Welcome to Volume 1, Number 3 of DARK PLANET Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror magazine! This is going up a bit later than I'd initially anticipated (I got a full-time job and didn't stop taking classes ... silly me, I thought I'd still have free time).
At any rate, this issue is a bit of a departure from previous issues -- it's got a new layout, a new electronic home (more space and CGI access to boot, whee!) and has more stories than ever before -- my personal reading recommendations for this issue are Doug Tierney's erotica piece "The Portable Girlfriend" and Ceri Jordan's "And She Sang Like Lady Day."
While I'm talking about my favorite stories, I'd like to congratulate Michael A. Burstein on the Hugo nomination of his story "TeleAbsence" (which ran in DP#2). Way to go!
In the meantime, I plan to put up the next issue in October, but if I have the time and resources one will be up sooner. So, keep those stories and poems coming in. Check out the guidelines below and send me your stuff. If you're a reader, send me e-mail and tell me what you'd like to see here.
-- Lucy S.
WHAT I WANT:
I'm currently accepting submissions of SF, dark fantasy, horror, weird mainstream, weird or genre-related poetry and hypertext, book/movie reviews and other genre-related nonfiction, genre-related metafiction, and artwork and photographs (see bottom for specific information on art subs). Simultaneous subs are okay, just be courteous and tell me so.
What do I like? Well-plotted stories, evocative poetry. Sophisticated humor is always appreciated, as is well-researched hard SF that also has a believable human element. What don't I like? Gratuitously gory horror ... give me creepy chills, not a literary emetic.
For other tips, check out the Turkey City Lexicon.
I prefer shorter pieces, simply because the Web isn't an ideal format for long stories, but if I like something well enough I'll probably run it. Basically I'll take up to 15,000 words for fiction, 10,000 for non-fiction. Poetry length is open (just don't send me any Homerian epics).
Please query me about non-fiction. You should send me a sample of your work so I'll know what you can do. I've got a few people I'm giving review assignments to, so be sure to tell me what you'd like to do and we'll see if we can work something out.
For fiction, I prefer PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED submissions (this only applies to paper-only magazines; I don't want stuff that's already posted somewhere on the Internet. Be sure to check the other magazine's contract for re-print clauses first). I have several reasons for this, the main one being that I have a budget of about five cents right now and can't pay and I want to make sure that you've gotten something for your work. By the same token, plagiarism is easy on the Web and I want to make sure everybody's essentially gotten the good out of their copyright. Note that copyright statements WILL be placed prominently on all material in DARK PLANET.
The advantage here is that if you're published in DARK PLANET, your work will be seen by a potentially much larger audience than if you published in any of the paper-only magazines.
Also note that I am perfectly willing to run brand spanking new stories and poems, and I may in fact be able to pay for them in the future if I move to a commercial server, and those who have worked with me in the past are liable to get the better rates.
HOW TO PREPARE SUBMISSIONS:
Unless you're submitting a one or two-page piece, I absolutely, positively have to get submissions electronically, because it's just me doing this and I'm a really slow typist. The logical way is to send submissions as e-mail attatchments to lusnyde@indiana.edu, but if that's not possible, send a 3.5" disk (DD or HD, IBM or MAC) to my attention at Chemistry Library, Chemistry 001, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405.
If you send a manuscript in e-mail, preface it with a note that tells me who you are, where you've published, where the poem or story was previously published. Subs can be in ASCII or RTF, just make sure they're free of character garbage, have all the returns and tabs intact, etc. I'll be working with manuscripts in Mac Word Perfect 3.0.
If you send a disk, also send a clean, double-spaced copy of the manuscript and a cover letter. Save files to any version of WordPerfect (IBM or Mac) or save them so they're compatible with Mac Word or WordPerfect. ASCII is the alternate choice, but again, make sure the files will convert cleanly. Try to take out as much extraneous formatting as possible, and don't send me something that's got long lines of spaces where tabs should be. Also, DON'T send anything that I have to sign for; if you send me something snail-mail, include your e-mail address or an SASE so I can contact you. If you want your materials returned, you must give me the proper SASE.
ART/PHOTOGRAPHY SUBMISSIONS:
I'm planning to showcase high-quality, spooky/weird/fantastic photos, illustrations and paintings. The best thing to do is to send them to me in .gif format. If you've done something in PhotoShop or Illustrator and need to send a disk, you can send the raw files. You can also send paper copies of your artwork or photos, but (1) make sure it's a very good copy so it will scan well, (2) don't send anything you can't afford to lose, and (3) enclose an SASE with proper postage if you want it back.
If you've got photos and there are real people in them, I need to get a snail-mail copy of the model release before I can do anything with them. And, please, no pornography (note that porn is not the same as well-written erotica) or images of extreme violence.
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Planet's surface.