Thursday, March 31, 2011

Great Review(s) of "Hell Is in the Details"

Val Kovalin is the M/M reviewer for ARe, an e-book retailer, and does a review column for their newsletter once a month. This month, she chose my story Hell Is in the Details as the Top Pick of the month (scroll a little more than halfway down) which is pretty darned awesome. :) "Hell" is my story about the Demon of Laziness, who has a very short deadline to corrupt a soul, which he didn't know about because he never reads his memos.

Val said, in part:

This 8K-word story should delight fans of m/m romance who enjoy witty fantasy fiction, specifically stories centered upon demons. It had me chuckling throughout at the observations of the stressed-out demon Benioth. Meanwhile, its subtle literary allusions to Paradise Lost and historical references add an intriguing layer of depth to the satire.

...

The story’s suspense centers on its ending. A romance story needs a romantic and happy ending. At the same time, Benioth feels extreme pressure to corrupt his young lover’s soul, which would doom poor Andy to the eternal flames of Hell. All this would seem mutually incompatible, but the story makes it work with a clever resolution. Find out how in this comical gem that is my Top Pick for the month.


It's always hard to know in advance whether humor is going to work for anyone but me, so I love hearing that someone else actually found a funny story I wrote to be funny. :)

In the same column, she named PD Singer's story Storm on the Mountain as a Recommended Read, which it well deserves. Pam Singer has become one of my favorite m/m writers, and not just because she's also become a friend. Her Mountain series, which includes both novels and short stories, is excellent, and only gets better as you read through. In "Storm," a blizzard at a ski resort where the POV character works is the setting for some great character and relationship development. In many cases, a short story sequel to a novel is just an excuse for a sex scene. In "Storm," we see Mark working on reining in his instinct to take care of his lover Allan, who doesn't at all appreciate being fussed over, and made that clear in their novel, Fall Down the Mountain.

One of my common complaints about romances of all kinds is that too often one character will have a habit or view or tendency that aggravates the other character, often to the point of being a make/break issue in their relationship. In the end, the first character will say, "Okay, I won't do that anymore," and they kiss and that's the end -- we're just supposed to assume that the first character will successfully do a one-eighty on some habit or opinion that's been a major component of their personality for however many years or decades. I've never really bought that, and it makes it hard to believe in the HEA. In this case, though, Pam shows us that Mark really is working on his impulse to protect Allan in ways that are insulting or belittling, whether he means it that way or not. He knows it's a fault, and we get to see him controlling it, and his relationship with Allan growing stronger in consequence. This short story is a significant addition to the series, not at all fluffy or trivial. Great stuff.

Val also reviews on Jessewave's blog, where she posted a similar but not quite identical review of "Hell Is in the Details" there including:

This short story is flawlessly written and has a droll, mischievous tone that should delight fans of comic fantasy, specifically fiction centered upon demons, which plays with historical and literary references. Benioth is a good character, an appealing mix of stressed-out and resourceful. Andy is a sweet kid, a wide-eyed innocent eager to be corrupted, and their sex scenes are hot. The story had me turning pages in the sheer entertainment of wondering how the author would manage a classic HEA ending while not stepping outside the logic of the plot, and I found her resolution very clever. Highly recommended!

She gave it 4.75/5.0, which is pretty awesome. Thanks to Val for all her kind words in both venues; I'm glad she enjoyed the story. :D

Angie

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

How Not to Respond to a Bad Review

Of course, the proper response to a bad review is no response at all, but if you absolutely have to say something to the reviewer, Jacqueline Howett's response to Big Al's review of her book The Greek Seaman is a textbook example of what not to say and how not to say it.

Big Al gave Ms. Howett's book a two-star review that I thought was even-handed and clear, and very kind, considering the rating. He said "I think you’ll find the story compelling and interesting," which is something any writer would love to hear. What brought the rating down were the extensive spelling and grammatical errors. Big Al reviews indie books published on Amazon, and it looks like Ms. Howett didn't hire an editor, or if she did then she needs to ask for her money back.

