I will be giving a shout out to a few people in this post. To start at the beginning, friend Jill Witty first drew my attention to the Heroines Anthology in 2020 during the first lockdown. They had published several volumes by that time. But in May of 2020, I had already missed their 2020 submission window which Jill found out about and thought matched my writing. So I want my first shout out to go to Jill, who has won and been nominated for awards, including the Pushcart Prize, for her short stories and working on a few full length novels. You can find her on socials to encourage her that moving back to Europe is the right choice, and her website is here: https://jillwitty.com/writing/
During the pandemic, I waited years hoping to be able to submit something to the anthology if submissions opened up again. I was in touch with editors, and purchased vol 1-3 from Amazon. Since it is an Australian press, it was more challenging to find a way to purchase them. Here I should mention why would Jill recommend this project to me, and why have I been anxiously waiting opportunities to participate? The website describes the project as interested in lost history about women, mythology, reimagining of folk lore that redefines the role of women. Several of my stories fit these themes.
You can find them here on Amazon:
As well as the website for Perennial Press:
I purchased vol. 1-3 once I had located a way to do so. Then I wrote down a list of all of the contributors, particularly fiction contributors, and went on a hunt for internet presence of each. I also thought it would be a great research opportunities if some of these writers were more widely published to see where else their writing was welcome, or what agents were involved with them. I spent a LOT of time delving into the creators and contributors of the three volumes I received, and looking for creators I felt the most in common. One of these creators who I want to shout out next is Louise Pieper, and she and I have had some nice email exchanges about her stories, and the Heroine's Anthology project where one of hers was published. I was drawn to her use of reimagining some ideas from the Grimm brothers.
Her story Bits and Bolts and Blood was included in the original volume 1 in 2018. She retold Little Red Cap in a way that identifies that Grimm was capturing stories that were remnants of the indigenous German religion, and that the characters in the story were most likely supernatural. She also contributed The Tenant of Rookwood Hall to volume 3, which she sets in Victorian England, and uses some delicious slipstream play with the passing of time.
You can find Louise' online presence here:
Additional content that I have enjoyed include, again in volume 1, The Menkas, by Tamara Lazaroff, which also felt like slavic folklore due to the use of a bear. Readers will love the twist ending. Like many of the fiction content in the volumes, there is some enjoyable use of slipstream in many stories. As in The Menkas, there is ambiguity left to the reader about the core tension or mystery to the story, not entirely answered, or answered in a fashion that leaves the ambiguity in tact.
In addition to the presence of many stories of slavic folklore, as an Australian publisher in the Asian Pacific, the volumes have many contributors from Asia as well, bringing direct less Westernised Asian folklore, as well as indigenous writers from Australia who bring rich heritage and tradition with their contributions.
Here I will draw the teasers to a close about these anthology volumes, since there are so many wonderful contributors and variety of prose and poetry for readers of all stripes. They did finally return to their next volume - volume 4 - in 2022. Those of you who have followed me on social media would know that in February of 2022, I was trying to apply to graduate programs, which was a stressful process not at all good for my mental health, while a war was starting in Europe - which cancelled the program I intended to begin. Therefore, the long anticipated and awaited opportunity to submit to the project which had reopened was missed due to conflicting circumstances in my life, and that add some frustration for me.
However, their 2022 project seemed to have escalated and involved a prize and big conference, so they certainly went out with the 2022 rendition of the project. One can only hope for submissions to open again to continue future volumes of this project and more opportunities to participate.
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