Are you up to the challenge?Anywhere but here, anywhen but now. Which means we are after stories set on Earth, although it may be an Earth that might have been, or might yet be, one that has gone down a different leg of the famous trousers of time (see the illustration in almost every book about quantum theory).
We will be looking for books set at any time, perhaps today, perhaps in the Rome of today but in a world where 2000 years ago the crowd shouted for Jesus Christ to be spared, or where in 1962, John F Kennedy's game of chicken with the Russians went horribly wrong. It might be one day in the life of an ordinary person. It could be a love story, an old story, a war story, a story set in a world where Leonardo da Vinci turned out to be a lot better at Aeronautics. But it won't be a story about being in an alternate Earth because the people in an alternate Earth don't know that they are; after all, you don't.
But this might just be the start. The wonderful Peter Dickinson once wrote a book that could convince you that flying dragons might have existed on Earth. Perhaps in the seething mass of alternate worlds humanity didn't survive, or never evolved -- but other things did, and they would have seen the world in a different way. The possibilities are literally endless, but remember, it's all on Earth. Maybe the continents will be different and the climate unfamiliar, but the physics will be the same as ours. What goes up must come down, ants are ant-sized because if they were any bigger their legs wouldn't carry them. In short, the story must be theoretically possible on some version of the past, present or future of a planet Earth.
Call For Submissions
“The Best of Southeast Asian Erotica” volume is the follow-up volume to the highly successful “The Best of Singapore Erotica” published by Monsoon Books (Singapore) in 2006.
For the new anthology, we are looking for stories of 2,000 to 5,000 words that address the themes of sex or sensuality. Unlike the first book, this second volume will be looking for stories based in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines as well as Singapore.
The editor and publisher stress the fact that this is erotica, not pornography. The stories must be well-written, original pieces that look at sex and sensuality. (The first volume even had a few stories in which there was no actual sex presented, but only longing and fantasy.)
And to answer a question that we heard while compiling the first erotica volume: Yes, the characters involved can actually be married to each other. Sounds a little perverse, of course, but we believe that even married couples can engage in engaging erotica.
Payment will be set according to royalties, divided between all the writers in the anthology.
All submissions and inquiries should be sent to eroscope2@gmail.com. Deadline for submissions is April 10, 2010.
Writers - here's somewhere you might like to send your writing.... the best British literature of our time.Literary fiction he says, usually turns out to be historical novels (and that is certainly true of most of the books on this year's shortlist) :
... these novels are not about now in the way science fiction is. Thus it seems to me that three or four of the last 10 Booker prizes should have gone to science fiction novels the juries hadn't read. Should I name names? Why not: Air by Geoff Ryman should have won in 2005, Life by Gwyneth Jones in 2004, and Signs of Life by M. John Harrison in 1997. Indeed this year the prize should probably go to a science fiction comedy called Yellow Blue Tibia, by Adam Roberts.And he throws down this challenge to the magazine's readers (I reckon its one we could all take up) :
Read science fiction, read historical fiction, make your own judgement, and then talk about it. Try this as a kind of experiment: read 30 writers new to you. It's a big project, but what a lot of good reading would come of it. And New Scientist readers will be quickest of all to see that the literature that best expresses our time, that speaks to our time, is science fiction. How could it be otherwise? Our world is a science fiction. ... This is important, because you need the literature of your time. You can't get the meaning of our life in 2009 from historical fiction, nor from science alone. Novels serve us, and are treasured, because we want meaning, and fiction is where meaning is created. Scientifically minded people could perhaps conceptualise novels as case studies or thought experiments, both finer grained and wider ranging in their approach to meaning than cruder genres such as religion, psychology or common sense. A literary life is an ongoing moral education, a complete geography of the human world.Incidentally, New Scientist also announced a Sci-Fi flash fiction competition, and nowhere in the rules does it say that it isn't open to international readers - so go for it.
Dr. Emma Dawson "works at the intersection of postcolonial writing, pedagogy and the emergent field of World Englishes literature. Her recent study addressed the teaching of World Englishes literature in schools in England." She is involved in a project which is set to publish 8 anthologies of new writing in English from around the world. Cameroon and Nigeria (Nov 2009) are out, Uganda and Kenya will follow, Malaysia, Singapore, India and a Caribbean nation after that.
