CALLIHOO Newsletter ----------------------------------------------------------------- Vol. 6 No. 20 Editor: Julia West October 6, 1998 ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS Remember the Halloween challenge: Write a horror story to read aloud on the CALLIHOO meeting closest to Halloween (27 October). It doesn't have to be GOOD, it just has to be DONE. DEADLINES Let me know if you need more information on the contests, anthologies or magazines listed below. Eighteenth Annual Science Fiction/fantasy Short Story Contest Sponsored by Science Fiction Writers of Earth, deadline 30 October 1998. [SF/F 2,000 - 7,500 wds, $5.00 entry fee 1st subm, $2.00 thereafter, unpublished writers. $200 1st prize, $100 2nd, $50 3rd. SFWoE, P.O. Box 121293, Fort Worth, Texas 76121. (GLs in Vol. 5 No. 34)] =Dark Annie= issue #2 deadline 31 October 1998. [Genre E-zine, to 5,000 wds, 1/2 to 1 cent/wd. on accept. Reprints okay, snailmail or E-mail submissions. E-mail darkannie@aol.com Editors: Eva Harstein and Elizabeth Watts, P.O. Box 566, East Brunswick, New Jersey 08816. (GLs in Vol. 6, No. 17)] =Altair= Issue #3 competition, deadline 1 Nov 1998. [SF/F 2,000 to 10,000 wds, entry fee $5.00 U.S./each, mult. subm. okay, 1st $400, 2nd $200, 3rd $100. E-mail subm. okay to altair@ senet.com.au (pay entry fee by credit card) or mail to Altair Publishing, PO Box 475, Blackwood 5051, South Australia, Australia. (GLs in Vol. 5 No. 32)] =Out of the Shadows & Into the Night= anthology, deadline 15 November 1998. [Horror: weird tales of the modern age, pays 6-1/2 cents/wd., half on accept, half on pub. 3000-10,000 wds. Prefer E-mail subm. to HorrorAnth@aol.com; snailmail to Pamela Keesey 3024 14th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55407. (GLs in Vol. 6, No. 18)] =The Goblin Market= electronic chapbook, deadline 1 December 1998. [F to 5,000 wds, pays 3 cents/wd. on accept., E-mail subm. only, to goblinmarket@eggplant-productions.com (GLs in Vol. 6 No. 20)] The Amelia Science Fiction/Fantasy Award deadline is 15 December 1998. [SF/F to 3000 wds, $100 prize. Entry Fee: $5 each. Amelia Contests, Frederick A. Raborg, Jr., Editor, 329 "E" Street, Bakersfield, CA 93304-2031. (GLs in Vol. 6 No. 17)] =Scaremongers 3=, British horror anthology, deadline 31 Dec 1998. [non-trad. H to 6,000 wds, L15/1000 words on pub., E-mail subs fine. Anthony Barker, Editor, 1st Floor, Alpha House, Countesthorpe Road, South Wigston, Leicester LE18 2PJ ENGLAND, E-mail jennie@tanjen.demon.co.uk, Web site: http://www.tanjen. demon.co.uk. (GLs in Vol. 6 No. 12)] =Writers of the Future=, 1st quarter 1999, deadline 31 December 1998. [$1000 first, $750 2nd, $500 3rd place. No entry fee. L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, P.O. Box 1630-JBW, Los Angeles, CA 90078. (GLs in Vol. 6, No. 10)] =Pulp Eternity= Volume 4: The Price of Magic, deadline 1/15/99. [SF/science fantasy, etc. (not traditional fantasy) to 3500 wds, pays 3 cents/wd. on pub. Steve Algieri, Senior Editor, PO Box 930068, Norcross, GA 30003, E-mail: eternityol@aol.com; http://www.pulpeternity. com. (GLs in Vol. 6 No. 18)] =Romance and Beyond Magazine= contest, deadline 1 February 1999. [SF/F/H romance to 10,000 wds., awards $50, $20, $15, $10, deadline 1 Feb 99, $10 entry fee, only accepts 1st 30 entries in each category (4 different categories), Briada Press, Inc., 3527 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy, Suite 9; Lafayette, LA 70503-5130. {GLs in Vol. 6 No. 20)] =Pulp Eternity= Volume 5: Unthemed issue, reading time: 1/1/99 - 4/1/99. [Any genre, to 10,000 wds, but most under 5000, pays 3 cents/wd. on pub. Steve Algieri, Senior Editor, PO Box 930068, Norcross, GA 30003, E-mail: eternityol@aol.com; http://www.pulpeternity. com. (GLs in Vol. 6 No. 18)] =Pulp Eternity= Volume 6: Women of Empowerment. Reading time 4/1/99 - 7/1/99. [Female viewpoint to 10,000 wds, but most under 5000, pays 3 cents/wd. on pub. Steve Algieri, Senior Editor, PO Box 930068, Norcross, GA 30003, E-mail: eternityol@aol.com; http://www.pulpeternity.com. (GLs in Vol. 6 No. 18)] =Pulp Eternity= Volume 7: Alternatives II/Cyberpunk. Reading time 7/1/99 - 9/1/99. [Alt. sexuality and cyberculture, to 10,000 wds, but most under 5000, pays 3 cents/wd. on