Ms. Howett popped right up as the first commenter, saying "You obviously didn't read the second clean copy I requested you download that was also reformatted, so this is a very unfair review." She went on to say that she'd gotten four- and five-star reviews on Amazon, and that she'd "stick to" them, thanks. Then she posted three more comments, each one quoting those good Amazon reviews. Because clearly Big Al and the people who read his review blog were just dying to read those reviews, and couldn't figure out how to go to Amazon and find them for themselves.

This was bad enough. At this point, Ms. Howett had already made herself look defensive and foolish, but she didn't stop there. A couple of anonymice commented negatively on her behavior, then Big Al responded, saying that he had indeed downloaded the newer copy. It sounds like the second version was to fix formatting issues that came up in the file conversion, but those weren't the errors Al was talking about in his review. He repeated that his rating was based on editing and proofing errors in the text itself, and gave examples:

Here are a couple sample sentences from the first two chapters that gave me pause and are representative of what I found difficult while reading.

"She carried her stocky build carefully back down the stairs."

"Don and Katy watched hypnotically Gino place more coffees out at another table with supreme balance."

I understand what both are probably saying. I do question the sentence construction.


Wow. Okay, those examples make it clear exactly what errors he's talking about. That second sentence in particular is incredibly awkward, and any competent editor would've squawked both of them.

Ms. Howett comes back:

My writing is just fine!


You did not download the fresh copy.... you did not. No way!


[sigh] She goes on after that, telling him to remove the review because it was "in error," calls him a liar for saying he'd downloaded the fresh copy, and generally rants and rambles. She also says:

Besides if you want to throw crap at authors you should first ask their permission if they want it stuck up on the internet via e-mail. That debate is high among authors.

Really? I don't know what authors Ms. Howett hangs out with, but none of the authors I know think that reviewers need to ask the author's permission via e-mail before posting a negative review. That's not the way things work on my planet, and as a writer I wouldn't want them to; reviews are for readers, and reviewers have to be free to speak their honest opinion. It's to everyone's benefit if readers have a way to feel confident that they're buying books they'll probably like; people who enjoy most of the books they buy, buy more books. If someone isn't going to like one of my books for whatever reason, I don't want them wasting their money on it. I'd rather they buy something they will like, and maybe try something else of mine later that's more likely to suit their taste.

The comment thread goes on, with Ms. Howett eventually reduced to cussing people out. She doesn't seem to have any conception of just how big the internet is, or how connected, or how quickly word (and links) spread whenever something entertaining is going on, and unfortunately her indignant ranting is very entertaining. :/ The review post went viral, spreading through Twitter and Facebook to other places where writers hang out and share news. (Thanks to Emily at the EREC blog for posting the link I saw.) After around noon yesterday, comments piled in fast and hard, and most of the 307 comments went up between then and 4:36, when the last one went up before Al closed commenting down. The density of commentary indicates a lot of notice and interest, surging up as the news circulated. Once word started to spread, it took only a few hours for the publishing end of the internet to hear about this, and at that point I'd say Ms. Howett's reputation was pretty much shot.

It really looks like she thought she could safely act out on what seemed at first to be a tiny little review blog with few readers; if you look at older posts, comments were extremely sparse before Ms. Howett's demo of unprofessional behavior. Maybe she thought she could yell at the blogger without anyone ever hearing about it? If so, she got a harsh lesson in just how small our chunk of the internet is, and how quickly a crowd can gather to gawk at a wreck, even on a street that usually gets little traffic. I hope she realizes now how she trashed her own reputation by her behavior, and keeps that in mind for the future.

I also hope she spends some time studying her craft. The way her comments are written just confirm the impression one gets from the samples Al posted that Ms. Howett's grammar is very weak. Al said the story itself was good, and that's the hard part; if she's a good storyteller, then she's most of the way there. Learning craftsmanship is very straightforward, if a writer will only admit that they need to learn. Ms. Howett clearly does, and putting some effort into the learning would let her show off her already praiseworthy stories to best advantage.

I'll be keeping a set of virtual fingers crossed for her.

