To say ThunderDome’s next print project is ambitious is an understatement. We’re not asking you to create life. We’re asking you to create two lives.
CIPHER SISTER follows a simple premise inspired by a true story:
“The sheriff's department in El Dorado County broke protocol this week and released the names of two deceased residents without notifying their relatives.
The problem is they can't find any relatives of the twin sisters who were found dead inside their South Lake Tahoe home last week.
The bodies were discovered on Feb. 27, according to the sheriff's department. Authorities say they most likely died within a short time of one another of natural causes. They had been dead for several weeks before they were discovered, according to reports.
The sheriffs haven't been able to locate the next of kin of the women. Apparently throughout their lives, they always listed each other on all official forms.”
Their names are Lucy and Darcy.
We’re putting their lives back together in imperfect fragments. We want your take on things: not of how they were born or died, but how they *lived*. Pick a spot on their timeline (1939-2012) and show us a piece of their lives, be it five minutes of childhood or ten years of adulthood. Who were they? Where did they work? What kinds of adventures did they experience? Who did they love?
You can be as creative with your scenario as you’d like, with the caveat that whatever happens in your story has to be plausible for the time period:
- Did they perform in vaudeville? Probably.
- Did they kill Hitler? Maybe.
- Did they cure cancer? No.
We’re not looking to publish a book of stories about Twins. We’re looking to publish the varied accounts of the lives of a very specific set of twins. A collected history based purely on hearsay and conjecture. We know when they were born. We know when and where and how they died. What happened in between?
Tell us your part of their story in 5,000 or fewer words.
Deadline: September 30, 2012.
PAYMENT: Authors will be paid 5 cents per word as a percentage of royalties. In other words, no payment up front, but as the book sells, you will begin to earn money for your story. For example, a 1,000 word story would pay up to $50.00. Payments will come quarterly until you've reached payment in full for your story. We're a small press but we value your work, and with your help we can sell more copies and help you see payment in full as quickly as possible. Contributors can also purchase unlimited copies at cost (to be determined after all stories are selected)
Please submit your story via our SubMishMash link on ThunderDomeMag.com with a note that this is for the CIPHER collection.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For submissions: submit online here
Website: http://thunderdomemag.com
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