CALLIHOO Newsletter Market News for Writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Julia West, Editor Vol. 10, No. 30 18 February 2003 Website: http://www.sff.net/people/julia.west/CALLIHOO/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------- IN THIS ISSUE News Deadlines Contest Hidden Talents Short Story Contest (gls) Market Guidelines Alchemy (gls) Dark Seasons (gls) Ideomancer (gls) Just Weird Enough (gls) Leng! The Cthulhu Mythos Megazine (gls) Palace of Reason (gls) Market Information Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine Black Gate Century (hiatus) Ideomancer Speculon (dead) TriSpec (dead) ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS M. Shayne Bell's novelette, "The Pagodas of Ciboure," is on the Final Ballot for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Award. Congratulations, Shayne, and best of luck. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DEADLINES Check out the CALLIHOO website, listed above, for more information on these contests, magazine issues, and anthologies. (Where it says "GLs in Vol. X No. Y," these are volume and issue of the CALLIHOO newsletter.) 3F PUBLICATIONS HORROR CONTEST Deadline 1 March 2003 [Contest/antho, Halloween H 3000-5000 wds. Unpub. writers only. $5 entry fee. Pays 3 cents/wd. E-mail only. (GLs Vol. 10 No. 24)] PATH OF THE JUST SUPERHERO FICTION ANTHOLOGY Deadline 1 March 2003 [Anthology, F in Silver Age Sentinels RPG milieu, 3,000 to 7,000 wds. Pays 3-5 cents/wd. on pub. No E-mail subs. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 20)] SAY. . . WHAT TIME IS IT? Open 1 December 2002 to 1 March 2003 [Semi-annual printzine, themed (what time is it?). Fiction to 8,000 wds. Pays $10/story. No sim or mult subs, reprints, or E- mail subs. No erotica. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 24)] WRITERS OF THE FUTURE, 2ND QUARTER 2003 Deadline 31 March 2003 [$1000 first, $750 2nd, $500 3rd place. No entry fee. L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, P.O. Box 1630-JBW, Los Angeles, CA 90078. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 1)] HIDDEN TALENTS SHORT STORY CONTEST Deadline 31 May 2003 [Canadian contest, stories to 5,000 wds. Prizes (Can$): 1st $500, 2nd $250, 3rd $100, HM $25; Jr 1st $200, 2nd $100, 3rd $50, HM $10. Winners pub. Entry fee $10C ($5C for Jr Writers--under age 17). No E-mail subs, reprints. Mult subs okay with separate entry fee & form. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 30)] ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONTEST HIDDEN TALENTS SHORT STORY CONTEST [Canadian contest, short stories to 5,000 wds. Prizes: 1st $500C, 2nd $250C, 3rd $100C, HM $25C; Junior 1st $200C, 2nd $100C, 3rd $50C, HM $10C. Winners pub. Entry fee $10C ($5C for Junior Writers--under age 17). Deadline 31 May 03. No E-mail subs, reprints. Mult subs okay with separate entry fee & form.] Tall Tales Press Book Publishing Inc. 20 Tuscany Valley Park NW Calgary, AB T3L 2B6 Canada Introduction We are sure that most new writers would agree with us that the hardest part of getting their work published is obtaining the experience that publishers demand. The Hidden Talents Short Story Contest was created by Tall Tales Press Book Publishing Inc. with the intention of seeking out talented writers and giving them the opportunity of having their work published, and thus gaining some of that experience publishers are looking for. The cash prizes for this contest are as follows; 1st Place - $500.00, 2nd Place - $250.00, 3rd Place - $100.00, Honourable Mentions -$25.00; Junior Writers 1st Place - $200.00, Junior Writers 2nd Place - $100.00, Junior Writers 3rd Place - $50.00, Junior Writers Honourable Mentions - $10.00 All entries must be postmarked no later than May 31, 2003. Winners will be announced no later than July 15, 2003. To receive a winners list ensure that a SASE, or valid e-mail is enclosed with each entry. Provided we continue to receive a sufficient number of high quality entries, by approximately mid Sept of 2003, Tall Tales Press Book Publishing Inc. will publish a high quality paper back book which will include the winning entries. Each of the authors who's [sic] story is used in this book will receive a free copy of the book shortly after the book's release date. The author will not incur any furthers cost, however if desired, subsequent books may be purchased by the authors at a reduced, wholesale price. Good writing skills are essential to any piece of literary work, but entries to the Hidden Talents Short Story Contest will be judged on much more. We believe that most readers are looking for a story that will entertain them, let them escape their everyday life for a short while and allow them to experience something new or exciting. An author can be a great writer but if he/she is unable to capture the reader's interest they have not succeed [sic] in being a great storyteller. Therefore all entries will be judged on storyline, character development, literary skills, and the overall composition. We at Tall Tales Press Book Publishing Inc. have also decided that we want to nurture the minds of the young writers so we have included the Junior Writers section in this year's competition. Entrants in this category will find themselves challenged because we are looking for high quality stories which will be judged in the same manner as the rest of the contest. You are never too young to start writing, so put your pen to paper and let your imagination take you away. Our initial plans were to have a contest with no reading fees however, after much deliberation we came to the conclusion that there is a good reason most contests charge a reading fee. It takes a significant amount of time to read through each story we receive and give it the attention it deserves. By charging a reading fee we encourage authors to enter only those stories they believe in and not just enter as many stories as possible in hopes of winning a cash prize. At Tall Tales Press Book Publishing Inc. we decided that if we had to charge a reading fee, we would keep it as low as possible while making sure the cash prizes were substantial. In ending let us say get out there and start writing, have fun doing it and good luck to all who enter. Oh, and please read and follow Contest Guidelines, then print and complete your Contest