Angie

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Now We Know How Bad it Has to Get for the Republicans to Disown Someone

Clue delivery for Jack Davis: You know you're a radical wingnut when even the folks in charge of the modern Republican party dump your butt because you're embarassing them.

[Caveat: yes, I know there are plenty of thoughtful, intelligent Republicans in this country. They're just not the ones in charge of the party right now, and that's a major problem for the US in the 21st century.]

Jack Davis has been pushing for a congressional seat for the last few elections, and threw his hat into the ring when Chris Lee resigned over an internet sex scandal, necessitating a special election to fill his newly empty spot. Things were apparently going well until Mr. Davis suggested, in public, "that Latino farmworkers be deported -- and that African-Americans from the inner city be bused to farm country to pick the crops."

Wow. Seriously.

Because clearly 1) all Latino farmworkers are illegal aliens, and 2) rounding up black people and forcing them to the fields to do agricultural labor worked so well for this country last time we did it.

W. Curtis Ellis, a Davis spokesman who apparently needs to look up "damage control" in the political dictionary, said afterward:

"It may not be politically correct and it may not be racially correct, but when you have African American people in Buffalo who do not have jobs and are out of work, why are you bringing people into this country illegally to take jobs?" Ellis asked.

Wow again. Apparently Mr. Ellis agrees with Mr. Davis that the whole forced-agricultural-labor thing turned out well enough in the early days of our country that it's worth trying again. (And with the "fact" that all Latino farm workers are illegal aliens.) Note also that Mr. Ellis's statement is a classic example of how, when someone says that something "may not be politically correct," the subtext is "This may well be grossly offensive, but I agree with it anyway because it's my privilege to do so." At least Mr. Ellis is working for a candidate whose world view and position he can wholeheartedly support.

Having been dumped by a Republican party leadership that's proven even it has limits, Mr. Davis is trying to collect enough signatures to get onto the ballot as the Tea Party candidate. It'll be interesting to see whether they have limits.

Thanks to the Field Negro for linking to this.

Angie

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Anthology Markets

If you've just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn't dated in the same month you're in, click here to make sure you're seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, "Until Filled" markets are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

Non-erotica/romance writers: check out Triangulation: Last Contact, Sword and Sorceress 26, Night Terrors 2, Mortis Operandi and the Horror Library.

***

30 March 2011 -- Melt in Your Mouth: Chocolate, Boys and Bed -- ed. CB Potts, Lethe Press

Payment: 2 cents/word and a copy of the book on publication

Sweet, sticky, decadent…is anything better than chocolate? Yes, there is – especially when the tempting mouthful is presented by a candy artistan who looks good enough to eat…

Lethe Press is seeking well-written, inventive gay male erotic stories that feature chocolatiers, confectioners, bakers, and candy men of every persuasion – including the one that got caught with his hand in the bon-bon box! Particularly attention paid to stories that are fun, upbeat, and a step or two off the beaten path…give us your best gourmet treats!

How to submit: Send double spaced Times or Times New Roman 12 point black font Word document with pages numbered (.doc, not .docx) OR RTF of 1,500-9,000 word story. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch and double space (regular double spacing, do not add extra lines between paragraphs or do any other irregular spacing). US grammar (double quotation marks around dialogue, etc.) required. Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), mailing address, and 50 word or less bio in the third person to cbanthology@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name and pseudonym and make it clear which one you'd like to be credited as. Payment for these stories will be 2 cents per word.

Absolute, total, final deadline is 3/30/11. I will reply to all submissions by 4/15/11.

***

31 March 2011 -- Triangulation: Last Contact -- eds. Jamie Lackey & Steve Ramey, Parsec Ink

[Heavily edited down to the essentials -- click through for (lots) more detail.]

Triangulation is an annual 125-150+ page short fiction anthology that publishes science fiction, fantasy, horror, and any other speculative fiction that caught the editors' fancy. Every year we have a theme: 2011's theme is "Last Contact". We pay semi-pro rates and are available online at places like Amazon.

