Baltimore’s got more than a great aquarium and an alarmingly high murder rate. The city that inspired Nina Simone, spawned John Waters, buried Edgar Allen Poe and birthed the characters of The Wire is home to thousands of fascinating stories. Just because it’s considered blue collar doesn’t mean it’s not charming. Send us your true story about Baltimore, and we may publish it.

We are looking for creative nonfiction essays written in the first-person.  Focus on one slice-of-life or a few connected events; do not send rants or political speeches. Stories should be titled. They should run between 1000-5000 words, double-spaced, paginated and word-processed. No funky fonts, please. Please include your name and email ON your actual story!

Deadline: December 31, 2011

Submissions may be emailed to: submissions@pinchbackpress.com. You MUST put the name of the anthology you are submitting to in the subject line of your email or we will NOT read it. Example: Submission for Charmed.

Robot Hearts: True & Twisted Tales of Seeking Love in the Digital Age is available at Amazon.com!

Love and technology have tied the proverbial knot, for better and for worse. Human interaction has gone hi-tech — it’s now both more immediate and global. Does courtship even still exist in the world of instant-everything? Can a real connection ever be made from afar? Robot Hearts is a collection of true stories from writers navigating the relationship maze of new media. Strange, diverse, heartbreaking and hilarious — each story, at its core, is 100 percent human.

“At the core of every cyber-intrigue is a human heartbeat. Robot Hearts captures the vulnerability that fuels our never-ending affair with technology. It is testimonial to the ways that love will always triumph over machines, even as it speaks through them.” – Lily Burana, I Love a Man in Uniform: A Memoir of Love, War and Other Battles

Cover art by Tony Acosta

Tarnished: True Tales of Innocence Lost is available now on Amazon.com.

Our experiences shape us. Certain moments leave us drastically changed. Tarnished is a collection of true stories about coming-of-age and coming to terms with harsh realities; it is about fairy tales dashed and word-views rocked. We are all born innocents, yet none of us pass through life unscathed.

“There’s nothing in this world so beautiful as innocence, and nothing so tragic as the loss of it. This book chronicles the ever-so-important junction of the two — that place where we decide between becoming forever bitter and jaded or remaining open and childlike.  Its stories are heartfelt handy reminders to always strive for the latter.”
-Cherry Vanilla, author of Lick Me: How I Became Cherry Vanilla

Featuring stories by:

Amanda Kingsbury
Jennifer D. Munro
Jennifer Rhodes
Marcy Sheiner
Julie Geen
Cara Bruce
Amy Yelin
Joy Wilson-Young
Angela M. Graziano
Terri Elders
Leslie Tucker
Jennifer Levy
Jennifer Tress
Tammy Dietz
Tambre Leighn
Thomas Burke
Anthony D’Aries
David Henry Sterry
Tiffanie Gabrielse
Jillian Lauren
Valley Haggard
Corey Ginsberg

Edited by Cara Bruce & Shawna Kenney

If you would like a review copy please email info@pinchbackpress.com. Please let us know where your review will be appearing.

Cover art: Linas Garsys