Entry Form. Meet the final Judges Pat Jensen Jeffery Pat's literary credits include scripting several cable television programs. She has also worked as both producer and host. In addition to her novel =Shock Trauma=, Pat has written two full-length screenplays, a TV pilot and has just completed the scripts for three videos now in production. Kim Tetarenko Kim is a mechanical engineer turned writer, guide, and photographer. Her first book, =Ken Jones Mountain Man=, was nominated for an award at the Banff Mountain Book Festival. She is currently working on anew series of kids' books called =The Adventurers=. She can be seen driving around in a 1972 Super Beetle with the kids in the book painted on one side, and a skeleton on the other. The Adventuremobile is for visiting schools and promoting awareness of the new series. You can check out her web site at www.theadventurers.info Barbara Smith Barbara Smith is the author of 16 books, 13 of which are collections of true ghost stories. =Ghost Stories of Alberta=, =Ghost Stories of California=, =Canadian Ghost Stories=, =Haunted Theaters= are some of her titles in that series. She has taught writing-related courses at the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan College as well as for private industry. Barbara's books can be found in most books stores or on-line at Chapters, Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. Jacqueline Guest Jacqueline Guest is a Metis writer who lives in a log cabin nestled in the pinewoods of the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta. She has seven published novels and is currently working on her next project. Her novels include; =Hat Trick=, =Free Throw=, =Rink Rivals=, =Triple Threat=, =A Goal in Sight=, =Rookie Season=, and =Lightning Rider=. Jacqueline has won three Canadian Children's Book Centre Choice Awards and has been on juries for the AFA for the Grant MacEwan Award and the AFA Writing Grants. For more information on Jacqueline Guest and her books, please visit www.jacquelineguest.com [http://www.talltalespress.com/pages/882188/index.htm] Guidelines Categories There is only one special category and that is Junior Writers, for writers who are seventeen years of age or younger. For both the Adult and Junior Writers categories, any fiction or non-fiction short story is acceptable. However, we will not accept stories that are not suitable for the general public such as pornography. Reading Fees $10.00 Canadian per entry (or $10 US if Canadian funds are not available) $5.00 Canadian per entry for Junior Writers Prizes (in Canadian dollars) 1st Place - $500.00 2nd Place - $250.00 3rd Place - $100.00 Honourable Mentions - $25.00 Junior Writers 1st Place - $200.00 Junior Writers 2nd Place - $100.00 Junior Writers 3rd Place - $50.00 Junior Writers Honourable Mentions - $10.00 Annual Deadline All entries must be postmarked no later then May 31, 2003. Rules * Length must not exceed 5,000 words. * Manuscripts must be typed double-spaced on 8-1/2 x 11 paper, photocopies are acceptable. * In the top right hand corner of the manuscript's first page please include, Story title, Author's name, address, phone number, and e-mail if desired. * Multiple entries are allowed but each entry must include its own Entry Form and Reading Fee. * Only original, previously unpublished stories will be accepted. * All entries must include completed Entry Form and Reading Fee. Make cheques or money orders payable in Canadian funds to Tall Tales Press Book Publishing Inc. * For a winners list please include your e-mail or enclose a SASE with Canadian postage or international reply coupons if you are submitting from outside Canada. * Provided we continue to receive a sufficient number of high quality entries, by approximately mid Sept of each year, Tall Tales Press Book Publishing Inc. will publish a high quality paper back book which will include the winning entries. Each of the authors whose story is used in this book will receive a free copy of the book shortly after the book's release date. The author will not incur any furthers [sic] cost, however if desired, subsequent books may be purchased by the authors at a reduced, wholesale price. Send all entries to: Tall Tales Press Book Publishing Inc., 20 Tuscany Valley Park NW, Calgary, AB, T3L 2B6 Canada [http://www.talltalespress.com/pages/882189/index.htm] ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARKET GUIDELINES ALCHEMY [Print mag, F to 15,000 wds, pays 5 cents/wd. No E-mail subs or queries.] Steve Pasechnick, Editor P. O. Box 380264 Cambridge, MA 02238 U.S.A. Submission Guidelines "For =Alchemy=, the type of fantasy is not as important as how well it's written. I'm interested in all types of fantasy including urban fantasy, retold fairy tales, dark fantasy, heroic fantasy, etc. It just has to be very well-written. And I have to like it, which I suppose is true for any editor." Length: up to 15,000 words. Pays: five (5) cents per word. No science fiction or poetry. No electronic submissions. Wait at least one month before querying by snail mail only. No e-mail submissions or queries. [www.ralan.com] DARK SEASONS [Quarterly E-zine, H 1,500 to 3,000 wds. Pays 3 cents/wd on pub. Buys 1 ms. per quarter. No sim or mult subs or reprints. E-mail subs only. Must sign up for DarkVesper Publishing Newsletter before sending sub. RT 1 day to six weeks.] Submissions: dvfictionsub@aol.com A Quarterly E-Zine of Horror Fiction and Reviews Story length must be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. No simultaneous or multiple submissions, and no reprints will be considered. We require one year exclusive rights, and the story may not appear elsewhere within that time period. After one year all rights will return to the author and the story will be archived on the site along with the author's bio. (We will allow an exception to the exclusive rights for you to submit your story to the "Year's Best" anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow.) Payment will be 3 cents a word on publication. All stories must be sent to the following address: dvfictionsub@aol.com The acceptable format is an RTF file, none other permitted. DO NOT send .zip files. (only use this email address for =Dark Seasons= submissions) Submitters must sign up for the DarkVesper Publishing Newsletter before sending a