We define "short fiction" as "up to about 5,000 words or so." If you have an awesome story that exceeds 5K then by all means send it; but be warned that we have yet to accept anything for publication much longer than 5000 words. We dig flash; there is no minimum word count.

We have no interest in getting more specific about the term "speculative fiction." Science fiction, horror, fantasy, magic realism, alternate history, whatever -- if there's a speculative element vital to your story, we'll gladly give it a read.

We love creative interpretations of our theme, "Last Contact". Don't ask us what it means -- tell us what it means with a story that convinces us you're right.

We will run mature content if we like the story. So make sure there's an actual story in that mature content.

We will consider reprints, but we are much more picky with them. If the story ran someplace obscure, then it's probably new to our readers; if it ran someplace high-profile, it's going to have to be the best thing we've read since the alphabet to get in.

The submission period is December 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011. All electronic submits must be sent within that period, all snail mail submits must be postmarked by the deadline.

Compensation: We pay two cents per word (USA funds, rounded to the nearest 100 words, US$10 minimum payment) on publication and one contributor's copy. The anthology will be published in late July of 2011. We purchase North American Serial Rights, and Electronic Rights for the downloadable version(s). All subsidiary rights released upon publication. Contributors will also have the option of purchasing additional copies of the anthology at reduced price.

How To Submit: Electronic submissions make our lives easier. Please upload your story via Submishmash. [See SUBMIT link on the publisher's page.] If this is your first time submitting to a publication that utilizes Submishmash, you will have to create an account with them. It’s free.

We'll consider stories in the following formats: .odt, .rtf, .doc or .docx.

Please use industry standard manuscript format. There's disagreement on some of the exact details of the "standard". We're not testing you to see if you can follow each and every niggling detail, we just want a manuscript that is easy for us to read.

If you absolutely positively cannot submit electronically, please send the manuscript (with either a SASE or a return email address) to:

Triangulation 2011
312 N Beaver St.
New Castle PA 16101

No multiple submissions; only send us one story at a time. No simultaneous submissions, don't send it to us if someone else is already considering it.

Response: Expect to hear back from us within a month. Feel free to start sending us nagging emails if you haven't heard from us after two months.

***

15 April 2011 -- Frat Boys -- ed. Mickey Erlach, STAR Books

Remember those college days? The fun you had, partying every night, playing grab ass with your frat brothers. Yeah, those were the days. There you were stripped down to your BVDs, standing at attention, awaiting your punishment. And for what? To live in a house full of hot guys, always running around half naked, teasing each other.

But, what happens when that teasing gets a little hot? What happens when you are dared? What if you turn the tables on that frat brother? Will you get your butt kicked … or licked?

And hey, it wasn’t just in the dorms. There were plenty of us who went to community college, and the boys there were just as hot. Better yet, we could go off campus to get off. So, here is your chance to live out those college day fantasies. Show us what you got. As always, your characters must be over 18 years of age -- after all, they are in college.

We are seeking well-written stories that are erotic, not just pornographic. There are no limits to the possibilities or scenarios. All we ask is that writers be creative, have fun, and offer our readers something fresh and new. And, humor is always greatly appreciated! We want well-developed characters and plots, believable and accurate situations (even if it is fantasy or science fiction, it must make sense), and settings, along with internal consistency. All characters must be at least 18 years of age.

Feel free to query me about the thinking you may have about a story for this anthology at mickey@starbookspress.com.

Submit your query to mickey@starbookspress.com in the body of an email. Include a short bio, your name, postal and email addresses, the title and a five-paragraph excerpt of your story. Indicate whether or not your submission has been previously published and, if so, where and when. You don't need to sell your story in the letter; your work will speak for itself. If your query is accepted, We will be in contact with you about submitting the complete work. The end product should be no more than eight pages of single spaced 12 pt. type. Occasionally, novellas are accepted, but they must be exceptional. Be sure to edit and proof your query.

***

15 April 2011 -- Best Erotic Romance 2012 -- ed. Kristina Wright, Cleis Press

I am thrilled to announce I am editing the first annual Best Erotic Romance anthology to be published by Cleis Press. This inaugural collection of erotic romance will feature the very best of the erotic romance genre.

