Shifting for Dollars 2nd Edition!
When I first posted this "call for submissions" on 20 January 2016, I used a link that I am now fairly sure would only work if you're already a member of the group where the CFS is posted.
So here's the full version:
****
The Wolf Brigade (TM):
Shared Universe Shifting for [Your Currency]
Would you be interested in earning some money by contributing to an anthology of MM(M) romance shifter stories set in the alternate universe of The Wolf Brigade(TM)? You’ll be paid for your contribution (half on acceptance, half on publication) and also earn a share of the hoped-for profits.
Interested? Read on.
Anthology Title: The Wolf Brigade(TM)
Story Length: Pretty much up to you. I’m hoping for about 100,000 words for the book, so it could be a short story up to a 30,000(ish) novella.
Submission Deadline: May 31, 2016 (Not a deadline fixed in granite; if you need a little more time I’ll work with you)
Publication: Fall, 2016
Publisher: TAS Books, LLC
Editor: Eric Alan Westfall
Payment: A half-cent (USD .005) per word. If your story is 10,000 words, you get $50. If it’s 30,000, you get $150. Half on acceptance, half on publication. If there are profits, i.e., any amount after recovery of publication and marketing costs (which obviously includes the payments to the authors), you’ll share in fifty percent of the profits, based on your percentage of the total story text. Payments preferably made via PayPal, but alternatives can be considered. Note: If by some (remote, improbable, highly unlikely) chance I include a story of my own, the “wordage” won’t be included in your profit calculations.
Profit-Sharing Example: Assume there are 100,000 words of story text (no bios, title/author, acknowledgments, and not counting any story of mine, etc.). Assume there’s $1000 in profit (we can but hope). If your story is 10,000 words: you get $50 (10% of $500). If your story is 30,000 words: you get $150 (30% of $500).
The Alternate Universe of The Wolf Brigade(TM)
This is going to be a somewhat long “Cliff Notes” version. If you’re interested in submitting, send me an email for the rest of details about how shifting works, and a sample chapter from The Assassin’s Song, which introduces the Brigade.
George Washington saved the life of a young werewolf. By the time his presidency ended, the friendship had evolved into The Wolf Brigade, a small group of elite shifter warriors dedicated to doing whatever is necessary to preserve, protect and defend the United States. The Brigade answers only to the President, and no one knows of the existence of shifters, much less the Brigade, except the President, and as time passes, a carefully selected group of human support staff. Think of the SEAL team that took out bin Laden on paranormal shifter steroids.
In early 2007, the Brigade consisted of:
(1) David Stone (wolf). Captain and leader of the Brigade.
(2) Sergeant Terry Holcomb (black panther), six-seven, three hundred pounds of muscle whose skin is the blackness of a night in a sealed and windowless tomb. His nickname is Baggy, short for Bagheera.
(3) Mario Perez Alonso (jaguar). He describes himself as a “Mex-mix.”
(4) Ali Hussein (wolf). On a mission to Iraq, he looks as though he should be walking among the locals, turbaned and dusty, although he is an Oxford-educated Brit.
(5), (6), (7) Marco and Reginald (both wolves, one American, one British). There is also another wolf.
By 2015, Stone is no longer part of the Brigade. Baggy is in charge, and another cat shifter has been brought in. Note: None of the submissions can involve Stone as a main character, as he is an “MC” in The Assassin’s Song.
The shifters in this alternate universe are somewhat different than traditional MM romance shifters.
Not all shifters, but all Brigade members, have three forms: Prime, Alter and Kind. Prime is the human form. Alter is a form part “animal,” part human. Kind is the “animal” form.
The word “animal” is in quotes because your Kind “soul” (if you will) is not an animal. He is an individual, with personalities and quirks of his own. He resides in Dream (Wolf Dream, Cat Dream, etc.), which is the source of the power (magic?) that makes shifting possible. Your Kind can come to Prime when asked, or visit/intrude of his own volition. Whichever shape you are in, Prime and Kind can share control of the shape or cede it to the other.
Sometimes your Kind is present while you are in Prime just for a conversation. For example, Stone’s Wolf can be quite snarky and annoying at times. Sometimes your Kind’s presence in Prime will add some ability, such as enhanced scenting, enhanced hearing.
Your human side tends to be more in control when you are in Prime, and vice versa. You can surrender complete control of the form to your other half, or blend so well you jointly control the form. The blending is more likely to occur when you’re in Alter.
You don’t have to be naked to shift. Whatever you’re wearing or carrying goes with you, and simply adds to the size and weight of your body in Alter or Kind. Your Kind shape has size and weight of its own in Dream, similar to your human weight. So a shift to Kind or Alter pretty much doubles your size and weight. And if you’re dressed in a hundred pounds of battle gear and weapons, the mass becomes part of your Alter or Kind shape as well.
