Rich Ristow
Death In Common: Submission Guidelines
Death in Common is a prospective anthology of horror poems. Each of the works chosen will have subtle linkage to following faux news article, which will function as the book's introduction:
Bodies Found In 6th Avenue Basement
MONMOUTHSIDE HEIGHTS --- The Monmouthside Township Police Department executed a search warrant two days ago on Charles Lee Eaton's home on 6th Avenue. Working on neighbors' complaints of a week-long terrible smell, the police found Eaton, age 62, dead from an apparent suicide-by-hanging. No explanatory note was found, and Eaton had no relatives or friends.
"We hardly ever saw him," stated Adara Al-Muhsi, a neighbor. "He largely kept to himself. My kids were always frightened of him. He once spat at my daughter for trying to sell him Girl Scout cookies."
The sentiment was largely echoed by other people on 6th Avenue. What police found in Eaton's home, however, provided a shock. Bodies, in various states of decomposition, were tangled in his basement. There seemed to be no unifying demographic, in terms of age, gender, or ethnicity. For a serial killer, this is not normal behavior, according to Dr. Anthony DeLucci, adjunct criminal justice professor at Monmouth University. "Your average serial killer has specific tastes. It's part of a fetish. It's systematic. It's almost ritualistic. Charles Lee Eaton demonstrated none of that."
Eaton's erratic killing also came as a surprise to the Monmouthside Township Police. Detective Lattrell J. Johnson stated that, "Identification of the remains is ongoing. We cannot release names, but so far, none of the victims so far identified have been reported missing. They could be locals. They could be tourists. We don't exactly know.."
Further details are not available as of this writing. One source, close to the consulting forensic team brought in, did speak on the condition of anonymity. "I have been part of murder investigations for 15 years. I've never seen anything like this. There's no logic, at all. Only one thing comes close to fitting the established profile. Each of the victims had wadded up sheets of paper stuffed into their mouths. These contained writing, but the similarities end there. Each had a different set of handwriting. Some were typed, and others printed out. We're still trying to find a pattern."
Detective Johnson asks that anybody with any information, whether on Charles Lee Eaton or somebody who has recently gone missing, contact the Monmouthside Police's Charles Lee Eaton Special Task Force.
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Prospective poems submitted for consideration have a wide latitude of creative freedom, so long as they stick to themes outlined above. Most of all, poems should be focused on the "most unconventional" victim. Murder, by necessity, is a theme, but consider the lives/humanity of the victims. Consider this a prospective collection of persona poems. While this will be largely a collection of horror poems, horror-comedy is also viable.
Issues of Form
The editor has specific aesthetic tastes. For example, hip-hop lyrics and performance/slam poetry will be hard sells. Free verse is acceptable and encouraged, as is short prose poetry. Formal verse is also acceptable and encouraged, but forced, unskilled, and clichéd rhyming will be rejected outright. For example, do not rhyme "moon" with "June" or "heart" with "apart." There's a real difference between song writing and poetry. Avant garde work, like language poetry, does not fit the scope of the project.
Above all else, please realize that the bulk of contemporary poetry speaks in a language of vivid imagery -not abstract platitudes. Poems preoccupied with "angst" and "soul" have little chance of succeeding.
Suggested Reading
Stephen Dobyns, E.A. Robinson, Weldon Kees, Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology, Denis Johnson, Kim Addonizio, Charles Simic, Michael Arnzen's Gorelets, James Tate, Harold Jaffe's "15 Serial Killers"
Payment
25 cents per line, as per the Horror Writers Association's stated professional rate for poetry. If the submission is a prose poem, then the payment is 25 cents per sentence. (If a prose poem is, in fact, a poem and not "Flash fiction," the organizational principal behind writing remains the sentence, as to a poem's line. It's the "poetry factor" that subjects the short prose work to the HWA's line by line basis for professional poetry, as opposed to the standard 5 cents a word rate the HWA subjects to prose fiction). This rate constitutes a flat fee waiving any perceived rights to a share of royalties.
This anthology has been contracted with Daverana Enterprises of Massachusetts. That said, all financial payment will be upfront, upon a
signed contract received by the editor. Paypal is the preferred method of payment.
Upon publication, all contributors will receive one copy of the print incarnation.
Rights.
First Anthology (for POD and Trade Paper) for four years upon receipt of a signed contract. Reprints will not be considered. Limited electronic rights for the purpose of book promotion.
Deadline:
Open till filled. Projected length: 40-70 pages.
Submission Procedure:
Send no more than 5 poems as an MS Word document or a RTF file to peopleinthebasement@gmail.com. Files in unfamiliar or compressed formats will be deleted
unread. Standard poetry manuscript formatting calls for single spacing with your name and address in the upper left hand corner. Please wait for an
editorial response before submitting again.
