As usual it was very rewarding getting out the annual Bridge
House anthology. Each year we choose
what sounds like a Christmas theme and then subvert it. So this time, whilst we
had several stories that mention the word "glitter" there are several
where the glitter only comes "in
shades of dark and light" (quote from back cover blurb).
As ever it's great to welcome new writers and ones we've published
before. We have quite an impressive list: Gail Aldwin, Sally Angell, Mary
Bevan, Christopher Bowles, Margaret Bulleyment, Elizabeth Cox, L G Flannigan,
Yasmina Floyer, Linda Flynn, A J Humphrey, Catrin Kean, Stuart Larner, Cathy Leonard,
Kate Lowe, Michael O'Connor, Paula R C Readman, Deborah Rickard, L F Roth, Theresa
Sainsbury, Dianne Stadhams, Julie Swan, David Trebus, Clare Weze and S. Nadja
Zajdman.
Again we looked for 24 stories and we're releasing an extract
of one a day throughout Advent. See them here:https://bridgehousepublishing.blogspot.co.uk/
Several of us met at our annual celebration, held this time
on 2 December at the Princess of Wales pub, Chalk Farm. A good time was had by
all though disappointingly twenty people had to cancel at the last minute. I
hasten to add this was mainly for very good reasons and couldn't be helped: family
problems, illness, awkward trains and work.
As popular as ever was the speed-dating session where
delegates try to get around to speak to as many people as possible. I've
invested in a little brass bell, shaped like a lady in a crinoline dress. She
did us proud, and despite only having about thirty people rather than the expected
fifty we sold all but a handful of the books I'd brought along. It was good listening
to people read their work.
It's a really nice book, even though I shouldn't be the one
to say that. It certainly wasn't a chore editing and proof-reading. It gave me
a real chance to read some exceptionally good stories.
The next call for submission goes live 1 January 2018. Our
theme this time is "crackers" – so funny stories or somewhat nutty
ones. Pathos is welcome also. However, the cover will not contain a Christmas
cracker.
Here are our general guidelines:
We open for submissions for a yearly anthology of
short stories on January 1st each year until March 31st.
New writers, established writers and writers we've included
in other anthologies are all equally welcome.
Timeline
Submissions accepted January 1st until 31
March
Editors' decisions By 30 June or thereabouts!
Editorial 1 July until 30 September
Book design and early marketing 1 October until 14
November
Book release around
15 November
Celebration event around 2 December
- Please send your submission as a Word attachment to editor@bridgehousepublishing.co.uk
- In the body of the email say a little about yourself.
- In the subject line, please put your name and the title of your story.
- Texts should be:
Previously unpublished
Double-spaced (Please do not put an extra double-space between paragraphs but do indent new paragraphs – use the Word paragraph settings to set this up)
In a regular font – e.g. Times New Roman or Arial, 12 point
- In the header include the name by which you would like to be known and the title of the text. In the footer please include your legal name and full contact details, including your preferred email address and telephone number. Please use the header and footer function in Word to create headers and footers.
- Please add a third person bio at the end of your text – between 50 and 70 words and include a URL if you wish.
- Please adhere to these guidelines even if they sound pernickety – it really helps us if you submit this way. Although we wouldn’t necessarily reject your story if it was fantastic and you’d done something a little out of kilter, if you’re borderline or your story is very similar to another this could be a deciding factor.
Looking forward to
reading some great new stories in 2018.
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