CALLIHOO Newsletter Market News for Writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Julia West, Editor Vol. 10, No. 21 22 October 2002 Website: http://www.sff.net/people/julia.west/CALLIHOO/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------- IN THIS ISSUE Deadlines Anthology Polyphony 3 anthology (updated gls) Market Guidelines Abyss & Apex (gls) As of Yet Untitled (gls) singularity (gls) Market Information 3SF Black Gate Black October Crux Elysian Fiction Fictionwise Gothic.net Macabre NFG Raven Electrick Silver Oak (dead) Weird Tales ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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.) SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS OF EARTH Deadline 30 October 2002 (postmarked) [Contest for new writers, SF/F 2,000 - 7,500 wds. $5 fee 1st entry (gives year's membership to SFWoE)/$2 fee further entries. 1st prize $200, 2nd $100, 3rd $50. No E-mail subs. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 9)] WRITERS OF THE FUTURE, 4TH QUARTER 2002 Deadline 31 October 2002 [$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)] MOTA: AN ANNUAL ANTHOLOGY OF FINE FICTION Deadline 1 November 2002 [Annual antho, fiction to 10,000 wds (to 8,000 wds preferred). Pays $100 on pub. Mult subs and reprints okay. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 9)] OCEANS OF THE MIND WINTER 2002 ISSUE: CANADIAN WRITERS Deadline 1 November 2002 [Quarterly e-mailzine in .pdf format. SF to 8,000 words. Pays 5 cents/word & up. Themed. Prefers E-mail subs. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 7 and Vol. 10 No. 3)] BYLINE NEW-TALENT SHORT STORY CONTEST Deadline 4 November 2002 [Writer who's never won a cash prize in a ByLine fiction contest. Max 5,000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $50, $35, $25, $15. GLs in Vol. 9 No. 25)] NESFA 2003 SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY SHORT STORY CONTEST Deadline 15 November 2002 [Contest, SF/F to 7500 wds, unpublished (professionally) writers only, no entry fee. Prize: $50 merchandise. No rights taken. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 14)] FIRST ANNUAL FIREBRAND FICTION/SFREADER.COM STORY CONTEST Deadline 30 November 2002 [Contest, SF/F/H 1,000-6,000 wds. No sim subs. Mult subs okay, separately. E-mail subs okay. 1st place $50 and pub, 2nd place $25 and pub, HM $20 and pub. No entry fee. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 15)] THE NATIONAL FANTASY FAN FEDERATION SHORT STORY CONTEST Deadline 1 December 2002 [Contest, SF/F/H. 1st place $50, 2nd $30, 3rd $20. Reading fee $2.00. No E-mail subs. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 1)] TOUCH OF NOIR Deadline 1 December 2002 [Antho, pulp detective/crime stories 4000-7000 wds (F/H elements okay). Pmt. percentage of royalties. E-mail subs only. RT 1-2 wks. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 14)] BYLINE SHORT-SHORT STORY CONTEST Deadline 5 December 2002 [Short story, any type or subject, to 2,000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $60, $30, $20. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 25)] THE MOONLIGHT & MAGNOLIA FICTION WRITING CONTEST: SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, HORROR Deadline 15 December 2002 [Annual competition for new writers, SF/F/H to 10,000 wds. No reprints. Prizes: 1st $250, 2nd $100, 3rd $50. Entry fee $7.50 per story ($2.50 2nd and thereafter to 3 entries). (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 17)] CRUX: A JOURNAL OF SPECULATIVE FICTION 1ST ISSUE CONTEST Deadline 15 January 2003 [Contest SF/F/H to 3,000 wds. Elements for contest are: "that grape soda feeling"; "the eye of Jupitor"; and unicorns. For summer 2003 issue. E-mail subs only. Sim subs and reprints ok. 1st place $20+pub. No accept. on contest entries until after deadline. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 14)] OCEANS OF THE MIND SPRING 2003 ISSUE: WOMEN WRITERS Deadline 1 February 2003 [Quarterly e-mailzine in .pdf format. SF to 8,000 words. Pays 5 cents/word & up. Themed. Prefers E-mail subs. