Today I wanted to talk about something super-exciting; seriously, I’m like one of those Disney Characters with wonderful news just bursting to share! As you all know, we will be officially opening our SUBMISSION doors in 2015, however, (good grief I just squealed), I’ve been given the OK to let you in on one of Lost Lynx “pet” projects for 2015/2016 – and it’s going to be wonderful.
NOW CAUTION
– PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANYTHING UNTIL SUBMISSIONS OPEN –
OK? Got that? Clear? – Great!
So, in 2015 we will be asking for submissions for a short story anthology, but not just any short story anthology! No no! This one has the theme Mother to Daughter. What’s Mother to Daughter? You know when you were a kid or a teenager and your mum or your gran would share stories with you?
Sometimes they’d read from a book but other times it’d be all in their head. And sometimes it was magical and mystical and other times it was a story about a brave, or funny, or cheeky, or naughty relative? That’s what we’re talking about here!
But wait there’s more – what we want is IMMIGRANT MOTHER TO DAUGHTER stories. So if your mum or your gran or your nanna is from non-Anglo heritage, we want to read your story and we want to share it with the world. Now, just to make it clear, we have nothing against Anglo-history, some of us are borderline Anglophiles! The thing is, Lost Lynx wants to give a voice to the marginalised and to extract for everyone’s pleasure from the diversity that is cultural Australia, and in particular cultural Victoria.
Below are the rules & guidelines – any questions please feel free to ask. NOTE I have taken out the email address as it’s not open YET, this is for all you guys to prepare. This Christmas or Hanukkah, or Day of Ashura, or any special family, religious, cultural day in your heritage, when you and your family get together, ask Mum or Grandma to tell you again some of the wild and wonderful tales she shared when you were children… & then come share them with the world!
Some HOUSEKEEPING
before you read below
Please do not send anything before the submission window opens (THIS IS VITAL), as it will not be considered. We want to give everyone as much time as possible to prepare their very best short stories.
– There is NO FEE to send your submission
– There is NO READING FEE to assess you submission
– You can send up to 2 short stories
– Once submissions open you’ll see the Twitter hashtags #M2D and/or #motherTOdaughter. By searching these on Twitter you’ll be able to keep up with any important tweets.
– Because we accept that in some cases the author(s) of this anthology may struggles with English, we are making allowances 
for this and will endeavour to assist those with wonderful tales that need more grammar/syntax nurturing, than would normally be offered.
– Sorry; Aussies only!
– Unsure of exact date submissions will open but it will be in the very early part of 2015. It might be a good idea to follow us on Twitter and the blog for updates.
OK now, below is a pre-written post update that’ll go on the Lost Lynx website once the submissions are open. It has everything you need to know, however, if in doubt, send through a comment or question here or send one via the CONTACTS on the Lost Lynx website: http://www.lostlynxpublishing.com/
Time to do your bit. Spread the word. Tell your friends, your neighbours.
Your work colleague is from Switzerland and always has amazing stories to tell at Christmas time? Share this anthology with his sister, is female cousin, his mother. Your girlfriend is from Fiji – wonderful! Can’t wait to read about some fantastical tale of island magic or mystery!
Below is a direct copy (without the How To Submit – that’ll be added once we are open for submissions), as it will appear on the Lost Lynx webpage: http://www.lostlynxpublishing.com/. I’ll also be posting another blog update once we are open. But for now, read through the criteria and please feel free to pass on, to re-blog and to ask as many questions as you like!
Casting a wide Net to find Authors
Short Story Anthology (fiction) – MOTHER TO DAUGHTER
Searching for female authors from diverse cultures, religions, traditions,
– come share your customs, your history & your stories.
From fairy-tales rarely heard to family legends that have been passed down, we want to cast the net as broadly as possible. We don’t want to miss out on a wonderful GEM.
Through story-telling we develop understanding and friendship. Story telling & story sharing demonstrates our differences but more importantly, we learn just how similar we really are.
Celebrate your cultural diversity through the shared tradition of mother-to-daughter story-telling.
Sometimes it’s the small things, the small fights and the even smaller triumphs, which have an ongoing effect and make a difference.
