One of my writing groups, the Loudoun Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers, is producing its second annual anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories. The editor will be S. C. Megale, another member of our writing group.
Additionally, as with the first anthology, I will be producing the Kindle ebook for the anthology, as I am currently doing for the first anthology. Martin Wilsey will be producing the print edition, taking over from John Dwight (who did a superb job on the first anthology). Donna Royston is available for copyediting; she does this professionally in her day job for a technical journal.
The group decided on a theme of “relics” for the anthology, so every story, whether science fiction or fantasy, will feature some sort of relic. Naturally, we expect the writers to liberally interpret the meaning of “relic” for their stories. This, of course, prompted me to suggest the title of “Reliquary” for the anthology, which was enthusiastically accepted by the group.
I’m a big believer in constant improvement. I’d like to build on the success of the first anthology and do even better with the second volume. To that end, here are my goals:
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Do at least as good a job with the design of the print edition as the first anthology.
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Improve on the copyediting of the first anthology; we are still finding grammatical issues and typos.
- All entries should be stories, with a beginning, middle and end. No vignettes or chapters from longer works (unless said pieces work as complete stories).
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The print edition and ebook edition should come out simultaneously.
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The second anthology should have a professional-looking cover.