How Beer Saved the World

The official reading period for the new anthology from Sky Warrior Books, How Beer Saved the World, is now open until February 1, 2013, looking at an early summer publication in e-book format.

How Beer Saved the World: a new anthology to be edited by Phyllis Irene Radford.

Ten writers went camping together and came out with an anthology idea:

Fermented grains have been a mainstay of the human diet almost as long as we have been human.  Increasing barley production for beer triggered the agricultural revolution and turned hunter-gathers into farmers.  Dividing fields created a need for mathematics.  Recording beer production and distribution brought about writing.  The need to transport beer brought the wheel into play.  Ancient Egyptians fed the pyramid builders one gallon of beer a day in place of bread.  Pasteur’s investigation of why beer spoiled led to the discovery of germ theory and a revolution in medicine.  The need to brew lager cold created the need for refrigeration.  Large scale production of beer brought about the modern factory at least a decade before Henry Ford.

This list of how beer saved the world goes on and on.

Each item deserves a story and so an anthology was born.

Beer must be a plot element that solves the story arc problem in every story.  SF/F and mundane worlds are fine.  Which world is saved is not specified.  I will only accept 1 Frat party story and 1 variation of Scotty getting the deadly alien drunk.  Historical and contemporary as well as futuristic or exotic locations are welcome.  Beer for these purposes is defined as fermented but not distilled grains.

Submissions should be 2-6 K words (if longer query) to skywarrior3@gmail.com in RTF format.