Winter is Coming

Even the Skulk are not immune. In Kettutalo we must lay in provisions and asses our assets to survive the long winter.

What this means is we will not be reopening submissions for fiction during 2019 and in all probability 2020. We have lots of great books coming, next year in particular is a busy one so please don’t worry, there are many many books to come, including several planned titles for a new non fiction line. 

We are closing submissions so we can get caught up, take stock and plan properly moving into the future. A stronger, better, though perhaps less prolific Fox Spirit is coming.

We are sorry we will not be able to take on any more wonderful books for a while, it is always hard to turn down projects that we want to do, but right now we need to take a moment, refocus and ensure the long term future of Fox Spirit Books and the Skulk. 

Vulpes and FoxGloves are not affected and we are not cancelling any existing plans, including the launch of thee Darwin’s Fox non fiction line.

As for what to read in the meantime, we have over 70 titles out, many of them available as ebooks on kindle, and in January we will be making ebooks available right here on the website. We may even do some bundles. 

There will be foxy merch by agreement with certain artists and we will continue to promote the many wonderful artists and authors we work with. There will be sequels and series and a few new titles we have already said yes to. There will be blog series and newsletters and plenty of alternative fox. 

We are going to have a very busy couple of years, we just won’t be opening to submissions during them. 

Thank you to everyone who has worked with us and supported us, we hope you will continue this journey with us. 

Always your Aunty Fox.

The Jackal Who Came in From the Cold : Submission Call

During March we will be accepting short story submissions for an anthology.

‘The Jackal who came in from the cold’

The anthology has a spy story theme, and we will consider stories written in most genres as long as they contain a spy story. They do not need to include a Jackal. 

The stories in this anthology should be Furry. This means we are looking for anthropomorphised animal characters, people with extremely animalistic characteristics and the range in between. We have had plenty of stories that would classify as Furry in our anthologies in the past, but this is the first time we will be only accepting such tales, or tails. Anything from the secret life of animals, to a fox at Starbucks.

We will be using a sensitivity reader as part of our final decision process.

We would encourage furry writers to submit.

We are delighted to have @tylociraptor working on the cover for us and he ok’d me sharing this preview. 

Payment will be £15 plus a print copy of the final book. All our usual submission information applies.

As always we are only seeking English language, print and ebook rights and exclusivity is 12 months from the submission deadline. 

The details of this call will be put on our Submissions page during February along with details of how to submit, so you won’t have to keep looking for this post, it’s just early warning. 

Kit submission call

I just wanted to flag a submission call by our new children’s line ‘Fennec Books’, you can get all the details over on the website.

Skulk members includes anyone who has had a short story with us too.fennec

‘Are you listening? It’s with great excitement we’re opening the doors of the Fennec Den for members of the Skulk to tell us their tails, sorry tales, to be published next year.

We are limiting this first call to writers who have previously worked with Fox Spirit in order to have a manageable first slush pile.

Fennec is looking for completed novels, aimed at 9-12year olds so no swearing or sex (think The Hunger Games). However, we love to be scared, shocked, thrilled, laugh, have our minds stretched and bent so any genre or genre mash-up is welcome (think Point Horror meets Season One of Buffy). You all know the ethos and magic of Fox Spirit, so we’re looking to bring that to a younger readership.’

Waxing Lyrical : Women in Horror by Theresa Derwin

Welcome to the waxing lyrical series in 2016. The series is open to any creative (writers, artists, publishers, editors, musicians etc) who want to air their opinions on the creative industries, from any perspective. If you are interested in contributing please contact adele@foxspirit.co.uk for more information. The only real rule is no personal attacks, we don’t have to agree with you but we won’t support attacking a person or group of people. 

***

by Theresa Derwin

Women in Horror: Hear My Voice

This February the horror community celebrated Women in Horror Month 7, a month dedicated to recognition of women writing in the horror genre.
Let me repeat that. One month to celebrate women who write horror – one month out of twelve. So, I concur that women only write for one month a year. Maybe it’s a menstrual thing?
What? It isn’t so? They write every month of the year? No! You’re kidding!
Yes, there seems to be a perception amongst general readers, publishers and media that women just don’t write horror.
Unfortunately, this sometimes translates to misconceptions within the community too. And there are many reasons as to why. Reasons I hope to explore as part of a Creative Industries and Cultural Identities PhD Studentship commencing Sept 2016. So I want to share with you some preliminary findings, some thoughts, and insight into the research I hope to undertake including a suggested reading list.

