2013 Lesbian Fiction Appreciation Event: Storm Moon Press on QUILTBAG Romance

First of all, I'd like to thank KT Grant for allowing us the honor of the opening post of this year's Lesbian Appreciation Event. At Storm Moon Press, we love our lesbian offerings and the fans that love to read them. At conventions and pride events, our lesbian paperbacks are consistently high sellers (and we're always asked if we have any more!), and we look forward to having even more available in the coming years.

The landscape of QUILTBAG romance and erotic romance is still fairly dominated by gay male selections—more than a few of the small presses in the genre are exclusively male/male, in fact. We are pleased to see the tide beginning to shift as more lesbian, bisexual, and trans* titles are finding their way to publication. To us, this represents a major development in the world of QUILTBAG fiction as well as fiction in general, because it means that these kinds of stories are becoming more acceptable both to read as well as to write.

As we move into 2013, Storm Moon Press is continuing to actively seek lesbian fiction, both as novel and novella manuscripts as well as submissions to our short story anthologies. This year, in addition to anthologies for our non-erotic imprint, Thunder Moon; our young adult imprint, Budding Moon; and general QUILTBAG erotic anthologies, we will be accepting short stories for several lesbian-specific anthologies. I have to give props to our wonderful authors because, when we approached them about what anthology themes they'd like to see, they really came through with some stellar suggestions.

• Burnout – There's nothing like the screech of motorcycle tires burning some serious rubber. In this anthology, we're looking for submissions that center around biker chicks. Femme, butch, mechanics, any and all of the women who love their bikes... and the women who love them.

Butch – Aptly titled, this anthology is all about women who identify and/or present as butch lesbians. What we're really looking for here are short stories that celebrate butch women, those who embrace (or, through the course of the story, learn to embrace) their masculine attributes right along with their femininity!

Gunslingers – Because there's nothing like women who know how to use their guns in a Western setting! This anthology will highlight lesbians in old-style Westerns. So none of that modern Rodeo or sequined cowgirl cheerleader stuff; we're looking for gunslinging outlaws, rugged cowgirls, tavern girls, and old-money ladies in swanky carriages!

Black Magic Women – "I put a spell on you, and now you're mine!" Those lyrics might be cliché, but this anthology is all about lesbians who do just that: they're spell-casters. Magic takes the forefront in these stories, and we want to see women who wield it for better or worse.

Gears and Lace – This anthology surrounds the theme of lesbians in Steampunk. The aesthetic of Steampunk is one both gritty and glamorous, and we'd love to see stories that exude that dichotomy while building romance between the leading ladies.

This is only a small taste of what we're seeking, and that's only for anthologies! We have open lines (calls for 20,000+ word submissions) that we'd love to see lesbian submissions for. Head Games is all about screwing with minds, Gothic Moon is devoted to gothic fiction (our editor, S.L. Armstrong's, favorite genre), On the Edge for extreme BDSM, and Twice Upon a Time for retold fairytales are just some examples. And that doesn't include our non-erotic and young adult calls!

Lesbian fiction is something that we've been hungry for since our inception, and we're proud of what we have to offer so far. But, we always want more, and so do our readers. Lesbian romance, horror, sci-fi, fantasy... we love it all!

Roger Armstrong is the resident Code Monkey for Storm Moon Press. He can be found (occasionally) on Twitter @slutbamwalla.

Giveaway Opportunity!

This guest post is part of Storm Moon Press' 3rd Anniversary Blog Tour! Comment on this post or any other post on the blog tour with your e-mail address, and you'll be entered for a chance to win the Grand Prize of receiving 1 FREE e-book each month of 2013 from that month's new releases for a total of 12 free e-books! Runners up will receive a $25 gift certificate to their choice of Amazon or All Romance eBooks. For more details and to find out about our 3rd Anniversary, head over to Storm Moon Press' Official Blog. Thanks for joining us!