pub. Steve Algieri, Senior Editor, PO Box 930068, Norcross, GA 30003, E-mail: eternityol@aol.com; http://www.pulpeternity.com. (GLs in Vol. 6 No. 18)] =Pulp Eternity= Volume 8: I Am Cat. Reading time 9/1/99 - 12/15/99. [Cat stories, to 5000 wds, pays 3 cents/wd. on pub. Steve Algieri, Senior Editor, PO Box 930068, Norcross, GA 30003, E-mail: eternityol@aol.com; http://www. pulpeternity.com. (GLs in Vol. 6 No. 18)] ANTHOLOGY =The Goblin Market= [Electronic chapbook, F to 5,000 wds, pays 3 cents/wd. on accept., E-mail subm. only, deadline 1 Dec 98] Fiction Editor: Raechel Henderson Poetry Editor: Marcie Lynn Tentchoff Webmaster / Technical Supervisor: Matthew Moon E-mail: goblinmarket@eggplant-productions.com Reading Period starts October 1, 1998 and will go on till December 1, 1998 or until =The Goblin Market= fills up, whichever comes first. The Goblin Market is scheduled to appear January 1999. It will be an electronic chapbook. Don't know what an e-chapbook is? [Check out a a sample of a downloadable electronic chapbook at the website.] Slated for =The Goblin Market= is an interview with Raymond Feist, author of =Faerie Tale=, =The King's Buccaneer= and =Silverthorn=. Also included is the wonderful music of Tom Williams III a.k.a. Dreamsharer. Fiction Guidelines: What we're looking for: Fantasy, fantasy and more fantasy. I want to see High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery and any combination thereof. No Modern Fantasy please. Stories set in non-Western European settings are eagerly sought. Word Limit: Up to 5,000. As this is an electronic publication, however, shorter is always better (most readers can only stand so much on screen reading). I will most likely only accept 1 5,000 word story. Rights bought: First Worldwide Electronic Rights. No reprints please. Payment: 3 cents (US) per word upon acceptance. How to submit: Please submit stories via e-mail to: goblinmarket@eggplant-productions.com. Put the submission in the body of the text, no attachments, my computer likes to eat them. Standard ms format for electronic submissions is as follows (this is what looks best and reads the easiest): Single space the ms, double space between paragraphs. Indicate a break in the scene with a row of # or the like. Indicate italics _like this_ or *like this*. Do not put italics or any kind of emphasis in ALL CAPS, it makes it difficult to edit the text and it just looks really ugly and puts the editor in a cranky mood. Standard Disclaimer: Please don't submit anything with gratuitous sex or violence or gore for gore's sake. Also, please don't submit anything that has any kind of child abuse in it. Poetry Guidelines: Poetry submitted for =Goblin Market= must fall within the fantasy genre. High fantasy, low fantasy, sword and sorcery, humorous or dark fantasy, any will be considered. Science fiction and pure horror will not be accepted for this anthology. Payment will be $15 per poem, upon acceptance, and reprints will not be accepted. There are no hard and fast line limits, but poems over 60 lines would have to be exceptional to be considered. I will look at submissions of up to 5 poems at a time, and will try to respond swiftly. Any form of poetry is fine, traditional or free verse. In fact, if you want to experiment with the tricky old poetic structures, feel free to go ahead. Likewise, both narrative and lyric poetry are fine. Remember though, that to me structure is less important than soul. If your poem doesn't make me see, or feel, or believe something, it won't matter how pretty the words are, or how perfect the meter and rhyme. Poetry submissions should be sent to gmpoetry@eggplant- productions.com [The Goblin Market website at http://www.eggplant-productions .com/goblin/] CONTEST =Second Annual Romance and Beyond Contest= [SF/F/H romance to 10,000 wds., awards $50, $20, $15, $10, deadline 1 Feb 99, $10 entry fee, only accepts 1st 30 entries in each category] Briada Press, Inc. 3527 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy, Suite 9; Lafayette, LA 70503-5130 CATEGORIES (divided by romance sub-genre and word count): (1) Paranormal, supernatural, or horror (1000--10,000 words) (ghosts, vampires, psychics, past lives, runes, Tarot, angels, beauty