CALLIHOO Newsletter Market News for Writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Julia West, Editor Vol. 9, No. 10 8 January 2002 Website: http://www.sff.net/people/julia.west/CALLIHOO/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue News Publication Notes Deadlines Market Guidelines Anthrolations (gls) Harpur Palate (gls) Market Information Absolute Magnitude Beyond the Last Star Black Gate DAW Del Rey The Edge Elysian Fiction Ideomancer The Infinite Matrix Planet Relish Scavenger's Newsletter Strange Horizons Terra Incognita (hiatus) Vestal Review Weird Tales ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS PUBLICATION NOTES "Ave de Paso" by E-CALLIHOOt Catherine Asaro (from the =Redshift= collection) is one of the finalists for the Sapphire Award (best Science Fiction Romance Novel and Short Story/Novella of the year). The paperback of Ken Rand's first novel, =The Eternity Stone=, is expected to be out in February. (E-book versions available now.) Watch these spaces: www.fictionworks.com or www.sfwa.org/members/Rand/. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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.) HIGH FANTASY CONTEST Deadline 15 January 2002 [F (high, S&S), 1,000 to 20,000 wds. 1st $100 +pub, 2nd $50 +pub, 3rd $25 +pub. Entry fee $5, plus $2 for each addit'l entry. No reprints. E-mail subm only. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 6)] BYLINE CHILDREN'S STORY OR PICTURE BOOK CONTEST Deadline 25 January 2002 [Short story or picture book for kids from 2-12. Pre-school; 5 to 8; or 9 to 12. Entry fee $4. Prizes: $60, $35, $20. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 5)] WHY I HATE ALIENS ANTHOLOGY Deadline 1 Feb 2002 [Ebook antho, SF to 7500 wds. Pays 50% royalties, prorated based on length. Reprints okay. Mult subs encouraged. E-mail subs only. (Gls in Vol. 9 No. 9)] BYLINE SHORT STORY CONTEST Deadline 5 February 2002 [General fiction up to 5,000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $70, $40, $25. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 5)] BEYOND THE LAST STAR Deadline 1 March 2002 [Print anthology, SF/F/H, pays 5-10 cents/wd ($25 min, $300 max) on accept. No sim or mult subm, no reprints, E-mail subm okay but snailmail preferred. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 8).] DEATHLINGS.COM "FAMILY SECRETS" CONTEST Deadline 15 March 2002 [Use contests to submit to magazines. H/DF to 4,000 wds. Pays 3 cents/wd. E-mail subs only. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 6)] WRITERS OF THE FUTURE, 2ND QUARTER 2002 Deadline 31 March 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)] ByLine Flash Fiction Contest Deadline 5 April 2002 Flash fiction under 1000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $60, $30, $20. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 5)] ByLine New-Talent Short Story Contest Deadline 4 May 2002 [Open to any writer who never has won a cash prize in any ByLine fiction category. Maximum 5,000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $50, $35, $25, $15. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 5)] Deathlings.com "The 70s Were Hell and We Didn't Even Know It" contest Deadline 15 Jun 2002 [Use contests to submit to magazines. H/DF to 4,000 wds. Pays 3 cents/wd. E-mail subs only. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 6)] Imaginings Deadline 15 June 2002 [Print anthology, SF/F 8,000-15,000 wds, pays $950 per story + 10% royalties. No reprints or E-mail subm. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 4).] Downstate Story magazine Yearly Deadline 30 June 2002 [Annual literary printzine, genre fiction to 2,000 wds. Pays $50/story on accept. No reprints or E-mail subs. Buys 10 stories/year. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 6)] Low Port Deadline July 2002 [Open antho, SF/F 3,000 to 10,000 wds, pays 5-8 cents/wd. on accept, reading between Sept 2001 and July 2002. No electronic subm. Low Port, Lee and Miller, P.O. Box 179, Unity, Maine 04988-0179. (GLs in Vol. 9, No. 1)] Mota: An Annual Anthology of Fine Fiction Deadline 1 Nov 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)] ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARKET GUIDELINES ANTHROLATIONS, THE MAGAZINE OF ANTHROPOMORPHIC DRAMATIC FICTION [Biannual printzine, anthropomorphic fiction 3,000-6,000 wds, pays 1/2 cent/wd. Only e-mail subs.] Submissions: editor@sofawolf.com http://www.sofawolf.com/pubs/pubs.html Anthrolations Submission Information Thanks for your interest in submitting your creative efforts to =Anthrolations=. Theme & Subject Matter The general theme of the magazine is 'relationships'--this includes romantic, combative, professional, familial, and most any other variation you can think of. Stories should center around the main character's interaction with others around him or her, and how it changes their direction in life--for good or bad (or how it destroys those around them