Get Along Little Doggies

Don't forget to slap on your holsters and that ten gallon hat you've got hidden in the closet and head on over to Pulp Serenade for a look at the Gold Medal Westerns. Cullen Gallaher will be your guide through the wonderful world of old time Westerns. http://www.pulpserenade.com

Anthology Review

"Dead Core 4: 4 Hardcore Zombie Novellas" is a multi-authored horror anthology from Comet Press and reviewed by Walt Hicks. http://pagehorrific.blogspot.com/2010/11/deadcore-4-hardcore-zombie-novellas.html

Markets

Print magazine, "Bete Noire", opens for submissions tomorrow and will remain open until December 31. The pay here is $10. Their first issue is now available for sale. You can find their guidelines at http://www.betenoiremagazine.com/submissionguidelines.htm

For our flash fiction writers Fast Forward Press is open for submissions of stories up to 1000 words until December 31 for their next anthology. The pay here is one copy. You can find the details at http://www.fastforwardpress.org/submissions.html

And one for our reviewers, which I found over at writingcontests.com. You can win $500 for a 500 word review of Derek Murphy's soon to be released, "Jesus Potter, Harry Christ". The first chapter is already available on the site and you will be able to download the entire book on December 21. You then post your review on Amazon and the review with the most "yes this was helpful votes" wins. You can find all the details at http://www.jesuspotterharrychrist.com/2010/11/harrypotter-christfigure-writingcontest/

La Ronde Tuesday

Yep, it's Tuesday and part nine of Patti Abbott's La Ronde series is up. "Knocked Out Loaded" by Kassandra Kelly can be found here http://encaustichive.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/hijacked-hive/

Some Reading Links

It's been a while since I put together an anthology of online stories that I've enjoyed reading but this morning I read three flash pieces that just seemed to beg linkage.

All For Love

"Fool Me Twice" by Richard Prousch
http://www.powderburnflash.com/?q=node/460

"Why I Should Avoid Married Women" by Jim Harrington
http://a-twist-of-noir.blogspot.com/2010/11/twist-of-noir-626-jim-harrington.html

"The Arrangement" by Ed Laird
http://www.deadmule.com/fiction/2010/09/ed-laird

Anthology Reviews

If you're almost done with your Black Friday/Weekend shopping and need a few stocking stuffers, check out these reviews.

"Thin Ice: Crime Stories by New England Writers" edited by Mark Ammons, Kat Fast, Barbara Ross and Leslie Wheeler and reviewed by Christine Zibas. http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review.html?id=8656

"Dead Even" is a single author collection of crime stories written by Frank Zafiro and reviewed by Asa Maria Bradley http://thebarking.com/2010/11/zafiros-shorts/

And while he probably doesn't need my little bit of linkage to make a sale, Stephen King has a new book of novellas out. I'm not a big fan of King's novels, but I love his short stories. "Full Dark, No Stars" is reviewed by Bev Vincent http://www.bevvincent.com/onyx/king-fdns.html

Rules to Submit By?

I've started a post several times today but couldn't seem to find anything much to say. There's not a whole lot happening on the market front which had me thinking about something I read on a blog recently.

A writer said she was still writing but didn't see any sense in sending anything out during the holiday season. Now, this seemed a bit silly to me because the magazine offices are still open, aren't they? It's not like everything totally closes down from Thanksgiving to New Years. I'll grant that you might get a slower response but still, it's there, in front of an editor.

I remember an article in Writer's Digest once that passed along the advice that you should never submit stories in September and January because everyone else would be submitting and you'd just get lost in the slush pile. I can see the reasoning behind those two months but if you're already sending out work every month why stop just because a whole lot of rookies are tossing their stories into the pile?

How about you, do you have any hard and fast rules about when to submit your stories? For me, if a story feels ready, I send it out.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you in the states celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you've had a wonderful day filled with family and friends. And while it's not a holiday for the rest of the world, I wish for those not celebrating, the same gift of friends and family. There's nothing better in life than to share good times with family and friends.