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 7 and Vol. 10 No. 3)] POLYPHONY 3 ANTHOLOGY Open 1 January 2003 to 15 February 2003 [Anthology, slipstream/magical realism 4,000 to 10,000 wds. Pays 6 cents/wd. on accept. No E-mail, sim or mult subs. (GLs in Vol. 10 No. 21)] 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)] ----------------------------------------------------------------- ANTHOLOGY POLYPHONY 3 (Updated GLs) [Print antho, magic realism/surreal/literary 4,000 to 10,000 wds. (pref.). Pays 6 cents/wd. on accept. No E-mail, sim or mult subs. Open 1 Jan 03 to 15 Feb 03.] (Changes are NA rights purchased to World rights purchased and added word count detail.) Deborah Layne, Publisher and Fiction Editor Jay Lake, Fiction Co-Editor Wheatland Press P. O. Box 1818 Wilsonville, OR 97070 E-mail (no submissions): inquiries@wheatlandpress.com Wheatland Press announces an open reading period for =Polyphony 3=, the third volume in the critically-acclaimed =Polyphony= anthology series. The publisher and editors are committed to finding outstanding cutting edge fiction from new writers as well as from established writers. We will be looking for stories that stretch (or break) the boundaries of traditional genres. Send us your magic realism, surrealism, literary stories with a genre sensibility, and other hard-to-classify stories with strong literary values, compelling characters, engaging tone and unique voice. If you really want to know what we are looking for, check out the first volume of =Polyphony=, available directly from Wheatland Press, genre booksellers or online booksellers. We will accept submissions by lettermail only at our P.O. Box, postmarked from January 1st, 2003 through February 15th, 2003. Manuscripts received with a postmark date outside the designated reading period will be discarded unopened. Any manuscripts received by email will be deleted unread. If you live overseas or otherwise need to request an exception to this policy, query us at inquiries@wheatlandpress.com. Please follow standard manuscript formatting and submission conventions, especially including no simultaneous or multiple submissions. Word count is open, but our preferred range is 4,000-10,000 words. It is our intention to respond to all submissions by April 15th. We pay $0.06 per word for First Print and Electronic World Anthology Rights, on acceptance, along with two author's copies on publication. These guidelines may be redistributed freely in their entirety. We look forward to seeing your best work. Deborah Layne, Publisher and Fiction Editor Jay Lake, Fiction Co-Editor ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARKET GUIDELINES ABYSS & APEX MAGAZINE OF SPECULATIVE FICTION [New webzine (Jan 03) spec fic (F/SF/magic realism) to 10,000 wds. Pays 3 cents/wd. to $40 max. on pub. E-mail subs only (rtf). No sim or mult subs.] CMS Burrell: Executive Editor cms@klio.net Elizabeth Bear: Managing Editor ebear@klio.net Leah Bobet: Submissions Editor leahb@klio.net Submissions: submissions@klio.net www.klio.net/byrenlee/abyssandapex "Whoever battles monsters should take care not to become a monster too, for if you stare long enough into the Abyss, the Abyss stares also into you." --Friedrich Nietzsche, =Beyond Good and Evil=, chapter 4, no. 146 The mission of =Abyss & Apex= is to publish the finest in speculative and imaginative fiction, with special attention to character-driven stories that examine the depths and heights of human motivation. We are looking for stories that leave us gasping, dizzy, and perhaps momentarily changed. Stories with voice and presence--and power. Stories that are about something. This is not to say, however, that we wish to be preached to. We believe that the essential element of story is just that--story. We want strong fantasy, magic realism, science fiction, and especially those genrebending stories that don't quite seem to fit anywhere. Our tastes span the gamut from classical, Golden-Age SF to modern nontraditional formats. We don't mind experimental styles. We are, however, discriminating. And opinionated. And we read a lot, so it may be hard to surprise us. Our expected launch date is January 1, 2003. Submissions FICTION: We are interested in lengths from flash fiction up to 10,000 words. Payment is US $.03 cents/word up to a maximum of $40.00 OP. Hopefully, someday we will be able to pay pro rates for longer stories as well. We have no genre preference, beyond a requirement that the story have a speculative element. However, we admit to a certain dislike of stories that