New "Scary Psyches" Issue Edited by Jackie Gamber!

Shroud is pleased to announce our second themed issue.  Issue #13 will be guest edited by a talented writer and editor in the speculative fiction field, Jackie Gamber.

Jackie is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Meadowhawk Press, a speculative fiction publisher based in Memphis. She edited and published David Walton’s Terminal Mind, which garnered the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award in 2009 (more on Jackie below.)

Shroud Magazine, Issue #13, "Scary Psyches."

Scary Psyches – Stories that explore the dark side of our nature; hidden, forbidden facets of the human drama. Maybe we indulge them. Maybe we don’t.


No slasher stories for the sake of gore. No serial killers (unless there’s a fascinating element for his/her “why”). Go for creepy, Hitchcockian thriller, and you’re on the right track.

Submission should follow Shrouds submission requirements as outlined here.  Also visit the submissions page to learn about payment terms.

Submission are open June 1st, 2011 and subsequently close July 31st 2011, and must be submitted as .rtf attachments to jackie@shroudmagazine.com.  Submissions that are not formatted correctly, are sent to the wrong email address, or do bot comply with the theme of the issue will be unfortunately deleted.

More on Jackie Gamber

Jackie also edited the award-winning benefit anthology Touched by Wonder. She has been a guest lecturer at Memphis Options High Schools, and is a speaker at writers’ conferences from Michigan to Florida. Jackie is also the visionary behind the MidSouthCon Writers’ Conference, now in its third year.


An award-winning author in her own right, Jackie writes stories ranging from ultra-short to novel-length, varieties of which have appeared in anthologies such as Tales of Fantasy and Old School, as well as numerous periodical publications. Jackie is a member of the professional organizations Science Fiction Writers of America and Horror Writers Association. She was named honorable mention in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Award, received a 2008 Darrell Award for best short story by a Mid-South author, and is winner of the 2009 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award for Imaginative Fiction.

Future Issues

Shroud is thrilled to be working with a number of writers and editors in the genre for upcoming themed issues.

The Shroud Publishing 2011 Collegiate Fiction Award

Submission Dates:  March 1st, 2011 through July 31st, 2011

Response Time:  1 to 3 months after the end of the submission period

Submission email:  cfa@shroudmagazine.com

Format and word count:  Electronic submissions only; .rtf or .doc file attachment; no more than 500 words.

Awards:

1st place -- $100, publication in Shroud Magazine, two free contributor copies, and a hand-lettered “Hiram Award” presented at the Anthology 2011 Conference (anthocon.com) at the Wynwood Best Western in Portsmouth NH, November 11-13, 2011.

Honorable Mentions (4) -- Publication in Shroud Magazine, one contributor copy, and a hand-lettered “Hiram Award” presented at the Anthology 2011 Conference at the Wynwood Best Western in Portsmouth NH, November 11-13, 2011.

All awardees will receive a free weekend pass to the Anthology 2011 Conference, where they may participate in workshops and seminars focussed on the craft of genre writing.

Details:  Shroud Publishing, a Milton, NH-based publisher of Shroud Magazine, The Journal of Dark Fiction and Art, is accepting submissions of exceptional flash fiction from college students. Shroud endeavors to discover the bold new voices emerging from within the realm of dark speculative fiction. Stories may be on any topic, provided that they are speculative in nature, and would fit the thematic orientation of Shroud Magazine as stated in its submission guidelines at www.shroudmagazine.com. There is no fee to enter.

Stories will be judged by Shroud’s editorial team using the following general criteria:

Originality, uniqueness;
Exceptional use of craft techniques (dialogue, narrative tension, subtext, POV, etc.)
Basic compositional ability;
Adherence to Shroud’s submission guidelines at www.shroudmagazine.com

Shroud will acknowledge receipt of submissions, but will be unable to personally respond to, or critique every submission.

Learn more about Shroud at www.shroudmagazine.com; Twitter: Shroudmag

Kevin Lucia, Shroud Review Editor, Passes baton to Tim Remp

Kevin Lucia has a been a member for the Shroud family for some time (and will continue to be).  He has been a prolific and talented reviewer and has done an exceptional job of managing the book review process for Shroud.

As a direct result of his efforts, the Shroud name has made it onto the book-jacket blurbs of some distinguished novels, not to mention in press materials, Websites, and blogs.  He is an extremely hard worker and had given 100% to the Shroud team.