submission. Publishing dates will be tentatively as follows: January 15th, April 15th, July 15th, October 15th. Expect responses anywhere from 1 day to six weeks. Seasonal themes are welcome, with each issue falling under its monthly equivalent. But there's room for flexibility here, as we don't want to turn down an excellent tale. Include an element of that particular season in your story, even if it's a bit vague. Temperature, mood, etc. We're looking for horror, the kind that gives you honest chills, disturbing and well-written. Traditional, gothic, or modern settings are all fine. We are not interested in erotica or extreme gore/violence for shock value. Make yourself believe in it, breathe life into the fear. We expect the competition to be fierce, as in all pro markets, and with only one slot per quarter, the odds of getting published are extremely slim. With this in mind, we're offering another token of consideration. All submitters will be entered into a drawing, as we're giving away one of our chapbooks each issue, and this is just for sending us your work. [http://www.darkvesperpublishing.com/darkseasons/index.html] IDEOMANCER [SF/F/H/slipstream/flash. Flash fic to 500 wds. Other to 5,000 wds. Pays 3 cents/wd. to $100 max on accept. E-mail subs only. No reprints, sim or mult subs.] Staff Chris Clarke, Publisher cjclarke@bigpond.net.au Amber van Dyk, Managing Editor mekkare@spookydisco.com Chelsea Polk, Editor chelseap@spookydisco.com Cathy Freeze, Editor cmefreeze@yahoo.com Mikal Trimm, Editor mtrimm1@yahoo.com Dorian E. Gray, Editor dorian.e.gray@spookydisco.com Jennifer de Guzman, Editor j_belew@yahoo.com Pam McNew, Editor pnew8@hotmail.com Submissions: submissions@ideomancer.com (NOT to any of the staff e-mails) http://www.ideomancer.com/main/ideoMain.htm =Ideomancer= submission guidelines =Ideomancer= publishes science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, and flash fiction. We are open to any story with a speculative element--the supernatural, the unexplained, or the undiscovered. Stories without this element will not be considered. In other words, no matter how brilliant your serial-killer story is, it won't pass muster with us; we want that something extra that pushes a story beyond the bounds of reality. Format All stories sent to =Ideomancer= should be e-mailed to us (no snail mail submissions). Attach your story as an .rtf file -- NO OTHER FILE TYPES WILL BE ACCEPTED! Do NOT embed your story in your e-mail message, or it will be deleted unread. If you are unsure what Standard Manuscript Format is, you can find the details at http://www.speculations.com/format.htm. We do not require a bio in your cover letter-in fact, we tend to ignore them. If your story works for us, we buy it, regardless of your history. When we accept your story, we will obtain the biographical data that we need. Reprints and articles =Ideomancer= accepts only those reprints we have solicited from our featured authors. For everyone else, no reprints will be considered. All of our non-fiction pieces are generated in-house. We do not solicit articles from the public. Length and payment For flash fiction, the stories cannot exceed 500 words (word processor count). 501 words is no longer flash--you used one too many 'and's or 'the's. For all other fiction, we have a 5000 word upper limit. Again, you may use word processor count, but understand that stories hovering at the upper limit (4800 words-plus) will need to be exceptionally brilliant to be considered. =Ideomancer= pays US3c a word (our word processor count -- Microsoft Word) up to a maximum of US$100. Payment on acceptance. We buy First Worldwide Electronic Rights. Other concerns =Ideomancer= does not accept simultaneous or multiple submissions. We try to have a very fair turnaround time on stories, so we ask our contributors to give us the courtesy of submitting one story at a time to this market, and no other, until we make our decision. Submission address Send all submissions to submissions@ideomancer.com. Do NOT send them to the individual editors -- they will be discarded. [http://www.ideomancer.com/main/ideoMain.htm] JUST WEIRD ENOUGH, SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY & FABLE [New quarterly mag. (Aug 2003). Stories about "Things that don't happen" for ages 9-14 to 2,500 wds (Readers' Section to 800 wds). Pays 3 cents/wd. on accept (less for reprints, $15/story for Readers' Section). Reprints okay. No sim subs, S&S, H, occult, vampires. E-mail subs encouraged.] Luc Reid, Editor Just Weird Enough PO Box 247 Plainfield, VT 05667-0247 editor@justweirdenough.com Submissions: attn: Fiction Editor or fiction@justweirdenough.com Readers' Section (by kids under 16) subs: attn: Readers' Section Editor or readers@justweirdenough.com www.justweirdenough.com =Just Weird Enough= is a new magazine of stories, poems, and art about things that don't happen: magic, inventions that haven't yet been devised, discoveries that haven't yet been made, and other speculations. It's designed for 9- to 14-year-olds, with the intention of being rewarding reading for older teens and adults as well. Our free preview mini-issue (Summer 2003) is due out in May, and our first full issue (Fall 2003) in August. We're always interested in submissions of stories, art, and poems by both adults and our readers: [Check] Readers' Section Guidelines, or . . . Pro Guidelines. We appreciate your comments and suggestions: Please e-mail us if you'd like to weigh in. Send Letters to the Editor, for possible publication in the magazine or on the Web site, to letters@justweirdenough.com Best wishes, Luc Reid Editor, Just Weird Enough =Just Weird Enough= is published by Meadowdance, an egalitarian, child-centered cooperative in Plainfield, Vermont. [http://www.justweirdenough.com/] Submission Guidelines for Professionals PO Box 247 Plainfield, Vermont 05667-0247 http://www.justweirdenough.com editor@justweirdenough.com (The following guidelines are for adult contributors. Writers, poets, and artists up to age 16, please see our separate readers' guidelines, or you can get a copy by sending us a note along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope.) We publish original fiction, poetry, and art with imaginative or impossible elements, including (for example) science fiction, fantasy, and alternate history. We