Black Moon Books is proud to announce the second volume of the Mirror Shards anthology.

BEWARE! Between these pages, thirteen tales about augmented reality lie in wait to steal away your senses. 

Go on the hunt for poachers in a dangerous mist. Use your powers of reality-shaping to steal eternal life. Create a piece of art that embodies the soul of its muse. Find love in the data-memories of a ghost. Attend to your spiritual mind while your mortal body is in danger. Follow alien ley lines on another planet searching for the truth. Remember, when you step inside these pages, use all your senses, because you never know what lurks beneath…

The novel can be purchased by e-book at Amazon, B&N and Smashwords for $6.99, or as a paperback for $15.99.

Last year’s Gold Award for the best story in the Mirror Shards: Volume One anthology went to the amazing Ken Liu (who this past weekend won the Nebula Award for his F&SF work).  This year, Black Moon Books is pleased to announce the best story in Volume Two to be Annie Bellet’s “Ghosts in the Mist”.  Congratulations to Annie!

The anthology will be available in August of 2012 through all major online retailers.

Black Moon Books is pleased to announce the TOC for the second volume of the Mirror Shards Anthology.  The anthology theme deals with the technology of augmented reality in its many forms.  The anthology will be released in August as an e-book and paperback.  Exact pricing and release dates to be determined later.

Here’s the early preview of the Mirror Shards Volume Two cover.  Once again the artist outdid himself.  Keep in mind not all of the shards will have those images in them.  Once I know what the stories will be, some of those images will represent the stories in the anthology.  So if you want your story IN the anthology and ON the cover, send them in!

Mirror Shards: Volume Two

I’m pleased to announce we’re open for submissions for Mirror Shards: Volume Two.  Last year’s anthology, Mirror Shards: Volume One, was a success on many accounts.  The new volume will be released by Black Moon Books in late summer 2012 as an eBook and POD.

Augmented reality holds the promise of great social change in both the near and far-flung futures.  It’s also a wonderful medium for storytelling as information and graphics overlain eye-screens challenges the doors of perception and creates mixed-reality worlds to work and play.  Black Moon Books is seeking stories between 3000 and 9000 words (soft edges) that utilize augmented reality as a way to explore the human condition.  The stories can be set in any place, time, or genre, as long as the story cannot exist bereft of augmented reality.  Feel free to explore the edges of the technology.

The anthology will pay from $0.02/word to $0.05/word.  Minimum payment per word will be $0.02 for all accepted slush stories, but one pro paying slot ($0.05/word) will be given for the best story (Gold Prize.)  Rights I’ll ask for include exclusivity for 3 months, First Electronic & First English-Language Book Rights.  One copy will be provided for each author in the anthology.

Stories should be emailed to mirrorshards2012 (at) blackmoonbooks (dot) com and should follow standard manuscript formatting (courier new, 12 point, double spaced, etc.)  The file should be attached as an .doc or .rtf (not .docx).  Multiple submissions are welcome, though your best bet is to pick your best story and send only that one.

A brief cover letter listing current publication credits would be helpful in the body of the email.  If you have received an honorable mention or above in the Writers of the Future contest, please note that.

The submission period for the anthology will be from February 11, 2012 to May 5, 2012.  All story selections will be complete by May 10, 2012.  Payment will be on acceptance and will be either mailed as a check or sent through PayPal.  Publication date will be in early August.  Accepted authors will also be required to provide a brief bio for the anthology.  Authors are also encouraged to put their stories up online once the rights have reverted and will be requested (optional) to put a note in their stories linking back to the anthology to help each other (ie – if you liked this story, please check out other authors writing AR stories in...)

I will try to notify quickly for rejections.  I will also notify authors of those stories I’m holding as a “maybe”.  The latest possible date for all notifications, acceptance or rejection, will be May 10, 2012.

For those that are interested in entering the anthology but have no experience with augmented reality, I suggest visiting the websites: Games Alfresco, The Future Digital Life, or reading the Hugo award winning Rainbow’s End by Vernor Vinge any books or short stories by Thomas K. Carpenter.

Last year’s Snell’s Scoops interview might enlighten you further and of course, you can purchase Mirror Shards: Volume One to get an idea of the types of stories the anthology accepts.

The New Podler Review was kind enough to make Mirror Shards: Volume One a “Best of 2011″ for their Independent Novel Awards.  Congratulations to all the authors that made that happen.  And stay tuned to this space for an announcement about Volume Two in a couple of weeks.

