CALLIHOO NEWSLETTER Market News for Writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Julia West, Editor Volume 12 Number 5 24 April 2008 Website: http://www.callihoo.net IN THIS ISSUE Publication Notes Deadlines Anthology Lace and Blade 2 (updated) Contest L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest Market Guidelines Ace and Roc Market Information Jim Baen's Universe 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] L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest Third quarter deadline 30 June 2008 [Quarterly contest/print antho, SF/F/DF to 17k wds. Non-pros only. 1st prize $1000, 2nd $750, 3rd $500. No entry fee. No reprints. No E-subs. One entry per person per quarter. GLs in Vol. 12 No. 5] Lace and Blade 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. 5] 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 Norilana Books has acquired a striking poetry collection =The Memory Palace= by critically acclaimed poet and author JoSelle Vanderhooft, a poetic memoir dealing with the raw themes of adolescence, pain, and the challenges of growing up gay, structured around the Renaissance mnemonic device of a building with rooms populated by thoughts and objects. The title is scheduled for a trade hardcover release from the Curiosities imprint in January 2009. JoSelle Vanderhooft is the author of poetry collections =The Minotaur's Last Letter to His Mother= (Ash Phoenix), the 2007 Stoker-nominated Ossuary (Sam's Dot Publishing), =Desert Songs= (Cross-Cultural Communications, 2008), =Tales Twice Told= (Sam's Dot Publishing, 2008), =Fathers, Daughters, Ghosts and Monsters= (VanZeno Press, forthcoming) and =Death Masks= (Papaveria Press, 2008), the novels =The Tale of the Miller's Daughter= (Papaveria Press) and =Owl Skin= (Papaveria Press, 2008) and a collection of short stories from Drollerie Press to be released in 2008. Her poetry and fiction has appeared online and in print in a number of publications, including Cabinet des Fees, Star*Line, Mythic Delirium, MYTHIC, Jabberwocky, Helix, The Seventh Quarry and several others. An assistant editor of a newspaper by day, she lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. Official website: http://www.joselle-vanderhooft.com/ ANTHOLOGY LACE AND BLADE 2 (updated guidelines) [Annual print antho, romantic F. Pays 2 cents/wd for all lengths. No reprints. E-subs preferred.] Lace and Blade is a new annual anthology series of elegant romantic fantasy, edited by Deborah J. Ross, with each volume released on Valentine's Day, from Leda, the exciting new romantic fantasy imprint of Norilana Books, starting in 2008. In the spirit of classic period swashbucklers, Zorro, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and D'Artagnan, brimming with romantic courtly intrigue and dangerous liaisons, with cloak and dagger and perfumed handkerchiefs, the language of the fan and stolen glances, with the manners of Jane Austen and the sparkling rapier wit of Oscar Wilde, these are fantastic stories of adventure, derring-do, love, and glamorous yet subtle magic, by such stellar authors as Tanith Lee, Catherine Asaro, Diana L. Paxson, Madeleine E. Robins, Robin Wayne Bailey, Dave Smeds, Mary Rosenblum, Chaz Brenchley, and Sherwood Smith -- sophisticated other worlds where passion is a courtly mistress, mystery is moonlight on steel, and magic is the god of love. En garde, mon amour! Editor Deborah J. Ross says: "Lace and Blade 2 is now open for submissions. Send me your most delicious stories. "This is the second volume of elegant, sensual, romantic fantasy, emphasizing sharp verbal repartee as much as sharp pointed weapons, rapier rather than broadsword. Lace at the wrists, perfume, and poetry; characters -- both men and women -- with vibrant personalities, complex, dashing, and very sexy. I'm particularly interested in stories that have magic and action, but in which conflict is resolved not by violence but by insight, creativity, and compassion. I'd love to see "win-win" endings, sense-of-wonder, plot twists and turnabout. Alternate sexuality is welcome; eroticism a definite plus; exotic, non-Western European settings also encouraged. Please read the first volume to see what I'm looking for. "Stories must be original and previously unpublished; rights purchased are first English language rights and exclusive electronic rights for one year; 12 months after publication, you are free to sell to other markets." RIGHTS PURCHASED: First English Language Rights and non-exclusive electronic rights. The anthology will be published by Norilana Books in a trade paperback edition on February 14, 2009, to be followed by an electronic edition to be produced later. PAYMENT: $0.02 a word on acceptance, as an advance against a pro rata share of royalties and foreign or other sales (per word, not per story), plus a contributor copy. WORD LENGTH: No maximum, although longer stories must be extraordinary. READING PERIOD begins April 1, 2008. Please do not submit your stories before then. DEADLINE: August 1, 2008 HOW TO SUBMIT / FORMATTING: You may e-mail your story as .rtf attachment or mail a hard copy with SASE and a CD containing an .rtf file. Do not send a .docx file as I cannot open them! If e-mailing, please format without headers or footers, 12 point Courier, italics instead of underlining, and put your full name, mailing address and email address on the upper left corner of the first page. I will determine final word count according to my standard formatting. The subject line of your e-mail should say "Submission: Story Title, last name of author." The story file itself should have your full name, address, e-mail address, title of story, and number of words. We are open to new writers and seasoned veterans alike. EDITORIAL ADDRESS: deborahjross@gmail.com or: Deborah J. Ross 14775 Virginia Avenue Boulder Creek CA 95006 We look forward to reading your most inspired work. http://www.norilana.com/norilana-lb-guidelines.htm CONTEST