The wild story fields of DLP have lain fallow for far too long, ladies and gentlemen. After several years out of the anthology game, it's time we finished what I started (and then didn't finish last time).

The DLP Anthology #5 - Science Fiction

So, here's the deal.

Editor

Joe

Anthology Committee

Joe
Mordecai
Ched
ScottPress

Anthology Time Frame

All submissions should be a maximum of 20,000 words and submitted on or before September 1st, 2020. This submission deadline will not be extended.

Submission Timeline:

May 20th, 2020: Submission guidelines announced and thread created

September 1st, 2020: Final drafts submitted to dlpanthology@gmail.com

September 21st, 2020: Pending number of entries*, editing/judging complete and entrants notified of acceptance/editing requirements/rejection

October 1st, 2020: Final drafts received and contracts issued

October 15th, 2020: Joe will format the ebook/paperback during this time and, providing all contracts received, prepare for publication (estimated publication date early November 2020)

*The number of entries received may alter the editing and judging schedule.

For those interested in submitting to this anthology, please find the full submission guidelines here. Read them and understand them, any questions then contact us here or via PM.

Note: If you're considering writing and submitting, you need to read those guidelines.

Double note: SERIOUSLY, READ THE DAMN GUIDELINES

Now, let's talk genre/theme.

Genre: Science Fiction

We're going to leave it open beyond that, so if you want you could write a:

Comedic space opera
Hard sci-fi
Soft sci-fi
Cyberpunk
Steampunk
Apocalyptic sci-fi

These are just some examples. You can get some more ideas from here.

Now, some helpful information for all you writers out there - let's talk about not only getting your stories in on time, but well before (this is just a suggestion) and maybe having a beta or two take a look before sending it our way. You're welcome to post, and encouraged to do so, in the Original Fiction WbA Forums.

An unpolished draft creates more work for us, and it leads to poorer quality entries. I want to make it clear that people can submit their entries at any time (this is a good thing), and if every one gets them in early then we can move to the next stage early, without any issues.

Really, its fine for us to say all of this, but it is a little disheartening to see raw first drafts submitted. Once you've written something, you should be reading and editing it yourself at least a couple of times before doing anything else.

SO READ THIS LINK ON EDITING YOUR STORIES!

I hope that doesn't sound harsh, merely reasonable.

Given this is a remix, authors who wrote for the originally planned Antho #5 can of course review their stories and re-submit as per the guidelines here.

Any questions, just let me know - let's knock this one out of the park. My thanks to @Ched, @Mordecai, and @ScottPress for the logistical support.

 

Blorcyn asked about this on Discord, so to clarify one thing in the guidelines:

This is optional.

 

Sorry, I don't think I explained myself well.

The biography question is under 'entry details' not 'contact and other details'. So it seems it refers to the story? But that's unusual for the word biography? What specifically does it want for 'short biography attached'. Author details, or a story blurb or something (A teaser, compared to the synopsis mentioned later)?

 

I'll be submitting.

 

A short biography about the author. This is traditionally written by the author themselves.

'Joe Ducie is a writer from Perth, Western Australia. He means well.'

If you'd prefer not to submit one a generic one will be provided for you.

'Joe Ducie is a short story author of speculative fiction.'

 

Pen names are, of course, fine.

I will be writing a story for submission in this one. We'll need to find a 5th vote that's not mine for it.

 

I'll vote against you, no problem!

 

Are non sci-fi unexplained elements allowed? I want to write a space opera, but I have two ways I could do it. One is a complete serious and will definitely fit in the anthology. The other is doing it in a comedy version with the main character being a fanboy suddenly waking up in a body of the ship's captain who was really unpopular with the viewers and killed off in the episode he found himself in. The story is basically a deconstruction of sci-fi tropes in series like Star Trek or Babylon 5 and includes lots of conflict between fan's expectations versus actual reality. I want it to be a Galaxy Quest of SI fics.

The problem is that I would leave how he ended up in this world a mystery and that could count as some sort of a magical element and not fit this anthology. I could figure out some technological explanation, maybe a game simulation goes wrong, but I would prefer to avoid it.

 

huh glad I stumbled on this thread. I had no idea this was a thing. If I read this right, we create like an actual book? If so thats pretty cool.

Does anyone know where I can find previous anthologies from dlp to look at?

 

They're on Amazon:

Unbowed, Unbroken, Unrelenting (DLP Anthology Book 1).

Mysterious, Monstrous, Metropolitan (DLP Anthology Book 2).

Love, Loss, Longing (DLP Anthology Book 3).

Of Wars and Wizards (DLP Anthology Book 4).

 

@Celestin

Seems like starting in media res, I say it's fine.

 

Interesting stuff. If it wasnt secret id be curious what the sales for these looked like (i.e is it primarily a dlp thing or did we actually have large numbers of random people buying these amazon anthologies. which would be kind of cool)

 

Thanks. In that case I will try writing it and if it doesn't work, it will then write a serious take.

 

Still no progress on the rewrite ugh

 

@Joe would be the one who would be able to give more detail on sales numbers, but as I recall mostly it was sales to DLP folk with a sprinkling of other sales.

 

I'm working this weekend but let me throw together some stats from the Amazon dashboard.

In the initial days the anthos made decent money, which covered my small costs in publishing, allowed me to send author copies, and 'donate' the extra to cover DLP costs.

These days combined they make a bit less, but then we don't market or anything. Or push the brand. I'd actually have to check. I tally the numbers for all my sales every six months or so when I receive the royalty statement from my traditionally published works.

 

Hmm this has made me realize how much my tastes tilt to fantasy over scifi. Shockingly challenging.

 

If you want to bounce ideas off me to help work out your plan, feel free to shoot me a PM.