Submissions Guidelines for Local Hero Press

Open for Limited Submissions

The Just Cause Universe is expanding, and we’re looking for a few good writers who want to take on the challenge of telling more stories set within this superhero universe. To that end, we are opening up to limited submissions. See below for details. Here is the timeline of existing and soon-to-be published short stories and novels currently set in the JCU.

1942 - "The Freakshow" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 1)
1946 - "The Scent of Rose Petals" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 1)
1948 - "Chinatown Ghost" (The Good Fight 5: The Golden Age)
1949 - "Arrowheads" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 1)
1953 - "Blacklisted" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 2)
1962 - "Winternight" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 2)
1969 - "Summer of Love" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 2)
1972 - "Pride" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 1)
1976 - "The Steel Soldier's Gambit" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 2)
1977 - Day of the Destroyer
1980 - The Lion and the Five Deadly Serpents
1984 - "Components" (The Good Fight Vol. 2: Villains)
1985 - "Dust to Dust" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 1)
2001 - "Falling" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 1)
2001 - "Gideon's Horn" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 1)
2003 - Just Cause
2003 - The Bulletproof Badge stories
2004 - The Archmage
2006 - Champion
2007 - Deep Six
2008 - "Graceful Blur" (Standalone)
2009 - "Archenemy" (JCU Omnibus Vol. 2)
2009 - Castles
2012 - "Sun-Kissed" (The Good Fight Vol. 3: Sidekicks)
2012 - Jackrabbit
2012 - Rooftops (Winter 2019)
2013 - Arena
2016 - Jackrabbit: Big in Japan
2016 - Hero Academy
2016 - The Path
2017 - Plague (Fall 2019)
2018 - The Neighborhood Watch
2020 - Cinco de Mayo
2020 - Search and Rescue (Summer 2019)

 

JCU Omnibus, Volumes 3+

Volumes 1 and 2 of the JCU Omnibus collect a wide range of short stories by Ian Thomas Healy set in the Just Cause Universe during a variety of time periods and featuring a variety of different characters. Some of those characters are main characters featured in the novels while others are minor ones, perhaps only mentioned in passing. For the JCU Omnibus, Volumes 3+ we want stories from other writers. If we select your story for the Omnibus series, you will be paid $0.01 per word up to $50.00 for a 5000-word story and required to sign a contract. Stories longer than 5000 words will not be accepted. Payments will be rounded to the nearest $5.00.

How to submit:

  1. Write and edit a complete story set in the Just Cause Universe. This will require you to be familiar with it and its conventions. You may use existing characters or create your own, but the story must in some way tie into the existing JCU. Please note that Local Hero Press will retain ownership of any characters and events you create in a story accepted for publication and they will become part of the JCU canon.
  2. Use the form below to submit the first page of your story and a paragraph description of the entire tale. If we want to read further, we will ask for more pages.
  3. Submissions are open for JCU Omnibus, Vol. 3 until we have accepted enough stories to print a volume of similar size of the previous volumes. We will then begin accepting submissions for Volume 4, and so on.

JCU Novels

We are open to submissions for novels set in the Just Cause Universe as well. Our standards will be extremely stringent. If you get a story accepted into one of the Omnibus series, we are far more likely to consider a longer work from you. If we accept a novel from you, we will work closely with you to ensure it fits within existing JCU canon. You will be paid an advance and required to sign a contract. The advance amount will be determined based upon a variety of factors.

How to submit:

  1. You should have three completed chapters and a complete outline of your novel before submitting to us.
  2. Send us a one-page query letter with your proposal using the form below. If we are intrigued, we will request your first three chapters and outline. If that interests us, we will discuss further development of your idea.
  3. Please note: We do not accept submissions from agents. We only work directly with authors.