Attention all writers!
I know there are at least a few folks who read the blog or listen to the podcast and who also enjoy wordsmithing in a fictive vein. In case you haven’t heard, Misanthrope Press is holding an open call for submissions of short fiction to be included in their upcoming Etched Offerings: Voices from the Cauldron of Story pagan fiction anthology. They’ve extended their submission deadline to the end of April, so I highly recommend you put together your best short story with touches of the magical, the mythical, and the metaphorical and send it over to them for consideration. Here are some of the details from their website:
“If you are reading this anywhere other than www.misanthropepress.com, we urge you to visit our website and view the full guidelines page. We have had to reject several submissions that did not fit our intended theme because people didn’t fully review the guidelines first; we don’t want you to waste your own time by being another one. Etched Offerings: Voices From the Cauldron of Story is a Pagan religion themed short fiction anthology. We are seeking stories about, or relevant to, contemporary Pagan paths and lifestyles, regardless of tradition. Stories about the gods and goddesses, about modern Wiccans, witches, shamans, and other magickal practitioners, as well as fantasy stories of myth and magick are all welcome…
Stories that retell existing myths and legends are acceptable, but there needs to be an original twist or fresh perspective in the telling…
Stories not strictly about Pagan topics, but featuring Pagan characters are very welcome…
We are not looking for stories that focus too heavily on how difficult it is to be Pagan in our society. It’s a valid issue, very much so in some geographic regions, but it’s not what we want to focus on in this anthology. We’re looking for stories that celebrate the joys and rewards of following a Pagan path, not ones that lament the challenges we face. If your character faces such a challenge and overcomes it, and your story focuses on the triumph of that, that’s acceptable. We won’t, however, accept many stories of this nature, so keep that in mind when submitting.
Along these same lines, while we will potentially accept a very small number of stories that deal with the clash of religious beliefs and/or groups, we won’t be accepting any stories that directly criticize or bash the beliefs of another group. It’s a fine line, we realize; if you’re not confident in your ability to walk it, pick another topic for your story.”
Full guidelines are available at the Misanthrope Press site, so please head over there and throw your ink-stained hat in the ring!
Good luck, and happy writing!
-Cory
New World Witchery - The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft 
Ooo! Time to get my faery tale boots on and take a walk for some inspiration!
Part of me wants to say that the Misanthrope Press people are located out of Akron… or perhaps Columbus Ohio… As a result, I’ve run into Inanna Gabriel at several NE Ohio functions where’s she’s been pushing their fiction anthology project. I must say that I look forward to it, though my writing is absolute rubbish and I don’t attempt fiction.
All that being said, do you plan on submitting anything, Cory? I get the impression that the pieces you write tend to be a bit more academic in nature, but you’ve proven in the podcast that you have a penchant for (re)telling stories, so it’s not much of a stretch at all to imagine you penning something yourself…
Hi Ancasta!
I’m honestly not sure where Misanthrope is located, but you’re probably right. It may even say on their site (I’m feeling lazy and not checking it right now though, lol).
I actually did submit something which they have accepted for the anthology, so hopefully we’ll see that go to press sometime this year. I’m pretty excited about it!
Thanks, and all the best!
-Cory