CALLIHOO NEWSLETTER Market News for Writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Julia West, Editor Volume 12 Number 4 17 April 2008 Website: http://www.callihoo.net IN THIS ISSUE Publication Notes Writer Beware Deadlines Anthologies Dark Distortions II Infinite Space, Infinite God II Interfictions II Market Guidelines Ideomancer MagusZine Market Information Strange Horizons DEADLINES Where it says "GLs in Vol. X No. Y," these are volume and issue of the CALLIHOO newsletter. CONduit Fiction Contests Novella deadline 30 Apr 2008 Flash & short deadline 15 May 08 [Contest, sf/f/h/anime/manga. Prizes TBA. Flash to 1500 wds, short 1500-5000 wds, novella 5k-50k wds. Amateur and professional categories. No entry fee. E-subs and mult subs okay. No reprints. GLs in Vol. 12 No. 3] Sword & Sorceress 23 Reading 19 April to 16 May 2008 [Print antho, s&s with strong female protag to 9k wds, pays 5 cents/wd. No sim or mult subs. RT 1 wk. GLs in Vol. 12 No. 2] The Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Short Story Contest Deadline 1 June 2008 [Contest, SF to 15k wds., $5,000 1st, $2,000 2nd, $1,000 3rd prize. No entry fee. No reprints or sim subs. E-subs only. GLs in Vol. 12 No. 1] Dark Distortions II Deadline 30 June 2008 [Print antho, dark fic to 50k wds. Pays royalties based on 2 cents/wd. Theme magic rites. E-subs only. No mult subs. Query for reprints. RT 60 days. GLs in Vol. 12 No. 4] Infinite Space, Infinite God II Deadline 30 June 2008 [Print antho, SF with Catholic world view, 3-10k wds. Pays $50. No alt hist, no reprints. E-subs only. GLs in Vol. 12 No. 4] Lace and Blade 2 Deadline 1 August 2008 [Print antho, romantic f, all lengths. Pays 2 cents/wd. advance. E-subs okay. No reprints. GLs in Vol. 12 No. 3] Interfictions II Reading period 1 October 2008 to 2 December 2008. [Print antho, interstitial fic 4k-10k wds. Pays 5 cents/wd on pub. No reprints, sim or mult subs. E-subs only. RT after Jan 09. GLs in Vol. 12 No. 4] PUBLICATION NOTES Vera Nazarian says, "We have acquired =A Cold Day in Hell= by virtuoso humorist and author Ken Rand, a quirky mainstream novel of outrageous humor, dark satire, and a surprising amount of heart, scheduled for February 2009, to be released under the main Norilana Books imprint." [sff.publishing.norilana-books, 16 Jan 08] WRITER BEWARE Copyright Scam: US Copyright Registry Victoria Strauss If you're a writer, you probably have a website. If you have a website, you may recently have been emailed an official-looking WEBSITE COPYRIGHT LICENSING NOTICE from the US Copyright Registry, informing you that your website "has not been protected and is now available for copyright registration." Reading on, alarmed website owners discover the following (all grammatical and other errors faithfully reproduced): IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW, TITLE 92, Sec. 106 to 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: Rights of attribution and integrity: the author shall have the right to claim authorship of that work, and prevent the use of his or her name as the author of any work which he or she did not create. Be advised: Protecting a website is the responsibility of the owner of the website and must be registered through the United States Patent and Trademark office to legally prevent others from infringing on the owners rights and copying a website. It is the responsibility of the website owner to complete registration to protect their intellectual property and bring suit in federal court for infringement and obtain statutory damages up to $150,000. Say what? The US Patent and Trademark office? What's that got to do with registering copyright? Also, the US Copyright Law is known as Circular 92, not Title 92, and the "rights and attribution" language quoted above applies to the visual arts, not written text--such as that on a website. The email concludes, ominously: You are required to advise the US Copyright Registry of your intent to license this website if registration is administered through the UCR as this is your final notice. Note: you may disregard this notice. If you disregard this notice or fail to reply: UCR and the United States Patent and Trademark office will NOT be liable for infringement of your website, interruption of business activity or business losses. To avoid this dreadful fate, all you have to do is call an 800 number and mention the official-looking tracking number provided in the email. All of the above was enough to get my scam sense tingling. A visit to the Registry's website--which offers misinformation such as "Copyright Registration is required to legally prevent others from copying your website" and touts the use of its seal, which "helps prevent potential infringers from copying your work"-- confirmed my hunch, as did a quick bit of Googling. I was curious, however, about costs. So I called. The phone menu offers several options, some of which have nothing to do with sales but all of which lead to a salesperson. I dealt with a pleasant young man, who immediately