I'd also like to say thank you to all of you who drop by the Corner and share your thoughts and wisdom about short stories and writing. You've been a blessing, and I'd like to share with you a Thanksgiving short story by one of the masters. O. Henry is probably best know for his Christmas short story, "The Gift of the Magi" but his Thanksgiving story, "Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen" is just as heartbreakingly beautiful. http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/o_henry/211

Interviews Galore

Over the past few days I've read some very interesting interviews and thought you might enjoy them also.

David Cranmer has a two part interview on his blog with "Hard Boiled" magazine's creator, Wayne Dundee. http://davidcranmer.blogspot.com/

If you haven't heard about the Top Suspense group yet, I'll assume you've been living in a cave somewhere without Internet service. What you might not have heard is that they've started a blog and there's an interview up with Bill Crider. You can find the blog here http://topsuspense.blogspot.com/ Their website http://www.topsuspense.com/ has links to some ebook short story collections and novels by the amazing authors in this group. Okay, I've got to name drop here - Bill Crider, Ed Gorman, Vicki Hendricks, Max Allan Collins, Harry Shannon and Dave Zeltserman. How can you go wrong with a group like that?

Speaking of Vicki Hendricks, there's a wonderful "Dancing with Myself" interview with Vicki over at Nigel Bird's excellent Sea Minor blog. http://nigelpbird.blogspot.com/2010/11/dancing-with-myself-vicki-hendricks.html

And we have an interview with short story writer, Patti Abbott, here http://myyearincrime.blogspot.com/2010/11/short-con-week-47-patricia-abbott.html

Market Notes

With the holidays about to grab us by the throat, there's not much in the way of market news but I did manage to scape up a few tid-bits that might be helpful.

D.L. Snell has an interview up with anthology editor, Christopher Allan Death. I mentioned his anthology call for "Clones and Crucifixes", back a week or so ago if anyone is working on a story for this market. You'll find the interview here http://marketscoops.blogspot.com/2010/11/clones-and-crucifixes-antho.html

newpages.com has posted their November list of submission calls here http://www.newpages.com/literary/submissions.htm

And while this isn't a short story call, I thought I'd mention that Comet Press is open to novel submissions of horror, dark crime, and suspense/thriller manuscripts. You can find the details at http://www.cometpress.us/guidelines/novels.html Comet Press has been publishing anthologies that have attracted some well-known authors.

La Ronde 8

The eighth installment of Patti Abbott's round robin challenge is called "La Ronde" by Nigel Bird. You can check it out here http://nigelpbird.blogspot.com/p/la-ronde.html

Discount Noir Around the Web

Authors from that cool ebook anthology, "Discount Noir" have been spotted around the web this past weekend.

Patti Abbott, editor of the anthology, tells how the anthology was pulled together in a guest blog post over at Paul Brazill's blog. http://pdbrazill.blogspot.com/2010/11/guest-blogger-patricia-abbott-discount.html

And over at Chatterrific, Gerald So is hosting several authors who reveal the origins of their stories and what they love about flash fiction. Who will you find over there?

Jay Stringer
Albert Tucher
Jack Bates
Eric Beetner
Kathleen A. Ryan

A stellar lineup, so what are you still doing here? Go...find out what "Discount Noir" is all about. http://chatterrific.blogspot.com/

Sunday Musings

I've had a few odd thoughts rolling around my head of late and it's been a while since I had a Sunday musing post, so I thought, why not?

Last night the cats knocked my computer tower on the floor. It dented the metal floor lamp stand, shattered the plastic face of the tower, and scared the crap out the cats - I haven't seen them run that fast in years! Thankfully it was unplugged for the night, so there were no fireworks, tripped breakers or explosions (do computers explode?) and I went to bed wondering if I was cut off from my writing world. As you can see, when I plugged it in this morning, it worked, and I even laughed at myself for worrying about what I was going to miss. But damn...we're so connected, aren't we? I laugh at all those people with cell phones surgically attached to their ears but I'm almost as bad with my computer. Which makes me wonder if we would have survived the isolation that our ancestors lived with as they pioneered their way across this country? No communication with family for years, your husband heads out on a hunting trip and comes back months later. Every stranger who shows up on your doorstep is a link to civilization with news of the world, or someone who might kill you in your bed. Pretty scary when you think about it!

