Crimeucopia

16th October 2023

We intend to open the windows again in 2024

Starting with February 1st to 29th

(yes, Aunty Jean, it is a Leap Year, and not just for the salmon)

followed by September 1st to 30th

by which time we will be looking to fill November 2024, and into January, and ideally March and June 2025.

Crimeucopia is intended to be a First Filled - First to Publish anthology series of vaguely themed short fiction, designed to cover a broad spectrum of crime fiction - though we do have a backstop in the form of an irregular Free-for-All edition depending on the amount of submissions received.

Submission window - Please Read Our Submissions Guide & Checks Before submitting

Submissions are now closed until 2024

February 1st to 29th

&

September 1st to 30th

Multiple Submissions are acceptable (within reason) - due to several recent experiences Simultaneous Submissions are no longer being accepted

Reprints - Please, please, please leave a respectable amount of time between initial publication and offering them up to us.

The original publishers will want to generate sales, rather than having them undermined by yet another instance of the fiction appearing elsewhere.

Manuscript formatting - Please, please, please use a standard Manuscript format, with as little or ideally no 'personalised' formatting as possible as it sometimes plays merry Hell with typesetting.

(Templates here - https://www.shunn.net/format/story/ )

Due to our Indie Small Press/Semi-Pro nature, MIP is not our full-time, salary paying job. This means we are not scanning for emails 24/7-366 (to take into account Leap Years), so please hold off for around 60 to 90 days before clicking the send button on that Why aren’t you bastards talking to me about my submission!?! email. We don’t intend to run a slushpile, however, we will accept material with a provisional publication date that may slide right if unforeseen circumstances raise their nasty little pointed heads. Your understanding in regard to this happening is much appreciated. To make this more palatable, we also to pay on acceptance, rather than on publication.

Submissions are via email attachments to submissions@murderousinkpress.co.uk with a subject line of SUBMISSIONS_Crimeucopia_<Your Name>_<Story Title>

Publishing will be through both Amazon (Online Paperback and Kindle) and IngramSpark (Bookshop Paperback and ePub/eBook distribution). If in doubt, or have difficulties with Amazon, then please use the ISBN and order from a local bookshop. Resellers, please talk to sales@murderousinkpress.co.uk in regard to mixed low run orders which we can supply at approximately 50% discount + shipping & tax.

Having originally worked with the standard UK Paperback size (129mm x 198mm), since the end of 2022 we have gone over to the US B-Format of 6 x 9 inches. We usually run with a matte cover, and around 250 to 280 pages.

Please Note:- We are not looking for pure Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, or work involving pre-existing characters (ie Fan Fiction).

Intended themes – always open to interpretation – include:-

A Load of Balls

So if it's a sport involving a ball (regardless of shape) and there's a crime, then we want to read about it! Maybe the protagonist is a PI who was once a star of track or field - or someone in a police force dealing with the murder of a coach - or any variation in between. As long as it involves a sport - and that sport involves balls of some kind (physical and/or metaphorical) - then we could be interested.

Can You Dig It?

An anthology of fiction that revolves around music in some form or another. Maybe the PI has a penchant for a particular genre – maybe someone in a studio/theatre/at a gig/wherever – anywhere from Baroque to cutting edge – not forgetting stars such as Pete & Bas are 70-year-old successful rap artists, thus showing there’s no restrictions to fame and/or notoriety. The only overriding restraint: No curare-tipped gramophone needles - or Robert Johnson Crossroads moments either.

Don’t Read That! Read This!

Our Free-for-All, no theme themed Crimeucopia - still in need of a cover, but this isn't planned until late 2024.

See also Side Projects for details of niche projects that are slow time burners

Other 'themes' will be added as we go through the workflow- though the publication calendar is now complete up to September 2024.

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