Nov 2011 I attended a first time Horror con, Horror in the East created to get fans together of Horror and David Moody in particular. This con was predominantly organised by a woman. There were a few panels and some excellent items on horror in general, however, at the final round up of panelists/guest authors etc gathered together for a photo opportunity, I noticed that all, and I do mean every single one of the authors, panelists and moderators was male. So, I asked the question as follows; “I’m not a bra burning looney, just a woman who is concerned, so I wanted to know ‘where are the women?’ Every person standing up there, and I know they are a talented group, are male. What about female moderators or horror authors? Where are they?”
After a few embarrassed blank stares and looks exchanged it was with, ironically, a surmounting feeling of horror, that I received the following answer from the female organiser. “I didn’t ask any – female writers just write Mills & Boon s*** (cue expletive) Now, I stood up, and I didn’t retaliate, I just stood there in dumb awe as she continued to rant about the writing quality by female authors, when a friend interrupted with “Don’t bother, you’ve done what you wanted”, namely, because the organisers dug their own grave. And my argument was aided by Michael Wilson of ‘This Is Horror’, who raved about the female horror authors producing quality work.
So, within the horror community and beyond, there is by some (eejits dare I say?) a conception that ‘women don’t write horror’. In conjunction with this, and my personal experience at conventions and in the community, I pursued some informal initial data-gathering research.

Contains women AND horror.
Contains women AND horror.

Continue reading “Waxing Lyrical : Women in Horror by Theresa Derwin”

Call for Stories: Respectable Horror

Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories
Image via The British Library

Oh, another bloody slasher. Oh, more extreme horror. Oh, it must be Tuesday. BORED!

Whilst sipping a martini clarity arrives: one hungers for a change of pace, dash it all:

So we would like tales of civilised, gentle(wo)manly horror, cold, calculating and bloodless; spinechillers rather than slashers, enervating instead of eviscerating. Though a wee bit of the red stuff will not make us blanch, focus more on unshakeable dread. Make us afraid to investigate that noise downstairs. Cause us to shudder when we glimpse something move out of the corner of our eyes. Think Ann Radcliffe and the Gothics, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins, M.R. James and even those modern folks like Shirley Jackson and Fritz Leiber.

It’s all about the style. Mashups are the Fox Spirit specialty, so mix and match to your little heart’s content (Lovecraftian Wodehouse has been done). Just be sure to keep the theme uppermost.

Humorous attempts at horror are acceptable, but be warned that your editor’s sense of humour like her taste in martinis is most peculiar and exacting. You would be strongly advised to inform yourself of her tastes.

THE PARTICULARS for Respectable Horror

Follow our house style and submit via Word document attachment to katelaity at gmail dot com by December 31st, 2015. Selection of stories will happen in the spring; the publication itself will appear later in 2016. You will be expected to join in the publicity efforts as much as you are capable (social media mostly).

Word count: ~4-8K

Payment: £10 upon publication + digital and print copy of the volume

What ho! Ask any questions you have in advance of the closing date.

Submissions Update

Well that’s it then, our submission deadlines for Winter Tales and You Left Your Biscuit Behind are behind us, and for Fantastic Treats well behind us.

post

Our various editors now have the lengthy and tough task of reading through all those submissions and making our decisions. Please be patient. The aim is to complete the process for all three titles by October and we will let you know if there is any change to that.

We will be posting updated lists of Fantastic Treats and Biscuit submissions this weekend on the submissions page, if you believe you have been missed off please contact submissions at foxspirit dot co dot uk

If you did not receive an acknowledgement for your submission to Winter Tales, please check your spam box and if it’s not there please contact Margret on narjegerredaktor at gmail dot com.

We will not be responding to individual requests for updates during June, July and August as we prefer to spend the time getting the submissions read so you can all have an official response as soon as possible.

For those of you waiting on novel submissions we will be getting back to you in July.