Zombies!?! Yes, I watched "The Walking Dead" but I still don't get zombies. They stagger around eating brains, you can easily outrun them unless they're a mob, but heck, human mobs are nearly as dangerous, and a shot to the head kills them. But why are some people affected and not others? Did they have a secret vaccine in their back pocket? Are Zombies a reflection of Purgatory? I get the romance of Vampires with their eternal sexy and all, but there ain't nothing sexy about zombies, so what is their appeal? The nerd version of eternal life as compared to the vampire jocks?

Steampunk. For the last few months I've been reading steampunk stories and essays and trying to figure out what exactly steampunk is. And the truth is, I don't think anyone really knows. You toss a little steam, goggles, brass machines and characters dressed in Victorian haberdashery into your story and viola - Steampunk. But there are more definitions, it's adventure, it's alternate universe, it's fantasy and magic and science and even literary. The hardest thing to understand is the culture that's sprung up outside of the written word. People seem more interested in creating steam machines and jewelry and clothing than they are in actually reading or writing the stories. So is steampunk just a fashion statement or is it a real and lasting genre?

So, what's on your mind this lovely Sunday morning?

Anthology Reviews

"Other Likely Stories" is a single author collection by Debra Leigh Scott and reviewed by Elizabeth White. http://www.elizabethawhite.com/2010/11/19/other-likely-stories-by-debra-leigh-scott/

"Trio of Sorcery" is a collection of three novellas by Mercedes Lackey and reviewed by Lesa Holstine. http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2010/11/trio-of-sorcery-by-mercedes-lackey.html

And Patti Abbott's Forgotten Books series has brought us two older anthologies to be on the look-out for.

"Fedora III" edited by Michael Bracken and reviewed by Kevin Tipple. http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2010/11/fridays-forgotten-books-fedora-iii.html

"Supernatural Sleuths" edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh is reviewed by Bill Crider http://billcrider.blogspot.com/2010/11/forgotten-books-supernatural-sleuths.html

Don't forget to drop on over to Spinetingler today and read the last of the short story reviews from "The Best American Noir of the Century" http://www.spinetinglermag.com/tag/the-best-american-noir-of-the-century/

Market News

The zombies seem to be taking over the world lately. Books of the Dead issued a call for novels and novellas yesterday with a January 31, 2011 deadline. 40,000 to 120,000 words. They're paying an advance and royalties. http://booksofthedead.blogspot.com/p/submissions.html Now, the deadline on this page says 2010 but the call was posted to their blog yesterday, so I'm assuming they meant 2011 for their deadline. Here's the call http://booksofthedead.blogspot.com/2010/11/submissions-are-open.html A hat tip to Paul Brazill who sent me the link.

Linger Fiction is a brand new zine looking to launch their first issue on January 1. They're looking for poetry and short stories in the fantasy, sci-fi, and horror genres. The pay is $10 for shorts to 5000 words, $5 for poetry and flash stories of 500 to 1000 words. The featured story will receive an extra $20. You can find all the details here http://lingerfiction.com/submission-guidelines/

I may have mentioned Romance Flash before. They're looking for flash stories up to 1000 words and they're now paying $3 per story. They have an online submission form. http://www.romanceflash.com/

And Yellow Mama has closed to submissions until January 1.

Getting Unstuck

I'm working on a story that doesn't want to come together quite yet. The ideas keep piling up, intruding on what's written, moving the story in directions I hadn't seen when I first started. In other words, I've got a massive mess on my hands.

When I feel like a story is beginning to overwhelm me I turn to some of my writing books for advice. In this case it was "How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction" which was published by Writer's Digest Books. The book is one of the first I bought. Whole sections are underlined, there's notes in the margins and paper clips hold together the sections that are falling apart and threatening to disappear. But every time I open the book I discover something new, something that helps me move my story along.

Last night I found this passage which I find both comforting and powerful:

"Thus, it is not only the call to self that motivates the storytellers; it is also the spirit that took David out to meet Goliath - the urge to issue a challenge to something beyond themselves, which may be more horrifying than they can bear, and then to return intact." --Katherine Ramsland

How about you? Do you have a favorite writing book, or quote? What gets you through the tough patches when you're writing?