enjoy working with both new and established writers, poets, and artists. Submissions should be engaging, meaningful, and fun for our 9- to 14-year-old readers, and written material should be at an appropriate reading level. Most of our material is easily understood and engaging enough to interest our younger readers and interesting enough to appeal to our older readers. We're particularly interested in material that promotes, without preaching, egalitarianism, real world non-violence, ecological sensibility, diversity, and other positive, cooperative themes. A good example of this approach is Huckleberry Finn, in which no character, including the escaped slave and the boy who's helping him, ever considers that slavery itself might be wrong. Yet it's hardly possible to read the book without us, the readers, looking at the issue personally and in detail. So at =Just Weird Enough=, we enjoy stories where the issue is a part of the story that profoundly affects the character, as slavery affects Jim and Huck. That said, we also publish work that doesn't have these kinds of themes. We're not the right market for: non-fiction, games, puzzles, activities, sword & sorcery, horror, occult, vampire stories, religious material (it's fine for characters in stories to be religious, but stories should not promote or deprecate any religion), gore, gratuitous violence, material that is demeaning or dismissive of women or any other group of people, or didactic or condescending stories. Some stories have elements like talking animals that are essentially stand-ins for human beings to make the story more lively: there's nothing wrong with that kind of story, but in itself that kind of device doesn't make the story quite speculative enough for us. Talking animals are fine, but there should be a reason why they can talk. We do consider reprints and translations of material that fits our editorial guidelines and is not easily accessible elsewhere. Please indicate if your submission is a reprint. No simultaneous submissions, please. E-mail submissions are encouraged: Please attach your submission in .txt, .rtf, or .doc (Microsoft Word) format, or include it in the body of your message. Paper submissions are also fine, but no fax submissions please. If you mail your submission, please enclose a SASE with adequate postage if you would like your material returned or a #10 SASE with first class postage or valid e-mail address otherwise. Printed submissions should be clear and easy to read and should have the title, author's name, and page number on each page. Double-sided printing and single-spaced submissions OK (we're trying to save some trees here). Please no faint print, onionskin, eraseable bond paper, or strange fonts. Payment is on acceptance, usually 3-6 months after submission. We buy first North American Serial Rights and provide a contributor's copy in addition to payment. Sample copy available for $4.50. FICTION We accept both short stories and series fiction. For every longer story we publish (1,500-2,500 words), we publish several shorter ones (under 1,500 words), so shorter stories have a better chance of publication. For serials, please send the entire series or first piece and an outline of the remainder. Novel excerpts to 2,500 words, provided they stand alone. Payment is 3c/word for previously unpublished stories. Please address submissions attn: Fiction Editor, or to fiction@justweirdenough.com. POETRY We consider poetry of up to 30 lines, provided it has science fiction, fantasy, or other speculative theme and appeals to 9- to 14-year-olds. Payment is $30/poem. Please submit no more than 5 poems at once. Please address submissions attn: Poetry Editor, or to poetry@justweirdenough.com. ART We use original, black-and-white illustrations with a science fiction or fantastic theme. Send either disposable copies of specific art for inclusion or disposable copies of 1-6 pieces from your portfolio. If you're sending samples, we'll hang on to them if your work seems like a good match for =Just Weird Enough= and get in touch when we'd like you to illustrate a particular story, poem, or idea. You may also e-mail us samples of your work or specific submissions (GIF or JPG format only, please). Most of the pictures we publish illustrate our fiction and poetry, so sending samples is the easiest route to placing your work with us. We also accept multi-panel cartoons and graphic stories (stories in a cartoon format) of 1-4 pages, and print a four-color cover illustration each issue. For cartoon series, please query with samples. We pay $25 for interior illustrations, $80 for color cover illustrations, $25 for cartoons, and $25/pg for graphic stories. We're specifically interested in dynamic, expressive images, both illustrations of stories and poems and pieces meant to stand alone. On seeing your artwork, we want our readers to have an immediate impression that something is happening, even if it's only in a character's facial expression. Send art submissions and portfolios attn: Art Director, or to art@justweirdenough.com. [http://www.justweirdenough.com/proguidelines/] Submission Guidelines for Readers' Section attn: Readers' Section Editor PO Box 247 Plainfield, Vermont 05667-0247 http://www.justweirdenough.com readers@justweirdenough.com (The following guidelines are for contributors up to age 16. Adult contributors, please see our separate professional submission guidelines, or mail us a SASE and a note requesting a copy of our submission guidelines. Readers older than 16 can submit work for professional publication, but not to the Readers' Section.) Most of our magazine is written by professional writers, but every issue we print a few selected poems, stories, or pictures by our readers. We use stories, poems, and pictures about things that are only possible in the imagination. This might be because they depend on something that hasn't been invented or discovered yet, because something impossible happens in them, because they're about something that could have happened but didn't, etc. We pay $15 plus a free copy of the magazine for each poem, story, and illustration we publish in the Readers' Section. When you send your submission, we need some information to be able to review your work and to get in touch with you. Please include: Your full name Your address Your phone