L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest [Quarterly contest/print antho, SF/F/DF to 17k wds. Non-pros only. 1st prize $1000, 2nd $750, 3rd $500. No entry fee. No reprints. No E-subs. Deadlines 31 Dec, 31 Mar, 30 Jun, 30 Sep. One entry per person per quarter.] L. Ron Hubbard'S Writers of the Future Contest P.O. BOX 1630 Los Angeles, CA 90078 1. No entry fee is required, and all rights in the story remain the property of the author. All types of science fiction, fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome. 2. All entries must be original works, in English. Plagiarism, which includes the use of third-party poetry, song lyrics, characters or another person's universe, without written permission will result in disqualification. Excessive violence or sex, determined by the judges, will result in disqualification. Entries may not have been previously published in professional media. 3. To be eligible, entries must be works of prose, up to 17,000 words in length. We regret we cannot consider poetry, or works intended for children. 4. The Contest is open only to those who have not had professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits. 5. Entries must be typewritten or a computer printout in black ink on white paper, double spaced, with numbered pages. All other formats will be disqualified. Each entry must have a cover page with the title of the work, the author's name, address, telephone number, email address and an approximate word count. Every subsequent page must carry the title and a page number, but the author's name must be deleted to facilitate fair judging. 6. Manuscripts will be returned after judging only if the author has provided return postage on a self addressed envelope. If the author does not wish return of the manuscript, a #10 (business size) self-addressed, stamped envelope (or valid email address) must be included with the entry in order to receive judging results. 7. We accept only entries for which no delivery signature is required by us to receive them. 8. There shall be three cash prizes in each quarter: a First Prize of $1,000, a Second Prize of $750, and a Third Prize of $500, in U.S. dollars or the recipient's locally equivalent amount. In addition, at the end of the year the four First Place winners will have their entries rejudged, and a Grand Prize winner shall be determined and receive an additional $5,000. All winners will also receive trophies or certificates. 9. The Contest has four quarters, beginning on October 1, January 1, April 1 and July 1. The year will end on September 30. To be eligible for judging in its quarter, an entry must be postmarked no later than midnight on the last day of the quarter. Deadlines December 31st, March 31st, June 30th and September 30th. 10. Each entrant may submit only one manuscript per quarter. Winners are ineligible to make further entries in the contest. 11. All entries for each quarter are final. No revisions are accepted. 12. Entries will be judged by professional authors. The decisions of the judges are entirely their own, and are final. 13. Winners in each quarter will be individually notified of the results by mail. 14. This contest is void where prohibited by law. http://www.writersofthefuture.com/rules.htm MARKET GUIDELINES Ace and Roc [Print book publishers, SF/F 75k to 125k wds. Pays advance and royalties. E-subs preferred. Query first. RT 3 mo for E-subs, 12 mo HC subs.] Dear Author, Thank you for your interest in Ace and Roc Science Fiction & Fantasy. Here are a few good rules to follow when you are submitting a manuscript to us for consideration. Be sure you are familiar with the kinds of books we publish. Take a look at your local bookstore or on this Web site. The usual length for a manuscript is between 75,000 and 125,000 words. Ace and Roc do not accept submissions of short stories, non-fiction, children's books, poetry, or artwork. There are two ways to submit your work. You may email a query letter with the first ten pages of your book pasted in the body of the email. Do not attach any documents. Our email address is sff@us.penguingroup.com. We prefer e-mail submissions, but alternatively, you can mail a query letter, short synopsis, and the first 50 pages of your book to us at: Ace/Roc Science Fiction & Fantasy Penguin Group USA 375 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the reply and do NOT send us your only copy. Please use only one of these channels. Please submit only one work at a time. Please allow 3 months for a reply to an e-mail query, and 12 months for a reply to hard copy submissions. For additional information on publishers and markets for various types of manuscripts, you might wish to consult the current edition of THE WRITER'S MARKET, which should be available in your local library. Thank you for your interest in our company, and the very best of luck to you. Sincerely, The Editors Ace/Roc Science Fiction & Fantasy http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/scifi-fantasy/submission.h tml MARKET INFORMATION Jim Baen's Universe Magazine For newcomers to "Baen's Universe Slush" forum, here is some general information. 1) Jim Baen's Universe is a professional-level science fiction and fantasy online publication. Our lowest pay rate for stories matches the rate paid by the big three SF magazines. Our top pay rate is higher than any other short-form SF/F publication, about three times higher than the top rate of the "Big Three" SF print magazines. Along with the highest pay rates in the short-form SF/F business, the publication standards are correspondingly high. So you should post your best work here. Your best may, or may not, be good enough. Anything less than your best probably won't be. However, JBU is willing to work with up-and-coming writers, to an extent that no other publication can. 2) This forum is usually referred to as the Bar, short for Baen's Bar. (http://bar.baen.com/Default.aspx) The forum sections here are called conferences (or newsgroups). The members of the Bar community usually refer to themselves as Barflies. 