Geek Mook: Call for submissions
Friday, 13 May 2011
Mook
1. A bound hybrid publication issued in a series.2. Not quite a magazine, not quite a book.
3. A collection of surprising, unconventional new writing.
Geek
1. An awkward or socially inept person.2. A person obsessed with technical or non-mainstream interests.
3. A carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, such as biting off the head of a live chicken.
Vignette Press is now seeking work for the latest in its acclaimed series of mooks. Following the success of The Death Mook and The Sex Mook, Geek Mook explores the worlds of hackers, gamers, steam punk fashionistas, trekkies, neo-punk trainspotters and obsessives of all the other fixations that give us a reason to stave off death (and quite frequently sex as well). As primarily book and literary geeks ourselves, the editors especially welcome submissions caught in the intersection of geekery and the literary. We’d love to learn about the ways the ways geek, literary and human have crashed up and mashed up in your lives and imagination: explain to us the aesthetics of coding; remember a childhood struggling with the unfair dice rolls of AD&D and ADHD; trace the interconnections between infidelity and Star Trek; show us the human heart beneath the steampunk carapace.
Specs
We are accepting nonfiction, fiction, infographics, poetry, illustration and other art forms which work well in a black and white print format. Submissions may be from 500-3000 word, though we envisage sweet-spots around 1250 words and 2500 words. We will consider longer pieces where the work is so good, we’d feel silly bowing to any word count rule. Geek Mook contributors should not assume specialised knowledge or vocabulary on the part of the mook audience, though they can and should expect intelligence and curiosity. The pieces need not be homogenised, however, and we welcome work that, like A Clockwork Orange, pushes us out a little past our cognitive and linguistic depth, sinking yet strangely still able to breathe.
Vignette Press appreciates the guts, labour and dedication required to produce good writing and art. Unfortunately, at the moment, we are not in position to express this monetarily. Each contributor will receive two complimentary copies of the Geek Mook.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
Coding
- Conventions
- Steampunk
- Cosplay
- Cinema
- Fan fiction
- Hacking
- Online communities
- Collecting
- Music obsessions
- WikiLeaks
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Superheroes
- Zines
- Blogging
- Code poetry
- Memes
- Speculative fiction
Submissions open 1 July 2011 and close 31 July 2011. Please email your submission together with a fifty word bio to geekmook@gmail.com
Live long and prosper.
Aaron Mannion and Julian Novitz, Geek Mook Editors
Amy Espeseth, Publisher, Vignette Press www.vignettepress.com.au
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