Below is a request for submissions from Malaysia and Singapore (There will be two separate anthologies.)
- Word count: 3000 - 8000 words
- There is no theme, only 'Malaysia' or 'Singapore'.
- This is adult fiction (in the sense that it is not 'children's fiction').
- The work must be written in English (i.e. not translated from another language) and must be written by a resident of Malaysia (or Singapore) (this is not a collection of diaspora writing).
- The story must be 'new' in the sense that it is 'unpublished in book form' - this makes life much easier in terms of 'rights'. (We can accept submissions which have been previously published in magazines if necessary.)
- Please send submissions by email to worldlits@googlemail.com, attached as a Microsoft Word document (saved as a 1997-2003 version please) and formatted as follows:
- Name of author (Times New Roman, 12pt, bold, left justified).
- Contact address, telephone number and email (Times New Roman, 12pt, bold, left justified).
- Title of short story (Times New Roman, 14pt, bold, centred, underlined).
- Body text (Times New Roman, 12pt, justified, 1.5 line spacing, black).
- Page numbers and name of author on every page please.
- Word count at the end of the story (Bold, left justified).
Maximum of two entries per person please.
Please submit by January 31st, 2010.
Chiew-Siah Tei sent me this call for submissions which should interest the writers among you :New Writing Dundee is a literary anthology featuring both new authors and invited published artists. Celebrating its fifth year, this book is a Dundee community based project with an international reputation. The last two issues have gone through two print runs and have held its own event at the Dundee Literary Festival.Postscript ;
For the 2010 issue we are seeking submissions from the general public. The book is open to all styles, genres, themes and nationalities. Send in your prose, poetry, essays, drama and creative non-fiction by 1 November, 2009. For more information see the writer’s guidelines below.
Submission Guidelines:
Deadline: 1 November, 2009
Entrants: Authors from all over the globe are encouraged to enter.
Entrees: Accepting all types and genres of English language creative writing.
Only ONE piece of prose will be accepted for each entrant.
Only TWO pieces of poetry will be accepted for each entrant.
Length: Prose should not exceed 2500 words, but can be less.
Poetry should not exceed 25 lines, but can be less.
How to Submit:
Submit to newwritingdundee@dundee.ac.uk
We can ONLY accept email submissions.
Please paste your document into the body of an email.
Please ensure that you have spaced the document correctly when pasting it into the email.
CALL FOR SHORT STORIES
Asian and Asian diasporic writers, new or established, are invited to send short stories in English for a volume of NEW ASIAN SHORT STORIES to be published by Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia). The book will be edited by Prof. Mohammad A. Quayum whose details are given below. We invite short stories not exceeding 6000 words and NOT published or submitted for publication elsewhere to be submitted to the editor electronically at mquayum@gmail.com, by 15 February 2010. The book will be released in September 2010, and all successful contributors will be sent a complimentary copy of the book upon publication.
About the Editor
Mohammad A. Quayum has taught at universities in Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and the US, and is currently professor of English at International Islamic University Malaysia. He is the author or editor of nineteen books (published by Penguin, Pearson Education, Peter Lang, Prentice-Hall, Marshall Cavendish etc), and his scholarly articles have appeared in distinguished literary journals in the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Singapore, Taiwan, India, and Malaysia.
Please circulate this information to any writer in English of Asian origin you know.
Singaporean poet Cyril Wong wrote to say that SOFTBLOW Poetry Journal is back at a new location :This journal was located previously at softblow.com. Unfortunately, as some past readers might already know, we were undermined by our web hosting company which threatened to keep us from entering and editing the domain if we did not pay additional sums of money (more than previously agreed) for the official purpose of maintaining a stable site. As none of us had the money to sue, we let the first site and domain be taken away from us.And while we're thinking about Singaporean Literary journals, do check out the latest edition of QLRS. I'm thrilled to bits because it has a piece by my friend Damyanti Ghosh. (Check out her excellent blog, with much of writing here.)
After softblow.com was down, we received a flood of emails from readers who offered to help with ways of fixing the problem. Then with the help and encouragement of Alvin Pang, a Singaporean poet whose work has been featured in the former version of this journal, we were able to retrieve the works of close to everyone who has ever been featured in SOFTBLOW.
