The thing about a new chapter, is that it's proceeded by the end of the old chapter. Today, World Weaver Press is announcing such an opening and closing of story chapters. At the end of February, I will be stepping down as Editor-in-Chief of World Weaver Press, and Sarena Ulibarri will be taking over the position on March 1, 2016. I am thrilled with what I've accomplished as Editor-in-Chief and by how far we've come in just under four years. My time as co-founder of the press has been fantastic, primarily because I've had the chance to work with such great authors crafting intensely interesting novels. I think that every reader of speculative fiction should pick up a World Weaver Press title, not because I published them, but because they are such damn engaging stories crafted by truly artful storytellers, each working in her own idiom. I'm happy to be handing off the creative direction -- both for continuing the series we've started and to seek out new ones -- to someone who shares our vision and passion for speculative fiction and who can continue to drive World Weaver Press forward. I'll be hosting the coming #SFFlunch on Friday, February 19, 2016, from Noon-2:00 EST, and as always welcome open discussion of speculative fiction and publishing as well as questions for Sarena Ulibarri about her creative vision for the future of the press. World Weaver Press has a full 2016 publication schedule -- Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions by Larry Hodges is just a few weeks away from release! -- and we will reopen to queries for novels and novellas in February 2017. Eileen Wiedbrauk
World Weaver Press Co-founder Outgoing Editor-in-Chief
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As a small press, we have the privilege of nominating up to six of the stories we've published in 2015 for next year's Pushcart Prize. We're honored to have nominated the following six short stories:
Congratulations, authors. You're in the ring now, and we sincerely hope your stories win a place in the Pushcart Prize XLI anthology. We're also happy for two of our editors whose short works published by other small presses were nominated for the Pushcart as well. "Natural Selection" by Sarena Ulibarri was nominated by Molotov Cocktail, and "Candy, Shoe, and Skull; Sallow Flowers Plucked Like Chains" by Eileen Wiedbrauk was nominated by Niteblade Magazine. World Weaver Press is pleased to announce not one but two newly signed authors today, Cheryl Low and Larry Hodges! We hope you're as excited to meet them and read their work as we were. And be sure to add their forthcoming books to your Goodreads "to-read" lists before you leave. Cheryl Low was born and raised in California only to later chase her romantic lead around the globe to the north of Sweden. When not writing, reading, at the gym, or on adventure, she is likely to be found eating candy and watching horror flicks. She loves sugar in almost all its magnificent forms, craft projects though she does not follow directions, baking without adhering to recipes, notebooks of all sorts, and comfy chairs. Cheryl Low's novel Vanity in Dust, edited by Laura Harvey, is set in a decadent dark fantasy world of hedonism, addiction, and political intrigue. Add Vanity in Dust to your Goodreads lists.
Larry Hodges, from Germantown, MD, was going to be a math professor (bachelor's in math), but science fiction writing and table tennis (yes, ping-pong) sidetracked him, and now he writes (and coaches the latter) for a living. He is an active member of Science Fiction Writers of America with over 70 short story sales. Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions is his third novel, and combines three of his favorite things: science fiction, politics, and table tennis. He's a graduate of the six-week 2006 Odyssey Writers Workshop and the 2008 Taos Toolbox Writers Workshop, and is a member of Codexwriters.com. His story "The Awakening" was the unanimous grand prize winner at the 2010 Garden State Horror Writers Short Story Competition. He's a full-time writer with ten books and over 1600 published articles in over 140 different publications. He also writes about and coaches the Olympic Sport of Table Tennis, is a member of the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame (Google it!), and once beat someone using an ice cube as a racket. Visit him at larryhodges.org. Larry Hodges' science fiction novel Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions, edited by Eileen Wiedbrauk, blends the political drama of The West Wing with a story of Earth's first alien contact, and will come out from World Weaver Press in 2016. Add Campaign 2100 to your Goodreads lists.