and the beast, etc.) (2) Science fiction or futuristic (1000--10,000 words) (future Earth, other planets, advanced transportation devices, alien cultures, time travel to or from the future, etc.) (3) Fantasy or fairy tale (1000--10,000 words) (spells, magic, mythology, demons, centaurs, elves, dragons, sword and sorcery, etc.) (4) Short-short stories which would fit in any one of the above categories, but are less than 1000 words. Most (or all) of the internal conflict must be created--then resolved--by the emotional/spiritual/physical attraction between the hero and heroine. Tone can be very dark to humorous, but the story must be a romance and must have a happy ending. Sources of external conflict are left to your imagination, the more original the better. AWARDS: Grand Prize: $50 First Place in each category: $20 Second Place in each category: $15 Third Place in each category: $10 In addition, the Grand Prize winner and each First and Second Place winner will receive an offer of publication in =Romance and Beyond Magazine= and will receive one free copy of the magazine in which their story appears. All winners will receive a discount on orders of =Romance and Beyond Magazine=. All entrants will receive written comments about their manuscript. ELIGIBILITY: Authors may be published or unpublished. Only stories never previously published in any form are eligible. DATES: Entries must be postmarked on or before February 1, 1999. Only the first 30 entries in each category will be accepted. ENTRY: Mail two copies of the complete manuscript, double-spaced, single-sided, non-proportional, and clearly typed, on 8 1/2" x 11" white paper. Each copy of each entry must be held together with its own binder clip. Enclose a #10 self-addressed envelope (SASE) with $.55 postage attached (Non-U.S.--2 IRC's) (If you would like acknowledgement of receipt of your entry, you may also include a SAS Postcard). Enclose one copy of the entry form with each entry (maximum three entries per person). Enclose a $10 entry fee for each entry (Important: entry fee must be paid with a check drawn on an U.S. bank or with a money order in U.S. funds). Names may not appear on any manuscript page. Send no cover sheet other than the entry form. (Entry form available at http://members.aol.com/ RBeyond/index4.html) [Romance and Beyond contest page at http://members.aol.com/ RBeyond/index5.html] MARKET GUIDELINES =The Fractal= [Biannual printzine, SF/F/H, $25.00 per story, elect. subm. okay.] =The Fractal= was founded in 1992 to provide a forum for student- and faculty-written science fiction, fantasy and horror literature and academic nonfiction. We are committed to the idea that the fantastic has academic value in literature studies. The Fractal is published at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. =The Fractal= can be contacted via: The Internet, at fractal@gmu.edu (WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS SENT TO TheFractal@aol.com.) U.S. Mail, at 4400 University Drive, MS 2D6, Fairfax, VA, 22030-4444 The Web, at http://www.gmu.edu/org/fractal/ Call for Papers =The Fractal= is a biannual journal of the fantastic in the arts. We are a non-refereed journal published in cooperation with George Mason University. We publish academic non-fiction relating to science fiction, fantasy, and horror in the arts and in the culture at large. We are seeking serious academic studies relating to these topics. Manuscripts for consideration should be sent to: The Fractal, George Mason University, Mail Stop 2D6, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444 We also accept submissions electronically. Send ASCII submissions to fractal@gmu.edu Submission Guidelines Fiction and Poetry: =The Fractal= publishes literary sf and fantasy work. We look for genre work with strong narrative and imagery. We are especially interested in experimental works. =The Fractal= pays $25 for accepted fiction submissions, and $5 for accepted poetry submissions. Fiction and poetry submissions should be on 8.5 by 11 inch white paper, with double-space text and one inch margins, printed on one side of the page. Your name and address should appear in the upper right corner of the first page. Your name, the title of your