number (if you want to) Your e-mail address (if you have one and want to include it) Your age Your grade in school, if you go to a school and it's organized in grades The title of your work, and If you'd like, a sentence or two about yourself. You can print out a form [at the website] that has blanks for all this if you'd like to. We keep this information private, and we don't share it with anyone outside of our staff and editorial board. It's important that your stories and poems be typed, printed with a computer printer, or e-mailed to us, because we read a lot and it's hard to read handwriting for hours and hours. Please use a really boring font like Times New Roman or Courier and make sure that the printing is big enough and dark enough. If you have more than one page, please number the pages. You can send us your work by e-mail at readers@justweirdenough.com. Just put your work in the letter itself or attach it as a .doc (Microsoft Word), .rtf, or .txt file (for stories and poetry) or a .GIF or .JPG file (for art). See our Web page on sending things to us through e-mail for more help with this. We like e-mail submissions because they save paper, but it's also fine to mail us your work. Be sure to address it attn: Readers' Section Editor. If you're interested in joining the =Just Weird Enough= Readers Editorial Board (some of the people who help decide what we put in the magazine), please take a look at our Web page about it. When we get your story, poem, or picture, we'll look at it and get back to you as soon as we can. Sometimes we have a lot of great work to look at and it may take up to a couple of months to review it. If you haven't heard from us in at least two months, send a message to check up on things. We only have room for a a small section of our readers' work in each issue of the magazine, so sometimes we ask if it's OK to publish your submission on our Web site. Sorry, we can't afford to pay for work we put up on the Web site, but if we ask you and you'd rather not have it published there, of course you can still say "No, thanks." STORIES Stories can be up to 800 words long. Many of the stories we like start with a character who has something difficult to do. For instance, your character may be in a dangerous situation, or have to fix a problem, or need to solve a mystery or discover a secret. By the end of the story, the person has come out of the bad situation or figured out how to live with it, the problem has been solved, or the mystery has been revealed--with interesting things happening in between! We're especially interested in stories about things that are important to you. For instance, if you're concerned about abandoned pets, your story might have that problem in it. Since we try to get work from several different kids in each issue, we usually can't print a story along with an illustration by the same person, but you could have a friend illustrate your story or poem. If you do that, please send your story or poem together with the picture, and make sure we have all the information we need for both you and your friend. POEMS We're interested in all kinds of poems (as long as there's something imaginary in them), from a couple of lines long up to 30 lines. Shorter is nice, because we can get more poems in that way, but if what you have to say takes more lines, then by all means, say it. ART We're interested in any pictures that include something imaginary. We'll be printing the picture in black and white, so while you can send a picture that's in color, it should be something that still looks good when we change it to black and white. If you have questions or need some help, send us an e-mail at readerhelp@justweirdenough.com. Good luck! The Editors at =Just Weird Enough= [http://www.justweirdenough.com/readerguidelines/] LENG! THE CTHULHU MYTHOS MEGAZINE [Quarterly mag (new May 2003). Cthulhu Mythos stories to 7,000 wds. Pays 3 cents/wd. on pub. E-mail subs okay. RT 2 mo.] Attn: Sam Gafford, editor LENG! The Cthulhu Mythos Megazine P.O. Box 806 Bristol, RI 02809 Email submissions: leng_ed@yahoo.com http://www.angelfire.com/me5/lordshazam/leng.html =Leng!= is a magazine devoted exclusively to the wonder that is the Cthulhu Mythos. Originally developed by writer H. P. Lovecraft, the mythos was a series of semi-connected stories that dealt with an outer race of beings who had existed on Earth aeons ago and disappeared. Did they leave willingly? Were they expelled by another, more powerful race? Or are they simply asleep, waiting for the stars to be right to return to Earth again and burn it clean? Read some of the stories here and find out! Lovecraft encouraged other writers to play with his concept and join in the fun. Now, decades later, writers still delight in writing new Mythos stories and adding their own little piece to the Mythos puzzle. =Leng!= also features news and reviews of products, books, comics, etc. of interest to the Mythos fan in general and the Lovecraft reader in particular. Each issue contains new fiction alongs [sic] with articles, news, reviews and columns. The Mythos is one of Lovecraft's most enduring creations so come and join us as we explore these shadowy places of the universe! =Leng!= is published four times a year and the first issue is scheduled to appear in May of this year. Watch [the web] site for more news as it develops. =Leng! The Cthulhu Mythos Megazine= Email: leng_ed@yahoo.com http://www.angelfire.com/comics/excaliberpres/ Submissions Guidelines! So you have a story or article or review you'd like to submit? Great! We're thrilled to hear it and want to see it! But, as with every magazine, there are guidelines we'd like you to review and follow. =Leng!= is an open market for both new and experienced writers. We encourage new writers to submit their work and want to help provide an avenue for them to develop their own voices. Please look over the Guidelines before submitting. FICTION: =Leng!