Call for "The Memory Eater" Anthology Submissions

“Have a cheating ex you can’t stop thinking about?  How about a past failure which now defines you?  Do you wish you could forget about the time you walked in on your parents making your brother or sister?

“Yes?  Well then today’s your lucky day.  Introducing the brand new Memory Eater—an orb-like device that fits neatly around your head like a diver’s helmet with the ability to locate and destroy any memory in the human mind.

“Victims of rape no longer need to fear dating.  Drunk drivers don’t have to regret getting back on the road.  And for those who have lost loved ones, you no longer need to mourn.

“Today is a new day.  Today is your day.  Start it off by deleting the past so you can save your future.”

And so reads the advertisement for the Memory Eater.  Performed by licensed technicians, the process is fairly simple.  Go to a Memory Eater store and let a licensed technician enter your mind for five minutes.  After a simple search and destroy command, followed by a mind defragmentation, the selected memory will be gone from the customer’s memory forever.

But be warned, for sometimes memories are strung together.  Like an ex-husband and children.  Or drugs and a $50,000 college education.  And if a licensed technician makes a mistake (only 3% error rate), you may forget how to walk, or how to talk, or how to go to the bathroom.

There have also been reports of “subject tampering”.  For instance, a man went in to have his nagging wife deleted, but it turns out his wife paid the technician more money to wipe video games, beer and sports from his mind.  Now the man apparently watches The Notebook every night while eating bonbons with his wife.

But such is the case with any new technology.  There are always pros and cons, glitches and total catastrophes.

Anthology Information:

·    Submissions will be open from March 15, 2011 to TBA.  They will close two weeks after I announce last call.

·    Writers will split an equal amount of the profits.

Guidelines for your story:

·    While the backdrop of the story must relate somehow to the Memory Eater, a character does not necessarily have to have a memory erased.  A character may think they had a memory erased, when in fact they didn't.  Or perhaps you can take this idea in a different direction.

·    Every genre is acceptable.

·    I'm looking for 25-30 stories total, ranging from humorous to thought-provoking to emotional.  I want to see how this technology goes wrong.  How it goes right.  What effect it has on our future.

·    Above all else, these stories should be entertaining.

·    There is no word count or limit on submissions.

Guidelines for sending your story:

·    Email your stories to: anthologies2011@gmail.com

·    Please paste your story in the body of the email.  I won't open attachments.

·    You do not need to include a cover letter or qualifications.

Feel free to email me with any questions.  I'm a pretty laid back guy, so don't be shy.

I want to thank you in advance for participating, and I look forward to reading your stories.

C. P.