In 2012, Pro Se Productions announced a new imprint focused on bringing obscure Public Domain pulp magazine characters back to readers in new stories. Originally done as a cross promotion with Altus Press, PULP OBSCURA has been responsible for the return of characters from Richard Knight and the Whirlwind to Semi-Dual and Thunder Jim Wade and more. Pro Se Productions announces plans today to expand the scope of PULP OBSCURA and firmly establish it as a broad, wide reaching fictional shared universe.“PULP OBSCURA,” says Tommy Hancock, Pro Se’s Editor in Chief, “has been a wonderful part of Pro Se. Writers continually ask about characters we plan to do and our anthologies and digest novels for the line continue to fill up. We also have done quite a lot of reaching into the Public Domain in other media and utilizing those concepts that really deserve to have a life today. That’s what this expansion is all about. Just as the reason PULP OBSCURA was started centers around introducing readers concepts forgotten or that never really saw the light of day, Pro Se intends to add to the imprint characters and concepts from old time radio, books, comic books, and other sources that truly should be shared with readers, should have had a better reception and chance to be received than they did, and definitely have a place in today’s Genre Fiction market.”
Pro Se Productions will be opening calls beginning on July 12, 2018 for new PULP OBSCURA anthologies focusing on characters from Pulp Fiction, Comic Books, old time radio, and other media that are considered to be in the Public Domain. Characters and concepts will be presented with appropriate research material and/or bibles when requested. Past and present anthologies will be part of a shared universe, but Pro Se Productions will specify in each call if using other PULP OBSCURA characters is allowed or not.
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THE FIRST LADY OF NEW PULP TO RETURN -- SUBMISSIONS OPEN FOR ‘THE PULPTRESS VOLUME THREE: POSSIBILITIES’ ANTHOLOGY
In 2011, Pro Se Editor in Chief Tommy Hancock created a character to serve in a sense as a mascot for Pro Se Productions and as a representation of New Pulp. Dubbed The Pulptress, the heroine has since appeared in two anthologies of her own as well as a trilogy of digest novels by author Andrea Judy. Pro Se announces an open call for a third anthology featuring the daughter of two Pulp heroes *always unidentified* raised in the mountains of Arkansas by retired and active Pulp heroes and reformed villains. And for the first time, this anthology will be themed.THE PULPTRESS VOLUME THREE: POSSIBILITIES will feature stories by different authors writing alternative versions of the main character. Stories may be set in a different time period reimagining The Pulptress in a different era or may be written as ‘What if’ type tales, what might have happened if things had happened a different way at some point in her life. Casting the character in a futuristic space opera or as the daughter of a Russian czar and nearly any tale in between is possible. The anthology will be book ended by pieces written by Hancock that will have The Pulptress confronting a dangerous foe that she cannot shoot or beat with her own fists-her own mind out of control.
Stories must be 8,000-10,000 words in length and feature a version of The Pulptress as the lead. Authors unfamiliar with The Pulptress should send a request to submissions@prose-press.com for all the previous works featuring the character to be sent to them. Proposals should be 1-3 paragraphs and sent to submissions@prose-press.com. If an author submitting a proposal has never submitted to Pro Se before, a four page writing sample must be included.
This is a royalty only project, with the final royalties being determined by the number of accepted stories. Deadline will be 90 days after a proposal is accepted.
All proposals must be sent to submissions@prose-press.com.
Logo by Sean Ali.
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NEW WORLDS, DANGERS, AND VIEWS CLASH BENEATH THE WAVES- - ‘ALPHA ODYSSEY: DANTE’S DEEP DIVER’ OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
Pro Se Productions, an independent publisher of Genre Fiction, always seeks out ideas that take established concepts and turn them on their heads, so to speak, even if those ideas sometimes come from the mind of a sixteen year old boy. ALPHA ODYSSEY: DANTE’S DEEP DIVER, an anthology concept created by Braeden Hancock, is now open for submissions.“First,” says Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions, “let’s get the obvious out of the way. Four years ago, my oldest son Braeden brought me a piece he’d started to write as an idea for a book of stories he wanted to do. Although his interests turned elsewhere as high school moved on and he went to college, I’d held onto this beginning of an idea because it was something special. And now it’s time to see what the best writers today can do with ALPHA ODYSSEY: DANTE’S DEEP DIVER.
“The basis of the concept,” says Hancock, “isn’t completely new, but the approach to the idea is different. Set just ten years in the future, the world as we know it has come to a realization that space exploration is not feasible or possible for many reasons…and that perhaps the best place to find new worlds and resources may be beneath our own oceans. To this end, a department set up within the United Nations to originally oversee universal exploration turns its resources to creating the most advanced submersible craft ever created-The Alpha Odyssey. DANTE’S DEEP DIVER will explore the first missions of this marvel of technology and its heroic and complicated crew.
“The strongest part of this concept is set up within the first few lines of what Braeden originally wrote. The world has reached a point of agreement, at least on exploring beyond our own land. That means a whole host of possibilities for stories in this anthology. Maybe not everyone is united, but it’s unusual for stories to be placed in a world where peace and exploration are primary and the goal and where people of all types may confront and discover new vistas together. It’s a concept others, like Gene Rodenberry, have explored, and I feel like ALPHA ODYSSEY is a great stage to write about a possible brighter future as well.”
Stories for ALPHA ODYSSEY: DANTE’S DEEP DIVER must be 8-10,000 words in length. A bible will be available for this call by emailing submissions@prose-press.com. A proposal of 100-500 words must be submitted to submissions@prose-press.com. Authors not previously published by Pro Se Productions must submit a writing sample of at least two pages with their proposals.
Final deadline for completed stories is 90 days following acceptance of proposals. Payment will be in the form of royalties, the percentage determined by number of accepted submissions. These are considered works for hire due to use of characters owned by the creator.
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To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.faceook.com/ProSeProductions.