without changing THEM at all). The main character should be anthropomorphic or zoomorphic. They may draw on most any genre that lends itself to good short stories. Submission of werewolf (and other were-critters) and monster stories IS welcome, but they must be a cut above the typical for any chance of acceptance. Subject matter must be PG-13 or light R in nature--no more explicit than you might see on American cable TV channels during prime time hours. Violence and coarse language are acceptable, as are sexual themes and situations. Just make sure to cover the naughty bits with a sheet or a towel (metaphorically, of course). Length & Format Stories should be between 3,000 and 6,000 words in length generally -- though longer (or shorter...) works happily considered as we have space. Submissions accepted by email only, preferably plain text with markup codes if required--but I'll work with whatever you send me. Email to editor@sofawolf.com. Please be sure to note your name, address, and email on the top of the submission. I clip them out of the email (if you send it in-line) and put it into a directory with a queue number, and it helps me to not have to try to match them back up to the emails later when I need to contact you... Illustrations There is a limited amount of space for illustrations. Preference for art will be given to illustrations done for accepted stories specifically. Art submissions are preferred as black and white (aka: ink-on-paper, 2-color bitmap) scannable hardcopy or 600dpi resolution digital. Art of this type outputs the best and the files are small enough to handle. Greyscale (ie: pencil or 256 grey digital work) is okay too, but will require specific halftone and electronic file settings. Contact us for further details. Payment Rates Stories accepted for publication will be paid at a rate of $0.005 per word. Art accepted for publication will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis, but will usually be in the range of $5 to $25, depending on size, complexity, and location in the magazine (ie: a full-page illo for the centerfold story will pay higher than a full page elsewhere. Cover art higher still...) Legalese Stories and artwork remain the exclusive copyright of the artist or author, who will sign and return a consent form for Sofawolf Press's limited right to publish the material as designated. Anthrolations' editorial staff have final say as to suitability of material submitted for consideration. [http://www.sofawolf.com/subs/subs.html] HARPUR PALATE [Biannual printzine, F/H/SF etc. 250-8,000 wds. Pays $5-$20 per piece. Reading periods: 1 Jan-15 Mar and 1 Aug-15 Oct. Sim and E-mail subs okay.] Harpur Palate English Department Binghamton University PO Box 6000 Binghamton, NY 13902-6000 Fiction submissions: HPFiction@hotmail.com Poetry submissions: HPPoetry@hotmail.com =Harpur Palate='s Editorial Staff is pleased to announce a call for submissions for volume 2.1. Guidelines: We believe writers should explore different genres to tell their stories. =Harpur Palate= accepts pieces regardless of genre, as long as the works pay attention to craft, structure, language, and the story well told. Fiction We're interested in contemporary/mainstream, ethnic/ multicultural, experimental, fantasy, horror, humor/satire, literary, magical realism, metafiction, mystery/suspense, science fiction, and slipstream (genre blending). No solipsistic or self- centered/pretentious fiction, erotica, pornography, excessive profanity, or shock value for shock value's sake. We would like to see more submissions of literary science fiction, literary fantasy, magical realism and metafiction in the vein of Huxley, Orwell, Zamyatin, Garcia Marquez and Borges. Recently published work by Ilsa J. Bick, Hugh Cook, and M. Evelina Galang. Length: 250-8000 words Contact: Toiya Kristen Finley, Fiction Editor Poetry We're interested in experimental, blank verse, free verse, haiku, lyrical, narrative, prose poems, sonnets, tanka, villanelles. No light verse. We would like to see more speculative poetry. Recently published work by Bruce Bennett, Eric Machan Howd, and Christina Pugh. Send 3-5 poems (please, no more than 5!). No poems longer than 10 pages. Contact: Catherine Dent and Anne Rashid, Poetry Editors General Information: Payment: $5-$20 when funding is available and 2 contributor's copies Subscriptions: $7.50/issue, $14.00/year for 2 issues. Please send a check or money order. If you are paying by check, please make sure it is drawn on a US bank. IMPORTANT: Please make sure your checks are made out to =Harpur Palate=. We have yearly reading periods: January 1-March 15 and August 1-October 15. Work submitted outside of the reading periods will not be read. Along with your manuscript, please send a cover letter with a short bio and a SASE. Sorry, but we cannot reply without the SASE. If you would like your manuscript returned, please send a SASE with enough return postage. If not, please