asked for my tracking number. As it happens, I didn't have one, since I'd heard about the Registry from someone else. No problem; all I had to do was provide my URL. A few minutes on hold, and then he returned to tell me the good news--US Copyright Registry could indeed register copyright on my website! If I signed up today, I'd receive my certificate of registration from the Library of Congress within 6 to 8 weeks. "Wait a sec," I said. "Library of Congress? Your email said the US Patent and Trademark Office." "Oh," he said, flustered, "well, you know, it's both of them." "Both of them? You mean they both issue a certificate?" "Uh, no, it's just one certificate. But it comes from both offices." I decided not to torture him further. "So how much will registration cost me?" "Based on your website's size"--which he had no way of assessing, considering that all he'd done was access my Whois information-- "it'll be a total of $350." "Is that a one-time fee? What if I add new material?" "Well, then you'll need to re-register. Most of our customers re-register once a year." "And what would the cost be for that?" "$350, or maybe a bit more if the website got a lot bigger." "The same $350? So I don't get a customer discount?" "Uh, no. We don't do that. So...can I sign you up?" I told him I needed to mull it over and would call back. Somewhat to my surprise, he didn't try to pressure me with limited time offers or horror stories about infringed websites. Not once did he ask me if I was the copyright holder, or if I had the right to register copyright for my website--despite an entire section of the US Copyright Registry's website describing the circumstances under which website owners may not be copyright holders. I would love to know if the registration certificate the Registry sends out is bogus--or indeed, if they send any certificate at all. Sadly, I don't have $350 to burn. There's no way to know how many people will fall for this. Given the general level of ignorance regarding copyright, however, as well as people's entirely unfounded terror of intellectual property theft, I'd guess that the money is rolling in. For the real scoop on copyright, check out Writer Beware's Copyright page. http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2008/03/ victoria-strauss-copyright-scam-us.html ANTHOLOGIES Dark Distortions II [Print antho, dark fic to 50k wds. Pays royalties based on 2 cents/wd. Deadline 30 Jun 08. Theme magic rites. E-subs only. No mult subs. Query for reprints. RT 60 days.] Dark Distortions is a print anthology (approximately 500+ pages in length) that covers novellas, short stories, flashes and poetry. Each edition of Dark Distortions will cover different themes that explore the darkest regions of the mind. Our main objective is to create "treasures boxes", where a reader can pick up an edition and read different kinds of dark fiction or poetry in many different styles. Volume 1 began rather general, where we were only looking for stories with a "distorted view". With DD II, we plan on upping the stakes, adding the theme "magic rites". DD II is opening for submissions January 1st, 2008. Submissions Window: Dark Distortions, volume II The submission window for Dark Distortions II will begin January 1st, 2008 and end June 30th, 2008 or until filled. What We Want We want strongly-written, well-composed and consistent novellas, novelettes, short stories, flash fiction or poetry that are dark in nature and show a distinctively "distorted" sensibility. For Dark Distortions II, we also want elements that include some form of "magic rite" (Voodoo, Kabbalah, Wiccan, Judeo-Christian or altogether made up). This doesn't mean that these magic rites have to tell a supernatural story. There could be a crime that takes place before, during or after a rite, or maybe the rite is a crime itself. It doesn't matter how you approach these elements, we just want to see them in the story or piece. Micro-fiction should be no longer than 100 words. Flash fiction should be between 100 words and 1k. Short stories should be from 1k to 8k words. Novelettes should be 8k to 20k. And novellas should be about 20k to 50k approximate words. Poetry can be any length, though we're not looking for epic pieces. Nothing Homeresque in length, please. We're also very stingy about manuscripts that do not follow our general guidelines (found below). For general guidelines and more information, see below. Your manuscript should also look like our EXAMPLE PDF in Rich Text, Open Office or Word programs. Where To Submit: Send stories to scotopia@gmail.com with the subject bar reading in all caps: SUBDARKDIS2_TITLE_. (Of course the "title" here is the title of your story.) Editor in Chief: Molly Feese Assistant Editor: C.D. Allen GENERAL SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES What We Want We want strongly-written, well-composed and consistent stories of a dark nature. Dark Distortions carries stories from crime to horror, but the darkness and some distorted view must be present for us to be interested. The Frightscripts must be pure horror, though they can skirt into other territories, too. Erotic horror, detective horror, splatter-punk, whatever... But the horror must be frightening and disturbing. Make sure you also follow the special guidelines above for the specific necessities of each anthology series, whether it be Frightscripts or Dark Distortions. Also be sure to look at our EXAMPLE PDF of how a manuscript should look when we open it up. What We Want To See 1. Well written characters with a consistent voice. 