we feel we may have read before. We do take dark speculative fiction, but we are not interested in horror. (In other words, if the primary purpose of the story is to scare us or make us queasy, we won't buy it.) POETRY: We are interested in strong, resonant, literary-quality poetry. Both traditional and modern formats are encouraged. However, poetry with little attention to scansion and imagery will stand little chance with us. There are other markets that encourage a prosy poetical style. We love language, and we like to see it worked for all it's worth. Poetry to fifty lines; payment is US $.03 cents/line OP. GENERAL: All submissions must be Standard Manuscript Format (that means fixed-width serif font, double-spaced, black on white, ragged right margins, author's name and contact information on the TOP of the first page--and name, page number and story name as a header every page thereafter. Details are available at www.sfwa.org if you are confused) affixed to an email in .rtf (Rich Text Format) and submitted to: submissions@klio.net with the email header in the following format: FICTION (or) POETRY SUB: "Your title here" If you desire, cover letters may be typed in the body of the email or attached as an additional .rtf file. We will not open or read any submissions not sent in .rtf format, nor will we open or read any submissions that do not have an appropriate title line. Please be absolutely certain to include your name and contact information on the manuscript itself. We cannot be responsible for manuscripts that do not carry this information. Please submit only to the address above. Submissions sent to the editorial addresses will not be read. We strive to honor your time and effort and keep our return times under a month. Unfortunately, we are not currently soliciting artists or editorial content. Please, no multiple or simultaneous submissions. QUERIES: May be addressed to editor@klio.net SUPPORT =Abyss & Apex=: We're running a lean ship here (keeps the editors meaner if they're hungry, and we like that). However, as we are *not* a subscription-based website, if you find that the stories we publish move you to support our efforts, consider contacting us at editor@klio.net with donations. Any monies so received go directly into the maintenance of the website and paying for content and editorial duties. Co-Published by ByrenLee & Sobbing Squonk Presses [http://www.klio.net/byrenlee/abyssandapex/] AS OF YET UNTITLED [New (Feb 03) print? zine, F/SF/H/genre. Pays $1/200 wds. E-mail subs only. Include bio with sub.] Submissions: thefabulousshow@yahoo.com The Drink Tank is an artists group out of Sunnyvale, CA. Office Supply Publishing is the publishing division of the Drink Tank. =As Of Yet Untitled= is the first publication to be presented from Office Supply Publishing. The first issue is due in Feb. 2003 and will be completely different from any other magazine you've seen. =AOYU= is looking for fiction in the Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, SteamPunk, Masked Detective, Time Travel, Alternate History, and influenced romance genres. We are also looking for articles on weird history, quackery, reviews, and poetry. Payment is $5 microfiction (500 words or less), $5 plus $1 per 100 words for short short fiction (501-1000), $1 per 200 words for short stories, $10 for nonfiction up to 5000 words, and $10.00 for Poetry, $1.00 per Haiku. Submissions should be in Word Readable format(.doc, .rtf, .txt) and the mail should have the subject -submission- and feature a short intro to ya in the body of the e-mail. SINGULARITY [Bi-weekly webzine, spec fic. Payment negot. Email subs only.] gabe chouinard, Editor/Publisher Singularityzine@aol.com =singularity= is a new bi-weekly webzine devoted to speculative fiction of all kinds, and is now accepting submissions. FICTION: We accept all genres and cross-genre works, and are eager to work with new authors as well as the old pros. Length should be whatever the story demands. Payment is negotiable. CRITICISM: We seek only serious critical pieces. No 'press-release' style reviews, please! If you've got an idea, we'll listen. INTERVIEWS: Again, we seek only serious interviews. We're not particularly concerned with an author/actor/editor's favorite color and food. Please inquire before submitting interviews. =singularity= is dedicated to promoting quality speculative fiction as a literary field, rather than as popular entertainment. If you have any questions, please feel free to send inquiries to: singularityzine@aol.com Thank you! --gabe chouinard Editor/Publisher Of the website, gabe chouinard said, "It'll be hosted by SFSite.com, and I'm 'arguing' over whether we should use a subdomain or not. But the site will be live before World Fantasy Convention." ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARKET INFORMATION 3SF Liz Holliday, editor of =3SF= magazine, said, "I am currently house-styling and doing last bits of copy-editing for Issue 2 - it'll go in the post to the layout guy tomorrow. The ToC should be released today or tomorrow. "Next week, I should have time for a major assault on the slush...." [sff.publishing.3sfmagazine, 19 Oct 02] BLACK GATE MAGAZINE John O'Neill, editor of =Black Gate Magazine=, said (when asked about word limit for the magazine), "Our latest set of guidelines note only that our pay scale changes at 14,000 words (to 3 cents/word), and that authors should query first for all works longer than 25,000 words. "We don't have a technical upper word limit, though we're obviously limited by physical constraints--each issue contains about 125,000 words, and averages about 80,000 words of fiction. Our first issue had a 33,000 word novella (by Michael Moorcock), and our upcoming issue has a 28,000 word piece. "Frankly, I'm very fond of the novella form, and think it works very well for adventure fantasy. I actively seek out longer work when I can. There just aren't a lot of markets for it at the moment, and I think it's another thing that sets us apart." [sff.publishing.black-gate-magazine, 21 Oct 02] BLACK OCTOBER A writer on the =Speculations= Rumor Mill said, "=Black October='s web site has (at last!) been updated. According to the page, the =Black October= folks are still slugging through submissions from December 2001. "Link: http://blackoctobermagazine.com/home.cfm" [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/index.php?t=291&show_all_t opics=0, 8 Oct 02] CRUX Sarah Guidry, editor of =Crux= magazine, said, "I just wanted to let you all know that I'm closing =Crux= to everything but contest submissions until November 15, 2002. The reason I'm doing so is because we got hit by Hurricane Lili, and there is a lot of clean up work to be done. I'm not going to have time to read submissions, and I really don't want them to get backed up (as I don't believe I'd ever be able to catch up, and don't want to get to that state). Contest subs will still be accepted, as I'm not answering those until after the January deadline anyway. "All submissions I have as of now will be read and receive replies in the next couple of weeks. "Thanks to all of you who have submitted to Crux thus far, and I hope you will continue to submit after November 15." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/index.php?t=291&show_all_t opics=0, 6 Oct 02] ELYSIAN FICTION Jim Bailey, editor of =Elysian Fiction= webzine, said, "Still WAY behind on [slush and queries], I'm afraid. Going back to February at this point. This *should* be all done with, stories read, acceptances and rejections (with apologies once again) sent out, by early November. Going by past stats and qualities of stories, what's on hand should easily fill issues #5 and #6, maybe a bit more. "#3 will hit the site by the end of this month (fingers crossed), #4 will go up in November. I'll probably go to #5 in January, and try to settle into a routine bi-monthly schedule for 2003." [sff.publishing.elysian-fiction, 15 Oct 02] FICTIONWISE Steve Pendergrast of Fictionwise, discussing the economics of E- books, and the pros and cons of encrypted vs. non-encrypted formats. "We're currently selling about 16,000 ebooks a month, which we believe places us within the top 5 ebook retailers in the USA. "We introduced encrypted titles a few months ago in order to gain access to national best selling titles, but the great majority of our sales are still the unencrypted titles. We believe the market for unencrypted titles is about four to five times as large as the market for encrypted titles, but that's just a crude estimate. "Yes, we're bigger than embiid [an e-book publisher] but in the grand scheme of things