Submissions Open for "Superhero Universe: Tesseracts Nineteen"

As a huge fan of the Masked Mosaic Canadian superhero anthology from last year, I was happy to come across this recent announcement for Superhero Universe: Tesseracts Nineteen.

Superheroes! Supervillains! Superpowered antiheroes. Super scientists. Adventurers into the unknown. Costumed crimefighters. Mutant superterrorists. Far-future supergroups. Crusading aliens in a strange land. Secret histories of covert superspies … and more! 

We want to see any and all permutations of the superhero genre. Any genre-mashing goes: alternate history, crime, horror, romance, SF, fantasy, surrealism; we want a variety of tones, approaches, subgenres, cultural perspectives, etc. We’re interested in submissions where Canadian setting (a specific city, region, or province) plays a role, but we’re open to other types of stories, too, set anywhere in the world, the universe, or the multiverse!

The book will be edited by one of Masked Mosaic's co-editors, Claude Lalumière, as well as Northguard (among others) writer Mark Shainblum.  Submissions will be accepted until February 2nd, 2015.  Full guidelines, and more thorough biographies of the gentlemen involved, can be found on Mr. Lalumière's website.

To give credit where it's due, I first found out about it on the Cloudscape Comics blog.

So a Canadian setting is apparently preferable, but it doesn't seem as though the character needs to be (based on the statement that "crusading aliens" are accepted). As long as you're a Canadian writer, it sounds as though there are few limitations as to what you can submit so give it a look!

Searching for information revealed additional project that I'll look into when I have the time to do so.  Mr. Lamumière's page makes reference to The Exile Book of Canadian Noir, which looks to be right up my alley for when I need a break from capes and masks.  To this point, other than a list of writers, I've struggled to find out much more about it, but I think in this case it may be fair enough to judge a book by its cover.

Creepy-ass Dead North is another, and I wish I'd have come across it when I was looking for my Halloween reading.  I had no difficulty finding information about that book.  I've copied it below, along with its cringe-inducing cover.  Clicking on said cover will redirect you to a page from which you can order the book if you're so inclined.

An enjoyable and rollicking ride, this collection contains 20 short stories that explore a broad spectrum of the undead, from Romero-style corpses to zombies inspired by Canadian Aboriginal mythology, all shambling against the background of the Great White North. The anthology’s specific focus on Canadian settings distinguishes it from the pack, and its exploration of many types of zombies weaves a vast compendium of fiction. Strong writing and imagination are showcased in clever stories that take readers through thrills, chills, kills, carnage, horror, and havoc wreaked across the country. 

Tales deal with a lone human chasing zombies across an icy landscape after the apocalypse, whales returning from the depths to haunt the southern coast of Labrador, a marijuana grow-op operation in British Columbia experiencing problems when the dead begin to attack, and a corpse turned into a flesh puppet for part of a depraved sex show, among other topics. Providing a unique location and mythology that has not been tackled before, Dead North will appeal to speculative fiction, horror, and zombie fans. 

Contributors: Tyler Keevil, Elise Tobler, Gemma Files, Ada Hoffmann, Melissa Yuan-Ines, Simon Strantzas, Jamie Mason, Jacques L. Condor, Richard Van Camp, Claude Lalumiere, Beth Wodzinski, Chantal Boudreau, Michael Matheson, Rhea Rose, Carrie-Lea Cote, Ursula Pflug, Kevin Cockle, Brian Dolton, TJ Brown, Linda DeMeulemeester