Around the Web

Over at Suvudu, Paul Tremblay shares five facts about his new collection of shorts, "In the Mean Time". http://suvudu.com/2010/11/take-five-with-paul-tremblay-author-in-the-mean-time.html If you enjoy podcasts, you can listen to some of the stories from this collection via the publisher. You will find all the details here http://chizinepublications.blogspot.com/2010/11/podcasts-for-in-mean-time.html

This link is for our Western writers primarily, but if you're having trouble with setting this is a great post full of helpful tips on getting the setting right in your story. http://booklifenow.com/2010/10/prairie-chickens-ghost-towns-and-writing-the-west-with-boggs-sweazy-and-van-pelt/

And don't forget that Spinetingler is continuing the short story reviews of "Best American Noir of the Century" today. http://www.spinetinglermag.com/tag/the-best-american-noir-of-the-century/

If you're looking for more noir novels, Keith Rawson has added his list of twenty to the ether. You can read it here to find out what you might have missed in your noir reading. http://psychonoir.blogspot.com/2010/11/keith-rawsons-essential-noir.html Oh yes, a hat tip to Ian Ayris for the link, and if you haven't stopped by his blog, The Voices in My Head, you're missing a great source for finding all sorts of surprises around the web. http://ianayris.blogspot.com/

For those of you looking to learn more about Steampunk, stop on over to Tor.com http://www.tor.com/ At the top of the page you'll find links to some great Steampunk stories, heck, they've got a wonderful collection of sci-fi stories on the site along with essays about steampunk and everything else. My find today at the site was a link to some essays about the work of Richard Matheson. http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/09/richard-matheson-storyteller

The Story Cupboard

When you live in the country your local newspaper can be a great source of story inspiration. Our local paper prints up the local and state police reports. Some of the reports would make great hard-boiled or noir stories, but so far this November, there's been a few humorous items that would make for great stories.

One gentleman reported that $4000 worth of fishing equipment was stolen from his boat, a boat that was parked in his yard. Since the robbery time was estimated between the 1 and 25 of October, I'm guessing he had a cover on the boat and didn't discover the theft until he was launched on the lake and all set to cast out that first lure. I can see the expression on his face. If you toss in a feuding neighbor and a fishing contest, you could have a lot of fun with this one.

This next one really had me chuckling as to the possibilities. A call of shots fired from a vehicle at 9:30 pm set our local officers out on patrol. Now shots fired at night around here are pretty common and they usually warrant a call to the game wardens, not the cops. The chuckles came from the 9:50 pm report of public indecency when officers were flashed by a group of juveniles who then fled into their mobile home park trailers evading capture. You guessed it, the same area where the shots fired report came from. If you've ever seen the movie "Porkys" you can guess the line that popped into my head! "Make them drop their pants, I can identify them."

Noir Anthologies

This seems to be the day for reviews of "Best American Noir of the Century" edited by Otto Penzler and James Ellroy.

Over at Bookgasm the review is an over-all look at this collection by Alan Cranis http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/crime/the-best-american-noir-of-the-century

At Spinetingler Magazine, from now until Friday, there will be reviews of each story in the anthology done by such readers as Gary Phillips, Chris Holm, Patti Abbott, and Steve Mosby, to name only a few of the folks who are writing the reviews. The first look at the book is already up and reviews will be posted every hour. You'll find them all under this url http://www.spinetinglermag.com/tag/the-best-american-noir-of-the-century/

And on the e-book anthology front we have "Discount Noir" doing an interesting bit of advertising. Some of the authors are doing guest blog posts detailing how they came up with the inspiration for their stories. It's always fun to see how a writer's mind works. From "Discount Noir":

Kieren Shea's "One in the Big Box" http://davidcranmer.blogspot.com/2010/11/one-in-big-box.html

Bill Crider's "Their Fancies Lightly Turned" http://charlesgramlich.blogspot.com/2010/11/discount-noir-and-bill-crider.html

Market Links

If you're looking for a few new markets you might give these links a try.

http://darkmarkets.com has a long list of both novel and short stories markets that have opened in the horror genre.

http://writingcontests.wordpress.com has a bunch of new listings including a YA contest. Both paying and non-paying.

http://askwendy.wordpress.com also has some new market links up that include one YA, some contests and non-fiction markets.