2. Well developed themes. 3. An original voice. Stand out. 4. Tight, well constructed plotting. 5. Controlled pacing. What We Don't Want We do not want gratuitously violent or sexual stories unless they are important to the story. No bloodbaths just to have gore, no extreme sex scenes just to titillate yourself. Violence and/or sexuality will be tolerated, even praised, if we feel that it advances the story, and the story that is advanced is worthy of publication. Sex and violence for their own sake will get a story shot down here. Overtly hateful or disgusting stories are similarly undesirable. There are adult, disturbing topics that can be developed into a good story, but if the story isn't maturely handled then it won't be accepted. We will take erotica and gross-outs, but they should have a plot at the very heart of them. Other Do Not's 1. Do not send us vampires, werewolves or zombie horde stories! (Unless you do something VERY different with them.) 2. Or stories based off of a movie. 3. Or stories based off another story. 4. Do not send in manuscripts that are not formatted to our guidelines. 5. Do not send manuscripts in the body of the email. 6. Do not send us a story based off a RPG or one of your game sessions. How to Submit/Our Guidelines Please format your manuscripts (ms) according to these guidelines. Those who waver from the accepted ms guidelines will be automatically rejected. Also, please take a look out our EXAMPLE PDF of how your manuscript should look, which follows these guidelines to a T. 1. EDIT your work before you send it to us. Run it through a spell check. Read it through carefully. Look for grammatical errors. Etc. We know every ms won't be perfect and we know some writers are still learning, but we don't want to do your grunt work. 2. Please include your contact information, including legal name, mailing address and e-mail address, at the top of your submission. If you publish under a pen name, please clearly indicate the by line name under the title of your story (centered). 3. The whole ms should be in 12 pt. Times New Roman or similar font. 4. Include any special formatting such as bold or italic type normally. 5. Do not indent your paragraphs! No tabs or other special formatting to the ms, please. 6. Keep it single-spaced and DO make sure there is a space between each paragraph. 7. Do not special-wrap your text. This a formatting nightmare! Do not hyphenate for text line length. 8. Single space between sentences. We are no longer in the world of typewriters and our software make the needed extra space for us. 9. Attach your ms in .RTF or .DOC format to the email. If you use the Open Office suite, we do accept .ODT as well. Do not embed your story into the body of the email. 10. In the body of the email, write us a cover letter, including who you are, where you've published before (or if you're a new, unpublished writer). Cover letters sell you, so take them seriously. WE DO read cover letters before we read the work. Also include a brief biographical statement (in 3rd person: "C.D. Allen is the author of such works as . . . blah, blah"). We reserve the right to edit the bio for content and/or length, or to not use it at all. 11. Send stories to scotopia@gmail.com, the subject bar indicating which anthology label your submitting to and the title of your story (in all caps, please). Please submit your strongest story and only one story at a time. DO NOT RESEND WORK WE REJECT. PLEASE query before submitting reprints, excerpts or parts of series. We generally shy away from these types of pieces, however, we would be remiss to ignore a piece if it is truly brilliant. ***Note: A story will be considered a reprint if it is "Google-able" and the text is available on-line for free. The editors will check this.