As I've mentioned before, a number of writers have expressed dismay at the not-so-looming January 31, 2011 deadline.  Because of that, and because I have another antho closing January 15, and because I recognize that no one is going to have a suitable story for this antho lying around, I am going to extend the deadline to...

March 15, 2011

I don't want this to disadvantage anyone.  If you have already submitted a story, you are welcome to take advantage of the extra time to revise and re-submit any time before the new deadline.  If you do so, please reply to our existing e-mail thread in order to preserve my fragile filing system.

If you have any questions, comments or complaints, please feel free.
 
Here's a new submission count:

Section 1:  0  (4)
Section 2:  0  (1)
Section 3:  2  (1)
Section 4:  3  (1)
Section 5:  0  (3)
Section 6:  0  (1)
TOTAL SUBS:  5 (11)

I know I had #2 listed as having a submission last  time; that should have been in #3.  I'm sure we'll slow down a bit over the holidays, but I know at least one I'm expecting is nearing completion!  
 
In what will hopefully become a regular feature, I have decided to post a tally of submissions received by outline section, so that those contemplating a submission can see where the competition is, and avoid or confront it according to their inclination.

The first number after the colon is the number of submissions actually received.  As you can see, they are just beginning to come in.  In parentheses after that is a second number; this is the number of submissions I've discussed with writers, that are not received yet but that I feel I can reasonably expect to eventually come in.  Obviously, the parentheticals are just estimates.  So, with all that in mind:

Section 1:  0  (3)
Section 2:  1  (1)
Section 3:  0  (1)
Section 4:  2  (1)
Section 5:  0  (3)
Section 6:  0  (1)
TOTAL SUBS:  3 (10)

Obviously, we're just getting started.  Keep those subs coming!

Heroes & Villains:  Corrected the gender of the Velvet Ant.  Oops.
 
Heroes & Villains:  Added Techno-Knight to the list of heroes.
 
I thought that January 31 was a fairly generous deadline, but I've had a few writers indicate that it's not enough time.  I'm thinking about extending the deadline.  If you have any feelings about this either way, let me know.
 
A happy holiday to all who are celebrating today!  Let us all be thankful that we don't live in a post-apocalyptic Cleveland about to be invaded by aliens.
 
This was posted in a forum thread about the anthology.  I thought the information might be useful:

My Question?
does life for human break down into slave in slave camp or is it slave but goes home after twelve hour shift home but you better show up or we eat your first born
and on the same lines - I assume their are rebel groups hidden in the city?
is the city, human wise, still functioning ?  Can a human  go get a beer after pit digging, are there people still pulling beer behind bar counters. Does the grocer still ask paper or plastic but the canned goods now has corned @#($#%!^# as well as beef?
Is there still a semblance of 'life as we know it' happening in the city?


... and the answer was:

I would guess that there is still some semblance of regular, everyday life going on in the city.  It's too big to turn entirely into one big slave camp.  Around the Pit there are probably 24-hour camps, though.  It's possible you might live a normal life under occupation until you are marched off to the Pit -- at which point it might become work-until-you-drop.

Yes, there are rebels in the city -- mostly alone at point #4 in the outline, forming groups at point #5.

The invaders will stick to their own encampments -- i.e., their "Green Zone," with their own supplies, so human grocers won't have to carry alien supplies or food.

Of course, things will be going differently in different parts of the city.  Some alien overlords are nicer than others.  I'm willing to consider anything  as long as you write it well and make it convincing.

 
Heroes & Villains:  Character and team entries added for Council of Protectors, Millennium Knights of Beta City, Raptor, and the Vengeance Force.

I'm going to be adding some geographic Beta City locations soon.  Would these be more intuitively included under the "About Beta City" page or the "Heroes & Villains" page?  Feel free to weigh in with a comment or an e-mail if you have an opinion.
 
We've gotten a number of inquiries about the nature of the aliens attacking Beta City.  Big?  Small?  Humanoid?  Monstrous?  Basically, the only thing set in stone is that there's more than one kind of alien invading at Kharsear's command.  Here's part of an answer I posted on the Beta City thread at our publisher's website:

I'm intentionally leaving it wide open.  There's no one particular race or body type or even style of technology.  They have in common that they serve Kharsear and Dominion -- more like an alien cult than an invasion from one specific civilization.  They are, in general, going to be higher-tech than us, since they have an armada of military spacecraft.  But I'm hoping the writers will come up with a variety of crazy scary alien forms, weapons, vehicles, etc.  It's fine for a story to feature a unit composed of one particular alien type -- e.g., "the 15th Krondarian Battalion," or something like that -- but as a whole the invaders are a mixed bunch.  Some might be cool and sophisticated users of high-technology; others might be berserkers wading into their enemies with high-tech battleaxes.   You can have them clustered into similar groups or not, as you like.

There are a few visual examples from the comics that might be helpful as well.  Consider Kang's shock troops from the Kang Dynasty storyline.  They're an irregular wave of armored, high-tech troops.  Even better, consider them alongside their Deviant and Atlantean allies to get an idea of the kind of variety I'd like to see.

The armies of Annihilus in Marvel's Annihilation event are another example.  While, yes, the army is mostly bugs, and many of them look the same, take a look at the different miniseries.  You see groups of similar bugs together, but the different creative teams each have their own take on the troops.  When the Centurions attack, you see the other end of the spectrum -- each individual is from a different world.

Finally, consider the armies of Darkseid from Kirby's Fourth World.  Groups of parademons do tend to look and dress the same.  But there's often some variety amongst groups from Apokolips, often with some giant contraption or creature thrown in for good measure.

These are just examples for illustrative purposes, of course.  Please don't use another creator's property in your own stories.  Feel free to contact the editor to discuss how you want to use the aliens, what capabilities you want to give them, or anything else!
 
Heroes & Villains:  Entries added for Baron Brass and Sunshrike.  Entry for Skyhammer modified to note that he will not appear in defense of the city in BETA CITY.  What will Skyhammer be up to?  Make sure you get a copy and find out when the book becomes available!

Skyhammer's pre-POW!erful Tales encounter with Baron Brass will be detailed in the book COSMOS CUBED, coming soon from the Library of Science Fiction Press!