Lots of good stuff if you're in the market. :)

Popcorn Fiction

Over at Mulholland Books they've made an announcement that they're going into partnership with the short story site "Popcorn Fiction". There's an interview with editor, Derek Haas, on the site http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/2010/11/15/derek-haas-and-rian-johnson-on-popcorn-fiction

And at the Popcorn Fiction site, you find some great shorts to read and under the letter to the editor tab you'll find the news that the site will be opening to general submissions sometime in the future. Now that, is very cool news. http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/popcornfiction

La Ronde 7

And once again it's Tuesday and time for part seven of Patti Abbott's round robin story. This week's chapter is brought to you by Eric Beetner in a story titled, "Mirror Image" You can find it here http://ericbeetner.blogspot.com/2010/11/la-ronde.html

Anthology Reviews

"Glitter Rose" is a single author collection by Marianne dePierres and reviewed by Charles Tan. http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2010/11/book-review-glitter-rose-by-marianne-de.html I was looking for an online short story that I could link to for this author but found that most of her stories are in print venues. You can find out more about her at http://www.mariannedepierres.com/

I've been a fan of Kate Thornton's short fiction for a long time. She's one of those writers who unfolds such gentle stories that the readers are always surprised to find themselves crushed under the noirish endings that they rarely see coming. Her single author collection is called "Inhuman Condition: Tales of Mystery and Imagination" and reviewed by Jackie Houchin http://tinyurl.com/2a4bzp7 If you'd like a taste of Kate's writing drop on over to A Twist of Noir and read her story, "Part-Time Job" http://a-twist-of-noir.blogspot.com/2010/06/twist-of-noir-485-kate-thornton.html

And last is for an older anthology called "Tequila Sunrise" by Michael Bracken and reviewed by Kevin Tipple as part of Patti Abbott's Forgotten Books series. http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2010/11/fridays-forgotten-books-tequila-sunrise.html
Though this story isn't about the same PI featured in the collection, you can get a taste for Michael's PI stories with his short, "My Client's Wife" http://www.thrillingdetective.com/fiction/07_06_03.html

If you haven't looked through The Thrilling Detective's fiction archives, you really ought to. The collection of authors on this site is simply amazing. Fans of Ray Banks', Cal Innes, will find several short stories featuring Cal. You will also find stories from Dave White, Laura Lippman, and Duane Swierczynski, just to name a few of the great authors. So go, take a read through the archives. http://www.thrillingdetective.com/fiction/index.html There's no better way to acquaint yourself with an author's work than through their short stories.

Some Friday Linkage

Just a bit of linkage today.

This one is about Westerns, McCarthy vs McMurtry in particular, but there are many others as well. This link came through the Rara Avis group. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-11-10/cormac-mccarthy-vs-larry-mcmurtry-best-western-novelist/full

Brian Lindenmuth sent me a pair a links about writing. The first is how to make your writing memorable, the second is about cardboard villains. Thanks, Brian!

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-central/201011/when-you-communicate-are-you-memorable

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psychology-writers/201010/cardboard-cutouts-make-rotten-villains

Over at Booklife Now, Jeff Vandermeer has an excellent essay on rejuvenating you imagination. http://booklifenow.com/2010/11/just-breathe-rejuvenating-your-imagination/

If you enjoy listening, Steve Steinbock has just the thing for you. This week he's hosting a forum on hard-boiled heroes over at the Audio Book Community. You can find the various links and all the details here http://criminalbrief.com/?p=14642 And hey, there's free downloads of 2 minute noir!

Damn!

Back in August I posted a link to Last Rites Publishing. They were launching a new zine and had 4 anthology calls listed. Now, according to Duotrope, they've closed up shop due to legal problems. Here's the original listing http://sandraseamans.blogspot.com/2010/08/oh-horror.html The anthology calls were:

Section 8: Tales from the Psychiatric Ward
Disciples of Poe
Experiment in Homicide
Terror, Horror, Gore

It's not a good day for the anthology market. And I'm thinking that I'll steer clear of posting calls from new and non-paying press, as this one was.