*** Expect a response within 60 days of your submission. Feel free to query about the status of your submission if you have not heard from us within 60 to 90 days; it probably got lost somewhere along the way. Please include the text "QUERY" in the subject line when inquiring about the status of a submission. Non-conforming submissions will be returned unread. Our Editorial Process If we like your submission we will send a Letter (email) of Interest. Following the Letter of Interest, you will receive a detailed line edit. This will be your ms in an .RTF attachment, usually tagged "_edit". When you open it up, there will be comments in bold and in bold brackets anywhere the editors have suggestions or the section needs reworked. Some are comments about what we liked about the piece, some suggestions that the author is able to take or leave and some will be fixes that we feel must be corrected in order for us to publish the piece. All editorial comments may be debated, but the author will have to make their argument. The burden of proof is on the author. If the author doesn't fix the problems, we assume the writer either missed it or ignored it. In this case, we may reject the story on this reason alone. So make sure every disagreement is brought to the editors' attention, so that both parties may come to a workable solution. After all the changes are made, resend the .RTF ms_edit. Sometimes it will be considered the "final proof" and you will receive your official Letter (email) of Acceptance, or in other cases, the process may repeat until the editors feel like it is ready for layout. Please be patient and bare [sic] with us for the entire process. We strive to choose quality pieces and feel that we would be remiss in not giving you our best effort. The editorial process is for you as the author as well as for the anthology as a whole, as each of us represents ourselves and whole of a quality anthology. Who knows, you may even realize that your piece is stronger for the process. Most NOT Wanted: Adverbs WE DO TAKE ADVERBS AS A SERIOUS MATTER! Yes, this is the small press, but why should we allow ourselves to stoop to sloppy writing? We, the editors of Scotopia Press, believe that every author, who takes his/her work seriously, should be willing to improve himself/herself. It's one reason why we do line edits before accepting stories. Most writers, we've found, don't seem to take bias against adverbs too seriously; the work is littered with them. A good rule of thumb: there shouldn't be any more adverbs than half the total pages of your ms. Better yet, don't have any at all. We will find them and show you how to kill them in the line edit phase. But if there are a ridiculous number of them in your work, we could reject the story outright and it will never receive the benefit of our scalding edit. If you don't know why you shouldn't use adverbs or are looking for information on how to exterminate the vermin, check out C. D. Allen's Redrum for the Writer. Two and Fro Watch you [sic] homonyms. Naval is not your bellybutton. That's your navel. "Naval" pertains to ships and/or a navy. Funny thing, I catch myself using "balls" rather than "bawls" in my own work. I don't know why, but I always end up hunting for it before I send it out. Can you imagine a girl "balling" rather than "bawling"? Dear Lord! On and On . . . Use the ellipses correctly. It's spaceDOTspaceDOTspaceDOTspace. Like: "Hey, man . . . what's with all the dots, man?" Blondes Have More Fun Blond is a color. Blonde is a person with blond hair. Use the correct form. Please Use Responsibly Band-Aid is a product name for an adhesive bandage. You blow your nose on a facial tissue which may also be a Kleenex. A Jeep is not a jeep, but an all-terrain vehicle. Be sure you know the difference between product/company names (capitalized) and the appropriate type of product. If you choose to endorse, capitalize. To Have Leapt or Leaped, That is the Question Stick to either American English or King's English, don't use both. Leapt is leaped in American English. Dreamt is dreamed. Learnt is learned. Etc. Be consistent in spelling, word choice and grammar. What Each of Us Get Publication of your work in our anthologies requires you to grant us print publication rights (First American Anthology Rights) and First Electronic Rights. Upon approval of your submission, we will request the right to publish your work in one volume of the print anthology Dark Distortions or Frightscripts and the right to market the story in any way we see fit to promote the book. Anthologies have a different process than magazine publishing. We do pay for each story and, of course, every author will receive a free copy of the anthology they appear in. Payment, for right now, is a royalty-based system up to the contracted payment amount based on a 2 cents per word formula. All copyrights remain with the author of the work. http://www.scotopiapress.com/submissions.htm#142378898 Infinite Space, Infinite God II [Print antho, SF with Catholic world view, 3-10k wds. Pays $50. No alt hist, no reprints. E-subs only. Deadline 30 June 08.] With the literary success of Infinite Space, Infinite God and in anticipation of its success in sales, Karina and Robert Fabian, in conjunction with Twilight Times Books, are taking a leap of faith by compiling Infinite Space, Infinite God II. Submissions extended to June 30. ISIG II will again feature the best of science fiction with a Catholic world view. The guidelines are similar to ISIG I. 1. Stories should be 3,000-10,000 words. We'd like 12-15 stories, plus introductions, so we're looking for variety of lengths. 2. Science Fiction stories only. We're not looking for fantasy. While we're glad to look at the usual plot conventions of SF--time travel, faster-than-light travel, etc.