Call For Submissions: Historical Lovecraft Anthology

Innsmouth Free Press has issued a call for historical Lovecraft fiction. Some of the guidelines:

We are opening this September to submissions for our Historical Lovecraft anthology. The anthology will be available in print and as an e-book in 2011, and is produced and edited by the eldritch duo of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles.

We want historical fiction with a Lovecraftian twist. Stories should be set in a variety of places, cultures and time periods. While we might buy one story set in 1920s New England, we want to stray far from the normal Lovecraft milieu. If you’re going to do 1920s, why not ship us off to China and tell the story from the point of view of a native of Shanghai? Some examples of ideas we’d like to see:

• There’s something afoot in Henry VIII’s court.
• A Mayan warrior discovers evil lurking in Tikal.
• A trader in Byzantium finds a rare artifact.
• The Pharaoh’s latest advisor is a man of vast knowledge and even vaster secrets.
• The Necronomicon! Take us to Damascus as Alhazred pens the manuscript. Or to the printing of the 17th century edition in Spain.
• Journey to Inuit Canada, where the ice holds prisoner an old foe.
• Political intrigue in Edo leads to blood, tragedy and a brush with a fearsome entity from beyond the stars.
• What happened to Machu Picchu? How bloody were its last days?
• How did the jungle really claim Angkor Wat?
• The rainforests of the Congo groan under Belgian tyranny at the turn of the 20th century. What deadly deals are made to free it?

Please note that for our purposes we consider historical anything up to 1937 (the year of Lovecraft’s death). Please, no stories in contemporary settings where the hero flashes back to the past or finds a convenient diary/letter set in the past. It’s an extra layer of onion we don’t want to peel. If the meat of the story is in 4th century China, then take us to 4th century China without having to detour into New York 2010.

If you are curious to know what we enjoy reading, look at some of the fiction issues of Innsmouth Free Press. The latest one is here.

Click here for the full guidelines.