Celtic Press Submissions Guidelines


Guidelines for "Deoir Fola: A Drop of Blood"

An "Angel" printed fanzine, focusing on the character of Allen Francis Doyle

  1. I am looking for novellas, short stories, poems, filk, and artwork featuring Allen Francis Doyle from the television series "Angel." Doyle should be one of the primary characters of any story/poem/artwork/etc., but the piece can also involve any of the "canon" characters in the "Angel" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series - i.e., any character that has actually appeared on either series, either major (Buffy, Cordelia, Wesley, Oz, Kate, etc.) or minor (third vampire from the left, Fyarl demons, etc.). A character that the writer has invented that hasn't appeared on the series is acceptable, so long as other Angel/BtVS characters appear in the story.
  2. At the moment, there is not a length limit on stories - I can take either novella-length stories or one-page vignettes. It all depends on what submissions I receive, and how many total pages it all adds up to. If I've already filled 150 pages, and you send me a 100-page story, I'll either have to turn it down, or ask you to trim it. I think the perfect length for a multiple-story zine is about 200 pages - much more than that, and it gets awkward for the reader to hold and read easily.
  3. This is an "R" rated fanzine, so please, no X-rated sex or violence.
  4. Stories may be submitted by e-mail, ftp, on an un-linked webpage, or by snail-mail. However, I strongly prefer any sort of electronic submission to hard-copy submission - it makes it much easier and faster to edit multiple stories for the zine if I don't have to type them myself into a text program. I use Microsoft Word for Mac, but I can translate just about any kind of text program. If you are in doubt, send in ASCII format, with style markings (like bold, italic, underlinings, etc.) clearly marked in the text. (i.e, *bold*, _underline_, #italics#, etc.)
  5. I am looking for stories that have NOT been published at an Internet web site where hundreds of people may have already read them. I do not mind if they have been sent to a mailing list where a much smaller number of people would have seen them. In exchange for the use of the story in the fanzine, you will receive a contributor's copy, free of charge. Stories need to be at least five (12 pitch) single space pages long to receive a free contributor's copy. If you send shorter stories (or poems or filk), you may send more than one to receive your contributor's copy.
  6. I will also entertain believable crossovers. For example, if you can find a way to have Nick Knight from Forever Knight to come and visit LA, or have Doyle run into the Creature From the Black Lagoon during his travels, go for it. Or you might want to write about Mulder and Scully coming to L.A. to investigate paranormal activity at Wolfram & Hart - as long as the story involves our favorite Irishman, I'm willing to suspend disbelief to a certain extent.
  7. If you are an artist, you have been blessed. You may send black and white artwork-- I prefer ink, but may be able to reproduce pencil depending on how dark it is. Send a good photocopy. If you have a wonderful piece of color artwork, please send a color copy. Don't trust your originals to the postal system until the artwork has been accepted. In fact, if it's a good copy, or you can provide a good, clear scanned image (tiff, jpeg, pict, etc.), you won't have to send the original at all. If you don't have any artwork ready, I would be happy to send you a story to illustrate for the zine. Three pieces of artwork are required to receive a free contrib copy.
  8. Same goes for poetry or filk. Three poems/filk for a contrib copy. Make sure it's easily recognizable as Doyle poetry or filk.
  9. I do edit stories. I will make suggestions for improvements or changes if I feel they are necessary. Edits could consist of a page of notes on story/plot/characterization, or simple copyediting notes on spelling, grammar, or word-useage, or both. I do not re-write. That is the author's job. I will not publish a story until both the author and the editor are 100% satisfied. Sometimes that means several re-writes. Please just be patient. I'd like to make this the best quality Doyle fanzine possible.
  10. Please state clearly whether you want to use your real name or a pen name. All identities will be kept confidential. You may wish to include an e-mail address for people to comment to you personally, or I can forward any letters of comments received to the appropriate author.
  11. Deadline: Due to an extreme influx of Real Life, there will not be an edition of Deoir Fola in 2001, but I am hoping to do one for MediaWest 2002. If you're interested in submitting something for that edition, please keep in touch.

If you have any questions about a story, poetry, artwork, or any of the above, please contact me. I'll be glad to answer to the best of my ability.

Send all e-mail queries or submissions to: maureen@maureenwynn.com
Or to:

Celtic Press
c/o Maureen Wynn
6211 Pontiac Street
College Park, MD 20740

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