The practice of sharing tales, fables, even family legends and secrets has been true for as long as humans have existed. But for the most part, father-son relationships were the focus, whether that be through verbal story-telling, through song, dance or wall/cave painting and yet, it is the women in our history that teach the next generation, and the one after that, our customs, our religious beliefs, our facts and our fantasies… And these are the treasures we are hoping to uncover, stories and tales passed down from one generation to the next.
But not just any generation to generation, what we want is to delve into how our immigrant parents or grand parents shared their past with their Australian born children and grand children.
Everyone knows *Disney-style fables and tales, we want to discover unknown Norse Gods, and stories of Desert Princesses once 
shared by women in travelling caravans. We want to uncover wild and woolly tales of malevolent wizards, ferocious dragons and nasty witches in Slavic folklore & exotically named and wondrous deities from Asia.
We’re also looking family legends, tales and fables or stories about magic beings and wild forests with supernatural creatures and/or family legends; tales of travel, tragedy, of make-believe and making quits… show us what you’ve got, we’re very excited to see what we can get. And don’t restrict yourself by religion either. We want Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, any and all religions.
We want hybrid tales where pagan practises and traditions mix with traditional religious beliefs.
Please ensure you follow the guidelines.
Guidelines – Please adhere to the guidelines, I cannot repeat this strongly enough, adhere to the submission guidelines; failure to do so may result in your submission being rejected.
(i) Entry is Free – there is no charge to enter your short story
(ii) Short stories to be between 1,000 – 5,000 words
(iii) The final number will depend on the length of the stories chosen to make up the anthology. It is anticipated the final number of author’s will be between 12-24
(iv) Lost Lynx will take full responsibility for publication (e-book and possible paperback)
(v) Authors selected to participate will be required to sign an agreement giving Lost Lynx exclusive right to publish the story. (the story remains the property of the author)
(vi) Authors selected to participate in the anthology will be paid a small advance. The figure will depend on the final number of works accepted, the more author’s the less per author.
(vii) Authors signed to participate in the anthology will need to make themselves available for promotions and marketing events, 
such as but not limited to, launch events.
(viii) Authors will also be expected to direct third parties to events, points of sale etc. – in other words help promote the anthology.
(ix) Short stories can be any of the following:
a. A fable or legend unique to your culture or community
b. A family tale / story unique to your family or your region
c. A unknown fairytale or scary-story shared with small children at bedtime or on special occasions
d. A fictional account of how something came to be – for example, are your relatives German and did they tell you the story of St. Nicholas?
e. Other – tales, stories, legends; anything fictional & exceptional to your culture, heritage, or your family.
f. Legend of a cultural hero / heroine.
g. Other? Unsure? Shoot us a message via CONTACTS, leave a comment on our Blog and/or Tweet a question.
(x) At least one grandparent of the AUTHOR must be from a non-Anglo Saxon background and within your submission detail you must describe the link.
(xi) Author does not need to be an immigrant but immigrants more than welcome.
(xii) The stories we are looking for are of non-Anglo Saxon heritage for example:
a. Indian/Asian
b. Slavic (think Polish, Russian, Croatian, Slovak etc.)
c. Viking/Norse
d. West African
e. South African
f. Arabic (all religions and sects)
g. Western & Eastern European (mainland)
h. Welsh/Irish/Scottish
i. Central American
j. Any other (non Anglo)
(xiii) Author must be FEMALE
(xiv) Author must be resident of Australia and preferably reside in Victoria.
(xv) Author must be over eighteen years of age. No maximum age.
Because we understand in some cases English is not a first language, we will be much more forgiving with issues such as grammar, syntax, perfect dialogue, however, we strongly recommend all those submitting to ask a native English Speaking friends to read through their story.
For anyone for whom English is a second language and is struggling to obtain assistance in improving the written quality of their submission, please contact us via our “CONTACT US” option and advise your cultural heritage, place of birth, language spoken and current location. We will do our best to link you with some who can help prepare your final draft.
Please note
(i) we can make no promises and
(ii) if you leave your submission until the last minute then we cannot help you as time becomes our enemy.
Time to prepare, time to write, time to revise and time to surprise us and the world!
Lost Lynx Publishing & Media Blog 