Although shifters are long-lived, you can be can be injured and die. Either of those can change the Brigade composition. You don’t visibly age until near the end of your lifespan, so team members have to rotate so they don’t face the situation of a man being with the Brigade for thirty years, but looking to be only in his twenties. While the Brigade is superb at creating identities and thorough backgrounds for whatever it needs, you can’t alter fingerprints or change your Prime form to look like someone else, so you have a comparatively limited time to actively serve in the Brigade. Some have served multiple times in the past couple of centuries, waiting 30-40 years between, but technology now makes that more difficult.
While shifters can certainly fall in love, and become mates, there are no fated mates.
Possible Story Ideas
First and foremost, these are nothing more than suggestions. Random thoughts. I’m interested in what you might come up with, with the only provisos being: (a) the story involves the Brigade in some reasonably significant way, and (b) the dynamics of shifting (Prime-Alter-Kind, Dream) are maintained. You might well help the universe of the Brigade to evolve.
Second and second-most, I’m interested in romances. They can be plots that involve military action, or covert operations of the Brigade as a whole or with individual members, but that’s not mandatory. They can involve that whole business of a shifter falling for a human and having to disclose not only the existence of shifters but the existence of the Brigade. I’m fairly certain...though the issue hasn’t come up yet...that most shifters don’t know of the existence of the Brigade.
How did Washington save a young shifter and have that evolve into the Brigade? I have no idea. Do you?
Who are Baggy, Mario, Ali, Marco, Reginald, and the other unnamed wolf and cat shifters? What are their stories? How did they come to join the Brigade? Does Baggy fall in love with an accounting genius human who sneakily handles getting all the funding the Brigade needs? (Overseas missions do involve transportation, supplies, communications, etc., none of which are cheap.) Do a cat and wolf shifter fall for each other? Both inside the Brigade? One in? One out?
You have some 240(ish) years in which to set your story, and so long as the Brigade is involved, you’re not restricted to an American-based story. The main events of our world history probably need to stay as they are, but the details can be different. On the other hand, if you come up with a really great story that alters the American Civil War significantly because of the Brigade, I’m not averse to that possibility. Although we’d then have to be sure that anyone writing a post-Civil War story could be able to adapt his/her plot to the societal changes necessarily wrought by a “different” Civil War.
If you’re not hooked by now on the possibilities, you probably aren’t going to be. But if you’re interested in the rest of the details, email me at: tas llc 43 @ gmail . com.
Eric
So here's the full version:
****
The Wolf Brigade (TM):
Shared Universe Shifting for [Your Currency]
Would you be interested in earning some money by contributing to an anthology of MM(M) romance shifter stories set in the alternate universe of The Wolf Brigade(TM)? You’ll be paid for your contribution (half on acceptance, half on publication) and also earn a share of the hoped-for profits.
Interested? Read on.
Anthology Title: The Wolf Brigade(TM)
Story Length: Pretty much up to you. I’m hoping for about 100,000 words for the book, so it could be a short story up to a 30,000(ish) novella.
Submission Deadline: May 31, 2016 (Not a deadline fixed in granite; if you need a little more time I’ll work with you)
Publication: Fall, 2016
Publisher: TAS Books, LLC
Editor: Eric Alan Westfall
Payment: A half-cent (USD .005) per word. If your story is 10,000 words, you get $50. If it’s 30,000, you get $150. Half on acceptance, half on publication. If there are profits, i.e., any amount after recovery of publication and marketing costs (which obviously includes the payments to the authors), you’ll share in fifty percent of the profits, based on your percentage of the total story text. Payments preferably made via PayPal, but alternatives can be considered. Note: If by some (remote, improbable, highly unlikely) chance I include a story of my own, the “wordage” won’t be included in your profit calculations.
Profit-Sharing Example: Assume there are 100,000 words of story text (no bios, title/author, acknowledgments, and not counting any story of mine, etc.). Assume there’s $1000 in profit (we can but hope). If your story is 10,000 words: you get $50 (10% of $500). If your story is 30,000 words: you get $150 (30% of $500).
The Alternate Universe of The Wolf Brigade(TM)
This is going to be a somewhat long “Cliff Notes” version. If you’re interested in submitting, send me an email for the rest of details about how shifting works, and a sample chapter from The Assassin’s Song, which introduces the Brigade.
George Washington saved the life of a young werewolf. By the time his presidency ended, the friendship had evolved into The Wolf Brigade, a small group of elite shifter warriors dedicated to doing whatever is necessary to preserve, protect and defend the United States. The Brigade answers only to the President, and no one knows of the existence of shifters, much less the Brigade, except the President, and as time passes, a carefully selected group of human support staff. Think of the SEAL team that took out bin Laden on paranormal shifter steroids.