SOFTBLOW has been an online home for contemporary poetry from all over the world since Sep. 2004, featuring writers such as Bernadette Mayer, Jenny Boully, Jordie Albiston, Boey Kim Cheng and Wong Phui Nam, among numerous others. From Nov. 2009, we will have a new selection/editorial team comprising of Eric Low, Gwee Li Sui, Jason Wee and Christopher Ujine Ong.
SOFTBLOW is ad free. Poets will not be remunerated for having their works featured here. This journal will be updated at the start of every month, (re)starting on 1 Nov. 2009. Featured poets will eventually be placed in our Archive to make room for the new poets. If you have been featured in SOFTBLOW but your work does not appear in our Archive, please let us know.
To submit, simply paste 4-6 poems with a short bio. in the body of an email and send it to the editor@softblow.org. Copyrights revert to the authors upon publication. All work published is with their expressed consent.
Thank you for your patience for the time in which SOFTBLOW has been offline and for your offers to help. We are happy to be back and glad for your continued support once more. And if you are on Facebook, you can also join this page for future updates on the journal.
best regards,
SOFTBLOW team
In 2007, we launched the Kakiscript Playwriting Competition, and were inundated by entries from all over the country. Ten winners were selected, and the prize-winning plays were published in a book, 100 Minutes to Change the World.See the website for further information and rules.
We’re ready for more.
The 2nd Kakiscript Playwriting Competition, the richest playwriting competition in the country, is back and you have 3 months, or 93 days to create a ten minute play. A great ten-minute play, to be precise.
Read on for more information.
What We Are Looking For
This year, we’re setting a theme : Conflict/Resolution
We are looking for original, sophisticated works, which explore the idea of conflict, or the idea of resolution, or conflict and resolution jointly, or conflict versus resolution. If you have a different interpretation of the theme that we’ve suggested here, go for it!
Just make sure your work is engaging and rooted in the Malaysian experience.
Each play must run for duration of around 10 minutes, plus or minus two minutes. Submissions can be plays written in either English or Malay -- or a combination of both.
Note that we are looking for literature intended for performance; in other words, you should think about your play as theatre on stage as you write.
What We Don’t Want
We’re not looking for didactic or dogmatic plays. You are encouraged to contextualise your play with social and political issues, but don’t assume we want social or political tracts and commentaries. We want quality theatre. If you need to preach, write a sermon -- but don’t send it to us.
Why?
Kakiscript aims to encourage the creation of new, original Malaysian plays. We hope it will be an incentive for existing playwrights to produce work, and also an opportunity to unearth new talent. We also hope to encourage the creative exploration of issues affecting contemporary Malaysia.
We will be publishing the ten winning entries in print, in a single volume; they will also be available for download from Kakiseni.com.
Did We Mention Prizes?
The playwright of the winning entry will receive RM10,000 in cash. Two runners-up will receive RM5,000 each. Seven consolation prize winners will receive RM2,000 each.
Here's an interesting variation on the NaNoWriMo put-yourself-under-appalling-pressure-and- just-squeeze-a-ridiculous-number-words-out scenario :Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April.
As part of a donation-funded nonprofit, Script Frenzy charges no fee to participate; there are also no valuable prizes awarded or "best" scripts singled out. Every writer who completes the goal of 100 pages is victorious and awe-inspiring and will receive a handsome Script Frenzy Winner's Certificate and web icon proclaiming this fact. Even those who fall short of the word goal will be applauded for making a heroic attempt. Really, you have nothing to lose—except that nagging feeling that there's a script inside you that may never get out.
Who: You and everyone you know. No experience required. What: 100 pages of original scripted material in 30 days. (Screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, and graphic novels are all welcome.) When: April 1 - 30. Every year. Mark your calendars.
Where: Online and in person (if you want!). Hang out in the forums, join your fellow participants at write-ins, and make friends by adding writing buddies online. Why: Because you have a story to tell. Because you want a creative challenge. Because you’ll be disappointed if you missed out on the adventure. Because you need to make time for you.
How: Sign up. Tell everyone that you are in the Frenzy. Clear your calendar. (US participants: Get your taxes done now!) Start some wrist exercises. Have fun!
