July News, Events & Links

PPW News

The July Write Brain will be presented by David Corbett, award-winning author of The Art of Character and four suspense novels, including Done for a Dime (a NY Times Notable Book) and Blood of Paradise (nominated for several awards, including the Edgar). He'll be presenting The Outer Limits of Inner Life: Bringing Characters to Life by Looking Within, a workshop on creating memorable characters by forming an intuitive connection with them using your own past to do so. This will be a free event, and is exclusively online, live, on Tuesday, July 16, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. To get the link for the presentation, you must RSVP to rsvp@pikespeakwriters.com. You can find more information on the "PPW Events" tab above.

The recording for the June Write Brain, Facebook and Twitter for Authors, is available online for viewing. You can find this link and the one to the May Write Brain, under the "PPW Events" tab above.

Writer's Night will be held at Lofty's on Monday, July 22, 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Come enjoy wine, coffee, sandwiches, and various other goodies, and chat about writing. Open to topics of discussion and question. More on the Events tab.

PPW Open Critique will occur on Wednesday, July 17, 6:00 to 8:30 PM, at the Cottonwood Center for the Arts. The first 8 to RSVP may bring 8 pages of their manuscript to critique. More information on the Events tab.

Other "Local" Events

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers will host A Discussion About Investigations, presented by David Keil, Saturday, July 13, 1:00 to 3:00 PM, at the Lakewood Public Library. Also, don't forget that registration is open for their Colorado Gold Conference, held in September.

Colorado Springs Fiction Writers has various meetings throughout at the month at different locations. Visitors are welcome.

Black Cat Books and the BAC, located in Manitou Springs, have lots of programs for readers and writers alike.  Even knitters!  Check out the events page for more information.

The Pikes Peak Romance Writers of America will have a pot luck on Sunday, July 14, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM at the BAC. 

The Pikes Peak Branch of the National League of American Pen Women and Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America are both on hiatus for the summer. Programming for each will continue in September.

Publications Open for Submissions and Contests:
Please note: Inclusion of links in this post does not equal sponsorship by Pikes Peak Writers or a relationship between the two entities.  Please always be sure to pursue due diligence before submitting anything to a publication or contest.

Burial Day Books is seeking short stories set in one of the following places: cemetery, funeral home, morgue, haunted house, active or abandoned hospital/mental institution, active or abandoned juvenile or adult correctional facility/prison. These stories will be in a Gothic Blue Book, similar to the follow-up to chapbooks back in the day. Deadline July 19. $25 token payment and 2 contributor copies.

Long Hidden is a speculative fiction anthology being funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign. They're still seeking short stories through July 31. They welcome writing from anyone, but are especially interested in writing from those in marginalized groups. Pays 5 cents per word.

Dark Opus Press is seeking short fiction submissions based on Grimm's Fairy Tales for their Tell Me A Fable anthology. Pays 1 cent per word, plus a contributor copy. Deadline July 31.

Alban Lake Publishing is seeking submissions for their quarterly MG magazine, FrostFire Worlds. Open submissions throughout the year. Pays $15 for original stories, $3 for original poems, $6 for illustrations, $10 for articles.

Kazka Press's 713 Flash Contest is now in its July open window. Deadline July 20. The current theme is Sax & Violins (and Other Tales of Music). Pays $10 per story.

Dark House Press is seeking novels and short story collections. They are also looking for short stories for their Exigencies anthology. It will be open until full, and pays in royalties and a contributor copy. They're looking for all kinds of things, including fantasy, neo-noir, horror, literary, crime surrealism, grotesque, etc.

Seventh Star Press has calls out on several anthologies: A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court/Tales of the Unseelie Court (deadline July 15) and Hero's Best Friend: An Anthology of Animal Companions (deadline June 30). Both pay royalties, and both take speculative fiction of any type.

Sugared Water is a new literary magazine seeking fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and art. Pays in contributor copies.

Room Magazine is accepting submissions for their issue dealing with the word "Fashionable." Deadline July 31. Fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction.

Baird Speculative Fiction is seeking submissions for Anathema: a Bizarro Anthology. Deadline July 15. Pays by a token tier payment system. They're also seeking submissions for I, Automaton: A SteampunkAnthology. Same deadline, slightly higher tier payment system.

LampLight Magazine is open to submissions again. They seek dark fiction without cliches. Pays $150 for short stories, $50 for flash fiction. July 15th is the cut-off for their fall issue.

Barrelhouse Books open submission period ends July 15. They're looking for fiction for novels, but they also have a magazine you can submit to.

Colors of My Soul is holding a flash fiction contest. 500 word maximum. Open until June 7. $150 first prize, and publication in the e-book.

Submission and Contest links originally posted on The Warrior Muse.

About the Author:  After years of letting her writing fall by the wayside, Shannon Lawrence has recently thrown herself back into it. Her main focus is fantasy and horror and she has just finished a Young Adult Fantasy novel. She has a flash fiction piece featured in the anthology Sunday Snaps: The Stories, and her short horror story "The Blue Mist" will be in the March 2014 issue of Nightfall Magazine. She has also discovered a love of photography and enjoys photographing the breathtaking Colorado scenery and wildlife, as well as her children. She blogs about reading, writing and photography at www.thewarriormuse.com.