First off, we have now set the Best of Penumbra, Volume I anthology. A cross-section of Penumbra staffers, interns, and readers ranked their favorite stories to form a consensus top eleven. These stories are as follows:
The Second Coming of Thogradorax by Andrew Kaye (Animals, April 2012)
Arrhythmia by Terra LeMay (Death Dec 2011)
The Jade Tiger by Rachael Acks (steampunk Mar 2012)
Song of Passing Grief by James Beamon (Steampunk Mar 2012)
The Princess's Kiss by Chuck Rothman (Fairy Tales, May 2012)
A Deed Without a Name by Nyki Blatchley (Shakespeare Feb 2012)
And When The Innocence Falls To The Floor by Damien W. Grintalis (Fractured Fairy Tales May 2012)
Cocklebur by Nathaniel Lee (Travel, November 2011)
The Square That Hides A Thousand Stories by Daniel Ausema (The Arts October, 2011)
The Reckoning by Bruce Golden (sports January, 2011)
The Memory of Huckleberries by Rebecca Birch (Native American Folklore, Sept 2012)
Musa will be releasing these outstanding stories in anthology form in early 2013.
And second, today Musa Publishing is announcing a brand new project for lovers of speculative fiction to ponder as 2013 kicks off.
The Darkside Chronicles
In the Empire of Dalriada lies a city of steam and electricity and aether, where mechanical horses pull carriages through the streets and grand airships float overhead, patrolling the skies--a city where alien eyes watch the world of man and enforce a great and deadly penalty for man’s uncaring treatment of the world.
Dissecting the city's spires and buildings is the Dark Cloud--a fifty-foot high wall of pollution and filth that separates Sunside from the Darkside.
Sunside is a place of wonder and beauty, where airships made from glass as strong as steel and pride as strong as diamonds contend for supremacy of the town, floating among the peaks of the city’s skyscrapers and the nobles and the movers and shakers reside.
And then there's Darkside, the part of the town beneath the cloud, where only the faintest stray beams of light penetrate, illuminating what little hope resides in the citizens who toil in the underground factories or the Great Steamworks that provide power to the city. As Southwatch enters a new age of conspiracy, magic, technology and war, the people who live in the shadow of the Dark Cloud must choose sides when the whole city goes up in flames.
When the day of reckoning comes, on what side of the Dark Cloud will you stand?
Musa Publishing is pleased to announce the launch of The Darkside Chronicles, a steampunk-inspired shared world project for writers and lovers of speculative fiction.
In the tradition of great shared worlds of the past like Thieves' World, Borderlands, and The Fleet, Darkside Chronicles invites authors to incorporate their favorite speculative fiction genres into the steampunk-inspired city of Southwatch. Musa is seeking stories from 35k and up to help expand this new universe. The world was built by author Richard C. White (with works published in the Star Trek, Dr. Who, and The Incredible Hulk universes among others)in collaboration with multi-published fantasy author and Musa Editorial Director Celina Summers, resulting in a expansive and comprehensive bible as a foundation for the stories of Southwatch.We will consider stories of fantasy, science fiction, urban fantasy, romance, horror, and noir set in the steampunk-influenced city of Southwatch.
To request a copy of the bible, please send a query to editor@musapublishing.com. Please add "Darkside Chronicles" to the subject line. Submission guidelines specific to the line are included within the universe bible; otherwise this line will be treated and contracted according to the same guidelines as all the other Musa books. .
The Darkside Chronicles will open to submissions April 1, 2013.
The Darkside Chronicles will launch for readers in Summer, 2013.