Kevin announced recently that he would like to focus more on his own writing.  We support him.  It is our hope and intention to see more of Kevin's striking prose within the Shroud Publishing fold.  Over the past few weeks, Kevin has been working diligently to transition the review process to another talented writer and good friend, Timothy Remp.  Tim is also a voracious reader, a published author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, and a New Hampshire native.  The latter is important because it will assist in me getting books to Tim as publishers send them to me.

I am thrilled to see Tim come on board and am certain he will offer a comparable level of talent and diligence to the review process.

Here's a copy of the note, Kevin recently sent out to his review staff:


Hello folks -


Hope the New Year has been good to you all so far.  Just wanted to thank you for all the work you've done, and also update you on changes in Shroud's Book Review Department.  First of all, if you haven't visited the blog recently, we posted a ton of reviews over the break:


http://shroudmagazinebookreviews.blogspot.com/


Second, I'm stepping down as Book Review Editor for Shroud, and handing the reigns over to Tim Remp.  Tim posted all the reviews over the break and did a nice job, so after talking with Tim Deal and him, we've decided on Tim as our Review Editor for now. 


I saw this coming about a year ago.  After 5+ years of reviewing books & interviewing authors, I really felt it was time not only to just read what I felt informed me as a writer, but also to devote all my free time to my own prose.  However, I thought we'd started something neat, so I didn't want to abandon Tim and Shroud.  So, I recruited all you, and tried to get a system in place, so I wasn't leaving things in complete disarray.


Once that seemed to be working okay, I approached Tim Deal about backing out fully, we discussed possible replacements, tried Tim Remp out, and it worked nicely. His geographical proximity to Tim Deal is also a plus when it comes to managing Shroud operations.


So here's what will happen now:


I'll mail all the books I have left to Tim.  Once that's done and I forward all my contacts to Tim, he'll start up the process once more of sending a request list out to all of you, and you'll just continue on as you have.  His email is: timothy.p.remp@comcast.net.  As always, if you come up with other sources for reviews he'll still accept them, to keep the blog as active as possible. 


You'll remember we offered a payment of $7.00 for those reviews that found their way into print.  The plan is still to pay that in a stipend, and I'll need to confer with Danny Evarts to see which reviews made it into the print versions.


Once again, thanks for all your hard work and dedication.

Kevin Lucia 
Review Editor 
Shroud Magazine 
The Journal of Dark Fiction and Art 
http://www.shroudmagazine.com

Shroud Update!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I just wanted to post a brief update.  Over the past few weeks I've travelled to and from San Francisco, been swamped with a work project, and working on my Masters degree.

I am in the process of catching up with the following:

1.  Author payments and contributor copies;
2.  Filling orders;
3.  Gathering content for the Shroud Digital Edition;
4.  Working on Shroud 11;
5.  Working on some big guest announcements for AnthoCon 2011.

Please, if you have any concerns or questions, feel free to shoot me an email.

The holidays are an extremely busy time for us here at Shroud as I am sure they are for you too.

Thank you!

Tim Deal
Owner/Publisher

Free Swag Halloween Weekend!

All weekend,, beginning now, receive a free fabric book bag with any order from the Shroud site. These make perfect shopping bags as well, and with the distinctive haunted house logo, you'll be sure to attract a few stares as you hand it to the grocery store bagger.

Tailor-made* to fit two six-packs of Schlitz Bull Ice Malt Liquor, a box of frozen White Castle cheeseburgers, and four bags of Doritos.  I like Taco Flavor, how about you?

But seriously, buy anything and get a FREE tote-bag.  Plus, I'll ship all in-stock items priority mail on Monday Morning.  Out-of-stock items will ship as soon as they become in-stock.  Am I making myself clear?  Just do the math.

Order here today!

*This is an outright lie.  This is a standard-sized fabric bag, probably churned out in crappy overseas factory somewhere by eight-year-old kids chained to glue guns or whatever.  But it's free.

Anthology 2011 Conference Welcomes Jonathan Maberry, Rick Hautala!

Though the event is more than a year-away, we've already been fortunate enough to secure a stellar list of special guests and attendees for Shroud's Anthology 2011 Conference.  Among them, is New York Times Bestselling author, Jonathan Maberry. Mr. Maberry is a multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, a freelance comic book writer, and recently penned the novelization of THE WOLFMAN film, starring Benicio del Toro.

Maberry's wildly successful novel, Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel, is a bioterrorism thriller that launched a new series for St. Martin's Press, and was followed in 2010 by The Dragon Factory. In 2011 Joe Ledger returns again in the third installment, The King of Plagues. The first three books in the series have been optioned by producer Michael De Luca (Se7en, Magnolia, Blade) on behalf of Sony.