In early 2007, the Brigade consisted of:
(1) David Stone (wolf). Captain and leader of the Brigade.
(2) Sergeant Terry Holcomb (black panther), six-seven, three hundred pounds of muscle whose skin is the blackness of a night in a sealed and windowless tomb. His nickname is Baggy, short for Bagheera.
(3) Mario Perez Alonso (jaguar). He describes himself as a “Mex-mix.”
(4) Ali Hussein (wolf). On a mission to Iraq, he looks as though he should be walking among the locals, turbaned and dusty, although he is an Oxford-educated Brit.
(5), (6), (7) Marco and Reginald (both wolves, one American, one British). There is also another wolf.
By 2015, Stone is no longer part of the Brigade. Baggy is in charge, and another cat shifter has been brought in. Note: None of the submissions can involve Stone as a main character, as he is an “MC” in The Assassin’s Song.
The shifters in this alternate universe are somewhat different than traditional MM romance shifters.
Not all shifters, but all Brigade members, have three forms: Prime, Alter and Kind. Prime is the human form. Alter is a form part “animal,” part human. Kind is the “animal” form.
The word “animal” is in quotes because your Kind “soul” (if you will) is not an animal. He is an individual, with personalities and quirks of his own. He resides in Dream (Wolf Dream, Cat Dream, etc.), which is the source of the power (magic?) that makes shifting possible. Your Kind can come to Prime when asked, or visit/intrude of his own volition. Whichever shape you are in, Prime and Kind can share control of the shape or cede it to the other.
Sometimes your Kind is present while you are in Prime just for a conversation. For example, Stone’s Wolf can be quite snarky and annoying at times. Sometimes your Kind’s presence in Prime will add some ability, such as enhanced scenting, enhanced hearing.
Your human side tends to be more in control when you are in Prime, and vice versa. You can surrender complete control of the form to your other half, or blend so well you jointly control the form. The blending is more likely to occur when you’re in Alter.
You don’t have to be naked to shift. Whatever you’re wearing or carrying goes with you, and simply adds to the size and weight of your body in Alter or Kind. Your Kind shape has size and weight of its own in Dream, similar to your human weight. So a shift to Kind or Alter pretty much doubles your size and weight. And if you’re dressed in a hundred pounds of battle gear and weapons, the mass becomes part of your Alter or Kind shape as well.
Although shifters are long-lived, you can be can be injured and die. Either of those can change the Brigade composition. You don’t visibly age until near the end of your lifespan, so team members have to rotate so they don’t face the situation of a man being with the Brigade for thirty years, but looking to be only in his twenties. While the Brigade is superb at creating identities and thorough backgrounds for whatever it needs, you can’t alter fingerprints or change your Prime form to look like someone else, so you have a comparatively limited time to actively serve in the Brigade. Some have served multiple times in the past couple of centuries, waiting 30-40 years between, but technology now makes that more difficult.
While shifters can certainly fall in love, and become mates, there are no fated mates.
Possible Story Ideas
First and foremost, these are nothing more than suggestions. Random thoughts. I’m interested in what you might come up with, with the only provisos being: (a) the story involves the Brigade in some reasonably significant way, and (b) the dynamics of shifting (Prime-Alter-Kind, Dream) are maintained. You might well help the universe of the Brigade to evolve.
Second and second-most, I’m interested in romances. They can be plots that involve military action, or covert operations of the Brigade as a whole or with individual members, but that’s not mandatory. They can involve that whole business of a shifter falling for a human and having to disclose not only the existence of shifters but the existence of the Brigade. I’m fairly certain...though the issue hasn’t come up yet...that most shifters don’t know of the existence of the Brigade.
How did Washington save a young shifter and have that evolve into the Brigade? I have no idea. Do you?
Who are Baggy, Mario, Ali, Marco, Reginald, and the other unnamed wolf and cat shifters? What are their stories? How did they come to join the Brigade? Does Baggy fall in love with an accounting genius human who sneakily handles getting all the funding the Brigade needs? (Overseas missions do involve transportation, supplies, communications, etc., none of which are cheap.) Do a cat and wolf shifter fall for each other? Both inside the Brigade? One in? One out?
You have some 240(ish) years in which to set your story, and so long as the Brigade is involved, you’re not restricted to an American-based story. The main events of our world history probably need to stay as they are, but the details can be different. On the other hand, if you come up with a really great story that alters the American Civil War significantly because of the Brigade, I’m not averse to that possibility. Although we’d then have to be sure that anyone writing a post-Civil War story could be able to adapt his/her plot to the societal changes necessarily wrought by a “different” Civil War.
If you’re not hooked by now on the possibilities, you probably aren’t going to be. But if you’re interested in the rest of the details, email me at: tas llc 43 @ gmail . com.
Eric
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