We're the first to admit that publishing with a small press isn't right for every story--there's always been more than one path to print for a story, and today there are more paths than ever before--but for the right story, small press publication holds a great deal of merit. This summer, our Editor-in-Chief, Eileen Wiedbrauk, was invited to guest-post on the Odyssey Writing Workshop blog, where she discusses what a small press is, and how being small and independent of the concerns of a large business structure allows the small press to take chances and focus on niches that aren't as well-served by large publishers. If you check out the full article, you'll also get to hear about the things that were important to us as we built WWP from passion into press. On the importance of storytellingThe other weekend, with an afternoon to myself, I made dumplings—a feat which isn’t remarkable by itself, except for the fact that when done alone, filling, folding, steaming, and freezing a hundred or more tiny dough pods of savory goodness, is a long, mind-numblingly tedious process. I understand, more than I can express, why bulk food production or preservation is so often a cultural tradition involving many people. In Korea, people--mainly women but sometimes whole families or entire monasteries--gather to produce near-obscene amounts of kimchi when the cabbage harvest is at its peak. In Midwest America, for decades, sisters and neighbors would show up in each other’s kitchens whenever a fruit harvest came in, strawberries for jam, apples for sauce, tomatoes, blueberries, green beans, zucchini--I have no idea how they prepare and store the zucchini for winter, but there has to be some way. My solution, in the face of a hundred-plus dumplings and solitude, was to stream several hours of TED Radio Hour from NPR.org, and I was very happy to stumble onto a show from April 2015 titled “Framing the Story.” More aptly explained in the show synopsis as “TED speakers explore the art of storytelling.” Storytelling. Yes. Oh, yes. Ruminations on storytelling is a favorite topic of mine. Not surprising then that World Weaver Press’s tagline description—once you look past publishing fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction, which places us in the industry, the next part—the part the describes not just the nuts and bolts of what we do, but why we do it and what we believe in that makes us get up and do it every day, is: We believe in great storytelling. I am a storyteller. I know this because I believe we are all storytellers. It is an innate component of the human condition. As much as we are drawn to the company of other humans—real flesh and blood humans, the digital renderings and diatribes of humans, the fictional humans we find in books—we are drawn to hear their stories and tell them ours in turn. For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?My aunts and uncles would gather around my grandmother’s kitchen table and tell stories. Things that had happened to them, things that had happened to people we knew, people we didn’t know, some that had become family legend. One story after another. I’d be tempted to dismiss this as “catching up” with each other if some of the stories weren’t already twenty, fifty, seventy years-old as we approached the table. For hours and hours as a teenager, I was trapped at that table, the out-of-town relation there for a visit. It didn’t matter where or with whom we were staying the night, there was no place for me to retreat to. No smart phone to let me bury myself in the internet like any good apathetic teenager, no text messaging, no friends in town or transportation other than that controlled by the parental units. The storytelling had to be endured. And eventually, it got in my blood. Some of us were better storytellers than others, but all of us spun out our tales for the consumption of others sooner or later. My Aunt Sherry, who could make friends with anyone, would spin out these long yarns, complete with waiving arms and animated facial expressions and the occasional voice impression. Somehow, the most uninteresting premises had a pretty good run of it under her telling. Although the impressions were usually more laughable than anything else. Me, I learned brevity. I have a tendency to ramble, laying the events out of order the longer the story gets. Brevity gave me chronology and, if I hadn’t otherwise ruined it, wit. But mostly, I sat and absorbed rather than spoke. Back to the TED Radio Hour and people who are being notably more insightful than I am. We're born for storiesThey open (and close) with Andrew Stanton, who’s been writer/co-writer for Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, basically everything Pixar’s ever done that is awesome—and he tells us, “We’re born for stories.” Then, “We all want affirmations that our lives have meaning. And nothing is a greater affirmation than when we connect through stories.” They bring on writer Chimamanda Adichie, and Guy Roz asks her, “Why are we so drawn to stories?” She replies “Oh! Stories are how we make meaning of our lives. . . . Even recounting a story of something that happened to me, it make meaning of it.” Then for the clincher, Adichie finishes: “Stories are necessary, as necessary as food and water.”
By Sarena Ulibarri. Our first 2015 open submission period is now closed, and our new assistant editors Laura Harvey and Sarena Ulibarri are finished frolicking in the slush. After a month of long nights perusing the inbox, and several epic arm-wrestling matches, they are now retreating to their editing nests to read manuscripts and see which of their favorite queries will hatch into a wonderful book. Still following these metaphors? Well, we’re a bit cross-eyed from query-reading, so please forgive us.
