframes: we want to see Resonators and their mad users in every era.

• Finally, the thing that I, personally, as editor, would love to see: MORE FEMALE AUTHORS. And more female perspectives. More LGBQT perspectives. The male beast (and I’m one of them, so I know whereof I speak) tends to dominate in tales of dark magic and strange tech and this is something I’d love to at least tweak towards the double-X end of the spectrum, if not to a great degree, at least a bit. So far, the percentage of female authors in the submissions is hovering round 2%. It may be too late in the game to change this, what with the deadline looming as it is, but I’d love to try. So, if you’re a lady who writes (or know one… or nine!), please please consider sending us your work.

Whatever your persuasion (as a writer, a human being, a non-human being) we’d love to read what you’ve got. If it’s good, we’d love to publish it in RESONATOR.

Submission guidelines and payment details are here.

Scott R Jones is the author of the short story collections Soft from All the Blood and The Ecdysiasts, as well as the non-fiction When the Stars Are Right: Towards An Authentic R’lyehian Spirituality. His poetry and prose have appeared in Innsmouth Magazine, Cthulhu Haiku II, Broken City Mag, and upcoming in both Summer of Lovecraft and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.