we're still a David vs. a bunch of Goliaths. We have only 5 employees and we're self-funded. We certainly didn't spend the millions (and in a few cases tens of millions) that the other big retailers did on their ebook ventures, and we still think of ourselves as a small, independent ebook retailer and publisher." [sff.publishing.embiid, 19 Oct 02] GOTHIC.NET A writer on the Rumor Mill said, "Kealan-Patrick Burke is the new fiction editor at =Gothic.net=, and A. M. Muffaz is the assistant fiction editor. They recently posted an article breaking down their fiction submissions into categories; might be interesting (but I think you have to be a subscriber to read it)." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/index.php?t=291&show_all_t opics=0, 1 Oct 02] MACABRE Christina Sng, editor of =Macabre=, said, "A quick update on =Macabre=. "=Macabre= #1 is full. It is in layout and off to the printers, hence RTs might have been a bit slow. Please feel free to query at allegrapress@gmx.net (subject: QUERY). "=Macabre= #1 will feature the fiction and poetry of William Robertson, Barry Hollander, Hugh Cook, Jon Hodges, Mike Allen, Kurt Newton, Susan Kingsolver and Eric S. Brown, Michael Arnzen, Tom Williams, Scott Urban, Kevin Donihe, Ken Goldman, and an interview with Robert Rankin. "Thanks for all your support!" [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/index.php?t=291&show_all_t opics=0, 30 Sep 02] NFG A writer on the Rumor Mill noted that =NFG= is listed on the Preditors and Editors website with the comments "Contract seeks too many rights. Not recommended." The writer said, "I was toying with submitting, but after reading the contract on their website, decided against it." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/index.php?t=201&m=13618&sh ow_all_topics=0, 18 Oct 02] RAVEN ELECTRICK Karen Romanko, editor of =Raven Electrick=, said, "Just a reminder that the fall submission period for =Raven Electrick= is October 1-31, i.e. NOW. Looking for sf/f/h and mystery stories up to 1500 words and poems up to 50 lines. Payment is $5 per accepted piece. Recent contributors include Michael Arnzen, Charlee Jacob, Darren Speegle, David KM, and Sandra Lindow. Writer's Guidelines are here: www.ravenelectrick.com/ writersguidelns/index.htm. "Hope to see your subs!" [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/index.php?t=291&show_all_t opics=0, 1 Oct 02] SILVER OAK Angie [editor@silveroak.co.uk] said, "Just to let you know that Silver Oak (silveroak.co.uk) will be closing to submissions on November 15th, and our final issue will be the December one, after which we will revert to operating solely as an online bookstore. Thanks to everyone who supported us along the way." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/index.php?t=221&show_all_t opics=0, 22 Oct 02] WEIRD TALES In a note to a writer, concerning the slush pile, an editor at =Weird Tales= said, "We're actually catching up." [sff.writing.response-times, 22 Oct 02] ***************************************************************** * "Very gradually I have discovered ways of writing with a * * minimum of worry and anxiety. When I was young each fresh * * piece of serious work used to seem to me . . . to be beyond * * my powers. . . . I would make one unsatisfying attempt after * * another and in the end have to discard them all. At last I * * found that such fumbling attempts were a waste of time. It * * appeared that after first contemplating a book on some * * subject, and after giving serious preliminary attention to * * it, I need a period of subconscious incubation which could * * not be hurried and was, if anything, impeded by deliberate * * thinking. Sometimes I would find, after a time, I had made * * a mistake, and that I could not write the book I had had in * * mind. But often I was more fortunate. Having, by a time of * * very intense concentration, planted the problem in my * * subconscious, it would germinate underground, until, * * suddenly, the solution emerged with blinding clarity, so that * * it only remained to write down what had appeared as if in a * * revelation." * * --Bertrand Russell, "How I Write," from =Portraits from * * Memory=, 1956 * ***************************************************************** ==End of the CALLIHOO Newsletter for 22 October 2002==