Call for Submissions to Upcoming Sherlock Holmes Anthologies from Belanger Books, A New MX Book of Sherlock Holmes on Kickstarter, Plus the Return of Solar Pons Scholarship

Hello everyone,

We've got quite a few exciting projects to share with you.  First, I want to thank everyone who backed Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk on Kickstarter.  The two volume anthology of stories where the traditional Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in a world of technological advancements was one of our biggest Kickstarters to date. For those of you who missed the Kickstarter the books will be available on Amazon in May. Stay tuned for more details!

MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Vols XIII, XIV, XV

And speaking of Kickstarters, our friends at MX publishing have a set of books that every Sherlock Holmes fan needs!

The MX Books of New Sherlock Holmes Stories have been called the best collections of Sherlock Holmes stories since Watson penned the original canon.  Thanks to the editorial skills of David Marcum and the sheer number of excellent pastiche authors in the world, this year's entry contains a whopping 66 new Sherlock Holmes stories spread out across three volumes. That's right! In this year's collection, you will actually get more stories than were contained in the original canon.  

And that's not all, due to the generosity of the authors, Mr. Marcum, and especially publisher Steve Emecz, the proceeds from the Kickstarter and future sales of the books will be donated to Stepping Stones, a special needs school housed in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's home at Undershaw. The school has been restoring Doyle's home to its original glory.  

So by backing this project, you get 66 incredible new Sherlock Holmes stories, you help support a special needs school, and you help preserve the estate where the Hound of the Baskervilles was written.  What more could you ask for?

Whether you just need the three most recent volumes or want them all, you can get them through backing at different levels.  So check out the project and back it today by clicking here!

Call for Submissions to Upcoming Belanger Books Anthologies

Attention authors! The deadlines are quickly approaching for submissions for some Belanger Books anthologies.  Have you ever wanted to write a traditional Sherlock Holmes story?  How about one with elements of horror?  Got an idea for another detective to team up with Sherlock Holmes?  How about having Solar Pons meet the Great Old Ones from the Cthulhu mythos? Well, we've got upcoming anthologies for you!  Please see the submission guidelines for each anthology below:

The Early Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (edited by David Marcum)

Description: In “The Five Orange Pips” Dr. Watson writes that he is faced with so many interesting cases between 1882 and 1890 that it is no easy matter to choose which ones to set down on paper. Despite this claim of many cases, Chronologists agree that the only story which occurs between A Study in Scarlet (March 1881) and “The Speckled Band” (April 1883) is “The Resident Patient”.  What happened during this early time in the career of Holmes and Watson? What are some of these early cases? This book aims to answer that question with a series of adventures occurring between 1881 and 1883.

Submission guidelines: A traditional Holmes and Watson story occurring in the above mentioned time frame at a length of 5,000 - 10,000 words (okay to go over or under some).

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 Deadline: June 15, 2019  

Kickstarter will run in August 2019 and publication of book will occur in October 2019.

Please submit your manuscript to derrick@belangerbooks.com Title your email: ATTN: EARLY ADVENTURES SUBMISSION

The Necronomicon of Solar Pons

Description:  Solar Pons is noted for being the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street. But there was a connection to horror in Pons which separated him from his Baker Street mentor. It is noted that Solar Pons wrote An Examination of the Cthulhu Cult and Others. He acknowledged that Carnacki was a legitimate Ghostfinder, and he faced off against a vampire in “The Adventure of the Nosferatu”.  What other horrors did Solar Pons face? What unspeakable evil did he uncover when writing his examination of the Cthulhu cults? This book intends to answer those questions with new stories which merge August Derleth’s great detective with Lovecraft and Derleth’s Cthulhu mythos.  See Pons face off against vampires, demons, and the Great Old Ones! A new game is afoot!

Submission guidelines: A Solar Pons horror story at a length of 5,000 - 10,000 words (okay to go over or under some).

