CONTACT: We'd love to hear from you. Feel free to email us at: coolestamericanstories(at)gmail(dot)com
Q: What do you mean by "cool story"?
A: The stories we've read that have struck us as cool are riveting, stunning, and courageous. They have conflict galore and plots that provide plenty of suspense and inevitable surprise. They are empathetic in their portrayal of characters from various economic, social, and ethnic backgrounds (we encourage vastly dissimilar characters to appear in the same short story), and they are heartfelt. The coolest of the cool, we think, also open readers' minds to thoughts they've never quite considered, so these stories likely include epiphanies. But primarily they make you feel emotions so intensely you'd never dare skip ahead. In other words, after you finish reading them, you'll realize that, for all your envy of them (if you are a writer), they had you in awe from start to finish.
Q: Can you put all of what you just said into two words other than "cool story"?
A: Yes. To quote Jerry Seinfeld: "interesting writing."
Q: So are you saying you want genre stories--crime, mystery, sci-fi, etc?
A: We're saying we want interesting stories regardless of how anyone labels or stereotypes them. Call your story "literary" or call it "crime," "genre," or what have you, we don't care. If your story distinguishes itself by promising to dazzle readers from all walks of life, we want to see it.
Q: Need a literary magazine "nominate" my story, or can I submit my story myself?
A: Either. In other words, if your story has not been published, you can submit it yourself--or, if it's appeared in a magazine recently, an editor of that magazine (or you!) can submit it to us. We simply want to make sure that stories that people will enjoy regardless of their backgrounds will be read by as many people as possible.
Q: What's your submission fee?
A: $1.50, the lion's share of which goes directly to Submittable.
Q: $1.50 is like half of what most places charge. So are you going to barrage me with requests for donations or purchases of mugs or T-shirts?
A: No. We will never solicit or accept donations or grants from anyone. Nor will we hold contests of any sort. Furthermore, we will never sell or give away your personal information, including your email address. We will sell nothing but our anthology.
Q: Are you saying that, because CAS will support itself through sales of copies only, the stories in it will satisfy readers more than the stories in most litmags?
A: We're saying we've purposefully simplified the income stream for CAS so that the stories in it damned well better be good.
Q: How much will you pay for each story included in your anthology?
A: As of now, $100 per story. If the anthology fares well, we will raise that figure for subsequent volumes. Again, we aren't doing this to scam anyone or otherwise laugh our way to the bank. We're doing this because we love short stories and want more readers to love them, too.
Q: Why do you think you're so cool?
A: We don't. We're white people with lots of education, and we realize that, in some respects, our educations have caused us to be out of touch. But neither of us was born into wealth, and we've grown up with and still live among people in all social classes and from various walks of life. So we know a widely compelling story when we hear one. We feel a great story in our guts.
Q: I heard you think that an anthology like yours could, in the long run, increase literacy. Is this true?
A: Yes. We believe that, after people learn to read words and sentences, some of them go on to choose "practical illiteracy" with respect to writing such as short stories or poems--in many cases because, in school, they found these forms opaque or uninteresting. We believe that, by emphasizing that we're giving our all to find and publish nothing but interesting stories, we might be able to increase "practical literacy."
Q: Do you think the existence of an annual anthology with wide appeal can help unite America?
A: We hope so. I mean, people can dream, right?
Q: What do you mean by "cool story"?
A: The stories we've read that have struck us as cool are riveting, stunning, and courageous. They have conflict galore and plots that provide plenty of suspense and inevitable surprise. They are empathetic in their portrayal of characters from various economic, social, and ethnic backgrounds (we encourage vastly dissimilar characters to appear in the same short story), and they are heartfelt. The coolest of the cool, we think, also open readers' minds to thoughts they've never quite considered, so these stories likely include epiphanies. But primarily they make you feel emotions so intensely you'd never dare skip ahead. In other words, after you finish reading them, you'll realize that, for all your envy of them (if you are a writer), they had you in awe from start to finish.
Q: Can you put all of what you just said into two words other than "cool story"?
A: Yes. To quote Jerry Seinfeld: "interesting writing."
Q: So are you saying you want genre stories--crime, mystery, sci-fi, etc?
A: We're saying we want interesting stories regardless of how anyone labels or stereotypes them. Call your story "literary" or call it "crime," "genre," or what have you, we don't care. If your story distinguishes itself by promising to dazzle readers from all walks of life, we want to see it.
Q: Need a literary magazine "nominate" my story, or can I submit my story myself?
A: Either. In other words, if your story has not been published, you can submit it yourself--or, if it's appeared in a magazine recently, an editor of that magazine (or you!) can submit it to us. We simply want to make sure that stories that people will enjoy regardless of their backgrounds will be read by as many people as possible.
Q: What's your submission fee?
A: $1.50, the lion's share of which goes directly to Submittable.
Q: $1.50 is like half of what most places charge. So are you going to barrage me with requests for donations or purchases of mugs or T-shirts?
A: No. We will never solicit or accept donations or grants from anyone. Nor will we hold contests of any sort. Furthermore, we will never sell or give away your personal information, including your email address. We will sell nothing but our anthology.
Q: Are you saying that, because CAS will support itself through sales of copies only, the stories in it will satisfy readers more than the stories in most litmags?
A: We're saying we've purposefully simplified the income stream for CAS so that the stories in it damned well better be good.
Q: How much will you pay for each story included in your anthology?
A: As of now, $100 per story. If the anthology fares well, we will raise that figure for subsequent volumes. Again, we aren't doing this to scam anyone or otherwise laugh our way to the bank. We're doing this because we love short stories and want more readers to love them, too.
Q: Why do you think you're so cool?
A: We don't. We're white people with lots of education, and we realize that, in some respects, our educations have caused us to be out of touch. But neither of us was born into wealth, and we've grown up with and still live among people in all social classes and from various walks of life. So we know a widely compelling story when we hear one. We feel a great story in our guts.
Q: I heard you think that an anthology like yours could, in the long run, increase literacy. Is this true?
A: Yes. We believe that, after people learn to read words and sentences, some of them go on to choose "practical illiteracy" with respect to writing such as short stories or poems--in many cases because, in school, they found these forms opaque or uninteresting. We believe that, by emphasizing that we're giving our all to find and publish nothing but interesting stories, we might be able to increase "practical literacy."
Q: Do you think the existence of an annual anthology with wide appeal can help unite America?
A: We hope so. I mean, people can dream, right?