FIGHT CARD: hardboiled boxing stories, for a good cause

The folks who produce the popular FIGHT CARD series- featuring short stories about the sweet science of pugilism, set in the 1930s and 1940s- have released the first in a new series which will all be for charity. Some will be for medical needs of writers, others for literacy campaigns. The first, IRON HEAD AND OTHER STORIES, is to benefit acclaimed author Jory Sherman, who is facing some severe health crises. Jory has a story -the lead one, in fact, "Iron Head"- as do several other authors. Including yours truly. My story is called "Go for Broke," and is about the prejudice a Japanese-American combat veteran-turned-boxer faces when he comes home from World War II.

Check it out! You can get it HERE.

CALL FOR STORIES part 2: CANE HOLLOW PRESS

Yesterday in this space I wrote of how my wife Robin and I have taken over ownership of the publisher Western Trail Blazer, which had published a lot of my work in recent years, and were issuing a call for submissions -for traditional westerns, western romance, western horror, steampunk, western paranormal, western mystery, and more. You can read that post HERE if you missed it (or just scroll down.)

But there is more. A few months ago we established our own CANE HOLLOW PRESS, of which Western Trail Blazer is now an imprint. We've already received a lot of questions about other genres, so I thought I'd better let you all know what other publishing opportunities we have.

Here are our other imprints. Within each of these we will publish short stories, novellas and full-length books. In most cases the latter will also be made available in print.

This is our "mothership." Here we will offer general fiction and nonfiction as we see fit, sometimes with a more literary bent, as well as poetry.

RAVENFLIGHT PRESS will feature science fiction and fantasy. One example would be THIS NOVEL by my friend David Allen and me:

 

WINDIGO BOOKS will offer horror fiction. And by horror I mean tales of terror, no sparkly daytime vampires allowed. Like this non-sparkly vampire short story:

CRIMINAL INTENT PRESS will offer tales of crime and mystery. Like stories about my 1950s blues detective Roy Carpenter.

EBENEZER PRESS, as detailed HERE, is an inspirational imprint. Often that will denote a religious/spiritual element, though not always from the same perspectives. In other cases it will involve people's struggles, defeats and victories... as the word "ebenezer" means in a biblical context, "This far I have come with God's help." Our first title is a collection of faith-affirming essays by Pamela Walton:

You'll notice most of these works -so far -are by me (hey, ya gotta start somewhere.) We are looking to grow them all, though, and are thus inviting submissions to canehollowpress@gmail.com . Bear in mind, though- we are a publisher, not a printing service. That means we will accept manuscripts that fit into our vision, and are professionally done.

Please email us if you have any questions, or think you might have something that will fit our needs.

CALL FOR STORIES!

My wife Robin and I have assumed the reins at Western Trail Blazer, which has been one of the success stories of the ebook age. And we are looking to expand.

We plan to release several series of anthologies, each one 25-to-30,000 words, and then release each individual story from those anthologies as an ebook single. If you would like to submit a new story, or a previously published one to which that you've retained the rights, send 'em on! Here are the series titles:


WESTERN TALES- just what it says. Traditional westerns, though some could have contemporary settings.

LADIES LOVE OUTLAWS-  western romance. (we may also do other variations- LAWMEN LOVE LADIES, for instance.)

WEIRD WESTERN YARNS- tales of terror, the paranormal, and the just plain strange...

PAST IMPERFECT: STEAMPUNK STORIES- nuff said.

THE MOUNTAIN MEN- tales of the fur trappers, especially but not limited to those in the Rockies.

KILLING BRAND- mysteries set in the American West.


REQUIREMENTS: stories must be a minimum of 4,000 words. If you have novels or novellas, those are welcome as well. Send them to canehollowpress@gmail.com and put the series you are submitting to in the subject line of the email. 

ROYALTIES: If your story is accepted and published, you will receive 70% of actual royalties (after distributors' fees) for each 99 cent short story ebook, and receive an equal share of 70% with the other authors included in each anthology. Visit our website at westerntrailblazer.com for other such details.

DEADLINE:  Since these are going to be series of anthologies, there's no real deadline. For example, as soon as we accept enough western horror stories to fill a 30k volume, they will be released as TERROR IN THE WEST vol. 1, and the next western horror stories we get (and accept) will go into TERROR IN THE WEST vol. 2, and so on.