2008 Black Library Story Competition

[Aaron]

The details.

The Black Library is pleased to announce its 2008 short story competition.

Due to the massive response to Planetkill, we’re breaking with tradition this time, folks, and going for a second successive Warhammer 40,000 themed competition. Warhammer short story fans need not worry though, as we will be doing a fantasy themed competition again next time.

This time around we are looking for submissions for our new anthology, Heroes of the Space Marines. All of the stories in this collection must be about Space Marines. They can be tales of either loyal or traitor Space Marines but have to be Chapters, Legions and Renegades that are already part of Games Workshop’s background. Feel free to make up your own heroes and villains; your story doesn’t have to be about a well-known character. But please don’t write about existing fictional characters (e.g. Uriel Ventris, Justicar Alaric, Ragnar Blackmane, etc).

We’re only looking for stories set in the current Warhammer 40,000 timeline, so please don’t set your story during the Horus Heresy or the Age of Apostasy, for example.

To enter the competition, you need to write a synopsis of no more than 500 words along with a writing sample of between 500 and 1,000 words for consideration by the Black Library editors. To give you a helping hand, we’ve provided a short description of what we mean by a ‘synopsis’ and you’ll finds this just before the Rules and Regulations below.

The entries that show the most promise will go forward to the second stage of the competition where the author will be asked to write a short story of no more than 7,000 words. Any stories we deem worthy of publication after this stage of the competition will appear in Heroes of the Space Marines and the author will be paid for his or her work at the standard Black Library short story page rate.

Entries for the competition will only be accepted through this online form and the deadline for synopses is Monday 3rd March at midday (GMT). No feedback will be given on unsuccessful entries. Successful authors will be notified within eight weeks of this date and then given four weeks to turn their synopsis into a full 7,000 word manuscript. The winning entries will then be chosen from these completed stories.

WHAT IS A SYNOPSIS?
This is a succinct break down of your story, describing in brief what it’s about. Try to think of it as a film pitch – we want to know who’s in it (your characters), where it’s set (the setting) what they are doing and why (the set up) and who or what is trying to stop them (the conflict or confrontation). Some of the best short stories often have a twist, too, so try to work one in to your story (the conclusion).

Remember: keep it short and to the point. All we need is roughly what the story is about, not the whole thing!

Rules and regulations

1. Successful entrants will be notified via e-mail no later than eight weeks after the closing date. Unsuccessful entrants will not be notified and any e-mails received by us enquiring about the status of entries or asking for feedback on a specific submission will not receive a reply from BL Publishing or its representatives.
2. The deadline for entries is midday 3rd March (GMT).
3. Authors who successfully get through the first stage of the competition will be given a period of no more than four weeks to produce a full 7,000 word manuscript of their short story.
4. Manuscripts accepted for publication will be paid for at the standard Black Library short story rate – 3 pence per published word. We will also supply you with three free copies of the anthology. All published stories become the property of Games Workshop Ltd. to use in any way they see fit.
5. Only entries received through the proper submissions process (detailed above) will be considered. Any entries deemed incomplete, inappropriate and/or offensive will be disqualified.
6. We will not make any judgements based upon age, sex or level of writing experience. We are looking for great writing that is true to the Warhammer 40,000 world.
7. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
8. Entries will not be returned.
9. All entries must be in English.

There were quite a few people that were keen to get in on the last one, so here's hoping someone from the board gets in this year.

[LadyTevar]

Where's Imperial Overlord? Get him a typewriter!

[Balrog]

3 pence a word? That's a pretty good deal. *starts writing*

[DPDarkPrimus]

I should try and pen a story about the Storm Giants, an official SM chapter that doesn't really have anything written about them.