EXPLORE the edge of augmented reality in thirteen tales from thirteen fantastic authors.  When the digital world collides with our real one, bringing all its problems and benefits, mankind will have to relearn what it means to be human. 

In this glimpse of possible futures, you will go on the hunt to track down a fugitive on the other side of the known Universe.  Learn the price of ubiquitous knowledge, or find peace and understanding in the absence of it.  Dive deep into the ocean to avert a kidnapping using only the tools at hand.  Experience new realities underwritten by an alien love of entertainment.  Find hidden truths contained within our smallest gestures.   Hide something so valuable, it would drive a man to crime.  Or find that sometimes, what it doesn’t hide is what endangers us most.

The Table of Contents:

“El Mirador” by Alex J. Kane

“Music of the Spheres” by Ken Liu

“These Delicate Creatures” by Melissa Yuan-Innes

“Below the Bollocks Line” by T D Edge

“The Sun is Real” by George Page

“A Book By Its Cover” by Colleen Anderson

“Of Bone and Steel and Other Soft Materials” by Annie Bellet

“Witness Protection” by Louise Herring-Jones

“Stage Presence, Baby” by E.M. Schadegg

“Gift Horses” by K.E. Abel

“The Cageless Zoo” by Thomas K. Carpenter

“More Real Than Flesh” by Grayson Bray Morris

“The Watcher” by George Walker

Mirror Shards: Volume One can be purchased electronically for $4.99 at Amazon, B&N or Smashwords, or in paperback for $11.99 at Amazon.

Black Moon Books is pleased to announce the Gold Award for the best story from the Mirror Shards Anthology.  The award and additional payment goes to Ken Liu for his story “Music of the Spheres”.  The anthology will be available in September of 2011 through most major online publishers.

I’m excited to announce we will be increasing the slush pile pay rate from $0.01 –> $0.02 per word.  I want to make sure this anthology is a quality read and I believe the increased pay will entice more authors to submit their great stories.   Hope to see your stories soon!

Also, I’m happy to showcase the draft cover for the anthology.  The artist is still not complete, but I was so impressed by the working cover that I wanted to put it up.  I hope it inspires you as much as it did me.

Mirror Shards: Exploring the Edges of Augmented Reality (Volume One)

This anthology is a new yearly paying anthology that will be released by Black Moon Books early each fall as an eBook and POD.

Augmented reality holds the promise of great social change in both the near and far-flung futures.  It’s also a wonderful medium for storytelling as information and graphics overlain eye-screens challenges the doors of perception and creates mixed-reality worlds to work and play.  Black Moon Books is seeking stories between 3000 and 6000 words (soft edges) that utilize augmented reality as a way to explore the human condition.  The stories can be set in any place, time, or genre, as long as the story cannot exist bereft of augmented reality.  Feel free to explore the edges of the technology.

The anthology will pay from $0.02/word to $0.05/word.  A few slots will be offered to established professionals, but at least one pro paying slot will be given through the slush pile (Gold Prize).  Minimum payment per word will be $0.02 for all accepted slush stories. Rights I’ll ask for include exclusivity for 4 months, First Electronic & First English-Language Book Rights.  One copy will be provided for each author in the anthology.

Stories should be emailed to mirrorshards2011 (at) blackmoonbooks (dot) com and should follow standard manuscript formatting (courier new, 12 point, double spaced, etc.)  The file should be attached as an .doc or .rtf (not .docx).  Multiple submissions are welcome, though your best bet is to pick your best story and send only that one.

A brief cover letter listing current publication credits would be helpful in the body of the email.  If you have received an honorable mention or above in the Writers of the Future contest, please note that.

The submission period for the anthology will be from April 8, 2011 to July 8, 2011.  Stories will be selected by July 20, 2011.  Payment will be on acceptance and will be either mailed as a check or sent through PayPal.  Publication date will be in the month of September.  Accepted authors will also be required to provide a brief bio for the anthology.  Authors are also encouraged to put their stories up online once the rights have reverted and will be requested (optional) to put a note in their stories linking back to the anthology to help each other (ie – if you liked this story, please check out other authors writing AR stories in...)

I will try to notify quickly for rejections.  I will also notify authors of those stories I’m holding as a “maybe”.  The latest possible date for all notifications, acceptance or rejection, will be July 20, 2011.

For those that are interested in entering the anthology but have no experience with augmented reality, I suggest visiting the websites: Games Alfresco, The Future Digital Life, or reading the Hugo award winning Rainbow’s End by Vernor Vinge any books or short stories by Thomas K. Carpenter.

More details on Snell’s Scoops.