On Eve’s War, I will be in touch with everyone involved very soon, our apologies for the quiet.

We thank you for your understanding and patience.

Final Call for Fantastic Treats

Final Call for Fantastic Treats

It’s been ongoing for some time since our original Instigator Andrew Reid put the idea of a charity cookbook forward. Still, the time has come. We are closing submissions on the 1st May.

The book will be under the creative control of our adored Mutherfudger, Nadine Holmes whose remarkable baked goods have supported book events nationally. Mutherfudger  will also be creating some of the recipes and providing photos for the book.

This one is for Cancer Research so there is no payment beyond a print copy for all participants. All income will go to the charity as Fox Spirit are not taking anything from this for costs. We are seeking submissions of a short or flash length story with a related dessert or treat recipe. The treats can be sweet or savoury, but savoury items should be snacks or tapas style, not main meals.

from cakelady247 at cakecentral.com
from cakelady247 at cakecentral.com

The stories can be sci fi, fantasy, horror or crime. The stories can be heavily involved with the recipe or merely mention it. We will also accept poetry or drawings as submissions to accompany the recipe, if they are in keeping with genre fiction spirit of the book.

We are accepting submissions from writing/cooking teams. Recipes should be original or personal versions, please do not submit recipes as found in existing books for copyright reasons.

We are hoping to release the book November 2015 although given the added complexity of including photos and trialling recipes we are allowing some flexibility in that.

Please send all submissions to submissions@foxspirit.co.uk

For more information on our editor/hostess please visit http://www.mutherfudger.co.uk/

 

 

 

Winter Tales – Submission Call

Frost pierces through everything. Your bones ache in the icy wind. Harsh winter storms rage and the sun is leaving, not to return for many months. Winter seems to never end. There is however beauty and magic. The snow covered pine trees reaching for the sky, the green northern lights dancing over the mountains, the wolf packs howling at the moon, and the snow crystals glinting like stars in the pale moonlight. When the temperatures drop, people and creatures gather around the camp fires to share warmth, friendship and tales, to chase away the frost and try to ignore the terrifying creatures lurking in the darkness.

We are now collecting winter tales, to drive away the grim winter and bring you the wonders and magic of the season. Fox Spirit Books will publish the Winter Tales anthology in the beginning of 2016. The anthology will be edited by Margrét Helgadóttir. We want unusual and elegant speculative fiction stories with full plot and strong characters. We are seeking diversity. The stories can be light with a touch of romance or humour, or dark and terrifying. Stories about creatures, monsters, animals and shapeshifters are welcome. The stories can be within speculative subgenres such as the weird, fables or folkloric, magical realism, adventure, dystopian, cyberpunk, mystery or fantastic, but we ask that the stories take place on Earth and have the winter as frame. Poetry is welcome. We are not looking for nonfiction or fanfiction. We are not looking for satire, erotica, paranormal romance, splatter or overly gory stories.

Submission details

Submission deadline: June 15th 2015. Response will be given by end of October 2015 at the latest. The manuscript must be written in English. Stories should be 1500 words up to 7500 words. Any stories below or above this will not be considered, with the exception of poems which should be no longer than 30 lines. In this instance we are not accepting graphic stories for submission. No multiple submissions, simultaneous submissions, or reprints. We do not want stories that have appeared on your blog or other public websites for this anthology E-mail your submission to narjegerredaktor at gmail dot com. Put SUBMISSION WINTER TALES as the subject of your email. The submission email must contain your real name, your writing name if different, the title and word amount of your submission, and a 100 words bio. There is no need for a submission letter other than this.

Document title should have the story name and your name or initials for easy identification. Documents must be in .docx or .doc (word), or .rtf (rich text) formats. The story document itself needs your name and email at the top, then the title of the story and the name you want it publishing under followed by the text of the story. Please format your document according to the guidelines on the submissions page at Fox Spirit Books.

Payment and rights Fox Spirit is a small independent press and at present we can only offer a token payment of £10 for stories with a copy of the print book and a copy of the ebook. We are looking for twelve months exclusivity from the submission deadline and details of rights are on the Fox Spirit submissions page (https://www.foxspirit.co.uk/sample-page/submissions). If you have any questions, send email to: narjegerredaktor at gmail dot com

Happy writing!