--we do not want Star Trek-type technobabble where real science is available. In all cases, the science should be believable within the story's universe; projections of current science are encouraged. Do not break the laws of physics without a reasonable explanation, or we'll have to call the logic police. (NOTE: After some discussion, we've decided not to accept alternate history. While a wonderful and entertaining arm of sci-fi, it doesn't really fit the theme of the anthology.) 3. Catholic stories only. You don't need to be Catholic, but your stories do! Characters and/or settings must be genuinely Catholic. Catholic theology and practices must conform to the Magesterium--or have an incredibly good reason to veer! (We'll be tougher about it this time.) This is especially true for any doctrine that is ex cathedra. This does not mean all your characters need to be saints or even Catholic, but that the Church itself is portrayed with the same steadfast morals and doctrine that it has maintained throughout history. Please research any questions: check with a reputable Catholic site online, the Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic priest or deacon. Don't rely on what you remember the nuns telling you in grade school back in 1972. 4. No re-runs. Please read Infinite Space, Infinite God to avoid repeating a story idea/treatment. (You can purchase ISIG at www.twilighttimesbooks.com, www.amazon.com, or from your favorite bookstore; ask your library to order it (Baker and Taylor and Ingrams distribute it), or at least read the synopsis of stories at http://isigsf.com.) 5. Tell a good story. Write well. 'Nuff said. Here are some of the things we rejected for ISIG I or are wary of for ISIG II: --Lectures disguised as stories. Purpose Number One of ISIG is to entertain. --Long sermon/discussion sandwiched between a plot. This includes political as well as religious diatribes. We want to reach a wide audience and while we hope some folks will be touched by the stories, we're not out to evangelize with them. --Jesus is cloned. Not against it per se, but no one yet has made it work, story-wise. --Generic Christian with a crucifix. No nuns praying someone will "accept Jesus as his personal savior." --Telling, not showing. This goes for faith characteristics as well as plot. --Deus ex machina or Deus ex Deum. If you're going to use a miracle of technology or a regular miracle to resolve your plot complications (as opposed to being part of your plot complications ), you'd better write a really compelling story! --Black-and-white absolutes. Catholics are good; others are bad. The world has gone to hell--except for the Church. Evil scientists versus good believers. We're trying to break those stereotypes. --Apocalyptic fiction. Please make sure you know the Catholic understanding of Revelation. --Re-runs. Please read Infinite Space, Infinite God to avoid repeating a story idea/treatment. (ISIG authors: You are welcome to use the same characters or universe as your former stories.) 5. No reprints. 6. You may submit more than one story. How to submit: Send stories to Karina at karina@fabianspace.com. Send it as a Word or .rtf attachment. Type ISIG II in the subject line. Format: House Style for Twilight Times Title should be in 24-point type and centered. Author's name should be ten lines below the title 18-point type and centered. Chapter Headings should be in 14-point type, bold and centered. Body text should be Times New 12-point type and single-spaced. Only one space between sentences, not two spaces. Do not create a table of contents. Set margins to 1.25 inches - top, bottom, left and right. Do not use five spaces for indentation - this causes uneven lines when the text is formatted to full justification. If you use tabs in some chapters and five spaces in others, then this also causes uneven lines when the text is formatted to full justification. Tabs should be set at .3 and not .5. Please ensure that your tabs are consistent throughout. Do not use indent. The indent option will throw the asterisks separating scenes and the chapter headings off center. Paragraph format - select first line indention, single spacing, left justification. No line breaks between paragraphs. No blank lines between paragraphs. Insert a hard page break at the end of the text on the last page of each chapter, before the beginning of the next chapter. No headers/footers, no page numbers and no hidden values. Denote scene breaks with a triple asterisk, centered on page. In general, a double-dash is preferred to an em-dash (required for Fictionwise). Some of our books have spaces around the double-dashes so feel free to keep the spaces around the double-dash for now. Instead of an ellipsis (or em-dash) at the end of a sentence in quotes, I prefer ellipsis followed by a period, even if it is not a complete sentence. No spaces within the ellipsis marks. More tips on the use of an