TL;DR Press announces the Women’s Anthology lineup
It’s finally here! Below we present the short story and poetry lineup for the upcoming Women’s Anthology.
How we got here
We began in mid-May with a call for submissions to women-identifying writers to create a short story and poetry collection to benefit the Endometriosis Foundation of America (EndoFound).
Our editorial team consisted of four curators and six additional editors, all of whom were integral to the success of this project thus far. The curators include Lila Krishna, Alex Hareland, Camden M. Collins, and Sarah Linders. The additional editors include Brad McNaughton, Casey Reinhardt, Zack Gondek, Daniel Alvarez, Joe Butler, and Penfold.
We have two goals with this project: To support the EndoFound with a fantastic story collection, and to give every writer who submitted a piece the opportunity to receive feedback and improve their submission before judging.
From June to September, we worked with authors (and each other) to mentor, edit, and judge. We paired every interested writer with a first editor, who worked with them to create the strongest piece they could moving forward. The first editor scored the final piece from 1 to 10, and passed it on to a second editor, who scored as well. The average of the two scores became the piece’s final score. All stories included in the lineup below received a score above 15/20.
We were blown away by both the quantity and quality of the submissions to this anthology! With an initial goal of 50 pieces, we received 153 by the end of the call for submissions at the end of June. With three times the work, it took some serious sleeve rolling to give every story a fair shot at feedback.
We want to thank the #tldrwriters community for your stories, support, and patience while we curated a fantastic lineup of new voices. This collection is the work of hundreds of hours thus far, and we can’t wait to share it with the world.
The lineup*
FANTASY
Scared of Thunder by Breanna Bright
R.E.T.R.I.B.U.T.I.O.N. by Fee Johnstone
The Quest by Caroline Lewer
Assent by Sarah Linders
Heart of a Truant by Casey Reinhardt
Eggs by N. J. Thompson
HORROR/THRILLER
Hallow Park by Camden M. Collins
Behave by Alex Hareland
LITERARY/SLICE-OF-LIFE
Backyards by Catherine Alexander
Lou’s Diner by Alycia Barboza
Cat Catfish Cat by DeMisty D. Bellinger
Up On Piney Mountain by Marla Cantrell
Hazel’s Child by Beth Havey
Affairs of the Park by Fee Johnstone
A Phobia of Bridges by Jenean McBrearty
Maude, Now You’re Gone by Nikki Munoz
She Discovers She’s Nameless by C. G. Thompson
There Will Be No Rescue by C. G. Thompson
Evictions by Julia Rea
In The Cards by Victoria Waddle
POETRY
Me, Too by Alycia Barboza
Maid Mother Lover by Helen Cox
Neat but High by Sian Lorna Dawson
Recycling by Sian Lorna Dawson
E Bayer by Ceinwen Haydon
Cascades by Laura Hebert
Mornings by Laura Hebert
Autobiography of Eve by Courtney LeBlanc
Central Avenue by Mildred Lewis
The Choreography of Awakening by Michele Mekle
Memento Mori by Barbara Meier
A Calla Lily for Maria by Louisa Muniz
Childhood Transformation by Louisa Muniz
Obscurities by Syreeta Muir
Yes and No by Syreeta Muir
Allman Brothers Obverse by Clarissa Simmens
Khelel: Why do Gypsy Women Dance Alone? By Clarissa Simmens
Cheerleader Effect by Oshaen-Lynn Swartz
SCIENCE FICTION
She Outruns the Humdrum by J. L. Corbett
Bruised Steel by Kindra Pring
ROMANCE
Souvent Me Souvient by M. S. Clements
*Please note there may be some discrepancies between this list and the published version.
When can I buy it?
We plan to release the collection by the end of September, and will keep updates on this blog, on our Twitter, and in our writing group.
For more information, email tldrpress@gmail.com or DM us on Twitter!