3) Baen's Bar is not a publicly viewable forum -- unlike the forums of Analog, Asimov, or F&SF. Baen's Bar is password protected, and the contents of posts here will not show up on a Web search. Posting a story in the slush conference does not use up your first publication rights. In that sense, this conference is more like Critters Online Workshop. The biggest difference between the "Baen's Universe Slush" conference and other online workshops is that this conference also doubles as a submission venue for JBU. Be warned that comments in the slush conference are likely to be far more blunt than you'll see in most workshops. Just remember that criticisms are not personal attacks. They are aimed at helping you improve your story and your writing. The most critical comments can be the most helpful, because they point out the biggest problems. If you prefer not to subject your story to comments, you can submit directly to the normal slush, using the webform at: http://www.baensuniverse.com/submit.cgi 4) Jim Baen's Universe will publish stories by new writers in every issue, in two or more "Introducing" slots per issue. Writers are eligible for "Introducing" slot if they have fewer than three pro-level short-form SF/F sales and no pro-level novel sales. However, a writer can only be "Introduced" once--even if that "Intro" story is the writer's only pro-level sale, that writer is no longer eligible. A writer seeking an "Introducing" slot for a story must submit that story through the Bar slush conference. New writers can submit to the normal slush, but those stories will not be eligible for an "Introducing" slot. Writers who are not eligible for an "Introducing" slot may also submit through the Bar slush conference, to take advantage of the workshop aspect of the forum. 5) You can revise and repost your story as many times as you want, with no penalty. Many stories have gone through multiple revisions before they were good enough to forward to the senior editors, Eric Flint and Mike Resnick. With only a few exceptions, most of the stories selected from the Bar slush conference would have been rejected if the first versions had been submitted to the normal slush. (In the normal slush, you get one shot per story.) You can post revisions whenever you want. However, the collective experience of this slush forum is that you get the best results if you wait a week or so before posting a revision, with two weeks being even better. This makes sense, because it'll prevent reader burnout. When someone reads too many versions of a program is too short a time, the readers may get too close to the story and become unable to an objective opinion. Further, if you post a revision every time you get a comment or two, people may start to expect another version, and another, and another. Then, why would anyone bother reading the current version. I think you should probably wait at least a week between different versions for another reason. It takes that long to collect the range of comments that justifies a rewrite. 6) If a story reaches the point where some members of the editorial board think it's good enough to send to Eric Flint and Mike Resnick, then a member of the editorial staff will ask for an RTF file (an electronic copy of your manuscript file, in Rich Text Format). 7) There is no formal rejection for stories posted in the Bar slush conference. If it's been up for 3 months and you haven't received a request for an RTF, you can consider it rejected. 8) You can withdraw a story at any time. Just post a comment in your comments thread that you're withdrawing the story, so that we can update slush tracker database. 9) You can post more than one story at a time. However, if you do post multiple stories, have mercy on the Bar community. Please don't post every story you've ever written, all at once. If you intend to post two stories, then it's fine to post them together. If you intend to post three or more stories, you'll probably get the best results if you post them a week apart. Then a week after the final story, post the revision of the first one . . . and so on. 10) Please feel free to comment on any of the stories posted on the Bar slush. This is the only venue where readers and writers can influence the selection of stories the magazine will publish. Of course, Eric Flint and Mike Resnick decide which stories they buy, but the editorial staff decides which stories from the slush to send them. A strong positive response from the Bar community does influence the staff. So when you encounter a story that you really like, let the staff know it. If you see a story that you like, but has some problem, let the writer know. Suggestions from the Bar community will help the writer improve the story, and perhaps even turn it into publishable quality. If you dislike a story, let the writer know. That too will help, especially if you can tell the writer why you dislike the story. [Subject: General info for newcomers to the Universe slush Group: Baen's Universe eMagazine Author: Sam Hidaka Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:11:39 GMT] Strange Horizons Jed Hartman [one of the fiction editors]'s Blog says: Temporary fiction closure in May and June. The Strange Horizons fiction department is temporarily closing to submissions during the months of May and June--that is, from May 1 through June 30. We will reopen to submissions on July 1, 2008. Feel free to pass this information along, but if you do, please be sure to mention that this closure is only temporary. If you want us to consider a story before July, submit it before the end of April. We'll consider all stories that arrive before May 1, and (as usual) we will respond to all submitted stories before we reopen in July. (This doesn't apply to other departments, only fiction.) http://www.kith.org/journals/jed/2008/04/11/11100.html End of the CALLIHOO Newsletter for 24 April 2008