ellipsis. http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/perEllip.html Use plain text for thoughts when a tag is used. Example: I am working on a million-dollar best seller, he thought. Do not place quotation marks around thoughts. For direct thoughts without a tag, use Italic type, not underlines. Example: I wonder who will buy the movie rights to my new book. Use hyphenation sparingly. Better yet, try to avoid using it at all. Compensation: We will pay $50 per story and a copy of the book per author. You will be allowed to purchase the anthology for a reduced price for promotions or to sell on your own if you so choose. In addition, your bio and website will be on the ISIG website. You'll also be invited to share news of any promotional events, contribute an interview to the site and take part in other promotional opportunities that can help your publicity overall. If you are accepted: We are considering including a Study Guide and Research Appendix. If so, we'll be asking for a bibliography of any books, articles, etc. you used in your research and a few questions about the religious, moral and scientific issues raised in your story. You do not need to send those in with your submission, but keep notes so you'll be ready to create and submit them if you are accepted. http://www.isigsf.com/guidelines.html Interfictions II [Print antho, interstitial fic 4k-10k wds. Pays 5 cents/wd on pub. No reprints, sim or mult subs. E-subs only. Reading period 1 Oct 2008 to 2 Dec 2008. RT after Jan 09.] April 12, 2008 Attention writers: a call for submissions Interfictions, edited by Delia Sherman & Theodora Goss, was a provocative anthology of interstitial fiction published last year by Small Beer Press under the auspices of the Interstitial Arts Foundation. Containing terrific fiction by Christopher Barzak, Catherynne M. Valente, Veronica Schanoes, K. Tempest Bradford, Matthew Cheney, Anna Tambour, and others, with a critical essay on interstitiality by Heinz Insu Fenkl, and cover art by Connie Toebe, the book created quite a buzz. Now the I.A.F. is getting to work on a second anthology of interstitial fiction, to be edited by Delia Sherman and Chris Barzak this time, and published by Small Beer Press in 2009. The editors would like all interested writers to know that the book will be open for submissions later this year. The submission guidelines are below. To learn more about interstitial fiction, visit the Interfictions blog (http://interfictions.blogspot.com/), the IAF website (http://www.interstitialarts.org/wordpress/?cat=2), and the IAF discussion board (http://interstitialarts.yuku.com/). Interfictions II submission guidelines from Delia Sherman & Christopher Barzak, editors: What We're Looking For Interstitial Fiction is all about breaking rules, ignoring boundaries, cross-pollinating the fields of literature. It's about working between, across, through, and at the edges and borders of literary genres, including fiction and non-fiction. It falls between the cracks of other movements, terms, and definitions. If you have a story idea that's impossible to describe in a couple of sentences, it may be interstitial. We're looking for previously unpublished stories that engage us and make us think about literature in new ways. Rather than defining "interstitial" for you, we'd like you to show us what genre-bending fiction looks like. Surprise us; make us see that literature holds possibilities we haven't yet imagined. We are also open to graphic stories of about 10 pages. Who We Are Looking For Writers in all genres of fiction (contemporary realism, mystery, historical, fantasy, whatever) who have an idea that challenges generic tropes and expectations. If you're not sure whether a story is interstitial, send it along anyway. Practical Matters Our submission period will be from October 1, 2008 to December 2, 2008. Please submit electronically only. Send your stories to: interfictions@interstitialarts.org. You will hear from us after January, 2009. Overseas submissions are welcome. Stories previously published in other languages may be submitted in English translation for first English language publication. Please follow standard manuscript formatting and submission conventions: ie, double-spaced, with 1" margins, and the name of the story on each page. No simultaneous or multiple submissions. Word count is open, but the ideal range is 4,000-10,000 words. Payment will be 5 cents a word for non-exclusive world anthology rights, on publication, along with 2 author's copies. Any questions? Write us at interfictions@interstitialarts.org. http://endicottstudio.typepad.com/endicott_redux/2008/04/ call-for-submis.html MARKET GUIDELINES Ideomancer [Quarterly webzine. SF/F/H/slipstream/flash to 7k wds. Pays 3 cents/wd. to $40. E-subs only. No sim or mult subs. No unsolicited reprints. Reading periods. RT 30 days.] Ideomancer publishes science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, and flash fiction. We are looking for stories that explore the edges of ideas, stories that