Care to take a peek at what we received this month? Queries received in total: 97 Length of query period: 28 days Received as a result of an #AdPit request: 13 Form:
Audience (other than general adult):
Sub-genre within speculative fiction:
*Click here to read our blog post on what the catch-all term "speculative fiction" means. **A few vampire stories fell into this category, since vampires can be either fantasy or horror, depending on how they are handled. Common tropes and trends:
Response time (initial response to query letter):
Responses:
By Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief. Happy birthday to us! March 2015 marks our third anniversary. Back in the spring of 2012, we launched with Susan Abel Sullivan's well-received four-story collection Cursed: Wickedly Fun Stories. Since then we've published novels, novellas, collections, and anthologies. We've slowly and selectively added authors to the WWP family. We've launched series. We've launched trilogies. We've launched an imprint! And most recently, welcomed new assistant editors to sit at the big family table, overstuffed with food and mismatched serving dishes, alongside our authors and anthologists and Uncle Kenny who always manages to pass the mashed potatoes so that you put your thumb in the smear down the side. Or does only my family have an Uncle Kenny? There's a very "full circle" feeling to many of this month's goings-on: The very first novel we published — Shards of History by Rebecca Roland — well, we're announcing its sequel! Fractured Days sees Malia return home the hero of a war she can't remember. Read the description now and stay tuned for release dates of this soon-to-be-released novel. There's news from all of our recurring anthologists as well. Far Orbit Apogee, the next title in the Far Orbit anthology series edited by Bascomb James, is wrapping up the final month of submissions. Kate Wolford, editor of Krampusnacht and Beyond the Glass Slipper, just opened submissions for Frozen Fairy Tales, a joint venture between World Weaver Press and Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine. Anthologist Rhonda Parrish continues her magical creature anthology series that began with Fae in Corvidae and Scarecrow (to be released in July and August 2015, respectively), and announced that the submission dates for Sirens will be August 15 - November 15, 2015. I'll even be releasing a sequel to Specter Spectacular: 13 Ghostly Tales called Specter Spectacular II: 13 Deathly Tales in late-spring/early-summer — although that's not strictly a March announcement. (Anthology submission guidelines.) Our assistant editors, Sarena Ulibarri and Laura Harvey, made it through their first open submission month in February, fielding roughly a hundred queries — a not insubstantial number when you consider that we open to queries three times a year and only publish 10-14 titles a year. Of those hundred, we can only sign 1-3 . . . maybe four. Maybe. Some tough choices are ahead. But what's not a tough choice? Getting an ebook copy of Legally Undead this week. You may have already seen it on BookBub, but if not, know that the first-in-series supernatural suspense / urban fantasy novel Legally Undead by Margo Bond Collins is just $0.99 this week only (ends Sunday, March 15) on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and AllRomance eBooks. To tide you over until the next novel featuring Elle Dupree, we've lined up a novella from Nick's point of view, Crazy, Stupid, Undead, which you can add to your Goodreads lists now. We've got so many great projects and great people — including all of you who've joined us for previous #SFFlunch live Twitter chats or who will join us on March 20, Noon-2:00 PM EDT — to celebrate with, that we don't even need a cake to feel special on our birthday. Unless it's a cheesecake. I never turn down cheesecake. At the WWP Home Office here in Michigan, a sudden and shocking thaw has broken us out of a snowy, sub-zero thrall. We're poking our heads out our doors, cracking windows, and madly filling every carwash in town as we try to scrub the road salt from our cars before the next snow. Because we're Michiganders, we steadfastly believe there will be another snow. But for the moment, we're spring-crazy for this string of 50 F days that will give way again shortly to more March-appropriate temperatures in the mid-30s. But I'll take it, gladly take it. And while it's no cheesecake, it does feel like a fine WWP birthday present. By Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief We've dug in. February has brought with it a deluge of queries and some serious winter weather. Holy hell, is it cold in the Midwest! I'm in full-on hibernation mode. Leave the house for anything other than an absolute necessity? I think not. But that sort of physical digging in is good for digging into query letters in this, our first open submission period of 2015. Our new assistant editors, Sarena Ulibarri and Laura Harvey, are -- dare I say -- frolicking in the slush. And I completely understand. I love reading query letter slush. I open the inbox and see not a coming storm, but a tidal wave of possibilities. What will catch my interest today? What will tick all of my boxes? What project will be just the thing I was hoping for? What project will intrigue me that I didn't even know I wanted? Of course, the majority of what arrives in our submission inbox can't be kept. Either it's not right for us, the writing's not yet at a publishable point, the construction's almost-but-not-quite, or we just don't have space for it. All those projects that we have to decline do wear me down over time, which is why I'm quite happy that our open submission periods are only a month at a time. And three of the four shortest months of the year, as it turns out. (No, that wasn't the original reason for choosing those months, but it works nonetheless.) Our rate of request to consider the manuscript is up from last year. Understandably so, as our assistant editors are seeking out what will be the base of their editorial lists. For