The 5 Basic Rules of Script Frenzy
1) To be crowned an official Script Frenzy winner, you must write a script (or multiple scripts) of at least 100 total pages and verify this tally on ScriptFrenzy.org.
2) You may write individually or with a partner. Writing teams will have a 100-page total goal for their co-written script or scripts.
3) Script writing may begin no earlier than 12:00:01 AM on April 1 and must cease no later than 11:59:59 PM on April 30, local time.
4) You may write screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, comic book and graphic novel scripts, adaptations of novels, or any other type of script your heart desires.
5) You must, at some point, have ridiculous amounts of fun. Still unclear? Check out the website at Scriptfrenzy.org
CAN YOU TELL A GOOD STORY?(Well, a Malaysian won the Bridport last year! Lightning can't strike twice in the same place ... can it?)
The BBC World Service - British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition is closing on 31 March 2009. If you’ve got the knack of telling a good story and want a challenge, try your hand at writing radio drama! The winner will receive £2500 and a trip to London to see their play being recorded.
THE BRIDPORT PRIZE
The Bridport Prize is one of the top open writing prizes worldwide - in both prestige and prize money. Submit your poems and short stories by 30 June 2009 to stand a chance to win!
SUGGESTED TITLES: Sini Sana: Travel Stories in Malaysia
Call for Submissions
The diverse culture of Malaysia invites travellers both local and foreign to marvel at towering cityscapes where modernity dazzles with luxury or go through old trunk roads surrounded by oil palm plantations to get to breathtaking mountains, caves, beaches and the tropical rainforests. And, of course, every traveller is amazed by food that can be exotic or a fusion of everything you know!
Perhaps during a jungle trek, you stumbled upon an enchanting place, or had a (nonfatal) swim with wild animals. Maybe you once spent an afternoon befriending villagers who had never met an urbanite off the beaten track before. If you were a journalist invited on a ‘famtrip’, did you encounter something outside the usual itinerary of visiting the most popular marketplaces, skyscrapers and restaurants? You might have enjoyed the tranquillity of a hideaway before it was discovered and destroyed in the name of progress and development. Here is a chance to recapture those scenes.
MPH GROUP PUBLISHING is looking for true travellers’ tales, preferably on places outside the tourist hubs in Malaysia. Stories should be in the form of travelogues with rich, firsthand descriptions of sights and sounds and even tastes. We want engaging stories that will move us to visit the places for ourselves and also to understand why we should preserve the beauty of such places. This is not a travel guide; we do not want to know just where to visit and how to get there. We do not want photographs; the words in the story should capture all the wonders. Tentatively entitled Sini Sana: Travel Stories in Malaysia, we aim to publish the book in 2010, depending on the number of submissions we receive.
Travel stories must be original, nonfiction, between 3,000 and 5,000 words, and must not have been previously published. We invite submissions from both emerging and established writers. Manuscripts must be edited, typed double-spaced with 12pt font and emailed to editorial@mph.com.my. Please include your name, address, telephone number and email address. You may submit as many pieces as you wish. Faxed or handwritten submissions will not be entertained and manuscripts will not be returned. We will contact you only if your piece has been selected for inclusion in the compilation. Writers whose submissions are selected will be expected to work with the editors to fine tune their stories.
DEADLINE: 30 August 2009
PAYMENT: A small flat fee and two copies of the collection
Writer's Digest is searching for the best self-published books of the past few years. Whether you're a professional writer, part-time freelancer, or a self-starting student, here's your chance to enter the only competition exclusively for self-published books.Details here. And yes, this competition is open to Malaysians, but the language of publication must be English.
* Inspirational Writing (Spiritual/Religious)Both competitions are open to everyone, and there is (Yusof will be thrilled to hear!) no age limit. However, there is a fee for submission.
* Memoirs/Personal Essay
* Magazine Feature Article
* Genre Short Story (Mystery, Romance, etc.)
* Mainstream/Literary Short Story
* Rhyming Poetry
* Non-rhyming Poetry
* Stage Play
* Television/Movie Script
* Children's/Young Adult Fiction
A WRITER'S LIFE BY DINA ZAMAN
It’s the usual intellectuals speaking and writing countless essays, but what happened to the young? These voices must be captured in print and documented.
