THRILLER 3 Participation

Good Tuesday everyone!

The ITW is at it again. Their first two THRILLER anthologies were smash-hits, and this year's will be nothing less. This time they are crossing genres and taking submissions for romantic thrillers. Romance, having the number one readership, will really increase the footprint for some of the genre authors out there who haven't stepped into the 'lovers' realm.

Taken directly from the ITW Newsletter:

What makes a romantic thriller different than a thriller? Generally, the only “rules” are that there are two protagonists, a hero and a heroine, who work together to solve the crime or save the world—or their own lives.

This anthology will not only provide our members with an opportunity to reach a thriving market, but its publication will also serve to continue and expand our membership.

THRILLER 3 will be edited by 2008’s Thriller Master, the immensely talented Sandra Brown.

The length of your romantic thriller could be anywhere between 1,000 and 5,000 words, although we suspect the average will be somewhere in the middle. THRILLER 3 already features an all-star lineup of some of today's bestselling and award-winning romantic suspense and thriller writers, including New York Times bestsellers Carla Neggers, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Paul Levine, Mariah Stewart, Allison Brennan, Cindy Gerard, Joan Johnston and Lee Child. We're looking for your very best stories to round out the collection.

Send Us Your Stories
Stories must be romantic thrillers as opposed to traditional mysteries or straight thrillers. Certainly a thrilling story can incorporate a mystery, but there must be some aspect of page-turning suspense - a race against time, building tension, a growing certainty something terrible might happen if someone doesn't intervene – in addition to two protagonists who have sexual tension between them. They can be married, engaged, divorced, or just met—but the reader should believe that there is “something special” between these two characters. Basically, a romantic thriller has the same characteristics of a great thriller, the lifeblood of ITW, coupled with sexual tension between two characters.

This anthology is a major fundraiser for International Thriller Writers, the proceeds of which enables us to operate our website, generally provide membership services throughout the year and ensure ITW will continue into the future. Consequently, as with Thriller and Thriller 2, all stories will be donated by the authors, but naturally authors retain the copyright on their stories and obtain exposure from being in a bestselling anthology with today's top tier thriller writers.

Start writing!
Stories are due June 1, 2010. Up to five stories will be chosen, so please send us your best. You do not have to be published to send a story, but you must be an ITW member.

Stories should be emailed to abwrites@mac.com. If you would like to send in a hard copy, please email abwrites@mac.com for a mailing address, but if your story is accepted you must provide an electronic copy. The first page should include your name, mailing address, email, the story title, and word count. In the header of the document, please put only the story title and the page number. All stories should be double-spaced.

A few of our authors have decided to take part as well. Names like Steve Alten, Jeremy Robinson, Steven Savile and David Sakmyster have all decided to step up to the challenge. Keep your fingers crossed and hopefully you will see a team of Variance authors in the THRILLER 3 pages!

Have you thought of submitting your story? If so, we would love to hear from you and wish you the best of luck.