work and the page number should appear on all subsequent pages. Nonfiction: =The Fractal= publishes academic nonfiction, interviews, and reviews of academic work. =The Fractal= pays $50 for accepted nonfiction submissions. Nonfiction submissions should be on 8.5 by 11 inch white paper, with double-space text and one inch margins, printed on one side of the page. Your name and address should appear in the upper right corner of the first page. Your name, the title of your work and the page number should appear on all subsequent pages. Art: =The Fractal= uses black and white line art, and a small number of halftone pieces. =The Fractal= pays $25 for cover illustrations, and $5 for interior art. Art submissions should be pen and ink. Query first for charcoal or pencil art or photography. For art submissions, your name should appear in pencil on the backs of all submissions. =The Fractal= reserves First North American Serial Rights to accepted work. Subsequent rights revert to the author/artist. =The Fractal= accepts fiction, poetry and art based on original characters and situations only; please do not submit media-based stories. Subscription Information =The Fractal= is produced bi-annually. It is a digest sized (8.5 x 5.5 inches), 80 page publication. Single copies/sample issues are five dollars U.S. each. One year/two issue subscriptions are eight dollars U.S. =The Fractal= is available for classroom use. Universities, colleges, and instructors should contact =The Fractal= for further information. Distributors and bookstores interested in carrying =The Fractal= should contact our offices directly. =The Fractal= back issues are five dollars U.S. each. [From =The Fractal= website at http://www.gmu.edu/org/fractal/] =Jackhammer E-zine= [Weekly webzine, SF/F/H relating to question of the week, to 2,000 wds, 1 cent/word on pub., reprints okay, E-mail subs only.] Raechel Henderson, editor 9220 Jill Lane #2E, Schiller Park, IL 60176 E-mail: jackhammer@eggplant-productions.com Guidelines for Jackhammer E-zine I. What to submit to us Questions - Do you have a question that you would like to see on Jackhammer? Submit them to: jackhammer@eggplant-productions.com Stories - What we're looking for: Up to 2000 words, SF/H/F (Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror), or any mix of the three, based on the question of the week. These are stories, so please entertain us. Don't preach. Send us your best. Please use proper grammar and spelling. We do not consider stories that involve child molestation, gore for gore's sake, or pornography. You can e-mail your manuscript to: jackhammer@eggplant- productions.com. Send us a clean, easily readable manuscript. Double space between paragraphs, keep line length to seventy (70) characters and send in plain text as the body of the e-mail (no attachments). If you use special characters for italics please indicate so at the top (i.e. "* denotes italics"). Please don't use ALL CAPS to indicate italics or emphasis. Place the title and your name as the subject. At the top of the message include your name, e-mail address, snail mail address, word count and the question the story is for. We don't accept general submissions. That is, all stories and articles I accept must touch upon a Question of the Week. Don't submit a story with the intention of it being a "general submission" and don't submit a story or article without indicating what question it is for. I request this for two reasons: 1) it makes my life just a little bit easier, which in turn allows me to put out a great e-zine, 2) if I don't have a question, it slows down response time. Jackhammer's average response time is 2 days. Usually it's faster. Our longest response time was 9 days. If you want to hear back from me quickly, include a question with your story or article. Please, no HTML coding or URL's in the story. If you have links that go with the story, we will put them at the end of the text. If you have a web page, include that as well. We will link to it while your story is up. Reprints accepted (please indicate when and where the piece was previously published). I'll try to comment on every story that comes before me. I am a writer and I hate form letters so you won't get one from me. Articles - Pretty much the same as above. 