In erotic romance, the sexual component is critical to the development of the romantic relationship. According to Romance Writers of America, a romance must include two key elements: a central love story and an emotionally-satisfying, optimistic ending. So be sure to give me a romantic story with scorching hot sex and a happily-ever-after or happy-for-now ending. Consider the work of authors Portia Da Costa, Lauren Dane, Sylvia Day, Delilah Devlin, Megan Hart, Joey W. Hill, Susan Johnson, Lora Leigh, Shannon McKenna, Kate Pearce, Robin Schone, Bertrice Small, Shiloh Walker and Sasha White to get an idea of what I am looking for.

Any time period is welcome, but I have a preference for contemporary settings. This collection will be primarily heterosexual and stories should be written with a female audience in mind. Stories may include lesbian and bisexual elements, triads, polyandrous relationships or group encounters. No incest, bestiality or underage characters, please.

Submission Guidelines: Unpublished stories only, no simultaneous submissions. The desired story length is 2,000-4,500 words. Double-space and indent the first line of each paragraph. Do not put extra spaces between paragraphs. Include your full contact information (legal name/pseudonym, mailing address and phone number) and a bio of 50 words or less written in the third person. Please paste your story into the body of your e-mail and attach it as a Microsoft Word .doc file.

Payment will be $100 per story and 2 copies of the book upon publication. Contributors retain the rights to their stories. I will notify contributors of their acceptance in August, but please note that Cleis Press has final approval over the manuscript. [Note: they're not kidding here. I know a writer who had a story accepted for a Cleis antho and went through edits and everything, only to have Cleis veto her story. This is not a pro forma approval, so be aware that you might well go through a lot of work here only to end up out.]

Send your submission to besteroticromance2012@gmail.com with Submission: Story Title in the subject line. Please direct any questions to the same address.

***

13 May 2011 -- Sword and Sorceress 26 -- ed. Elizabeth Waters

Stories should be the type generally referred to as "sword and sorcery" and must have a strong female protagonist whom the reader will care about. See Sword & Sorceress 22, Sword & Sorceress 23, Sword & Sorceress 24, and Sword & Sorceress 25 (or S&S 1-20) for examples. We do not want stories with explicit sex, gratuitous violence, or profanity. We are NOT a market for poetry. We are willing to consider stories set in modern times (urban fantasy), but we won't buy more than one or two of those for the anthology. We always want something short and funny for the last story.

No reprints. No simultaneous submissions.

With regard to multiple submissions, do not submit more than one story at a time. If we've rejected your first one, you may send one more as long as it's before the deadline. We have occasionally bought someone's second sumbmission. We have never bought a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth submission. If you send us two stories, and we don't hold either of them, wait until next year to try again. Please do not re-submit stories we have already rejected (including stories rejected in previous years).

If you have not previously sold to Sword & Sorceress, please read What is a Short Story? and Why Did my Story Get Rejected? before submitting to us.

Please do not explain or describe your story in the e-mail (cover letter). If your story can't stand on its own, fix the story.

Reading period: Saturday, April 16 to Friday, May 13, 2011. Stories received before or after this period will be deleted unread.

Response time is expected to follow MZB's traditional standards: you should hear within a week if we're holding your story for the final line-up or rejecting it.

Length: up to 9,000 words, with preference given to shorter stories. The longer a story is, the better it has to be. Long stories should be submitted early in the reading period.

Formatting and Submission:

Format with one-inch margins on all four sides of page.

Please do not use a header or footer.

Your name, full mailing address, and email address must be in the upper left corner, single spaced.

Skip two lines, center the text, then put the title, with your name (or byline) on the next line. We're not going to be as rigid as MZB was about pen names, but we expect them to be reasonable, rather than cute.

The rest of the manuscript should be single-spaced, with the first line of each paragraph indented 1/2 inch.

If you need to indicate a break, put "#" on a line by itself, centered.

Do not underline; use italics instead. Do not use bold face. We prefer Courier New font, size 12.

Word count will be determined by our word processor; that way it will be the same for everyone.