let us know if your manuscript is disposable. Manuscripts submitted without enough postage for return will be recycled. We will accept simultaneous submissions if stated in the cover letter. The editorial boards choose manuscripts during final selection meetings after the deadline. If we would like to hold your fiction or poetry manuscript for final selection, we will inform you. Send submissions to the appropriate editor at: Harpur Palate, English Department, Binghamton University, PO Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000 You may also send e-mail subs as RTF attachments to HPFiction@hotmail.com and HPPoetry@hotmail.com. Please make sure "Submission" and the title of the manuscript are in the subject heading. We look forward to reviewing your work. [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/topic291.htm, 2 Jan 2002] ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARKET INFORMATION ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE Warren Lapine says, "=Absolute Magnitude= has once again raised its pay rates. I'm now paying 3 to 7 cents per word. I realized that I've been paying almost everyone at least three cents a word for the last six months or so and decided to make it official." [sff.publishing.dnapublications, 19 Dec 2001] BEYOND THE LAST STAR Sherwood Smith, editor of the latest SFF.net anthology, =Beyond the Last Star=, says, "It's just about half full, and I have two big rewrites out here... Everything else is caught up on." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/topic291.htm, 4 Jan 2002] BLACK GATE A writer on sff.net asked, "Does =Black Gate= accept reprints?" John O'Neill, editor of =Black Gate=, answered, "Great question. Yes we do, but as you can imagine we're fairly selective. Each issue =Black Gate= publishes a "fantasy classic" reprint which tries to bring a 'neglected classic' back into print. We've gone as far back as 1926, and as recent as 1998. "I suspect, tho, that your question has more to do with selling a story that recently appeared elsewhere - either overseas, or online, or in a small press publication - rather than the usual definition of 'classic.' We get this question a great deal. And the answer there as well is, yes, we do... but again, we are very selective. We have nothing against reprinting stories which have appeared elsewhere (to a limited audience), but for obvious reasons this isn't our preferred choice for fiction. So our criteria generally are as follows: * While we look at a wide range of original fiction (humor, contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, magic realism, etc), for reprints we are only interested in the very best examples of our core requirements: i.e. adventure-oriented epic fantasy and dark fantasy. Have a look at the guidelines posted at our website (www.blackgate.com) for more details. * Our usual payment rate for reprints is 2 cents/word. We can go higher in certain cases, but that's our baseline. * In general the larger the audience for your original publication, the less likely we are to be interested, especially if your story is currently still in print elsewhere (online or otherwise). Electronic/print runs under 1000 - 2000 copies are usually fine." [sff.publishing.black-gate-magazine, 7 Jan 2002] DAW Debra Euler, Managing Editor of DAW Books, says, "DAW Books is not accepting any unsolicited manuscript submissions until sometime in January. Watch this space [sff.net newsgroup] for updates." [sff.publishing.daw, 28 Nov 01] DEL REY BETSY MITCHELL TO BECOME VICE PRESIDENT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF DEL REY BOOKS New York, NY (December 3, 2001) Gina Centrello, President and Publisher of Ballantine Books, today announced the appointment of BETSY MITCHELL, previously Editor-in-Chief of the Warner Books science fiction and fantasy imprint, Aspect, as Vice President, Editor-in-Chief, Del Rey Books, reporting to her, effective January 2, 2002. "One of the most highly regarded editors in the science fiction and fantasy community, Betsy will help us bring our enormously successful Del Rey publishing program to even greater levels of achievement" says Gina Centrello. As Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey, Betsy will oversee the Del Rey editorial department and be responsible for its day-to-day operation and overall strategic direction. She will also acquire and edit original titles for hardcover publication as well as reprints for the trade and mass market paperback lists. Reporting to Betsy will be Shelly Shapiro, Editorial Director, and Steve Saffel, Executive Editor. Betsy will also work closely with Kuo-Yu Liang, who will continue to be an integral member of the Del Rey team, in his newly created position of Marketing Director, Del Rey and Licensing Developments, reporting to Anthony Ziccardi, Vice President, Sales Marketing Director. Christine Cabello, Ballantine's Associate Director, Marketing, and Colleen Lindsay, Publicity