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 Deadline: June 15, 2019

Kickstarter will run in September 2019 and publication of book will occur in November 2019.

Please submit your manuscript to derrick@belangerbooks.com Title your email: ATTN: NECRONOMICON SOLAR PONS SUBMISSION

Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Edgar Allan Poe

Description:  For the first time ever, a collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures connected to the Master of the Macabre.  Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Edgar Allan Poe will have Holmes working within the work of Edgar Allan Poe. Some possibilities include Holmes solving the mystery of The Tell-Tale Heart or working to save Victorian London from the Masque of the Red Death. We can see Holmes work alongside Poe's great detective Auguste Dupin. There are many possibilities.

Submission guidelines:  A 5,000 - 10,000 word Sherlock Holmes story connected to the work of Edgar Allan Poe. You can play around with the time periods (i.e. put Holmes in the past or connect Poe to Victorian England); however, Holmes must stay traditional (for example, he can’t be married or in love).  

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 Deadline: July 15, 2019

Kickstarter will run in October 2019 and publication of book will occur in November 2019.

Please submit your manuscript to derrick@belangerbooks.com Title your email: ATTN: HOLMES POE SUBMISSION

The Great Detective Universe

What if Sherlock Holmes wasn’t alone?

While Sherlock Holmes is the best remembered detective from the Victorian and Edwardian periods, there was a rich plethora of other sleuths solving crimes throughout the world at the same time.  The Great Detective Series from Belanger Books imagines that these sleuths worked together at times to fight crime and stop master thieves such as Arsene Lupin, A.J. Raffles, and Professor James Moriarty.

We start the Great detective series with two books, Sherlock Holmes and the Great Detectives and Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives.

Sherlock Holmes and the Great Detectives

Description: These adventures involve Holmes teaming up with another great detective such as Sexton Blake, Nick Carter, Monsieur Lecoq, or Lady Molly of Scotland Yard. There are plenty “public domain” detectives to choose from or you can create your own.  

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

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 Deadline: July 15, 2019

Kickstarter will run in November 2019 and publication of book will occur in December 2019.

Please submit your manuscript to derrick@belangerbooks.com Title your email: ATTN: GREAT DETECTIVE SUBMISSION

Solar Pons Scholarship Returns!  Announcing The Pontine Dossier: Millenium Edition!

Belanger Books is proud to have issued new, affordable editions of the original Solar Pons books by August Derleth; David Marcum's The Papers of Solar Pons, the first new collection of Solar Pons stories in the 21st century; and, The New Adventures of Solar Pons, the first ever anthology of new Solar Pons stories by multiple authors!

While we have so far focused on bringing back Solar Pons both in the original tales and in thrilling new adventures, we are now also focusing on an area of The Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street which has been woefully forgotten - scholarship!

Belanger Books is proud to announce the return of The Pontine Dossier.

The Pontine Dossier was started in the 1960s by Luther Norris, PSI. Similar to a Pontine version of the Baker Street Journal, the Dossier was a publication of Solar Pons scholarship.  The Dossier has existed in several forms over the years, but a version has not been published in the 21st century.

Belanger Books is proud to bring back The Pontine Dossier in an annual edition.  The Pontine Dossier: Millennium Edition 2019 will feature Pontine articles and scholarships.  We would love it if you'd consider contributing.

Submission 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 much as 5,000 words. We are leaving this wide open to get as many and as varied submissions as possible.

Please submit your manuscript to derrick@belanger books.com  Title your email: ATTN: PONTINE DOSSIER SUBMISSION

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

Deadline:  Please submit your article by June 15, 2019.  We hope to release the new edition of the Dossier in July.

Belanger Books is a small press owned by artist Brian Belanger and author Derrick Belanger specializing in new Sherlock Holmes books, Solar Pons, Children's books, Classic Sci-fi, Steampunk, and genre specific anthologies.  Some of our books have been #1 bestsellers in their categories on Amazon.