= is always looking for new fiction. As this is a magazine devoted exclusively to the Cthulhu Mythos, it is logical that the story you submit have something to do with the Mythos but there's more to it than just that. We're not simply looking for Mythos fiction, we're looking for GREAT Mythos fiction! By that we mean fiction that goes beyond the usual "scholars fighting cultists with Elder Signs" and the like. We want fiction that is as intelligent and sophisticated as Lovecraft's original Mythos tales. Consider the concepts that are behind the Mythos. The alienness, the outsideness that he attempted to portray. Do not just go for the average plot but dig deeper and explore the philosophy behind the Mythos. That's what we want to see and we know you can do it! Payment is 3 cents a word upon publication. Submissions are returned within 2 months. Queries will receive a response within two weeks. Please query first before submitting any story over 7,000 words. NONFICTION: Much has been written about the Cthulhu Mythos and there is still much, much more to say. If you have an article about some aspect of the Mythos, or an examination of a Mythos writer, then send it along! While some articles are assigned, most articles that appear in =Leng!= are freelance, over the transom submissions. We welcome articles that deal with any aspect of the Mythos in its many forms (books, stories, comics, film, games, television and even toys!) so please feel free to submit anything you might have. Payment is 3 cents a word upon publication. Submissions are returned within 2 months. Queries will receive a response within two weeks. Please query first before submitting any story over 7,000 words. ARTWORK: =Leng!= is actively looking for Mythos artists. If you have previously finished Mythos artwork, please feel free to submit the work either electronically (as a jpeg or tif file) or through the mail (no originals please!). We need both color and b/w art. If you would like to work for =Leng!= (Producing artwork to accompany stories), please contact us with your samples. Payment for artwork varies depending upon size and color. POETRY: =Leng!= is looking for poetry of a Mythos slant. Submissions may be sent electronically or through the mail. Payment is $10-$40 depending upon length. Submissions are returned within 2 months. Queries will receive a response within two weeks. Submissions can be sent electronically to: leng_ed@yahoo.com or through the mail to: LENG! The Cthulhu Mythos Megazine, P.O. Box 806, Bristol, RI 02809, Attn: Sam Gafford, editor Looking forward to hearing from you! [http://www.angelfire.com/me5/lordshazam/lengsub.html] PALACE OF REASON [Webzine, Genre fiction to 5,000 wds. Pays 3 cents/wd. No reprints. RT 60 days.] Fiction Editor, Patricia D'Artagnan E-mail submissions: fictioneditor@palaceofreason.com Submissions Policy Updated 01/08/2003 1. Rights And Compensation If your story is accepted, we will purchase First Internet Serial Rights in English. You must attest that you are the sole holder of copyright in the story. The story will be available via the Fiction subhead page for a minimum of sixty (60) days, after which it may be removed at the editor's discretion or at your request. Our compensation rate, for stories accepted and published after January 1, 2003, is: US $0.03 per word. This is subject to change at any time. 2. How To Submit A Story We love good fiction and dislike paper. All stories considered for inclusion here must be submitted by E-mail, as Rich Text Format attachments. Other attachments will be deleted unopened, as we are virus-shy. Rich Text Format Attachments ONLY! Do NOT embed your story in the body of your E-mail! If you violate this rule, we will not even respond! The E-mail address to which to send your story is: fictioneditor@palaceofreason.com Please be sure to include your full name and mailing address (how else would we get your check to you?). We will try to respond within thirty days, but may take as long as sixty days if our load of submissions becomes heavy. SPECIAL NOTE 01/08/2003: Currently, we are receiving about 100 stories per week. Consider the sixty day response time to be the norm, and thirty days or less an ideal toward which we'll strive. 3. Our Processing Cycle Our processing cycle is sixty days wide, and reaches from roughly mid-month to mid-month. For example, the stories considered for publication in the June issue will have been sent to us between March 16 and May 15, with perhaps a little slop in those endpoints. Because we consider it unfair and unkind to a writer to keep waiting and wondering when his story will appear, we don't normally accept stories we can't publish according to the cycle described above. =The Palace= keeps no "backlog" of accepted- but-pending works. 4. Our Fiction Editor and What She Likes To See Our Fiction Editor, Patricia D'Artagnan, is a jittery ninety- pound septuagenarian with high blood pressure and a lot of cats that spook at loud noises. She wears floral-print peasant dresses and high-heeled Oxfords, and edits with a blue pencil, of which she has a formidable supply. You can help to prolong her life by doing the following: * Please format your story according to publishing industry norms. On the first page should appear your full name and mailing address, your E-mail address, the story's word count, the story's title, and your copyright declaration. [Check website] for a sample first page. (Don't worry, we'll strip off your personal information before the story is posted.) * Please use either Courier or Times New Roman font, and stick to 12-point size. * If a picture is critical to your story, please send it in GIF or JPEG format, not as a bitmap. Bitmaps tend to be very large, and have occasionally clogged up the =Palace='s E-mail for days at a time. * The last two words of your story should be THE END. This will allow us to be sure that we've received it in its entirety. Pat won't reject a story that violates one of the above guidelines for that reason alone, but if you adhere to them, it will help her along and make her think well of you from the start. She still has trouble with things like E-mail and word processors, so these little conventions will spare her effort that's more trying for her than it is for you to avert in the first place. Verbum sat sapienti. 