A New Year, A New SALE!

Winter is here, finally and the holidays are over. Those dreary wintertime blues are starting to set in. We here at Mocha Memoirs Press love our readers and want to start 2016 with a bang! To that end we're having a blowout SALE on all of our anthologies and collections. We've got everything from steampunk to steamy erotic romance collections that are just the thing to curl up with on a cold winter's night!

From 1/18/16- 1/29/16, MMP is hosting the Warm Winter Collections SALE and CONTEST! All digital copies of our anthologies and collections will be just $2.99! And if print is more your speed, we're slashing those prices by 30% (for those print discounts, you'll need to go to CreateSpace and use Discount Code S9JNPK2Q).


We're also having a big celebration on Thursday, Jan. 21 from 7:30-9:30pm EST on Facebook.  You can join in from the comfort of your couch to talk with some of our authors about writing, submitting to anthology markets, and all their little tricks of the trade.


So there's really no reason not to fill up those Christmas Kindles with a ton of stories that will get you through the gloom. And if that wasn't exciting enough, we're also giving away a $10 Amazon gift card that you can use to buy even more books! So chin up, buttercup! We've got you covered at Mocha Memoirs Press!


In the meantime, click HERE to ENTER the Warm Winter Collections Contest and get lots of chances to win $10 in Amazon cash!!

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Sherlock strikes again!

Happy New Year, everyone!

And, with the new year, for all us Sherlock Holmes fans, Benedict Cumberbatch and company have returned with another new episode of the popular BBC series "Sherlock."

Quite a trip!  Quite a piece of writing.  Twisting plot and bizarre settings to say the least.  Where to begin?

It was the deliciously spooky Victorian atmosphere that hit me right off the bat.  The sight of a terrified wife dashing off into the evening fog outside her palatial  mansion, searching for her lost husband in a hedge maze while a mysterious figure in bridal costume lurks in the shadows was a masterpiece of  a scene, I thought.  (Reminiscent of the atmosphere I was trying to project in my short Holmes story "The Arendall Horror.")

A touch of comedy relief was provided with Holmes' trademark icy sarcasm and Mrs. Hudson rebuking Dr. Watson for not giving her a bigger role in his Strand stories.  And, a bit of spontaneous psycho-therapy in the unlikeliest of settings.  Holmes and Watson are staked out in the pitch darkness waiting for a murderer to strike, and Watson picks that moment to play shrink.  "Why do you insist on being alone, Holmes?" he asks.  "Oh, I know, I describe you in my stories as the brain without a heart, and the public eats it up, but I know there's more to you than that."  Is there ever.  This one is a wild ride through the subconscious mind of Sherlock Holmes, Moriarty always lurking in the shadows as the specter that embodies Sherlock's self-doubt.

 The set-up wasn't exactly paranormal, but definitely existential, with unnerving crossovers between the present-day world of Sherlock and the 19th century world of Holmes, the line of reality blurring with nightmarish effect, leaving the audience in doubt as to which time period is reality, and which a cocaine-induced dream.  Blended in are striking clues to the imperfection of reality, like bits of paper hanging in mid-air, and Victorian characters letting slip such temporally incongruent expressions as "virus in the data."

The creepiness level is off the chart, with such indelible images as a double six-gun-packing killer bride who looks like the Joker in drag, and a hundred-and-twenty-year-old corpse rising from the damp, wormy earth.  But, the creepiest scene of all for me was the sight of a bloated Mycroft Holmes scarfing down triple plum puddings (Jabba the Hutt would have barfed!)

Dr. Watson's wife is there, too, with mysterious designs of her own and more than a few tricks up her sleeve.  There's even a touch of socio-political commentary mixed in, with Holmes speaking in support of feminist revolution.

The twists and turns almost got to be too much to bear, but it was always enjoyable.  The writing seemed to sway wildly between the serious and the satirical, and I confess I was sometimes left scratching my head.  You can read this one as a parody of Holmes or an homage, but like a dark, disturbing and sometimes wildly funny dream, it will stay with you, that's for sure.

So much left to explore with Sherlock Holmes, it seems.  "The stage is set, the curtain rises.  And, the game's afoot!"

Attention all Steampunkers! -- Announcing a New Submission Call!

Attention all Steampunkers!

Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires

Mocha Memoirs Press is pleased to announce a new anthology,

Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires is currently open for submissions.

Submission Guidelines:

What We Want: Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires will be a horror-themed Steampunk anthology of short stories, released as an ebook and as a paperback. We are looking for Steampunk featuring the supernatural—as well as a beautifully crafted, original story.

Read our general submission guidelines at http://mochamemoirspress.com/about/ for more information.

What We Don’t Want: Any stories that contain rape, bestiality, and/or the abuse of minors. Violence and sex are acceptable but make them integral to the plot.

Submissions: Submit your work to mmpsteampunk@gmail.com with Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires Sub: Your Story Title_Your Last Name in the subject line. (for example: Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires Sub: Something Amiss Midship_Poe)

Attach your story as a DOC or DOCX file. Submissions sent in the body of the email will not be read.

We prefer to see submissions using something approaching Standard Manuscript Format, which can be found here: http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html

The only exception is that italics MUST appear as they will be used; no underlining.

Include a brief cover letter in the body of your email stating your name, pen name (if using one), story title with word count, address, website or blog, and any professional publication credits you think might interest us.

The anthology will be edited by Rie Sheridan Rose.

We will accept works of 1,500-6,000 words. Please query first if you wish to submit outside of these guidelines.

No simultaneous submissions, please. Don’t submit a story to us and to another market at the same time.

Multiple submissions are acceptable. If sending more than one story, please send them in separate emails.

We’re not accepting reprints for this anthology. We will pay a flat $10 per story via Paypal only.

Payment will be made within 45 days of publication. We are seeking Worldwide English Language rights for 12 months in print and digital formats.

Authors from outside of the United States are welcome, but submissions must be in English. Please be aware that at this time, we have a largely American readership. Feel free to help us expand that base.

Submission Deadline and Publication Schedule:

We will remain open for submissions from January 4-April 1, with an expectation that the anthology will be published by November 1, 2016.