We are thrilled to have Jonathan Maberry in attendance and participating in several panels and workshops.

Rick Hautala has offered a firm commitment to attend as well.  Rick Hautala has more than thirty published books to his credit, including the million copy, international best-seller Nightstone, as well as Twilight Time, Little Brothers, Cold Whisper, Impulse, and The Wildman. He has also published four novels—The White Room, Looking Glass, Unbroken, and Follow—using the pseudonym A. J. Matthews. His more than sixty published short stories have appeared in national and international anthologies and magazines. His short story collection Bedbugs was selected as one of the best horror books of the year in 2003.

A novella titled Reunion was published by PS Publications in December, 2009; and Occasional Demons, a short story collection, is due in 2010 from CD Publications. He wrote the screenplays for several short films, including the multiple award-winning The Ugly Film, based on the short story by Ed Gorman, as well as Peekers, based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke, and Dead @ 17, based on the graphic novel by Josh Howard.

We are absolutely honored to have Rick join us at Anthology 2011!

The guest list is growing.  Stay tuned to the blog for more announcements!

ANTHOLOGY 2011: A Sneak Peek

By this time, you may have seen a stray Tweet or Facebook post that suggested that Shroud is hosting a con in 2011.  The fact is, Mark Wholley, Danny Evarts, and John Morse and I had been discussing the possibility since returning from Context in Ohio earlier this year.  We realized that with all of the expense, effort, and stress that went into attending cons, Shroud could quite reasonably host one and achieve many of the same goals.

Mark came up with the name, "Anthology."  It is a word that we are all very familiar with.  A collection of stories from different authors, and sometimes expanded to include other forms of art as well.

Anthology 2011 (or "AnthoCon") will showcase the creative brilliance of authors and artists within imaginative genres including (but not limited to) Horror, Mystery, Noir, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical, Steampunk, Bizzaro, and the convergence of art and literature within these genres in graphic novels, comics, and games.


Here are some of the details:


WHEN IS IT?

November 11-13, 2011 (Veteran's Day weekend)

WHERE IS IT?

Best Western Wynwood Hotel & Suites

580 US Route 1, Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03801
Phone/Fax: 603.436.7600

And,

The Roundabout Diner and Lounge (adjacent to the hotel)

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

 In our planning discussion, we quickly agreed on a few key principles:

1.  The conference would encompass a variety of genres;
2.  It would provide an enriching experience for writers, artists and the fans of both;
3.  We would provide a comprehensive schedule of panels, workshops, and activities, but would not overburden or overwhelm our guests and attendees;
4.  We would create excellent commercial and networking opportunities for visiting authors, publishers, and vendors by maximizing our substantial contacts within the local community, media, art and literary scene, and universities;
5.  Finally, as it is now a Shroud tradition, there would be opportunities for fun, frivolity and friendship.

WHAT WILL THE SCHEDULE LOOK LIKE?


Simple, functional, uncluttered.  It is our goal that each workshop, reading and panel be well-designed and well-attended.  Fewer workshops translate into greater attendance for each.  Furthermore, we want to continually drive traffic to the dealer room.  We have found that an overburdened workshop schedule inhibits the ability of attendees to browse at their own relaxed pace.  As a result, we have decided on a TWO track workshop/panel discussion format.  This means that workshops will occur in two conference rooms, instead of six or eight.

Schedule Outline

Friday, Nov. 11, 2011

2PM:  Arrival, check in, registration
5PM:  Dealer Room Opens
7PM:  Welcome reception (passed appetizers, cash bar)

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011

9AM:  Dealer Room Opens
9AM to 5PM: Workshops, panel discussions
7PM to 1AM:  Shroud Party, Awards, Open Mic, Dancing (passed appetizers and cash bar)

Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011
9AM: Dealer Room Opens
9AM to 12PM:  Panels, reading, signings
3PM:  Dealer room closes
6PM:  Dead Dog Party in the Roundabout Lounge

While this is subject to change, we feel that the schedule is loose enough for attendees to network, visit Portsmouth's historical and cultural attractions, and visit the dealer room.  We are also working on additional content and activities including:

Gaming
Independent films
A juried art exhibit
Slam poetry
A field trip to downtown Portsmouth

WHO'S GOING TO BE THERE?

The list is growing so quickly I'll need a whole new post to tell you!  Coming up soon.

Contact Tim for more information.