Another venue for science fiction romance is coming to the
cosmic block in July 2013! Check out the exciting news from Prime Books:
Prime Books will launch a new digital imprint, Masque Books, in July 2013. Masque will publish all types of science fiction and fantasy, including sf/f romance.
Masque plans to launch with twelve titles its first month and publish six new titles a month thereafter. They are actively seeking novellas and novels. Guidelines and a submission portal can be found at masque-books.com.
“Initially,” said publisher Sean Wallace, “all titles will be digital-only, but successful digital-first titles may be turned into trade paperbacks with national distribution.”
Wallace will serve as publisher for the new imprint. Prime Books senior editor, Paula Guran, will also continue in her role with Masque. Natalie Luhrs, former senior science fiction and fantasy reviewer for RT Book Reviews, joins the Masque team as acquisitions editor.
More information can be found at the Masque site: masque-books.com or contact publisher@masque-books.com.
Did you notice how “sf/f romance” was in the first sentence?
Woot!
Sean Wallace, Paula Guran, and Natalie Luhrs are all
seasoned industry veterans, so that’s a vote of confidence right there (as
always, authors, do your research before submitting). I’ve always enjoyed
Natalie Luhrs’ reviews at RT and so it’s cool to see her involved in this
imprint. (I interviewed her in 2008 and you can read the feature here.)
Masque is currently accepting submissions in the novella to
novel length range. You can read the complete submission guidelines here. The guidelines
for SF and romance in particular are
Science Fiction/Fantasy: Any subgenre or cross-genre including planetary romance, steampunk, space opera, alt-history, small-scale fantasy, contemporary fantasy, and dark fantasy. No romance is required, but if there is a romantic element it should be secondary to the main action of the story.Romance: The relationship between the protagonists should be the heart of the story and their emotional arc should be resolved. Science fictional or fantasy elements are essential to the plot. Multi-partner relationships are welcome as are queer ones. All heat levels will be considered, from sweet to explicit, but the sex scenes should be integral to the story.
Love the emphasis on integrated worldbuilding as well as the
call for diversity in stories. I’m looking forward to checking out their future
SFR titles!
Joyfully yours,
Heather