Far Worlds Is Coming!

By Michael Seese

Since all writers know that you're not supposed to bury the lead, up front I'll say I'm asking you, dear friends and readers, to help me promote something.

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Way back, during my über-October, I mentioned finding a lot of submission calls on horrortree.com. (Many of which have NOTHING to do with horror.) One that I found was Far Worlds: The Third Bolthole Anthology. The premise:

Out in the universe, there is predicted to be millions of planets harbouring sentient life, thousands of civilisations of sapient races, going about their lives; struggling, fighting, maybe loving, having adventures, maybe suffering under dystopian tyrants, or in societies of harmony and peace and complacency. These worlds, due to the nature of the speed of light and relativity, will never meet each other in person across the vast stretches of space, and any messages or signals sent between them wouldn’t reach their destinations for millions of years, long after both civilisations are gone.

The premise of our anthology is themed very specifically towards being an anthology which collects stories from these diverse worlds and settings. Each short story would be a snapshot of that location and time. The only motif linking the stories will be the mysterious Drift Engine; an outwardly-featureless cylinder exactly one kilometre long, and one hundred metres in diameter; a strange wandering machine from some forgotten corner of the universe, travelling the universe, searching out and documenting these settings.

The genre: any! 

Here is the cover:

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I contributed a piece titled "The War Room." It's a Cold War-esque piece, with hints of ... well, you'll have to read it. Like most of my ideas, I came up with it while walking on the treadmill. Here is a snippet.

“Bring them back! Recall them.”
“We can’t, sir. They’re missiles.”
“Then destroy them.”
“We can’t, sir.”
“Why not?”
“Your predecessors apparently felt the ability to send a kill signal was not a requirement.”
“Idiots.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh, shit!”
“What?”
“Look at that!” said a man as he pointed to the large screen. White lines originated in the lower left and arced up toward the center; a much greater number of lines emanated from the lower right.
“Would I be correct in assuming . . .”
“That our intelligence screwed up? That their arsenal is far superior to ours? Yes, sir.”
“Then I will say again. May god have mercy on our souls.”

Here is a list of my fellow contributors:

"Rainer" by Heidi Ruby Miller.
"Anomaly" by Jonathan Ward.
"Alone" by Alex Helm.
"Shard of Heaven" by Damir Salkovic.
"Endaris" by Michael J. Hollows.
"The Lost and Found" by Kerri Fitzgerald.
"Helzenthrax" by A.R. Aston.
"Bequeathal" by K. Ceres Wright.
"City Blue" by Edward Smith.
"A Pelnodan Bounty" by James Fadeley.
"Golden Planet" by Evan Purcell.
"Salvation Comes" by Simon Farrow.
Includes illustrated covers for every story by Manuel Mesones, and bonus flash fiction by J.L. Gribble, A.R. Aston, and James Fadeley.

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