them, possibilities are wide open. I am reading queries, but I'm not requesting pages this month as my own list is pretty full. Not requesting is furthering my sense of hibernation: I'm not venturing new paths through the snow, I'm curled up, snug and happy in my editorial nest . . . den . . . whatever. It'll be intriguing, once the weather turns, to see what blooms from our collective efforts. Happy New Year — I feel like I've already run a marathon this year. How about you? But before I get to any of that running stuff, let me say how proud I am of the anthologies Fae and Krampusnacht for making the Tangent Online 2014 Recommended Reading List! Tangent reviews only short speculative fiction and this list is all their top picks, individual short stories from anthologies and top magazine markets. Four stories from Krampusnacht are honored along with eleven of the seventeen stories published in Fae. WWP has had a lot of behind-the-scenes changes these past couple of months, all of which seemed to accumulate . . . well, now that you ask . . . right about now. It's all happening now. We brought on board two new assistant editors to continue WWP's growth. Both bring strong backgrounds in speculative fiction editing and writing. They're such personable, witty, funny women who've been a joy to work with thus far, and their varied experiences and interests will add depth to the WWP list. Sarena Ulibarri earned an MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and attended the Clarion Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers' Workshop at UCSD in 2014. Her short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, NewMyths.com, The Colored Lens, Kasma SF and elsewhere. She currently lives in New Mexico with her husband and their Welsh Corgi. Find more at sarenaulibarri.com. Laura Harvey is an editor, writer, bibliophile, horsewoman, historian, teacher, debate coach, nerd, DIY junkie, and occasional rescuer of kittens. She holds a BA, MA, and is ABD, making her an exceptional asset in Trivial Pursuit. She loves reading so much that all of her handbags share one crucial ability: fitting a standard paperback or Kindle. She lives in northern California with a menagerie of beasts (dogs, cats, horses, and family members). Sarena Ulibarri's main interest lies in futuristic science fiction while Laura Harvey gravitates toward mostly-this-world-with-just-a-tiny-twist and immersive high fantasy. You'll get to hear more about Sarena Ulibarri and Laura Harvey in the coming weeks as they introduce themselves in future blog posts and tell a more about their "wish list" projects as WWP editors. They'll be reading query slush in February, June, and September for new speculative fiction projects. But they aren't the only new editors starting as the new year begins. We've opened our imprint Red Moon Romance to novel and novella queries this month, and reading queries are assistant editors Trysh Thompson and Cori Vidae. They'll be working alongside me and Laura Harvey to launch RMR's anthologies and authors in the coming year. All four of these editors are keeping me busier day-to-day, but in a way that I hope will be great for the press because it will mean more great books available to readers and a faster editing process for authors. Not to mention I've been having a hoot at editor meetings the past few weeks. The new editors have been taking a gander at what remain of the manuscripts I requested in 2014 — projects that I didn't want to decline because they were so interesting, but knew I didn't have space in my list to take on — and they'll start making offers on their first projects as early as next week. So exciting. January and February usually bring a period of hibernation for me — wise women try to stay indoors during Midwestern winters — but with all the changes going on at WWP, new imprint, new editors, oh, new intern too, I may be buried under snow and frigid winds, but if you were to look beneath the weather, you'd see that at World Weaver Press this winter the act of hibernation is more a buzzing hive of activity than a den of sleepy bears. Eileen Wiedbrauk
Editor-in-Chief We asked our authors and editors what they'd read in 2014 (not necessarily what came out this year) that had made an impression on them, and which books they'd loved that might not be on the tip of everyone's tongue. So here they are, our top picks from our recent reading! First to Burn by Anna Richland — An immortal viking serving in the present day armed forces falls in love with the military doctor who is on the verge of discovering his secret. ALL kinds of mayhem ensues. Richland builds the romance slowly in a really enjoyable way. (And her follow-up romance novella is flat out fantastic, though it's missing the paranormal element of FTB. Still. This is an author to watch, for sure.) The Tiger Queens: The Women of Genghis Khan by Stephanie Thornton — okay, this is historical fiction, not spec-fic, but it is SO RICHLY WRITTEN that it feels like epic fantasy. The book is Thornton's finest work, and just so beautifully executed I am awed. If you love strong women in any genre, definitely read this book ASAP. — Amalia Dillin author of Forged by Fate and the recently released Beyond Fate The Little White Bird by James M. Barrie which can be read online for free at Project Gutenburg My recommendation: Haven't heard of this title? I hadn't either, but as the official prequel to Peter Pan by the original author, it's a must read! The first story of Pan, beginning at age one week, is tucked within the overarching tale of an old bachelor who grudgingly saves a romance and befriends the resulting child. This child is the first to partake of the imaginary world of Pan, and is based on a boy who, along with his brothers, truly inspired Barrie in his vast imaginings. The tale is humorous, heart wrenching, candid and deliciously creative. The later story of Pan that we are most familiar with pales in comparison! — Kristina Wojtaszek author of Opal and contributor to Fae and Specter Spectacular |
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