subvert, refute and push the limits. We want unique pieces from authors willing to explore non-traditional narratives, take chances with tone, structure and execution, and take risks. Our aim is to showcase speculative stories in all categories which provoke, reflect, and marry ideas to resonance and character. We are still accepting poetry, but keep in mind our new fiction guidelines will be reflected in the poems we choose to publish. We're open to anything other than epic with a speculative element. We will only consider one poem at a time. Please do not send more than one poem per submission and do not submit additional poetry until you have received our response. Emails containing multiple poems will be deleted unread. You may submit stories to Ideomancer while your poetry is under review, but do so as a separate submission in a separate email. Our reading periods will be the months of December-January, March-April, June-July, September-October. Any stories or poems submitted to us during the months of November, February, May, and August will be deleted unread. Format All stories and poems 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. Please use Standard Manuscript Format. If you are unsure what Standard Manuscript Format is, you can find the details here. For poetry, please use Standard Manuscript Format, but replace the word count with the line count. 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. Please include a short cover letter in your email with your name, story title, genre, and word count. Reprints and articles Ideomancer accepts only those reprints we have solicited. 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 7000 word upper limit. Again, you may use word processor count, but understand that stories hovering at the upper limit (6800 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$40. Poetry payment is a flat US$6 per poem. Payment on acceptance. We buy First Worldwide Electronic Rights. We require exclusive rights for three months. The story will be archived for a period of three years unless requested otherwise by the author. The .pdf downloadable magazine will only be available for three months. All rights revert to the author if the story has not been published within two years of acceptance. 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. If you haven't heard from us in 30 days, please query, but not before then. All queries must be sent to the Query Address. Any queries sent to the submissions box will be deleted unread. Submission Address Send all submissions to our Submissions Address (fiction@ideomancer.com). Do NOT send them to the individual editors--they will be discarded. The subject line should be formatted as follows:- Submission-Science Fiction : Your Story Title Submission-Horror : Your Story Title Submission-Fantasy : Your Story Title Submission-Slipstream : Your Story Title Submission-Flash : Your Story Title Submission-Poetry : Your Poem's Title This is important to ensure the submission is sent to the correct editor. http://www.ideomancer.com/main/ideoMain.htm MagusZine [Bimonthly webzine, H/dark fic 1k-4k wds. Pays 3-5 cents/wd. on accept. No mult subs or reprints. Sim subs okay. E-subs only. RT 3 mo.] Guidelines: Submissions should be between 1,000 and 4,000 words. Query if longer. Payment is 3-5 cents per word upon acceptance of the final manuscript. No Multiple Submissions No Reprints Let us know if this is a simultaneous submission and let us know if you receive an acceptance while we are still considering the story. If you receive a rejection, please wait at least one month before submitting another story. E-mail your submission to: davidus_montoyacus@yahoo.com Attach the stories as either .doc or .rtf files. Include the story as an attachment and not in the body of the e-mail. Use the body of the e-mail for your cover letter. Make sure your subject line reads: SUBMISSION: "[Title of your Story]" by [Your Name]. Response Time: 3 Months. Query if longer. Submission Format Submit stories in 12 point Times New Roman or Courier New. Stories should be double spaced. Go here if you want to see how your manuscript should look after formatting. For formatting advice and examples see: Shunn.net/format for Proper Submission Format or read the article on submissions (http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubsubfo.htm) at Preditors and Editors. Your chances of acceptance drastically improve if you are familiar with what we publish. Why would you want to be published on a site you have no interest in? If your answer is "Money" then consider the following: People who make money are generally familiar with the terrain of their professional landscape. See http://www.maguspress.com/stories.html [Warning: lots of bad words in these stories.] David G. Montoya, Editor http://www.maguspress.com/contact.html MARKET INFORMATION STRANGE HORIZONS Temporarily closing to submissions from 1 May through 30 June 08. [http://www.ralan.com/ 16 Apr 08] End of the CALLIHOO Newsletter for 17 April 2008