5. Important Criteria For The Story Itself: * Your story must be previously unpublished. That is, it must not have appeared elsewhere, whether in print or electronic form. We are not currently interested in reprints. * We are open to any genre, but we dislike gratuitous violence and gratuitous sexual depictions. Sex and violence, if they are a part of your story, should be absolutely essential to it, rather than grafted on for titillation or shock value. Any sexual encounter should be handled with the greatest possible delicacy and discretion. "Love, like murder, shouldn't have witnesses." (Steven Brust) SPECIAL NOTE 01/08/2003: We don't care what your religion or politics are. We don't care in the slightest what excites you sexually. And we don't need to hear your positions on any of these things. Most of our readers are Christian, and conservatively inclined. We're unlikely to look with favor on stories that glorify things offensive to such persons. This includes abortion, euthanasia, and homosexuality. We also believe in proper English. An occasional vulgarity won't be cause for rejection, if it's justified by the circumstances and the characters, but if your story is peopled or narrated by coprolaliacs, it won't be welcome here. We will consider stories up to 5000 words, but we have a limited budget. Therefore, other things being equal, shorter works will be preferred. PLEASE DO NOT SEND US: * Incoherent word salads or assaults on English grammar and syntax, * Dadaistic deconstructions of your central metaphysical insights, * Extended lamentations on boredom, frustration, indecision, or the awfulness of life, no matter how awful your life might be. (That's what diaries are for.) * Attacks on Christianity, * Attacks on men as such, * The supposed mistreatment of other countries by the people or government of the United States. SPECIAL NOTE 01/08/2003: We don't care where you live or come from. We've published stories from writers in several countries, and will always consider any submission written in good English. But this is a site "by and for Americans," and we do not propose to publish fiction that insults America or Americans here. There are other markets for stories with those features. Some of them pay much better than the =Palace= does. Try =Harper's= or =The New Yorker=. Pat has written an elaborate essay on how to get into the =Palace='s Fiction section, which you can [read below]. She's begun a compilation of important tips on good English which you can access [at the website]. Please E-mail any other questions to Pat at: fictioneditor@palaceofreason.com. Granny With A Blue Pencil -- Pat D'Artagnan It says on the Submissions Policy page that the Palace is flexible on genre, and it is. We've been sent at least one of every kind of story. We haven't accepted one of every kind of story yet, but in time I'm sure we will. What we're not flexible on is quality. What's that? Gather round, my dears, and I shall tell you all. 1. Manuscript appearance. The screening process begins the moment my eyes first light on your manuscript. Had you thought about that? That the appearance of your piece, rather than the actual words and thought it comprises, might be the determining factor in whether or not it's published? No matter how hard I might try to prevent such a silly thing from influencing me -- and it is a silly thing; any electronically submitted manuscript can be reformatted ten different ways in two minutes -- I'm certain that it does, and that it always will. We ask that you format your piece according to publishing industry norms. If all of you use 12-point type in one of the two standard typefaces -- Courier New if you like fixed-pitch, or Times New Roman if you prefer proportional font -- my eyes won't suffer repeated adjustment traumas. It's easy enough to do, so why not do it and maximize your chances from the outset? You can use italics to indicate italics, or you can underline if you're used to the old typesetting convention. That's a minor matter. I prefer the italics but I know how hard a habit like underlining can be to change -- and editors insisted on underlining for a long time. Please, no imbedded images. We're unlikely to use them, and they can clog up our incoming E-mail terribly. And please don't forget to put THE END at the end, so we'll know we've received your story in its entirety. 2. The Elements Of Successful Fiction. All fiction is about people. They might be standard model Homo Sapiens Terrestrialis, or they might be genetically engineered slugs in some distant future, or they might be sentient nebulae from the fringes of the Big Dark. These can all be "people," as long as they have the following properties: * They must be conscious of their own existence, * They must recognize that they are bounded in space and time -- that is, that they do not encompass all of existence, * They must have drives, desires, reasoning power and emotions. Just as all stories must be about people, all stories must depict change. If nothing has changed, nothing of importance has happened. There are three sources of significant, moving change in life: * A person can change by interacting with other people, * A person can change as the result of introspection, * A person can change as the result of having to grapple with impersonal external challenges. If none of your protagonists experiences any changes, you don't have a story. You might have a character sketch, but it won't sell here. 3. What Makes A Story Special. You can meet the above criteria and still not ring the bell. A =Palace= story must offer the reader a special experience, something he'll remember for a while, hopefully something that will leave him feeling that he's had a glimpse of a larger and more vivid world. How does one produce such a thing? Well, it helps to have conceived of one or more characters with appeal and verve. It certainly helps to have a plot that's original and compelling. It's a big help to have a felicity with words, an ear for elegance. But all of these pale in significance when compared to the strongest need of the fiction writer, in any genre: SOMETHING TO SAY. This is also called a theme. Most writers have very little to say, including many who have fertile imaginations for plot and character, and gorgeous command of the English language. It's possible to have striking characters involved in an elaborate, completely original plot, to tell the story of their adventures in prose that rings like chimes and stirs like trumpets, and still produce a dud of a story because it has nothing to say. How can this be? Think for a moment about the last time you said that you had "something to say," or the last time you heard someone else say it. Can you articulate in