Save your document as an .rtf file (rich text format or interchange format, depending on what your computer calls it). E-mail as it as an attachment to mzbworks at yahoo dot com. The subject line should be "SS26, your last name, story title" (e.g.: SS26, Bradley, Dark Intruder) -- we don't want submissions caught in the spam filter.

Rights purchased: first rights, non-exclusive eBook and audio book rights.

Payment: 5 cents per word as an advance against a pro rata share of royalties and foreign or other sales.

***

15 May 2011 -- Steampunk Holiday Anthology -- ed. Angela James, Carina Press

Carina is looking for steampunk novellas with a winter or winter holiday theme, to be published digitally both individually and as a collection in December 2011. The novellas should be from 18,000 to 35,000 words and feature steampunk elements as integral to the novella. The stories do not need to be romance, or even have romance elements, but can be straight steampunk, or steampunk with romantic elements, and can also feature elements of mystery, thriller, horror or other sub-genres. Additionally, there is no set heat level for these stories, so they can have no sex, or be ultra-sexy, or anything in between.

Essentially, we’re looking for interesting, creative, well-written stories within the steampunk niche that will appeal to readers’ imaginations and add to our growing catalog of steampunk stories.

The steampunk holiday collection will be supported by a marketing and promotion campaign both online and in print. In addition, though the collection won’t currently be offered for sale in print format, each author chosen to contribute to the anthology will receive a set number of limited edition print copies for their own use.

To submit, please send your completed manuscript and synopsis, along with query letter to submissions@carinapress.com by May 15th, 2011. In the subject line, please put Steampunk Holiday: Manuscript Title and Author

All submissions will be reviewed and final decision made by June 15th, 2011.

For questions about this call for submissions, please email Angela James at submissions@carinapress.com

For more information about Carina Press, and to read the submission guidelines, please visit www.carinapress.com

***

31 May 2011 -- Night Terrors 2 -- ed. Marc Ciccarone & Joseph Spagnola, Blood Bound Books

NOTE: Do not submit before 1 March.

Like volume I, this second volume will be an open themed anthology of horror. Meaning we want stories from all topics and subcategories of horror. Including, but not limited to: psychological, creatures, paranormal, and gore. Remember, evil has no boundaries and neither do we! Nothing is off limits, so take advantage of the freedom. Science fiction and dark fantasy* will be considered as long as it has a strong element of horror. Try to avoid classic horror conventions/monsters (vampires, werewolves, and zombies), unless you incorporate a unique twist.

Third person stories are preferred but we’ll read first person stories as long as they are well done or integral to the plot.

Stories can range from 750 - 4500 words firm and must be rooted in the realms of horror/dark fiction.

Stories must be formatted in the following manner:
-- 12 point font
-- Times New Roman or Courier New
-- Double-Spaced
-- Contact information in the upper left(name, address, phone number, email)
-- Word Count Upper Right
-- 1 Space after a punctuation
-- Underline everything you would like to italicize at publication
-- Attach as a .doc file

Submission: Starts March 1st and closes May 31st (2011). Selections will not be made until after the submission period.

We'll accept stories in any setting or time period, as long as it's well written, powerful and original. Most importantly, scare us. We want to be haunted by your story long after we put it down. Gore and sex are acceptable, as long as it serves a purpose.

Payment: 1st place- 5¢/word; 2nd place 3¢/word; 3rd place 2.5¢/word. All other stories will receive 2¢/word.

Send submissions to submissions@bloodboundbooks.net. Subject should read:
Night Terrors II: story title/author last name

* Fantasy is always a gray area. Dark fantasy to us is more H.P. Lovecraft than J.R.R. Tolkien. We’d like to see a creepy world you created or a flipside image of humanity rather than Middle Earth type realms featuring wizards and dwarfs.

***

UNTIL FILLED -- Horror Library, Vol. 5 -- Cutting Block Press

Cutting Block Press is pleased to announce an open submissions period for the 4th Volume of its Horror Anthology Series, +Horror Library+, to be published in trade paperback during 2011.