Manager, Del Rey, will continue to make significant contributions in their respective roles to the success of the Del Rey publishing program. Aspect, under Betsy, has launched such new authors as J.V. Jones, David Feintuch, Nalo Hopkinson, and Cecilia Dart-Thornton and brought Peter F. Hamilton, Matt Ruff, Octavia E. Butler--who won Warner's first-ever Nebula, for Best Novel, for Parable of the Talents--and others to greater prominence. Aspect has been widely praised for showcasing black authors; Dark Matter: a Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora edited by Sheree R. Thomas, the first-ever anthology of black SF/fantasy writers, received the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology in 2001. Prior to Warner, Betsy was Associate Publisher of the Bantam Spectra line, where she edited the Star Wars(R) titles, as well as such authors as William Gibson and Dan Simmons. Before that, she was a Senior Editor at Baen Books and a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald. Del Rey Books (http://www.delreydigital.com) was founded in 1977 as a division of Ballantine Books under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science fiction and alternate history in hardcover, paperback, and now e-book formats. Ballantine Books is a publishing group of Random House, Inc, the U.S. publishing company of Random House, the trade book publishing division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's leading international media companies. THE EDGE UK magazine The Edge has a new URL: http://www.theedge.abelgratis.co.uk, and a new E-mail address: grahamevans@lineone.net ELYSIAN FICTION Jim Bailey, editor of =Elysian Fiction=, says, "I'm done with the reading and responding for the batch of submissions for Issue #2. This covers stories sent between 5/14/01 and 7/31/01, just about 100 submissions. Average response time was a dismal 125 days. "Next up is reading and responding to a similar number of stories sent since 8/1/01, which will go towards Issue #3 and also probably some of #4. Goal dates on those are Feb 1st and April 1st respectively. I should be caught up with those in a week or two at this rate, resulting in an average response time for that batch of between 60 and 70 days. After that, no fooling around as I keep up with things on a MUCH more regular basis." [sff.publishing.elysian-fiction, 17 Dec 01] IDEOMANCER Chris Clarke says, "The new =Ideomancer= is up and online. We're now on a monthly schedule and have a PDF download available each month and for the individual stories. We've also rewritten the site and all should be fine in Mac Explorer 5 and Netscape 6." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/archive/arc291.htm, 2 Jan 2002] THE INFINITE MATRIX "Back from the Dead!" by Eileen Gunn 11.19.2001 "When we published our first and we-thought-only issue last August, =The Infinite Matrix= received an outpouring of enthusiasm and support. Thanks to the generosity of a benefactor in the high-tech community, =The Infinite Matrix= has been given funding to continue publishing for a few months, while we try to find a stable(!) source of revenue. This assistance, and other technical and advisory help, found its way to us from coverage in Wired and boingboing and slashdot, and from generous mentions in blogs, starting with Jezebel's Mirror and Rebecca's Pocket. "My deepest gratitude goes out to everyone who has helped bring us back from the dead. (And to my employer, Global Automation, who has granted me extraordinarily supple flex time. Thanks, Srini!) "Most of my focus in the past few months has gone into getting stories and columnists for the magazine, rather than figuring out how to make money. So here's what you can look forward to: * Schism Matrix, Bruce Sterling's daily weblog * This Week in History, compiled daily by Terry Bisson * Scores, book reviews by John Clute * ViperWire, nanotales by Richard Kadrey * The Smoke, a serial by Simon Ings * The Runcible Ansible, a weekly column of wit and miscellany by David Langford * A monthly short story, including a newly discovered story by the great fantasist Avram Davidson * Monthly excerpts from significant upcoming novels, including, in this issue, Kathleen Ann Goonan's Light Music, due next June from Harper-Collins Eos, and in December, Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, due next Fall from Tor. "Let me know how you like all this. Visit our Talk topic, or send me email (gunn@infinitematrix.net). "As you're probably aware, this is not a great time for Web-based business models. So if you've got any ideas about how to stay in business, or if you know of a company that would like to sponsor the magazine for a month or three, please send email to Eileen Gunn. One thing I do know: =The Infinite Matrix= will not be a subscriber magazine--it will continue to be available to everyone online. "I'll happily accept individual contributions, however. If you like the magazine