Open submissions 2023

[Cactus]

On 9/19/2023 at 10:42 AM, Nineswords said:

100% this. It can be automated too so it’s no extra work!

It's work for whoever sets up the autoreply. Unless they had a dedicated subs email address sorting the submissions from everything else is not a trivial task.

[Sanctimonius]

Welp, got the rejection this morning. Bah.

 

Is there any place we can put our stories? I actually liked this one, it was a fun prompt.

[Lysimachus]

Thanks for letting us know, and sorry to hear it. 

 

Out of interest, did the rejection take the same format as the ones others have posted, or did you get any more detail?

 

Nice to see they are still working their way through, I suppose.

 

As to unused subs, the Cabal of Dead Ink was interested? @Mazer Rackham is 'lead editor'. I know he's currently on a bit of a hiatus from the board, but you could try PMing him?

 

Failing that, there is the Fanfic Forum:

https://bolterandchainsword.com/forum/67-fan-fiction/

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Lysimachus

[Sanctimonius]

Quote

Thank you for your application to the Black Library 'Successors' Open Submissions window.

 

After reviewing your pitch and writing sample, we have decided not to take your submission any further.

 

Due to the volume of submissions we are unable to provide individual feedback. Please do not reply to this email, as any responses will be automatically deleted.

 

We appreciate your interest in writing for Black Library and we wish you the best in any future writing endeavours.

 

Kind regards,

 

Same format I think, so still working through the list as normal, it's not like I got any further than anyone else.

[Epheron]

Also got my "No" just today :(

[bloodhound23]

Same :(

[Maque]

I got mine as well. Looking forward to reading and posting the submissions though !

[Lysimachus]

Sorry to hear it, brothers.

 

@Maque  Didn't you say you submitted on the last day? I wonder if that means with the set of rejections sent yesterday they have now finished going through the first Round?

 

Anyone else still not had any response? 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Lysimachus

[Maque]

20 hours ago, Lysimachus said:

Sorry to hear it, brothers.

 

@Maque  Didn't you say you submitted on the last day? I wonder if that means with the set of rejections sent yesterday they have now finished going through the first Round?

 

Anyone else still not had any response? 

 

 

That’s right I did, so we’re potentially pretty close to the end. Unfortunately not close enough for me but holding out for any news on those still to hear!

 

I’ll post mine soon

Edited September 28, 2023 by Maque

[Sanctimonius]

Figured I would start a thread for us to post stories and get some feedback:

 

Feel free to add your own works, offer advice and criticism, and hopefully get some useful feedback. If nothing else, we worked hard on these stories, so it would be nice to have them read.

 

For the sake of readability please post the title, your pitch, then spoiler your story. I look forward to reading your efforts.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Sanctimonius

[Kelborn]

Recently discovered that I received a rejection, as well.

 

But didn't noticed due to lack of interest in Warhammer related mails for a while. 

 

Well, it was a cool exercise nonetheless. Sorry to hear about others rejections. Got my fingers crossed nonetheless for someone being the lucky one. :)

 

And yes, I can only recommend the Cabal of Dead Ink. Cool fellas, great feedback and a good place to expand your fics!

[Lysimachus]

Disappointing update:

 

As I never got an answer from BL, I decided to email again (this time using the BL contact email others have used) to see where things were at. This is the reply I got:

 

 

 

***

Thank you for your email.

 

When you filled in the entrance form, did you receive an email confirmation stating we had received your entry ? If you did not receive that, then we would not have received the entry, or the other option is if an email address was mistyped when placing the entry, any replies would be sent to that email address.

 

As far as the customer Service team are aware, all successful and unsuccessful entrants have been contact now.

***

 

 

 

Which is utter rubbish. As far as I am aware, nobody got a confirmation email when they submitted their entry? Further, I know multiple Fraters who didn't get a confirmation, but did later get their rejection email.

 

Ah, well. It looks like if you're in the same boat as me and haven't had any response, you won't be getting one! 

 

Did anyone get good news?

Edited November 20, 2023 by Lysimachus

[Trokair]

Well that’s disappointing, and I agree it sounds like whichever support staffer answered that was not fully in the know on how it was set up. Or, perhaps more worryingly, everybody was supposed to receive and email upon submission and their system is so broken it could not even handle that.

 

So anybody know how long it takes them to release the short story anthology containing the winners stories? Be curious to read them.

[Lysimachus]

Well, no point hanging on to it, so I've posted my finished story as a pdf in the Downloads section.

 

https://bolterandchainsword.com/files/file/716-the-whisper-a-celebrants-chapter-short-story/

 

My 100 word summary formed the basis for the blurb included in the Download details, and the 500 word excerpt became the first bit of the opening Chapter.

 

If people are willing to give it a download and a read through, I'd be very interested to see what you thought of it? (Or even just to check that it will open properly on people's pdf readers! )

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Lysimachus

[The Scorpion]

On 12/7/2022 at 5:52 PM, wecanhaveallthree said:

This one's a little tricky to pin down exactly, so I'm glad there's more detail coming. Are they looking specifically for known Successors, wanting stories that explicitly compare-and-contrast the cultural (and philosophical) drift between a Chapter and the original Legion over the years, or is it a more generalist call for stories about Space Marines outside of the main line? I would think that the idea would be to pitch interesting stories about Chapters who have some background but don't have a modern presence, e.g. the Lamenters.

 

Unless the further criteria precludes it, it'll be Marines Malevolent for me. De gustibus non est disputandum.

I wish I had known the Siege of Cthonia lore before these submissions, because I am convinced that Garrius' Cthonian Fists went to become the Marines Malevolent and Sul Kontep's loyal TSons are now the Brotherhood of a Thousand.

 

Granted, most 40k Chapters are ignorant of their myth-shrouded origins (as they should), especially if they have a nuanced history that does not fit the Imperial narrative, but I still believe there was some thematic meat to work with.

Edited December 13, 2023 by The Scorpion

[Maque]

Looks like we’ve got the successful outcome of the competition here with this release

 

There’s at least 3 with existing affiliations to GW, including one previously published with Warhammer Horror.  Interesting we’ve not had any rumours of a new competition for this year - I hope the rise of AI-based submissions hasn’t ruined it for the rest of us. 

[The Scorpion]

13 hours ago, Maque said:

Looks like we’ve got the successful outcome of the competition here with this release

 

There’s at least 3 with existing affiliations to GW, including one previously published with Warhammer Horror.  Interesting we’ve not had any rumours of a new competition for this year - I hope the rise of AI-based submissions hasn’t ruined it for the rest of us. 

Who are the new authors?