We're looking for the highest quality examples of all forms of Dark Fiction, running the gamut from traditional horror, supernatural, speculative, psychological thriller, dark satire, including every point between and especially beyond. No Fantasy or Sci-fi unless the horror elements are dominant. Read +Horror Library+ Volumes 1-3 to see what's already pleased us. Special consideration will be given those pieces that we find profoundly disturbing, though blood and violence on their own won't cut it. While we will consider tales of vampires, ghosts and zombies, we tend to roll our eyes at ordinary ones. They're just too plentiful. Your best bet is to surprise us with something that is different, while well conceived and tightly executed.

Guidelines: Stories will range between 1,000 and 6,000 words, though we'll look at longer works of exceptional merit. In that case, query before submission. Buying 1st worldwide anthology rights. No reprints. Paying 1.5 cents per word, plus one contributors copy. For established authors, rates may be negotiable. Response time: six months or sooner. Deadline: We will accept submissions until filled. All Queries to horrorlibrarysubs@yahoo.com.

Manuscript format: 12 point courier font, standard margins, left side of header: name, contact info, right side of header: word count, top of first page: title, author

Variances from traditional manuscript format: single space, NO INDENTS, ONE EXTRA space between paragraphs, use bold, italics and underline as they are to appear in story

Subject box: Short Story submission - title of story

Attach story in MS Word Document or RTF (only). Please paste your cover letter in the body of the e-mail. Send submissions to horrorlibrarysubs@yahoo.com.

[See the web page for a special offer on copies of Horror Library Vol. 1 for writers doing market research.]

***

UNTIL FILLED -- Mortis Operandi -- ed. Kfir Luzzatto and Dru Pagliassotti, The Harrow Press

MORTIS OPERANDI is looking for stories that revolve around the investigation of a crime and in which the supernatural plays a central role. While we’re expecting a fair share of murders, we strongly encourage stories that revolve around OTHER kinds of crime — for example, arson, assault, blackmail, bullying, burglary, dowry death, embezzlement, fraud, kidnapping, larceny, libel, piracy, product liability, slavery, smuggling, terrorism, treason, and toxic pollution are all fair game.

By "supernatural" we mean magic, monsters, and/or miracles, but we don’t consider psychic abilities (although the inclusion of a minor character possessing them will not in itself disqualify a story), extraterrestrial life, or UFOs to be supernatural.

Types of stories may include whodunits, police procedurals, hardboiled fiction, and courtroom dramas. All genres and treatments are welcome, including ecclesiastic, fantasy, humor, horror, historical, military, romance, and parody. Settings outside the U.S. and U.K. are welcome. Settings on other worlds aren’t.

We want well-written stories that demonstrate originality of concept and plot. Zombies, vampires, and werewolves will be a hard sell, and romantically inclined vampires will be staked on sight. Think outside of the coffin.

Stories will be judged exclusively on the basis of their literary merit; a history of prior publication is not necessary.

Get more information about our thoughts on this antho at Market Scoop.
Submissions & Queries: anthology [[ at ]] theharrowpress.com
==No simultaneous submissions. One submission at a time.
==Please attach your stories to your email in Microsoft Word, RTF, or text-only format. Stories pasted in the body of an email will not be read.
==Please include the words “Submission: Mortis Operandi” in the Subject line of your e-mail.
Length: 3,000-6,000 words. Please include an approximate word count in your e-mail submission.
Reprints: No
Language: English
Payment: US $50/story, upon publication, and a free copy of the book
Rights: Exclusive English anthology print and electronic (e-book) rights. Please read our Sample Contract (pdf) for full details.
Submission period: Opens 1.1.11 -- Closes when filled.
Publication Date: 2012

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

February Stuff

Submissions -- 2pts
Writing 14,176 words -- 6 pts
Editing 9196 words -- 2 pts
TOTAL = 10 pts

That's 2/2 toward my 2011 goal of being on Koala Approves every month, yay. :)

Koala Challenge 9

Also, A Hidden Magic is a Recommended Read on Jessewave's site, which is pretty darned awesome. :D

Angie