Submission Call – You left your biscuit behind

‘You left your biscuit behind’

Occasionally you hear something said that immediately creates a strong image or feeling. So it was, out for coffee with my parents that the phrase ‘you left your biscuit behind’ conjured for me a sense of crimes interrupted, lives shattered and moments captured. It had the feel of an anthology.

We are looking for ten mash-up crime stories of between 6,000 and 8,000 words to bring to life that feeling.

By mash-up crime we mean that the stories should be primarily in the crime genre, but cross-over with other genres is in fact encouraged, although straight crime is acceptable. The title phrase is not a required feature of the stories, but more of a writing prompt; what story does it bring to mind for you?

bisc

We want original works written for the anthology; we won’t be looking at reprints for this one because of the limit on stories.

There will be a token payment of £15 and a comp copy of the paperback and ebooks.

This is an open call closing on 1st June 2015 and the book will be published in early 2016.

Please send all submissions to submissions@foxspirit.co.uk and title them ‘Biscuit submission’. Please include your name and email at the top of your submission and send it as an attachment, we will not be able to accept submissions in the body of the email.

Please read our submission guidelines for more information on fonts and formats.

This call will be added to our submission page during the next few days and no decisions will be made on submissions until after the closing date. We look forward to reading your interpretation of this one.

 

 

Call for Stories: Drag Noir

Photo via Dangerous Minds (click to see original article)
Photo via Dangerous Minds (click to see original article)

“We’re born naked, and the rest is drag.”
RuPaul, Lettin it All Hang Out: An Autobiography

Drag is a broad concept; noir is a fairly narrow one. Drag can be a way of playing with gender or it can be a matter of survival. In the noir world, it can be almost anything: camouflage, deceit, truth — or a skin to be shed at will.

Otto Penzler has always been really strict in his idea of noir:

Look, noir is about losers. The characters in these existential, nihilistic tales are doomed. They may not die, but they probably should, as the life that awaits them is certain to be so ugly, so lost and lonely, that they’d be better off just curling up and getting it over with. And, let’s face it, they deserve it.

Pretty much everyone in a noir story (or film) is driven by greed, lust, jealousy or alienation, a path that inevitably sucks them into a downward spiral from which they cannot escape. They couldn’t find the exit from their personal highway to hell if flashing neon lights pointed to a town named Hope. It is their own lack of morality that blindly drives them to ruin.

I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says, but I think noir ends up being a fairly bleak place — one where any bit of glamour or adopted power can be worth the gamble of discovery. It may even be worth flaunting it.

Can you tell who’s Dressed to Kill?

As RuPaul advises,”When the going gets tough, the tough reinvent.”

That’s what we want for DRAG NOIR: this is a call for stories where glamour meets grit, where everyone’s wearing a disguise (whether they know it or not) and knowing the players takes a lot more than simply reading the score cards. Maybe everyone’s got something to hide, but they’ve got something to reveal, too. Scratch the surface and explore what secrets lie beneath — it’s bound to cost someone…a lot.

Mercedes McCambridge in ‘A Touch of Evil’

 

An anthology is not a democracy; it’s a benevolent dictatorship. All editors have their tastes or quirks: if you want a clue to my sensibilities, check out my extensive bibliography and of course, read Weird Noir and Noir Carnival.

Stories should be:

  • Previously unpublished anywhere
  • Not submitted anywhere else
  • Length 3-8K
  • Formatted: Times New Roman, regular, 12 point; 1″ margins; 1 space after full stop; lines spaced 1.5; use paragraph formatting to indent first line not tabs; no header/footer
  • Identified with a title, your name (and pen name identified as such), working email address on the first page: file name should include your surname & the title
  • Submitted in RTF format via email to katelaity at gmail with your name, the story title and total word count included in the body of the email; make sure the Subject line includes “Submission: Drag Noir” + your name
  • Due by March 20, 2014.

We will ask for world-wide print & ebook rights for a year and pay £10 via Paypal plus a copy of the paperback. The fabulous Stephanie Johnson has been persuaded to create another fabulous cover image! We plan to launch the book in July 2014.

Butler Gender