I wonder sometimes if people just suddenly decide to start up a press without looking into all the legal ramifications that come with starting a business or if they think writing is just a game that you can jump into and out of on a whim. Sure is discouraging.

Noir

This past weekend NoirCon was in full swing down in Philly. Cullen Gallagher has an impressive rundown of the event over at his blog, Pulp Serenade http://www.pulpserenade.com/ And, of course, the NoirCon blog is also host to an amazing assortment of information about the con http://www.noircon.info/

Over at Do Some Damage, John McFetridge takes a look at noir and wonders if it couldn't be just a tad more upbeat. http://dosomedamage.blogspot.com/2010/11/upbeat-noir.html

Back again. Some days I just have these duh! moments. I still want what you consider the essential noir shorts but I should have added that Otto Penzler and James Ellroy have put together a collection of "Best American Noir of the Century". A very impressive collection, by the way.

While this isn't precisely noir, there are quite a few noir stories included in Patti Abbott's post asking for your favorite single author collection of shorts. There's quite a list. http://pattinase.blogspot.com/2010/11/your-favorite-collection-of-short.html

And just a silly noir note: blogger's spellchecker considers noir misspelled, their options are nor, Nair, coir.

Sad Anthology News

Since I posted these anthology calls, I felt that I should also post the news that they've been delayed by the publisher, Norilana Books. The anthologies are:

Lace and Blade 3
Warrior Wisewoman 4
The Ladies of Trade Town
Scheherazade's Facade
Clothesline World

You can find all the details and a few updates at http://norilanabooks.livejournal.com/91313.html

Also affected by this decision is Clockwork Phoenix 4. You can find the editor's take on this decision here http://time-shark.livejournal.com/422018.html

ISBN

Friend of the Corner, Albert Tucher, emailed me this explanation of the ISBN number and gave me permission to pass the information along:

"Now you've done it, Sandra. You've awakened my librarian's didactic soul :-)

The International Standard Book Number is a unique identifying number. Anyone who issues a book can acquire ISBNs from the Brodart Company. They're essential, because distributors like Amazon, Ingram and Baker & Taylor can't or won't handle a book without an ISBN. It's a little strange that a publisher would try to do without the ISBN.

ISBNs were originally ten digits long, but they were recently converted to 13-digit barcode format."

Thanks, Al!

La Ronde Part 6

And last, but not least, is part 6 of Patti Abbott's La Ronde series. This entry, "The Lesser Evil" is written by Evan Lewis. You can find it at http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/2010/11/la-ronde-part-6-lesser-evil-by-me.html

Anthology Calls

Over at Duotrope I came across a pair of anthology markets that might interest some of you.

First is "20Spec". This anthology is looking for 1920's era speculative fiction. They've also included links to the language and history of the era to help make your story more authentic. 1500 to 5000 words and the pay is 1cent a word. The deadline is December 20. I'm thinking that if any of you wrote stories for that Speakeasy anthology and didn't make the cut, your story might find a home here. You can find the details at http://dragoninkhouse.com/submissions

The second call is for "Clones and Crucifixes". They're looking for short stories that are a cross between The Exorcist and Blade Runner. The deadline is December 20 for this one also. 1000 to 3500 words and the pay is 1cent a word. You can find all the details at http://corpulentinsanitypress.com/submissions/clones-and-crucifixes/ I need to add that this anthology is being published as part of the press' Chapterbook project and will have no ISBN number. Something you might want to check into before you submit. I'm not sure, but I believe that ISBN numbers have to do with copyright and if not copyrights, at least it makes sure the work is properly registered.

On Writing

Yes, I've been missing in action for a few days but I'm about to bombard you with a few links in multiple posts.

