Editor: Rachel Haimowitz
Where will you be when the world ends, and how will it happen? Old standbys like zombies, a super-flu, aliens, an asteroid, or even the Rapture? Mayan gods (who knows, maybe we counted wrong!), super-heating of the earth’s core, nuclear annihilation, worldwide infertility, a black hole in the Hadron Collider? There are so many ways for life—and perhaps even the Earth—as we know it to cease, but what we want to know is what happens after.
Do your characters hole up with shotguns in the mountains? Hunker down in an underground CDC base to find a cure? Maybe martial law reigns supreme, or the survivors band together to create a new form of government (or resurrect an old one). Do a lucky few get to live on beneath the sea or in space on the hunt for New Earth? Does the world begin again?
Sure, the end of the world is an unpleasant place, but we’re looking for sparks of light amidst the misery. Show us survival, resilience, laughter, love. Show us the dark things too—it’s tough out there, after all, and even the best among us may do things we’re not proud of to survive—but give us romance, and hope, and the promise of a bright new day at the end of the journey.
Length: 25,000 to 100,000+ words
Genres: Romance in the following subcategories: urban fantasy, paranormal, horror, contemporary, near-future, sci-fi, thriller, mystery, alternate history. Non-romances with strong romantic elements are also acceptable. Unlisted genres will be considered as long as the story is set on Earth; please query first.
Heat Levels: Any
Ending: HEA or HFN
Orientation: Gay, bi, or trans*. Lesbian characters are most welcome in your ensembles, but should not be the the primary romantic interests.
Submissions Due: Thursday, November 1, 2012
Acceptance Letters Sent By: January 15, 2013 for novellas, February 1, 2013 for novels.
Anticipated Release Date: July, 2013
Editor: Rachel Haimowitz
Demon pacts. Alien experiments. Ghostly possessions. Monsters under the bed. Tentacles in the toilet bowl. We may fear the things that go bump in the night, but they also intrigue us. Fascinate us. Even turn us on.
Keep us earthbound or launch us into outer space. Unveil the hungry horrors of this world or of one full of fantasy and magic. Show us too-friendly creatures from the deep or amorous plants in the rainforest. Expose us to a mad scientist’s tireless steam-powered machine or a matriarchal tribe’s sperm-milking farm. Take us into Hell, or merely into the dark recesses of someone’s dreams. Show us eager "victims" or hesitant ones, or even full-blown resistance . . . as long as it all works out in the end.
Whatever they may be, explore your wildest fantasies in this collection of dark erotic tales.
(These stories will be released as a single ebook and print anthology. Select stories may be released individually several months after the release of the anthology.)
Length: 5,000 to 10,000. Slightly longer or shorter stories may be accepted, but be prepared to wow us.
Genres: Any
Heat Levels: HOT!
Ending: No tragedies, please
Orientation: Any LGBTQ
Submissions Due: Saturday, December 1, 2012
Acceptance Letters Sent By: February 1
Anticipated Release Date: October, 2013
Editor: Carole-ann Galloway
Lesbian fiction is coming to Riptide in 2013, and we're looking for a selection of the very best F/F stories with which to launch our list!
We'll leave the time and place up to you, but the focus of your story should be the romantic love between two women, whether it’s a developing affair or an established relationship.
Why not fill in the unwritten chapters of history and show us medieval maidens, Regency belles, Victorians, or wartime women seeking comfort in each other’s arms?
What does the future look like for women who love women? Are they out in space, living on other planets or colonies, human or otherwise? Or still on earth, enslaved or emancipated by new technology, governments, and events?
Or set your story in a world of your own creation, where myths come alive or the supernatural is standard fare. Send your heroines on quests and adventures to prove or discover their love.
Women who love women in fiction rarely get more than an ambivalent ending, so let’s change that. Whatever they have to go through to get there, make sure your characters get their happy ending.
Length: 10,000 to 100,000
Genres: Romance in the following subgenres: well-researched historicals, adventure, fantasy, PNM, magical realism, SF. Other genres may be considered, but please query first.
Heat Levels: Any
Ending: HEA or HFN
Orientation: Lesbian
Submissions Due: Thursday, December 20, 2012
Acceptance Letters Sent By: 6 to 12 weeks after submission
Anticipated Release Date: 2013
Editor: Aleksandr Voinov
We're seeking well-researched historicals set during the Second World War, a time of unprecedented upheaval and change. Maps all over the world were re-drawn, usually by force, and enemies worldwide fought to the death under the waves, on the oceans, on land, and in the air.
But not all conflicts were open or even hot. From the race to crack enemy codes to misleading by trickery and camouflage, the conflicts encompassed the battlefield and well beyond. This call is focused on the time, the mood, the culture of WWII, but takes no preference for location. We encourage you to explore the less-obvious places and themes, as long as you stay close to the history and spirit of the times. From the Finnish-Russian Winter War to Slim’s campaigns against the Japanese, from German U-Boats to colonial soldiers serving in Africa or any other nation’s home front, tell us stories set between 1939 and 1945.
Length: 35,000 to 100,000+ words
Genres: Historical romance, erotica, or literature. Some paranormal elements or magical realism will be considered, but be prepared to wow us.
Heat Levels: Any
Ending: Any
Orientation: Gay, bi, or trans*
Submissions Due: Friday, February 1, 2013
Acceptance Letters Sent By: Mar 15, 2013 for novellas, April 1, 2013 for novels.
Anticipated Release Date: November, 2013
Editor: Sarah Frantz
BDSM is about need, desire, and identity—about doing what feels right and hot and fulfilling. But it’s also about training. For this collection, we’re seeking stories that use a training period in a BDSM relationship as the springboard for a compelling erotic romance.
Show us your experienced Dom training a new-to-the-lifestyle sub, or a Dom training a longtime sub to their own requirements and protocols. Or bring us that rare unicorn of kink fiction: an experienced sub training a new Dom. Or maybe you've written an experienced Dom training an inexperienced one? Is one of your characters fascinated with a potentially dangerous activity (bondage or blood play, for example) and looking to be trained? Or is one of your characters looking for more specific protocol training as a service sub or a pony or a puppy?
No matter the training circumstances, give your characters a happy ending and send their stories our way.
Length: 15,000 to 100,000+ words
Genres: Erotic romance in the following sub-genres: contemporary or historical
Heat Levels: Hot. Kink is by its nature sexual. These stories should be true erotic romance, where the story's tension is worked out through the sexual interactions between the characters.
Ending: HEA or strong HFN
Orientation: Gay, lesbian, bi, trans*, or poly with a strong GLBT element
Submissions Due: Friday, February 15, 2013
Acceptance Letters Sent By: April 1 for novellas, May 1 for novels
Anticipated Release Date: November and December, 2013