CALL FOR STORIES

Dear Contributor,

You may recall my role as editor for story collections such as: A Cup of Comfort, Life Savors, Extraordinary Answers to Prayer, and Love is a Verb. Now I am putting together a volume tentatively titled, Encounters with the Other Side: True Stories of Supernatural Experiences.

The supernatural realm consisting of God and His angels, as well as evil spirits is ever present in our midst. On rare occasions this realm becomes visible or we see its direct effects in ways that cannot be explained in the natural realm. These true stories will cover the gamut of supernatural encounters: from supernatural miracles, angelic visitations, near-death experiences of the afterlife, manifestations of evil apparitions, and miraculous rescues. All stories must have a point and be from the Christian perspective. We are not looking for physical healing stories.

All stories must be fist person. The stories need to go beyond subjective or speculative interpretations of events and be as concrete as possible, so if presented in a court there would be no human explanation of hard evidence.

We’ll consider original, unpublished stories 1,000 to 2,000 words. Each story should have a creative title, an attention-grabbing introduction, main body with a conflict or challenge, and a clear, satisfying resolution. All stories need to be descriptive, rooted in time and place, with a realistic portrayal of the people involved. The stories need to be substantive stories rather than salvation testimonies or general Bible teachings, and should focus not onl on the supernatural realm, but on the spiritual lesson you learned.

The book will be release by Bethany House Publishers in 2012. Submissions for consideration will be due June 15, 2011, but we would prefer them much earlier. Please send your manuscript attached to the e-mail rather than pasting text in the email window. Send your manuscript in normal manuscript formatting, with your full contact information—name, address, phone number, email address, and 30-word or less bio—on the manuscript itself. We are offering a one-time fee of $50 for stories 1,200 words or more, and $25 for stories 1,000 to 1,200 words. After the book is published, authors will receive all rights returned to them, and during publication authors may sell reprints with permission.

We will send you contracts upon the publisher’s acceptance. Payment will be made after all contracts have been received. Please direct all inquiries and submissions to my colleague, Jeanette Littleton, at supernaturalstories@earthlink.net. If this email has been forwarded to you, and you can’t submit to this call but would like to hear about other editorial needs as they arise, please send us your email address and we’ll add you to our notification list.

Blessing to you and yours,

James Stuart Bell
Supernatural Stories (Bethany House, 2012)
A James Stuart Bell Project