Sorry, but The Ephemera Higgins Convention has been cancelled.
Our sister press Pure Slush is now open for submissions for Birth Lifespan Vol. 1
SUBMISSIONS for The Ephemera Higgins Convention Truth Serum Vol. 7 are NOW OPEN.
Submissions opened August 15th, and will close October 20th 2020.
This is a collaborative project, with a unique set-up … so please
• read on, and
• take note of the (broad) parameters of the project.
The Set-Up …
Broadly … rather oddly, there are 323 people in the world named Ephemera Higgins. And one Ephemera Higgins, a 76-year-old post office clerk from Amarillo, Texas, has invited all the other Ephemera Higgins in the world to the inaugural Ephemera Higgins Convention.
More specifically … in February 2019, letters were sent to all the Ephemera Higgins possible, around the world, inviting them to attend the convention.
The convention will take place over three days – Friday 17th to Sunday 19th May 2019 – at the Amarillo Civic Center.
The highlight of Sunday 19th will be a bus trip to the town of Higgins, which lies 120 miles ENE of Amarillo, just inside the Texas-Oklahoma border.
Please note: while the setting for this project is in the past, your submission must be written as if the convention has not yet taken place. So there is much to look forward to – or not – and decisions and plans to make … and people or pets to placate … and money to be found to fund the trip … and research to be done about the sights and sites of Amarillo.
So what do you have to include in your story?
Two things: a character named Ephemera Higgins, and the invitation to attend the Ephemera Higgins Convention.
Please note: you do not have to include (parts of) the letter / invitation in your story, but you must include your Ephemera receiving the letter (see dot points below). These letters were all printed in black ink on pale yellow paper and sent in matching envelopes. Included with the letters were registration details and a draft conference schedule.
PLUS: the fact 323 people in the world are called Ephemera Higgíns and all have been invited to the convention, is not mentioned in the invitation. So including this figure of 323 people in your story, would mean your Ephemera would have had further correspondence with the Ephemera in Amarillo.
ON A FINAL NOTE: turning the whole idea of the anthology on its head (including having a character with a similar name but not the same name) – thus making us an unreliable narrator – is not what we are seeking either.
You can find the story that starts the anthology (and the original letter sent to each Ephemera Higgins) by clicking here – Two Letters.
You can also find the complete invitation (in the form of a letter) and details about the letter, by clicking here.
Submission Requirements … your submission must be:
original, so previously unpublished online or in print (so that includes authors’ websites and blogs);fiction story (not poetry);150 word minimum limit;1000 word maximum limit;set before the convention has been held. We are looking for reactions to the invitation and the idea of the convention, so stories with scenes at the convention will be sent back, and we will ask for them to be rewritten. Similarly, stories where the basic premise has been changed will also be returned;a person named Ephemera Higgins must be your main character or one of your main characters, and must receive or have received an invitation to the Ephemera Higgins Convention (unless not receiving an invitation is part of your story’s plot or set-up);your Ephemera Higgins can be of any nationality and ethnicity, and live anywhere in the world.
The time line for the story has been deliberately set before the advent of COVID-19.
To submit, you must be minimum 18 years of age.
If you have any questions, please email truthserumpress@live.com.au.
Submit via email to truthserumpress@live.com.au. Attach your story to the email as a Word.doc or Word.docx. We would rather not read PDFs, nor do we want your story pasted into the body of your email.
Please include the words CONVENTION, plus your name and the title of your submission, and the word count, in the Subject of your email. (Please note: word counts do not include story title or your name.)
If you are new to Truth Serum Press, please include a brief bio or profile of yourself.
If you have problems with the Truth Serum Press email, try this email address as an alternate choice: bequempublishing@outlook.com
For other topics re submitting and rights etc, click here.
Truth Serum Press 