1000 word, $10 (U.S. Currency) limit. Relevant HTML coding and URL's can be included in the article and are encouraged. We are also now accepting opinion pieces, essays and the like. Writer's Duet - Occasionally we run a writer's duet, in which two writers work on a story all week long, each posting parts of the story. If you would be interested in working on such a project, e-mail us and submit a few samples of your writing (so we can match you up with another author). We pay each author $20 for participation and we post the results of the duet in its entirety the next week. II. Rights First Worldwide Electronic Rights - We buy First Worldwide Electronic Rights for pieces that have not appeared anywhere on the web before including print reprints. Rights revert back to the author 90 days after publication, and we ask that accepted submissions do not appear elsewhere on the web until after this time expires. Worldwide Electronic Rights - We buy Worldwide Electronic Rights for web reprints. Again, rights revert back to the author 90 days after publication, and we ask that accepted submissions do no appear eleswhere on the web until after this time expires. III. Payment 1 cent per word with a minimum of $5 (US Currency) for both stories and articles. Payment upon publication. Unfortunately, we can not pay for questions of the week (we'd definitely be poor then). The most we can do for the question submissions is to put your name in lights. Upcoming Questions Question Deadline Intelligent Life on other planets: Friend or Foe? 10/16/98 What are you thankful for? 10/23/98 Do humans have souls? 10/30/98 Closed to fiction. Is human nature good, evil or neutral? 11/7/98 Freewill vs. Fate: which is it? 11/14/98 Closed to fiction. 1 slot left for articles Hallmark Holidays: Where's the meaning? 11/21/98 What's your New Year's Resolution? 11/28/98 The millennium, why all the hoopla? 12/4/98 Closed to articles. Coming of Age: What's the big deal? 12/11/98 Manners: where have they gone? 12/18/98 Closed to articles. Are we what we eat 12/25/98 Closed to fiction Special Poetry Issue: Where has all the poetry gone? 1/1/99 [Check website for special guidelines] Love online? 1/8/99 Closed to articles. And what, exactly, are family values? 1/15/99 Is justice for all possible? 1/22/99 1 slot left for articles! Mind over matter? 2/1/99 Racism, sexism, agism: Can't we all just get along? 2/8/99 Technomania: what will the next major human invention be? 2/15/99 The spirit world: believable or baloney? 2/22/99 What is the truly final frontier? 2/29/99 Have we taken political correctness too far? 3/12/99 For better or worse: How has the relationship between men and women changed over the last 50 years? 3/19/99 The Next Generation: Are sequels always inferior to the original? 3/26/99 What is the future of cyberspace? 4/3/99 [Check website at http://www.eggplant-productions.com/ current/guidelines.html for more up-to-date guidelines.] MARKET INFORMATION =Aboriginal Science Fiction= According to their website, =Aboriginal Science Fiction= has a new address: Aboriginal Science Fiction, 12 Emeline Street, Woburn, MA 01801 =Amazing= A writer on Genie reports that =Amazing= editor Kim Mohan says the magazine is even more heavily slanted toward SF than it used to be and only very few of a certain type (not specified) of Fantasy story will be printed. [SFRT4, Cat 4, Top 3, 27 Sep 98] =Avon Books= According to =Locus= magazine, Avon Books is launching a new SF anthology series, which will be edited by Lou Aronica, who started the =Full Spectrum= series while at Bantam, and Jennifer Brehl, senior editor and head of the Avon Eos SF line. The first book will contain about 150,000 words and is 'totally open' to submissions. They will be paying 10 cents/wd. and want all lengths, including novellas. The only requirement is that the fiction be of the highest grade--the same specs as =Full Spectrum=. Submissions should be marked 'for original anthology series' and sent to Jennifer Brehl, Avon Books, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, new York, NY 10011. [Speculations #23] =Century= In an interview concerning his work with the new Webzine =Event Horizon= (in