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Monday, February 6, 2017

Timeless Tales Arthurian Legend Submissions Opening Soon




From Tahlia, Editor at Timeless Tales Magazine...

Writers! Dust off your Monmouth, your Malory, and maybe even your Monty Python, because Timeless Tales will soon be accepting retellings of Arthurian Legends!

The submission window will run from March 27 - May 5. Please see our SUBMISSIONS page for full details.

Special Note: Since this theme encompasses many stories, if you submit a retelling that heavily references a specific tale (ie, "Gawain & the Green Knight"), please include the name of the tale in your cover letter. We have a solid familiarity with this genre, but it is vast. So do us a favor and don't assume we're Medieval scholars.  



Also, just for our blog readers, here's a list of hopes and fears I have for this issue:

Fear: Pieces written in Old English. Maybe this is a long shot, but I know how passionate some professors are about the original text of these stories. I'm already having flashbacks to the Chaucer unit in my Sophomore English Lit class with all the crazy spelling...and I'm not just talking "Ye Olde Taverne" like you see at the Renaissance festival. True old English is like another language! I really want to retellings that are accessible to a non-academic audience.

Hope: Smart humor that isn't a total ripoff of Monty Python. One of my favorite takes on Arthurian Legend is Gerald Morris' Squire's Tale series. It mercilessly mocks the irrational plots and outlandish characters of the original tales, but you can tell the author researched his butt off for these books. There's a genuine affection behind the jests, too. I'd love to read some short stories or poems like that.

Fear: Too many love triangles. So many filmmakers and playwrights have reduced Arthurian legend to the Lancelot/Guinevere affair. Simply changing the setting to the wild west or modern day won't save this trope from being overdone. There's more to King Arthur than a tragic romance. 

Hope: Fairy tale crossovers. I especially hope someone sends me a tasty 12 Dancing Princesses/Knights of the Round Table mashup, but this genre is ripe for other combinations. 

So what are you waiting for? Get writing!


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