Nicola Morgan has pulled together a list of Writer's Resources over on her blog. She's broken them down to cover the publishing end of the business, genre specific resources, young adult, short story, and non-fiction. Lots of great links there. http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/2010/11/resources-exhausting-list.html

Over at the Black Gate editor's blog, Howard Andrew Jones has put together a list of his writing mistakes and solutions he's found that work for him. http://www.blackgate.com/2010/11/08/writing-mistakes-are-future-tips/

And if you're like me, you love peeking into other writer's minds. Here's a look into the workings of Tom Piccirilli's writing mind. http://thecoldspot.blogspot.com/2010/11/hideous-babies-and-loom-of-my-muse.html

Anthology Calls

Erotica writer, Sascha Illyvich has 4 anthology calls for erotica novellas of 15 - 20K words. They will be published by Sizzler Editions under their Intoxication imprint. This is a royalty paying market. You can find the themes and guidelines at http://saschaillyvichauthor.com/2010/10/28/call-for-submissions-sizzler-anthologies/

The Edge of Propinquity has announced it's 2011 theme, which is Legacies. This is an online spec-fic zine looking for shorts of 2000 to 6000 words. They pay $50 and publish monthly. You can find their guidelines here http://www.edgeofpropinquity.net/library.asp?id=61 And with issues online you can read a few stories to get a feel for what the editors are looking for.

The "Lake Region Review" has a call out for submissions of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for their next anthology. The deadline is March 31, 2011. Payment is one copy. They are looking for regional writing from the Minnesota and Dakotas area. You can find the details at http://www.lakeregionwriters.net/?page_id=318

And Wicked East Press has 8 anthology calls listed - payment here is 1 copy of the book your story is published in. http://sites.google.com/a/wickedeastpress.com/wicked-east-press/open-submissions

Anthology Review

"Side Jobs: Stories from the Dresden Files" is a single author collection by Jim Butcher and reviewed by Lesa Holstine http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2010/10/side-jobs-stories-from-dresden-files-by.html

A Few Markets

If you've got some already published dark genre stories gathering dust in your drawer you might want to take a look at this podcast market. Dark Fiction is a non-paying reprint audio market. They're looking for shorts of 1000 to 7000 words. You can find all the details at http://www.darkfictionmagazine.co.uk/

I stumbled across Dark Fiction through this post http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/11/do-you-ezine-a-list-of-genre-zines which has a list of high profile genre zines with more listed in the comments.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this one before but Blueberry Lane Books has an anthology call out for "Drastic Measures". They're looking for 2500 to 8000 word stories which deal with responses to stress or danger. The deadline is February 10, 2011. The pay is $12 You can find all the details at http://www.blueberrylanebooks.com/?page_id=65

With a hat tip to Brian Lindenmuth we have a contest sponsored by io9 http://io9.com/5681230/io9s-environmental-writing-contest?skyline=true&s=i There are two categories, a sci-fi fiction short story and a non-fiction essay, the winner of each will receive $2000. The theme is stories that deal with environmental disasters. 3000 to 5000 words. Be sure to check out the link for all the details.

For those of you dabbling in the new SteamPunk craze here's a link that points out some of the great blogs about steampunk. http://www.onlinecertificateprograms.org/blog/2010/10-awesome-blogs-for-steampunk-designers/

I Before E

This morning I found myself using that little i before e poem that I learned in English class a hundred years ago. You know the one. I before E except after C or when sounded like A as in neighbor or weigh. So could someone please explain ancient to me? I had to look it up in the dictionary to make sure I was spelling it right. Damn rules!

Jersey Devil Press

Jersey Devil Press has closed to regular submissions until January. On the up side of that is the fact that they'll be open to submissions for their Holiday half issue from November 10 to the 17th. Issue 14 of their online zine went live on Oct. 27 for your reading pleasure. You can find all the details at http://www.jerseydevilpress.com/?p=758 Submission guidelines can be found on the About link at the top of the page. This is a non-paying market.

And a Few Market Links

With a hat tip to Chris Rhatigan we have a new zine called Southern Fried Fiction which is looking for subs of 500 to 2500 words. This is a fledgling non-paying market. http://southernfriedfiction.wordpress.com

Vol. 3 of the anthology "An Honest Lie" is looking for submissions of 3000 to 6000 words with the theme: "Justifiable Hypocrisy". This is a royalty paying market but they advertise their call as a contest, which I suppose on the surface is what every market call is - a contest for the best stories to fill their pages. You can find all the details at http://anhonestlie.wordpress.com/category/writer The amount of royalties is not specified so you'll have to query the editor on that.

