Discuss amongst yourselves

An interesting discussion of the King Paul mythos was kicked up by Linda Davis, when she mentioned her interpretation. Initially, I didn’t mention it because I don’t want to flavor anyone’s choices in how they approach the source material. However, it brought to mind some possibilities that I wish to present:

Please, under no circumstances, feel confined to the story of Paul himself. Remember that there are other characters that can be explored. Imagine looking at the scenarios from Carin’s point of view. Is she a put upon, but doting housewife? A total bitch? I’ve always pictured her as the embodiment of feminine power as much as Paul is the embodiment of masculinity, but that's just me.

How about Emily? Is she a twit, or the pre-eminent seductress, secure in her sexuality and finding her strength there?

Is Missy merely a masochist who adores the pain?

Does Jr. really want to be the supreme fascist dictator of the world?

 Hell, there's the new addition of The Pussy to consider now. 

Remember that YOU are the writer. All of this is in your hands and the further you go with it, the less like my expectations, the more we will like it.

Go crazy on this shit, mofos!

King Paul is coming to destroy you all!

We here at Generic Publishing want you to dig deep and access you inner manly man, that beast within that screws, plunders and lays waste to all that approach it, to tell tales of the glory and awesome might that is King Paul, rife with sex, violence, debauchery, depravity and big heaping buckets of gore. Picture a Chuck Norris/Maddox/Tucker Max hybrid being punched in the face by Conan to a soundtrack of W.A.S.P., killwhitneydead and Manowar, then listen to the King Paul songs on Carinemily.com (all submissions MUST match the mythology of these songs to be considered). These stories should harken back to the style and ideals of Orature (traditional tales and history passed along orally) and should be either in Flash or Praise poetry form. Do keep in mind that, while the theme of masculinity taken to cartoonish extremes will likely be handled with tongue firmly in cheek, we expect it all to be played straight. My first image of the concept lends itself to sword and sandals fantasy, but don’t feel obliged to constrict yourself to that genre; we’d love to see a steampunk Paul mowing down werewolves on a pirate ship in space. This anthology is intended for adults, so feel free to be as raunchy and brutal as you desire (please), but don’t bother us with rape fantasies or kiddie porn. Even the King has his limits.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Title: King Paul Crushes Your Face and You like It. (Working Title)
Editors: Anton Cancre and Greg Hermes
Word count: 2000 words (flash fiction) or 100 lines (poetry) max
Pay: .5 cents per word for flash fiction and $5 flat rate for poetry, paid upon publication.
Submit to: genericpublishing [aatt] yahoo [doot] com (electronic submissions only)
Format: All submissions should be pasted into the email, following standard Shunn rules. Any attachments will be deleted without question or concern. Keep your computer herpes to yourself, and we’ll keep ours.
 The subject line should read as follows: "submission: <title>, <author's last name>".
 Please include a cover letter with Author’s legal name, address, email, the name of the work being submitted, word/line count and previous publications of interest. Also include a short bio for inclusion in the anthology.
Simultaneous submissions are okay as long as you let us know and multiple submissions will be accepted for poetry, up to a maximum of three poems per author. No reprints.
Submission period: June 15th through September 30th, 2011. Please do not query the status of your submission until November 30th, 2011.  We will do our best to contact all submitters within 30 days of the end of the submission period.
Rights: we ask for first American Publishing rights, copyrights will revert to the author upon publication. We also ask for the ability to use snippets for promotional purposes.

The best policy.

Honesty is important to me, both as a writer and as a reader. Because of that, I feel that I owe it to you, as potential writers or readers, to start our relationship off with straight talk so that you understand what to expect from Generic Publishing both now and for the future.

When I started Generic Publishing in 1995, I was incredibly frustrated with a publishing world that seemed to require everyone to have been previously published and wanted to create a venue for new talent. Over roughly a decade, we periodically published a magazine (Generic Magazine) and several chapbooks that were fairly well received but the pressures of the outside world eventually won out and we had to put the whole thing on hold. Quite frankly, I was beginning to feel that I wasn’t able to do justice to the writers I was helping to publish, both in the quality of the publication and the breadth of distribution.

As you well know, the publishing world has changed dramatically since ’95, with tons of small presses out there providing loads of opportunities for new writers and this whole interwebz thingie has made distribution much easier. Still, even with a glutted market, ghettoification remains an issue. I understand the value of a clear product for marketing purposes but I feel that the labeling is too constrictive to creative writers while allowing lazy writers to lean on comfortable tropes. Also, I miss working with writers, plowing through dense wording to get to the heart of the piece and seeing the look on someone’s face when they discover a new writer.

So, I’ve decided to give it a go again.

My life has reached a slightly more stable place and the experience I have gained working as a reviewer for Horrornews and Shroud Magazine as well as my own experience attempting to find homes for my writing has taught me much about what I need to do differently this time. To start off, I will stick to a few small projects just to see if I can make it work in a way that is beneficial to writers without undo strain on my sanity (I crit-failed my last san check, just to warn you). If all goes well, then I’ll move to a dedicated website and work out the rest from there.

Thank you for reading this far and for joining me in this journey.

-Anton Cancre, Editor Supreme of Generic Publishing