You mentioned that you want parents and that the kid can come to them with problems. In the case of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and even Treasure Island, there are parent figures but not actual parents. Is that OK for our stories where there are parent figures even if they aren't related to the kid?
Is it OK if the boy has a good family, but he is being a punk and by the end of the story he comes around and chooses to be more appreciative of them? In other words, is a kid having a spat with his parents going to disqualify the story?
Hey, you guts are always welcome to boost my story, A Spaceship For Joe. Too late to post for this campaign, but it certainly follows your guidelines to the letter.
Actually, I have this nice orphanage on steampunk world that could make an interesting setting for various adventures. Not a cop out on family building, just taking advantage of a setting I'm already moderately familiar with.
Might see if a mixed group would work, but the initial inspiration is three of the orphans.
We've got, minimum, eight novels that first saw light in the pages of Boys' Life that are PD and not yet on Gutenberg.
Not knowing the Tod Moran books, I looked them up. The first one has been in the public domain in the USA since 1 January 2021, the second since 1 January 2023, and the third (with the title most promising to me personally) goes PD on 1 January 2025. (And there is every possibility that some copyright registrations did not get renewed for later works, I just haven't done any research on that. For anything that did not receive a proper renewal, and was published prior to 1964, the term of copyright expired on 1 January of the twenty-ninth year after publication)
However, one hiccup to that idea is that the author, Howard Pease, died in 1974, which means that his works will not be public domain in most markets in the world for another two decades ("life plus 70" is the usual term of copyright, internationally). Amazon gets squirrelly about that sort of thing. LawDog prefers to either have the rights, or to have the right to publish worldwide, so that there's no legal morass to get stuck in. (I am inferring from multiple conversations I've had with him, if he shows up and corrects me here, I shall stand corrected. :) )
One of the reasons I have keyed in on J. Allan Dunn as a model, apart from his writing excellent adventure fiction, is that he died in 1941, making his works public domain in most of the world without question. (And as far as my research has turned up, he didn't leave a literary estate in fact, There are three renewals attached to his name made by his widow, but... well, there are complications and questions even there. But none of them are for his boys' adventure works.)
All of that said, if I can find reasonable copies of Pease's Moran books, I may do them over at iktaPOP Media, since that's more or less in my wheelhouse (public domain pulp adventure).
Very excited about this. I grew up reading this kind of thing. Scrappy kids having adventures like "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet". Now I just have to cook something up...
Sure, why not! I mean, we have Alien Family Values that has all sorts of people in it, and John Van Stry writing for us, who does wonderful anthro. Go for it!
Just examples, you got it! We actually want work set in more modern or future tech, because young readers can relate to that. I handed my son "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" when he was 12 and he bounced off it, because slide rules and such. Four years later when he was fascinated with history, he devoured it. We want wonderful stories for boys, they need not be historical (or, for that matter, SciFi or fantasy!).
Thanks.
Love what you do!
This is an excellent move on your part. MG Boys market is scarce.
I'm assuming you don't accept submissions that are previously self-published, correct?
We are currently not doing re-publication, no.
You mentioned that you want parents and that the kid can come to them with problems. In the case of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and even Treasure Island, there are parent figures but not actual parents. Is that OK for our stories where there are parent figures even if they aren't related to the kid?
Yes, we are trying to avoid the whole 'parent's are dumb and icky' that seems to pervade a lot of children's stories.
Gotcha. Thanks!
Is it OK if the boy has a good family, but he is being a punk and by the end of the story he comes around and chooses to be more appreciative of them? In other words, is a kid having a spat with his parents going to disqualify the story?
That sounds like a great growth arc! We'd like that.
Thanks, got to grab some of the classics so I can write something in the genre...
Hey, you guts are always welcome to boost my story, A Spaceship For Joe. Too late to post for this campaign, but it certainly follows your guidelines to the letter.
The Call is much clearer now. Seeing it all in one place has helped. 🙇♂️
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
What about orphans, if the environment is still positive?
Parental figures work. However, making orphans is a crutch, and I challenge you to think beyond that.
Actually, I have this nice orphanage on steampunk world that could make an interesting setting for various adventures. Not a cop out on family building, just taking advantage of a setting I'm already moderately familiar with.
Might see if a mixed group would work, but the initial inspiration is three of the orphans.
Still ideating things.
50k words implies short novel length. Is that what you want?
That's what we're aiming for!
Yes, yes, I know. No reprints. But Tod Moran #1 hit public domain last year.
If I get a transcription to you, would you want it?
Lord, that would be a chore. But what the CHORFs want dead, is worth the candle.
We've got, minimum, eight novels that first saw light in the pages of Boys' Life that are PD and not yet on Gutenberg.
Not knowing the Tod Moran books, I looked them up. The first one has been in the public domain in the USA since 1 January 2021, the second since 1 January 2023, and the third (with the title most promising to me personally) goes PD on 1 January 2025. (And there is every possibility that some copyright registrations did not get renewed for later works, I just haven't done any research on that. For anything that did not receive a proper renewal, and was published prior to 1964, the term of copyright expired on 1 January of the twenty-ninth year after publication)
However, one hiccup to that idea is that the author, Howard Pease, died in 1974, which means that his works will not be public domain in most markets in the world for another two decades ("life plus 70" is the usual term of copyright, internationally). Amazon gets squirrelly about that sort of thing. LawDog prefers to either have the rights, or to have the right to publish worldwide, so that there's no legal morass to get stuck in. (I am inferring from multiple conversations I've had with him, if he shows up and corrects me here, I shall stand corrected. :) )
One of the reasons I have keyed in on J. Allan Dunn as a model, apart from his writing excellent adventure fiction, is that he died in 1941, making his works public domain in most of the world without question. (And as far as my research has turned up, he didn't leave a literary estate in fact, There are three renewals attached to his name made by his widow, but... well, there are complications and questions even there. But none of them are for his boys' adventure works.)
All of that said, if I can find reasonable copies of Pease's Moran books, I may do them over at iktaPOP Media, since that's more or less in my wheelhouse (public domain pulp adventure).
Very excited about this. I grew up reading this kind of thing. Scrappy kids having adventures like "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet". Now I just have to cook something up...
Does the boy need to be human? Can he be an anthropomorphic character?
Sure, why not! I mean, we have Alien Family Values that has all sorts of people in it, and John Van Stry writing for us, who does wonderful anthro. Go for it!
Awesome! Sweet!
Does it have to be a period piece, or are these children's classics more an example of the tone and aesthetic that you're looking for?
Just examples, you got it! We actually want work set in more modern or future tech, because young readers can relate to that. I handed my son "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" when he was 12 and he bounced off it, because slide rules and such. Four years later when he was fascinated with history, he devoured it. We want wonderful stories for boys, they need not be historical (or, for that matter, SciFi or fantasy!).