And if you're looking for contests, Newpages.com has just posted the newest calls. http://www.newpages.com/literary/contests.htm Some of the fees are getting quite staggering, aren't they?

Anthology Reviews

"Beat to a Pulp: Round 1" edited by David Cranmer and Elaine Ash is reviewed by Naomi Johnson over at the Drowning Machine. http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2010/10/review-beat-to-pulp-round-1.html

Over at Kevin Tipple's Corner is a review of "Delta Blues" edited by Carolyn Haines and reviewed by Kevin Tipple. http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2010/11/reviewing-delta-blues-edited-by-carolyn.html

And last is "21 Tales" by Dave Zeltserman and reviewed by Beth Kanell http://kingdombks.blogspot.com/2010/10/if-you-like-your-halloween-creepy-dave.html

November Issues

Issue #5 of All Due Respect brings you a short story by Garnett Elliott. http://www.all-due-respect.blogspot.com

In between their regular quarterly issues, 10Flash has one-shot short stories along with essays and book reviews, so be sure to stop on by and see what they've published for your November reading pleasure. http://10flash.wordpress.com

The October issue of Gemini contains the winners of their flash fiction contest. http://www.gemini-magazine.com

Issue #5 of Crimefactory is now available in print as well as PDF and various gadget versions. http://cfdaylabor.blogspot.com/2010/10/crimefactory-5-is-live-and-in-print-on.html

The November issue of Gumshoe Review is available at http://www.gumshoereview.com

And the November issue of Frontier Tales has gone live. http://www.frontiertales.com Be sure to vote for your favorite stories.

La Ronde

Chapter 5, "It's a Dog's Life" by Rob Kitchin, in Patti Abbott's La Ronde series is now up. You can read it here http://theviewfromthebluehouse.blogspot.com/2010/11/la-ronde.html

A Question

While reading an interview with Frank Bill http://mybfmblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/frank-bill-interview-103010.html a thought occurred to me. Of all the writers Frank named as country noir writers, only one was a woman, Dorothy Allison who wrote "Bastard Out of Carolina". Of course, when this book was published it was tagged as literary and not noir. So my question is this, are there any female counterparts for writers like Larry Brown, Kyle Minor, Pinckney Benedict and Daniel Woodrell?

First of the Month Market News

Well, it's the first of the month again and there's plenty of markets out there looking for your stories. So get cracking and write, submit, write, submit, write, submit. Oh, where, you ask?

You can start over at Duotrope where there's 29 markets listed as opening today. http://www.duotrope.com/recentupdates.aspx

http://darkmarkets.com/ has several small presses listed that are looking for shorts for their anthology calls.

AskWendy updates on a regular basis and this past week she's listed a number of paying markets for shorts of all sizes and genres. http://askwendy.wordpress.com/

At http://www.sidhenadaire.com/submissions.htm you'll find the guidelines for an anthology called "Bad-Ass Faeries". They're looking for urban fantasy shorts of 3500 to 7000 words. The pay is one copy plus your share of 20% print royalties and 50% electronic. You need to query this market first and be sure to read all the guidelines because they're long and VERY specific.

If you write gay speculative fiction Icarus Magazine might interest you. They're looking for shorts up to 9000 words and the pay is $50. They'll also negotiate pay for reprints. You can find the details at http://www.lethepressbooks.com/guidelines.html You need to scroll down the page for the magazine guidelines. I was checking the link and it takes you straight to the front page of Lethe Press which features Icarus Magazine, so no scrolling. If you're offended by gay images, please don't click.

Print magazine "Not One of Us" has just published issue #44 and is open to submissions for #45. They're looking for shorts in all genres with a specific theme of not belonging. The pay is 1/4 cent a word with a $5 minimum. You can find details and sample stories at http://not-one-of-us.com/guidelines.php

And The First Line has published their first sentences and deadlines for 2011. This is a quarterly print magazine which, if memory serves, pays $10 a story. I forgot to check, sorry! http://www.thefirstline.com/