I AM Muslim – Other Voices. Yours. About two years ago, that book was published. Truth is, the book was a collection of essays written for a column I helmed at a news portal. That was around 2004/2005.
Covering Muslim life for two years was one of the most fulfilling times of my life. The people I met and shared adventures with – and, yes - the love letters I received from the public were indeed interesting, to say the least.
The column was not just me writing weekly essays. I had friends and readers who wrote in and contributed what they thought, and how they viewed their faith and being Muslims.
Mahathir Yasin, Idlan Zakaria, Menj, Shufiyan Shukur, to name a few, wrote wonderful essays. I even had an anonymous contributor who sent me emails in point form on his ‘militant’ childhood, which became a rather short-lived series for the column, titled Memoirs of a Militant Schoolboy.
Jordan Macvay, a Canadian Muslim, wrote an entertaining piece on polygamy, and had quite a number of irate Malay men baying for his blood. In short, these voices made the column a very lively place.
I had promised the published writers and other writers who were interested in contributing to the column that one day, they would all appear in a book.
I shopped the idea around, and not many bought the idea of young Muslim voices with ideas, opinions, and humour writing about their experiences. Even my publisher, bless him, was quite reserved in his enthusiasm.
Who can blame them? Selling books, especially local books, is not a money generating machine.
It took two years to find a publisher. You just have to believe in the product. I only know this: all these voices are more important than mine.
I started a blog, but with all due respect to the writers who sent in their contributions, the blog went pear shaped and became this confessional “I sinned therefore I repented and now I am a wonderful Muslimah”.
In recent years we have noted a slow silencing of diverse Muslim voices. While there were many forums and public debates that piqued the public’s interest, there seemed to be a process of publicising one voice only. Theirs. Not yours. Ours.
We have the usual intellectuals speaking and writing countless essays, but what happened to the young? Their opinions don’t matter?
These voices must be captured in print and documented, because (well in my lofty moments I do think of these) they could be clues towards public policy and grassroots NGO activity. They could highlight issues and dilemmas we need to address.
So now we have a publisher. Young, out-of-the-box, and thinks “hey, this is important to my generation and the generations below. This is our voices that must be heard”.
Hence, this project. ZI Publications will be publishing I Am Muslim Too: Other Voices and is calling for contributions from the public.
The criteria to be published are as follows:
(1) Quality writing. I don’t care how pious you are, if your writing does not come to mark, it’s sayonara.
(2) 1,000 words in either English or Bahasa Malaysia. It can be a poem, too.
(3) It does not matter if you are conservative, moderate, liberal, confused. We want to hear about your lives. It can be funny, sad, angry, calm – we just want good writing. (Yes, funny is good.)
(4) You do not have to be a Muslim or Malaysian to be part of this project. Yes, you can be a space alien, but you must write about your friendships and experiences in Muslim Malaysia. Bad or good.
(5) Redemption stories will not be entertained unless they really are good stories. If this is one of those confessionals I mentioned earlier, please submit it to a tacky tabloid.
(6) We welcome art/cartoon strips.
(7) All submissions must be addressed to info@zipublications.com.my together with your particulars. Deadline: Feb 28.
So come on. What are you waiting for? You’re ready to be heard.
The writer works for a non-profit organisation. Email her at dzawriterslife@gmail.com
This year will be the 40th anniversary of May 13. And therefore ...Please help pass the word on.
*
May 13
Editors: Fathi Aris Omar & Jimadie Shah
Publisher: Gerakbudaya
Preface
This year, May 13 will bring added meaning to all Malaysians, particularly our post-1969 young generation, because we will be marking its 40th year. The Youth Societies and Youth Development Act 2007 defines ‘youth’ as being anyone below the age of 40.
The May 13 incident will be approaching its final year of youth, will become an adult and, therefore, mature. The question now is: have we successfully exorcised the ghost of May 13 and are we showing enough maturity today in facing all issues pertaining to race and religion?
To answer this question, we in Gerakbudaya wish to gather all writings in various forms, sketches and photographs from our youth –
in short, expressions of their views on this tragedy.
All contributions will be compiled in a book and published by Gerakbudaya. This book will be officially launched at the 2nd KL Alternative Bookfest (KLAB) on 9-10 May, 2009 at the Annexe, Central Market.
