Grimm Tales

Yes, I googled myself last night and was pleasantly surprised to find this review of "Grimm Tales", an anthology I have a story in. http://wewantashrubbery.blogspot.com/2011/12/grimm-tales-tasty-but-mixed-bag-of.html

It's always nice to hear that someone enjoyed your story :)

A Pair of Essays

I've read a couple of posts lately about writers and patience. We need to have the patience to hold onto a story longer than five minutes after we write it, we need to have patience once a story is sent, we have to have patience, well, about every part of the process of writing and submitting. Richard Parks has a wonderful essay over on his blog about why we need patience and what to do when we're stuck in that waiting mode.
http://richard-parks.com/2012/01/26/patience-grasshopper/

Also on Mr. Parks' blog is a wonderful essay about why the short story isn't dead or dying. http://richard-parks.com/2012/01/24/the-sky-is-falling-not/

Anthology Call

Ran across this anthology call over at Duotrope. Q&W Press is looking for short stories of 1000 to 4000 words for "The Old Weird South". Stories must be grounded in the American South and have a speculative bend based in Southern history, tradition, or folklore. Deadline is March 1. Payment is $50. You can find all the details here http://www.qwpublishers.com/anthology-the-old-weird-south/ If you check out their submission guidelines you'll find that they are also looking for short story collections and novels with the same type of theme.

Sunday Musing

I watched the "women" skating in the National Finals last night. And one thing struck me. They were all skating the same program. They were competent. But there was no life in their programs, no exuberance, no joy in the music or the skating. And I thought, that's it?

Because I was remembering Elizabeth Manley skating in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. There was so much focus on Witt and Thomas at the time that Manley just went out there on the ice and had fun. I can still see her tearing across the ice, the joy on her face as she skated her heart out to capture the Silver. And I thought about writing.

I don't want to be "just" competent. I don't want to write the same stories as everyone else, or even the same story every time out. I want to have fun with my writing. I want to take the stories in directions that no one expects. Like the skaters, I know I'll fall on my butt from time to time, but I want to feel the joy of doing something from the heart, something that gives me joy, and maybe makes the reader feel like I did watching Elizabeth Manley that night. Like my heart would burst with joy right along with hers.

And yes, you have to be competent to write. You have to know the rules, how to put the sentences together into coherent paragraphs, and you have to be able to tell a story. But you also have to allow yourself the freedom to be daring and bold. To give it everything you've got, not "just enough" to win.

A Pair of Monster Anthologies

I don't usually mention anthologies put out by Pill Hill Press because in general they don't pay, not even in copies. But this one, "Use Enough Gun" is paying $15 and a pdf copy (I know, not much, shrugs). They're looking for stories of 3000 to 8000 words about what happens when a monster hunt goes wrong. The deadline is May 31 and the editor is Miles Boothe. Complete details here http://www.pillhillpress.com/use-enough-gun.html

And if you're still in a monster kind of mood. We've got a werewolf anthology called "Mark of the Beast: New Legends of the Werewolf". Stories of flash length to 8000 words with May 1 deadline. Payment here is 3cents a word plus 5 copies. They'll also consider reprints but payment is undetermined for those. The editor is Scott David Aniolowski and he has a press lined up but I forgot to write it down :( You can find all the details here http://scottdavidaniolowski.blogspot.com/2011/12/werewolves-of-london-and-other-places.html

Discover Mystery Award

The Poisoned Pen Press is sponsoring a first novel contest. The entry fee is $20 and the deadline is April 30 for 60,000 to 90,000 words. The contest is open to writers who have not published a full-length book in the mystery genre. You can find all the particulars here http://www.poisonedpenpress.com/contest

Hat tip to Janet Rudolph over at Mystery Fanfare

Eudora Welty

One of the books I picked up this summer at the book sales was "One Writer's Beginnings" by Eudora Welty. And what a treasure this book is. It's more of an autobiography than a book about writing. And yet, the two are completely intertwined.

The book is broken down into three parts: Listening, Learning to See, and Finding a Voice.

Ms. Welty allows us to hear and see her family and her Mississippi. She fills you with sounds and sights until they're all around you and inside of you, then she ties all that beauty together into the final section about finding her voice. Here's a few quotes:

"Characters take on life sometimes by luck, but I suspect it is when you can write most entirely out of yourself, inside the skin, heart, mind, and soul of a person who is not yourself, that a character becomes in his own right another human being on the page."

