CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 2nd half 2023!!

Edited by Thaddeus Tuffentsamer

In a few adventures, such as the ‘Gloria Scott’, and The Musgrave Ritual, Holmes recounted to Watson a couple of adventures that he’d had before they met.

They were just two, but the young Holmes had many, many more adventures. What had Holmes experienced years, or even more than a decade before he lived in Baker Street with Dr. Watson?

What adventures had Holmes had as a boy and young man that shaped the person he’d become?

Where did he learn the art of makeup that allowed him to look like anyone he wanted to?

Where did he learn the acting skills that transformed him into any person he needed to become?

How did he learn and refine the observational skills that made him the world’s greatest private consulting detective?

“The Denarian Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” could answer these questions and explain so much more.

Guidelines: We are asking authors to first send a synopsis of a story that takes place in Holmes’s life between the ages of 10 to 19. We will accept two stories from each year of his life (i.e. two stories for the age of 10, 11, 12…). So, in your synopsis, please say the age of Holmes and a description of the plot. Once the outline is accepted, we’ll ask you to write the story and submit it for consideration.

The stories should be traditional Sherlock Holmes adventures that fit into the timeline of the original canon. We are not looking for any Young Holmes meets Young Watson, or other canon characters, with the exception of Mycroft. We also are not looking for any ‘shocking’ reveals of the Holmes brothers’ parents. There should likewise be no supernatural elements in the stories.

Submissions: The Denarian Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Submissions should be 5,000 – 10,000 words in length (it is okay to go over or under some).

Multiple submissions will be accepted.

Payment for the anthology: Authors shall receive a payment of $100 OR $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits (whichever amount is GREATER) and a paperback copy of the anthology.

Rights: Authors shall retain rights to their work. We only retain the rights to the story within the publication.

The submission deadline for proposals is September 15th, 2023. Submission deadlines for stories is October 31st, 2023.

Send proposals and submissions in a word document to derrick@belangerbooks.com with the heading ATTN: SUBMISSION FOR DENARIAN ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.

Edited by Derrick Belanger

The next volume of Solar Pons Scholarship from Belanger Books!

Belanger Books is proud to bring back The Pontine Dossier in an annual edition. The Pontine Dossier: Millennium Edition 2023 will feature Pontine articles and scholarships. We would love it if you’d consider contributing.

Guidelines: An article of Pontine Scholarship about Solar Pons, characters in the Solar Pons canon, or author August Derleth. Length can vary from as few as 1,000 words to as many as 5,000 words. We are leaving this wide open to get as many and as varied submissions as possible.

Please submit your manuscript as a word document to derrick@belangerbooks.com. Title your email:

ATTN: PONTINE DOSSIER SUBMISSION.

Multiple submissions will be accepted.

If your article(s) is accepted, you will receive a free print copy of the Dossier.

Submission Deadline: Please submit your article by September 30, 2023. We hope to release the new edition of the Dossier in November, 2023.

Edited by Brian Belanger

“What the law has gained, the stage has lost.” Actors, directors and stagehands, take note! Throughout the canon, Sherlock Holmes displays great skills in disguise, but in particular the ability to act so convincingly in character that he fools the public at large, and poor Watson in particular, several times.

Where and when did Holmes develop these skills? Did he, as Baring-Gould suggests, once have a career as a professional actor? If so, he would certainly have exercised his deductive talents backstage. And why did he leave the stage for a career as a consulting detective?

This anthology is an opportunity to write Holmes adventures from a distinctly theatrical point of view. Mysteries involving all the facets of Victorian theatre are welcome.

Submissions: Stories must fit within the guidelines of the traditional Sherlockian canon. Submissions should be between 5,000 – 10,000 words in length (it is okay to go over a bit).

NOTE: As The Denarian Adventures of Sherlock Holmes will focus on Holmes’s teenage years, it is preferred that your submissions take place when Holmes is at least in his twenties, in order to avoid overlap.

Multiple submissions will be accepted.

Rights: Authors shall retain rights to their work. We only retain the rights to the story within the publication.

Submission due date: November 30th, 2023

Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $100 OR $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits (whichever amount is GREATER) and a paperback copy of the anthology.

Publication date: Spring 2024

Submit stories as word docs to Brian Belanger at brian@belangerbooks.com with the heading ATTN: SUBMISSION FOR SHERLOCK HOLMES TAKES THE STAGE.

Edited by David Marcum

Between the First and Second World Wars, one of England’s greatest detectives was Solar Pons of Praed Street. With the assistance of his friend, Dr. Lyndon Parker, he carried on Sherlock Holmes’s tradition of solving mysteries with strict and traditional ratiocination and deduction. There have been over 70 Canonical Pons cases during this 20-year period (as reported by August Derleth), and over 100 more related by later authors – which still leaves a lot of Pons and Parker’s time unchronicled. During those years, Pons and Parker certainly traveled to North America – and it’s now time to reveal some of those adventures.

Contribute to this anthology and help disclose more of Pons’s investigations, where “The Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street” crosses the ocean to solve distinctly American mysteries . . . .

Submissions: Stories must fit with the traditional Solar Pons stories. Submissions should be 5,000 – 10,000 words in length. (It is okay to go over or under some.) Submissions should be traditional and Canonical. Pons should be a hero, and there should be no aspects of parody or actual supernatural encounters, and no anachronisms. Although some Solar Pons stories involved fantasy and science fiction, this aspect will not fit with the scope of this anthology.

Chronology: The Canonical Solar Pons stories occurred between mid-1919 (when Dr. Parker met Pons) to mid-1939 (just before World War II). Stories should essentially fall between these dates, although some might be considered outside this range, if the content does not disagree with generally assumed Ponsian facts. Additionally, as these stories will be set in North America, Pons and Parker’s visits to that continent cannot conflict with dates established in Canonical Pons cases. If in doubt about dates or any other questions, PLEASE confer ahead of time with the editor.

Multiple submissions will be accepted.

Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $100 OR $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits (whichever amount is GREATER) and a paperback copy of the anthology.

Rights: Authors shall retain rights to their work. We only retain the rights to the story within the publication.

Submission Due Date: December 31st, 2023

Publication Date: Summer 2024

Submit stories to David Marcum, Editor, at thepapersofsherlockholmes@gmail.com or Belanger Books at derrick@belangerbooks.com

Edited by Derrick Belanger

This book in the Sherlock Holmes and the Great Detectives series focuses on adventures where Holmes teams up with one (or more) of the great lady detectives of the Victorian or Edwardian time period such as New York Nell, Loveday Brooke, Lois Cayley, or Lady Molly of Scotland Yard. There are plenty of “public domain” female detectives to choose from (here is a great article to help you get started) or you can create your own.

Submission guidelines: A 5,000 – 10,000 word traditional story teaming Sherlock Holmes with a classic lady detective. The other detective must be in the public domain or your own original character.

Payment for the anthology: Authors shall receive a payment of $100 OR $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits (whichever amount is GREATER) and a paperback copy of the anthology.

Rights: Authors shall retain rights to their work. We only retain the rights to the story within the publication.

Please submit your manuscript as a word document to derrick@belangerbooks.com.

Title your email:

ATTN: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GREAT LADY DETECTIVES SUBMISSION.

Multiple submissions will be accepted.

Submission Deadline: January 31st, 2024

Publication Date: Spring or Summer 2024