Contents
We will give ample opportunities to contributors whose creations fulfil the theme and criteria stipulated.
The main theme of this book is to get rid of the ghost of May 13, towards a better Malaysia.
Style of writing
The following styles of writing can be applied although you are free to write in any way:
1) Stories from secondary sources like from parents, teachers, members of political parties, lecturers and others
2) Creative writing
3) Interviews with people who were directly involved and experienced the tragedy, political and social leaders and others
4) Open letter to politicians
5) Essay
Each piece of writing that is sent must not exceed 2000 words. There is no minimum limit.
Contributions must be in Bahasa Malaysia or English
For those who are doing sketches or photographs, the contribution must not exceed 4 pages.
Every contribution must bear your own name or widely-known pen name.
Contributors must be 40 years and below, and Malaysian citizens.
Email your contributions and all enquiries with the subject' May 13' to zulhabri@gerakbudaya.com
Everyone who contributes will be given 2 copies of the book and a good chance to publish books with Gerakbudaya or with our other publisher, SIRD.
Closing date for all entries is 28 February 2009.
Dear Eric,
I stumbled on your blog while doing a search on New Zealand poet Elizabeth Smither (!) and have a—perhaps—unusual question for you.
I'm a U.S. writer and editor (Northampton, Massachusetts) compiling a proposal for an anthology of international writing, titled, Animals Speak Every Language: Writers Around the World Celebrate Their Pets and Other Animal Companions—personal anecdotes, essays, and poems by writers who are also animal lovers, illuminating and cherishing the human-animal bond.
Are there well-known writers you can steer me to in your part of the world who might be interested in submitting work, or websites you can suggest for posting a call for submissions? I'm seeking work that's both deeply personal and finely crafted.
There are, of course, many themes/relationships that can be explored for this collection, including the animal as: family member; companion; once-in-a-lifetime personality; physical helper for the disabled; colleague (working animal); dependent (ill, disabled, or wild but captive due to injury or loss of habitat); feral/elusive being; source of inspiration; fellow traveller; elder; beloved.
The deadline for initial submissions (those that will accompany the proposal) is February 14, 2009, but I will be reading all submissions until the collection is actually complete. While inclusion in the final collection can't be guaranteed, I hope, as the title implies, to include a very large range of voices and subjects. Length-wise, essays should be held to 3,000 words. Payment is subject to acceptance by a publisher.
Thanks very much for your time – I look forward to hearing from you.
Elissa Alford
50 Fairview Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
U.S.A.
elissa.alford@comcast.net
Preeta spotted this competition at Abebooks and reckons some of you will probably want to give it a go. (Please note though it is only open to UK Residents - a fact I overlooked when I posted this up yesterday.) :Penguin has worked their magic on The Arabian Nights, and AbeBooks.co.uk has a very special competition prize for one lucky booklover - one of the just-released 3,000 special limited edition box-sets of The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights - to give away.Robert Douglas-Fairhurst in the Telegraph says of this new edition :
To stand a chance of winning, simply write us a short story. Anyone can enter, child or adult. All you have to do is let your imagination flow and you could win. It can be about anything - fiction or non-fiction - but must be exactly 1,001 words in length (not including title). Oh yeah... don't be boring. Scheherazade kept herself alive with 1,001 entertaining tales and we're looking for short stories that share the same adventurous spirit as The Arabian Nights. The most entertaining 1,001 word story will win.
For anyone who wishes to enter the labyrinth of the original stories, however, there is no better gateway than Malcolm Lyons’s new translation. It may take up three fat volumes, but hardly a word is wasted in this outstanding combination of storytelling and scholarship.
... brings together talented writers, reviewers and publishing experts to find and develop new voices in fiction.It goes on to say :
If you're an author with an unpublished novel waiting to be discovered, visit CreateSpace to learn more about the next Breakthrough Novel Award and sign up for regular updates on the contest. Open submissions for manuscripts begin in February 2009.Malaysian authors are among the nationals of 20 countries eligible to take part. The grand prize winner gets a full publishing contest with Penguin and US$25,000 advance against royalties, and a trip to Seattle for each of the three finalists.