DarkEcho newsletter, 20 Aug 98) Robert Killheffer, also editor of =Century= magazine, says, "A variety of personal crises and major changes--in my life and in Meg [Hamel, publisher]'s--have kept us idle far longer than either of us might have guessed, but right now I'm pulling together all the materials to relaunch the magazine myself (though my partnership with Meg won't change, and she may well return in her previous role as publisher in the future, when things settle down for her). I'm extremely optimistic that we'll have our (long awaited) issue #5 out for World Fantasy Con. But I'll be making "official" announcements about all this when I have all the necessary details worked out and can be absolutely certain. I don't want any more false alarms or rumors." [DarkEcho, 20 Aug 98]] =Crank!= =Crank!= now accepts E-mail submissions. The basic info: Frequency: Quarterly. Cover price: $4.50. Editor: Bryan Cholfin. Editiorial address: Broken Mirrors Press, P. O. Box 1110, New York, NY 10159, E-mail address: cranked@ earthlink.net. "=Crank!= is currently offering 8 cents/word for original stories. Please do not submit reprints, poetry, artwork, or any sort of nonfiction. . . . After years of resisting, I've decided to allow E-mail subs. . . . [S]end an attachment in ASCII/plain text format, or include text in body of message. Don't send word processor documents. . . . Put the word 'Submission' and the title of the story in the subject header." Return time: approx. 2 weeks. "What I want: There is no pat description of a 'typical' =Crank!= story. If you have not read the magazine, it is highly advisable that you do so before submitting. After all, if you don't think what I do is interesting, why should I think what you do is interesting? =Crank!= is not like other magazines. It is much more demanding of both creative energy and technical accomplishment. It is, generally speaking, a magazine of SF, F, and related fictions. I want to be surprised. I want to be entertained. I want to be dazzled by ideas, by words, by stories. "Most of the unsolicited stories that are sent to me fail for a simple reason: they're dull. They're tired, generic ideas told in tired, generic voices. Only a relatively small portion are really exceptionally bad. I am interested in finding and developing new talent, but I buy unsolicited stories extremely selectively. "You have been warned." [Speculations #23] =The Gila Queen's Guide to Markets= Kathy Ptacek, editor of =The Gila Queen's Guide to Markets=, says, "I want to remind everyone not to email me at Genie, but rather use the other email addresses (GilaQueen@worldnet.att.net or GilaQueen@aol.com). "I've come to a decision, which doesn't make me very happy, but then ... I am closing my Genie account. I got onto Genie today and discovered I hadn't been on for two or more months. That's a long time. This is hard for me because I have met so many great people through Genie. But please feel free to email me. Or maybe I'll start up a Gila chat whatever tied in with my web site. Who knows? (I sure don't!)" [SFRT4, Cat 14, Top 12, 20 Sep 98] =Romance and Beyond Magazine= The print magazine =Romance and Beyond= has a note on its guidelines web page saying: "NOTE: We will not be reading submissions between October 1, 1998, and February 1, 1999. We are scheduled well into 1999 and will be focusing our energies on our Annual Contest." (See the contest guidelines above.) [http://members.aol.com/RBeyond/index3.html] WARNING! [We've seen warnings in the past about "book doctor" Edit Ink and its many affiliates. Apparently, even though they've been slapped with a lawsuit, they're still going strong. Warning: If you EVER get a letter from these people, don't respond!] A writer on Genie says, "Edit Ink and Aardvark are alive and well still. A student writer brought me news of their "offers" last week. She was astounded when I guessed who was involved just from her description of their letters to her. (They picked her up because she did the beginner's trick of registering her precious manuscript at the copyright office. But taking a subscription to =The Writer= or =Writer's Digest= does just as well.)" [SFRT4, 21 Sep 1998] ==End of CALLIHOO newsletter for 6 October 1998==