and want to help it stay in business, you can contribute any amount you wish. "And if, by any chance, you have the desire to help fund an online science-fiction magazine, please do get in touch." [http://www.infinitematrix.net/faq/editorials/ gunn2.html] Eileen Gunn, editor of webzine =Infinite Matrix=, says, "We pay .20 a word for original, unpublished short stories under about 6000 words. For novel excerpts, we pay .05 a word. I am looking for compelling fiction that has a definite science-fiction hit, but I'm a bit flexible about what I consider to be science fiction." [sff.publishing.infinite-matrix, 27 Dec 01] PLANET RELISH =Planet Relish='s next issue will be delayed until February 2002, instead of the expected January release. Editor Mark Rapacioli reported on the site on January 3 that "Circumstances at work and at home have required much more of my attention than usual lately, leaving me little or no time to work on the magazine. As a result, a delay in the publication schedule is unavoidable." He is still planning on "publishing the full complement of six issues this coming year." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/topic291.htm, 4 Jan 2002] SCAVENGER'S NEWSLETTER Small press market magazine =Scavenger's Newsletter= URL has changed to http://www.argentmoon.net/scavengers/index.htm. STRANGE HORIZONS Jed Hartman, fiction editor for =Strange Horizons=, says, "Another status update re =Strange Horizons= fiction subs: in our first week after reopening to subs, submission volume has been roughly double its normal rate. I assume it'll fall back to normal levels over the next week or two. "By the way, it happened to be convenient to run some stats, so I did; figured that, on the off chance anyone's interested, I'd post 'em here. (Though I wasn't sure whether this was the right topic, but I figured the response times below make it relevant.) From 6/27/2000 (date of first submission) through 11/30/2001 (when we temporarily closed to subs), we received 2393 submissions; overall average of 4 and a half per day, or about 140 per month. In the last three months of that time, the average was a bit over 5 a day, about 160 per month. (This past week, the average has been about 10 a day.) "Of more interest to y'all may be response times. Our shortest ever was 4 days; our shortest since the beginning of 2001 was 7 days. (But it's rare that we'll respond to anything in under 11 days, because of the way we schedule reading and discussion.) Longest ever response time was 99 days (one of only 4 response times over 90 days). Our average response time has been surprisingly consistent over time (I keep expecting the average to go up or down at various times): the overall average since we received our first submission is 23 days (it hovered around 22 for the first year or so), while average in the last few months of 2001 was a bit over 24 days. Note: this does not mean you should query after 25 days; that's just an average. "(That average doesn't include the time we take to respond when someone sends us a requested revision. We don't track those response times as such, but it's often up around 60 days, unfortunately. We're gonna try to be better about that. The above numbers also don't take into account the times when submissions or responses have gotten lost in email; nothing we can do about that, unfortunately. But it doesn't happen very often.) "That info is fairly consistent with what the Black Holes page says about us. Though neither the minimum (2) and maximum (158) reported there are valid, according to our records. (I'm guessing the 2 was someone who sent us an attachment which we bounced immediately so it didn't go into our records, and I'm guessing the 158 was a response-lost-in-the-mail situation.)" [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/topic291.htm, 7 Jan 2002] TERRA INCOGNITA A writer on the Rumor Mill says, "=Terra Incognita= is on an indefinite hiatus. I don't know when or even if any writers, including myself, are going to get their stories back." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/topic291.htm, 6 Jan 2002] VESTAL REVIEW Mark B. says, "Issue 8 of =Vestal Review= is out, featuring works by Joseph Faria, Lynn Kozlowski, Alex Irvine, Joan Wilking, Mark Rudolph, Ian Randall Wilson and Patti Sea. We are reading for issue 9 now. We are paying 3-10 cents a word plus a contributor's copy. =Vestal Review= is listed as a contributing press in the XXVI issue of the Pushcart Prize. Please adhere to the guidelines available at the VR site." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/archive/arc291.htm, 1 Jan 2002] WEIRD TALES Warren Lapine, publisher of DNA Publications, says, "=Weird Tales= is scheduled to go slick with the summer issue. It'll be interesting to see how people react to the original genre pulp magazine going slick and full color." [sff.publishing.dnapublications, 22 Dec 01] ==End of the CALLIHOO Newsletter for 8 January 2002==