"Of course any writer is in part all of his characters. How otherwise would they be known to him, occur to him, become what they are?"

"It is our inward journey that leads us through time--forward or back, seldom in a straight line, most often spiraling. Each of us is moving, changing, with respect to others. As we discover, we remember, remembering, we discover; and most intensely do we experience this when our separate journeys converge. Our living experience at those meeting points is one of the charged dramatic fields of fiction."

"As you have seen, I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within."

If you ever find this book anywhere in your book travels, pick it up, and enjoy the stroll through the mind of a brilliant writer who dares to share her process and her journey through life with you, the reader.

Fires on the Plain

Wahooo!!! We've got a new market for Western fiction, folks. "Fires on the Plain" is looking for hardboiled/noir Westerns of any length, reprints or originals. They're also looking for interviews with Western authors and articles or essays on Western fiction. And it looks like Cullen Gallagher (Pulp Serenade) is at the helm of this new market. You can check it out here http://firesontheplain.com

hat tip to Brian Lindenmuth and Patti Abbott for the info!

The Prompt Story Cupboard

Do you have days when all the ideas in your head sink like a dinosaur in the tar pits? Yeah, me, too. Well, if you need a fresh idea you might give some of these prompt sites a try. If nothing else they'll add a bit a sparkle to what you've already got or give your story a new direction, or you can find yourself writing a whole new story.

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com This site has a page full a numbers - just run your cursor over the numbers and the prompts appear. Some are prompts for stories, others just writing exercises to get you in the mood.

http://writingprompts.tumblr.com This site combines pictures and written prompts.

http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts Yes, Writer's Digest is online and has a page of sentence/paragraph prompts to get your juices flowing.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com This site is full of generators, mostly for the sci-fi/fantasy writers. They have prompts for setting, character names, villains, almost anything you think you might need to get a story started.

Research

Research is one of those things that a writer should do for accuracy's sake. In this fun essay over at the Necessary Fiction blog, Rusty Barnes gives an account of how writing from memory and hand-me-down stories can backfire on you. http://necessaryfiction.com/blog/ResearchNotesRustyBarnes

Too Old?

Last week Adrian McKinty made the bold statement that "crime novels are bad because they are part of a series". http://adrianmckinty.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-are-most-crime-novels-bad.html Now I don't disagree with him because most series do run out of steam, at least for this reader. I've dropped a great many series because I got tired of reading the same old book or the author pulled a stunt that just didn't set right with me (bringing a character back to life was one and pulling the bad guy out of his hat that was never even hinted at through the course of four books).

But this post that I read this morning over at Black Gate really scares me. Scott Taylor doesn't blame the problem on series books but on the AGE of the author. According to him most authors hit their peak at or around 55. That makes me one doomed writer. You can read the post here http://www.blackgate.com/2012/01/25/art-of-the-genre-the-age-of-perfect-creation/ The discussion that follows is quite interesting.

Angry Robot Books Open Door

Angry Robot Books is opening their doors for unagented authors once again this year. From the site:

"This year, we’re going to narrow the focus, somewhat. Angry Robot are specifically looking for epic fantasy, though Strange Chemistry (our YA imprint) will be looking for all forms of sf and fantasy YA. The doors will be open from April 16th through April 30th."

So if you write fantasy or are a YA author who writes sf/fantasy this is your chance to get your foot in the door. For more details go here http://angryrobotbooks.com/2012/01/the-return-of-open-door/

Anthology Call

Ran across this call over at Horror Tree and tracked down a few more details.

"Fading Light" is a horror anthology that seeks stories about life in the shadows after the light is gone from the world. 3000 to 5000 words and the deadline is May 15 with publication in September. Payment is shared royalties. The editor is Tim Marquitz and you can find his call details here http://tmarquitz.com/blog/?p=658

The anthology will be published by Damnation Books http://www.damnationbooks.com/index.php

On Endings

While searching for a market I stumbled across this blog post by Kyler Campbell over at South85 Journal about writing endings. http://www.south85journal.com/index.php/blog/101-life-on-mars-with-my-father-in-law Coming up with a great ending isn't always easy.

New Markets

January seems to be the month that great ideas are born for new zines. Of course, they don't always pan out but the ones that do, well, we love them to death. Duotrope has quite a few fledgling zines listed but these two seemed most suited to readers of this blog.

