NOTHING BUT RED EXTENDS SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE

Fan-organized benefit anthology will accept work for additional month

NEW YORK (11/01/07) — Nothing But Red, the anthology of literary and visual arts inspired by the impassioned plea of Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon in response to the “honor killing” of 17-year-old Du’a Khalil Aswad, has extended its deadline for submissions. Those planning to submit to the fan-organized anthology, which will benefit the international human rights organization Equality Now, will have until December 1, 2007 to submit their work.

“We’ve had such an enthusiastic response to the project, both in submissions received and in other forms of support,” explains Skyla Dawn Cameron, originator and editor-in-chief of Nothing But Red, “that the editorial board has decided to extend the deadline, so as to give other prospective authors and artists an additional chance to participate.”

The extended deadline will not affect the planned publication date of the anthology, which is scheduled for April 2008, the one-year anniversary of Aswad’s death. An Iraqi adherent of the Yazidi religion, Aswad was stoned to death by family members and neighbors; her brutal beating and murder was captured in a graphic video and spread on the Internet.

Nothing But Red takes its title from the words of Joss Whedon, creator of the television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, who, shortly after learning of the murder, penned an emotional response on the website Whedonesque.com. His post, which built from the topic of Aswad’s murder to the contemplation of misogyny’s transcendence of culture, religion and era, ended on an appeal to his fans to do something active to change the cycle.

“True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself…” Whedon wrote. “Her face was nothing but red.”

Nothing But Red will be an open-format anthology of responses to Aswad’s death and the topics raised by Whedon’s post, which will be included in the volume. Essays, short stories, poems, photographs, drawings and other kinds of literary or visual arts will be considered for inclusion. All submissions will be accepted electronically. Literary submissions should be limited to 3,000 words; visual arts submissions should easily translate to the size of a 6 x 9-inch trade paperback. Contributors will retain the copyright to their work. Further information on submissions can be found at http://nothingbutred.wordpress.com/submissions.

The anthology will be self-published through Lulu.com. Equality Now was chosen as the recipient of the anthology’s proceeds due to Whedon’s public support of the organization and its mission to “[voice] a worldwide call for justice and equality for women,” as stated on Equality Now’s website.