general terms what you meant by it, or what the other person meant by it? One has "something to say" if one has grasped an important truth about people: the way their minds work, the way they assign priorities, the things they care about, the sorts of things they do when their values are threatened, their ability to believe what they like in the teeth of contradictory evidence, and so forth. A memorable story captures such a truth and presents it to the reader in fictional form. Christ's parables were memorable for that reason, among others. Look at any of the stories the =Palace= has on display. All of them, in my opinion, express a clear theme. Each has something to say about people, their minds and their emotions. Each uses its plot and characters to say it. When a story possesses unity around its theme, such that the whole of the piece bends toward the conveyance of that theme and excludes all else, it can have real impact. It can qualify as a =Palace= story. Of course, the theme has to be true. It also has to be important enough to drive the characters of the story to enact the plot. At least one Marquee character has to change -- to grow intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually -- in the way the theme dictates. You can't sculpt a decent story around trivia. No memorable story has ever been crafted around the theme that "When a man's toenails grow long enough to pierce his socks, he will cut them even if he doesn't like to." Considering how hard it is to compose a good plot, concoct memorable characters, and write about the whole thing in good English, why would you go to all that trouble if you didn't have something to say? It's a hard question. However, I find myself asking it rather frequently. Many of the stories submitted to the =Palace=, particularly many of the horror submissions, have nothing to say. 4. Disqualifications. We've already mentioned a few things we dislike to see. They're tied to our audience, the specific tastes that audience has exhibited in its comments to us, and our sense for what will pass muster with the attitudes of =Palace= readers generally. Are there more items on our must-not-do list that we haven't mentioned, that you have to puzzle out with repeated submissions as if you were trying to break a code? No. A good story of any kind, fully equipped with theme, plot, and appropriate characters, told in clear English, will always be welcome in these pages. That's what we mean by quality. With the exception of our preference not to see men, Christianity, or Americans denigrated, the things we dislike are inadequate substitutes for theme, plot, characterization, and proper English prose style, and therefore detract from quality. Give us your best, and we'll give you money, space, and our blessing. [http://palaceofreason.com/Fiction/fiction.html] ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARKET INFORMATION ANDROMEDA SPACEWAYS INFLIGHT MAGAZINE When a writer on sff.net asked, "Anyone know what's going on with this mag? I know there have been a few natural disasters, but the website says it's still business as usual. Is this true?" An answer came from Dea Matthews (support crew for the editor- in-chief), saying, "Yes there has definitely been some delay but they are being caught up with and expect to be back on track by the end of the week. However some emails were lost. If it was submitted in the month after the 15/1/03 you might get them to query Robbie directly." [sff.writing.response-times, 18 Feb 03] BLACK GATE A writer on sff.net said, "I was re-reading the =Black Gate= submission guidelines today, and didn't spot anything in there about multiple submissions. I imagine you don't want a writer sending you ten stories at once, but given the length of your response times, do you object to a writer getting another one "in the pipeline" a few months behind the first?" John O'Neill, editor of =Black Gate=, answered, "Great question. To be honest, we normally don't police the submissions queue. I have several authors who submit multiple stories every month. We try not to treat them any differently. "However, while we don't object to multiple submissions, that doesn't mean I think it's a good idea. If I've rejected 3 of your stories already, opening your latest is not a big deal. But if I've seen and rejected a dozen pieces from you in the last 2 months (all with the same stylistic flaw), I'm going to bring negative expectations even before I open the envelope . . . especially if I know this story was written before you received my feedback on the prior 12. "In other words, multiple subs are OK. But targeted subs with cover letters that begin, "thanks for the feedback on my last submission, I think it's really improved this one" are much better." [sff.publishing.black-gate-magazine, 11 Feb 03] CENTURY =Century= magazine is officially on hiatus and CLOSED to submissions. Editor Robert K. J. Kilheffer said, "=Century= will return, perhaps later this year, perhaps in 2004." [www.ralan.com, 5 February 2003] IDEOMANCER Chelsea Polk, one of =Ideomancer='s editors, said, "=Ideomancer='s February issue is now up and [the magazine] is now open to submissions. We've made some changes to the submission guidelines, though not many. "The biggest change is the pay rates - we're happy to announce that we now pay $0.03 a word to a maximum of $100.00 USD. "Have a look." [sff.publishing.ideomancer, 2 Feb 03] SPECULON Due to the editor's continued ill health, he has officially closed =Speculon=. The website is gone. [www.ralan.com, 13 February 2003] TRISPEC Ralan Conley says of proposed magazine =TriSpec=, "Web site static, January issue not issued, no response to subs or queries- -DEAD MARKET!" [www.ralan.com, 13 February 2003] ***************************************************************** * * * "Poul Anderson . . . checks each page of the story to see how * * many of the protagonist's senses are used. If a page has * * nothing but what the protagonist saw, or only what he heard, * * Anderson rewrites that page so that the sense of touch, or * * taste, or smell, comes into play. It's astounding how much * * more vivid that makes a story." * * --=Notes to a Science Fiction Writer=, p. 16 * * * ***************************************************************** ==End of the CALLIHOO Newsletter for 18 February 2003==