Butcher Shop Quartet: Volume 2
Call for Submissions

March 18, 2008 UPDATE: Submissions will still remain open for Butcher Shop Quartet through April 30th, or until full. Check here for more updates.

The themed anthology Butcher Shop Quartet 2 opened for submissions in spring of 2006 and closed near the end of that year, having received over 130 submissions from around the globe.  Despite the many excellent submissions, too many didn’t fit the BSQ theme.  We decided to take the very best of those novellas and publish the anthology ‘Tattered Souls’. 

We’re now pleased to once again open submissions for BSQ2.  Particular attention will be given to those works that make best use of supernatural content and themes.  Works accepted will be those best drawn on an epic scale, whether that’s achieved through use of ordinary characters in extraordinary settings and circumstances, or by plumbing the boundless depths of human character, motivation and innermost fear.  Psychological thrillers, dark satire, a journey into black magic, traditional works of supreme horror and whatever else you can imagine will all be considered, so long as they’re created on a large canvas with the explicit purpose to disturb the reader right into the darkest of dreams.  Please send us only your very best work, as our mission is to publish horror of the highest caliber.

At the bottom of this page, we’ve made a special offer for any author who wishes to submit to Butcher Shop Quartet 2.  Please consider it carefully, as we believe the most effective way for authors to develop a story that will fit Butcher Shop Quartet 2 is to first to read what we’ve already published.

Guidelines and Payment:
For BSQ2, we’ll be reading original, unpublished Novellas of between 15,000 and 40,000 words in length. Please Query for longer works. No simultaneous submissions. No multiple submissions. Each work must be accompanied by a separate synopsis of 250 to 1,000 words, describing the story in full. All submissions will be reviewed by at least one editor, but a senior editor will read every synopsis. Those submissions which reach our short list will be read in full by a senior editor. Only submissions e-mailed to the address below will be considered. Failure to follow the guidelines may result in a submission being rejected without being read.

Submissions deadline extended through April 30th, 2008, or later, if not filled by then. Publication should be scheduled during the second half of 2008.

Payment to authors is 1.5 cents per word, with one contributor’s copy.  Well-published authors of note whose work is accepted are encouraged to negotiate payment, as professional rates will be considered.

SPECIAL OFFER TO AUTHORS WHO WISH TO SUBMIT
We’ve decided to make a VERY special offer to any author who wishes to purchase a copy of Butcher Shop Quartet for the purpose of understanding what we are looking for and submitting something along the lines of what we want. We will not select our stories until after the submission deadline, so there is time.

The price - $8, shipping included in the continental US. Shipping is $5 to Canada and $8 anywhere else in the world. That’s $9 off the cover price - we’ve never offered it this low. We hope you submit to us, but there is no pressure to. We figure the best way to find the stories we want is to get as many interested authors as we could to own a copy of it, before we begin selections.

HOW TO ORDER
Send Paypal payment to pinballdizzy@juno.com and accompany payment with this code in the subject line: 
BSQ - SSO or (BSQ -Submissions Special Offer).