"Circus of the Damned" is a non-paying market looking for horror stories of 1000 to 3500 words. You can check out the details and take a look at this new zine here http://damnedpublishing.blogspot.com/

"Rollicking Tales: Pulp Stories for the 21st Century", a UK based publication, is looking for shorts of 2000 to 20,000 words in all the genres. Payment is shared royalties. There's also a call for an anthology here titled "The Farmers Almanac" looking for shorts centered around farming communities (from cattle ranching in the old west to future farming on far away planets) The deadline for this one is December 31, 2012 with publication in 2013. You can check out the zine and the anthology at http://www.rollicking-tales.co.uk/

Silver Boomer Books isn't a new enterprise but they do have two new anthology calls for non-fiction essays with payment of $10 plus a copy. And three on-spec anthologies. You can find the details at http://silverboomerbooks.com/sbb/wp/for-writers/

A Good Conversation

So, I've been looking at and reading a few stories in the online literary zines and I'm puzzled. For the most part the stories are almost unrelenting paragraphs of nothing but... story. Don't get me wrong, I love a good story but why no dialogue? Could that be the difference between literary and genre work? The absence of a good conversation between characters.

Color me unliterary, but I love dialogue in my stories. Life is full of conversations, so how can you tell a story where people don't talk with each other?

New Contest

While searching for a market for a new story I wrote, I found this non-fee flash contest over at "The White Cat Magazine". It's for their Spring April Fool's issue and the deadline is March 15. They're looking for April Fool's themed stories of up to 1000 words. $50 first prize and three runners up recieve $25 each. You can find all the details here http://www.whitecatpublications.com/?page_id=227

Is Any Narrator Reliable?

There's an interesting conversation about the reliability of narrators going on here http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2012/01/22/narrators-reliable-and-un/ The post is by Sherwood Smith.

Have I Got a Story for You

"Domestic Violence" by Gwen Mullins http://www.pankmagazine.com/domestic-violence/

On Writing Shorts

Great post about short story writing by author, Joe McKinney. http://waggingthefox.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-i-still-write-short-stories-guest.html

The Sweet Blog Award

Friend of the blog, Oscar Case, has nominated the Corner for a Sweet Blog Award. Thank you, Oscar! Part of the award is name 10 other blogs for the award and tell folks who drop by seven things they don't know about you.

Now naming just ten blogs is an impossible task for me as I drop by most of the links over there on the right on a daily basis and use CrimeSpot.net for most of the rest. Hard to pick just ten. But I thought writing seven thing you don't know about me might be fun.

1. I raced my old '64 Dodge against a '71 Camero and got the old beast up to nearly a hundred miles an hour. And no, I didn't win, but I did marry the boy driving the Camero.

2. I played the maid in "Cheaper by the Dozen" in our senior class play. And spent more of my time learning how to work the stage lights then being on stage.

3. I learned the Morse Code because I had a crush on one of the boys in my class who was learning the code for Boy Scouts and we passed dots and dashes notes back and forth in class.

4. I love horses, but I've never met a horse I didn't manage to fall off of. I've given up on horseback riding.

5. My first job was cook in a Summer camp for boys where I learned to play chess and discovered that I can't taste spices in the food I'm cooking after adding a whole can of chili powder to a pot of chili. The boys claimed it was the hottest and the best chili they'd ever eaten. The boss did the seasoning after that :)

6. Got my car, yes, the '64 Dodge, stuck in the mud on a washed out dirt road and was pulled out by two guys on motorcycles - very cool.

7. Worked at a truck stop and almost gave one of the customers all the money in the register when he trapped me up against the wall and asked how much money was in the register. The boss had told us that the truck stops were getting robbed and not to play hero just hand over the money. He wanted change for a hundred.

If you'd liked to play this game, drop on over to Oscar's blog and check out the details http://oscar-curlyblog.blogspot.com/

The Back Alley Closing

This notice from Rick Helms, editor of The Back Alley came through several Yahoo groups that I belong to. Sad new, indeed:

This decision has been a long time coming, but I've decided to shut down The Back Alley Webzine.

We've had a great almost-five-year run.

Well, four of the five years were great. 2011 didn't really exist.

After the deaths of my mother and stepfather, within five weeks of each other in 2010, I sort of lost motivation to do a lot of things, and The Back Alley was one of them. 2011 was an amazing year for me personally, with four major award nominations and one win, but all the hoopla distracted me from the editing and publishing duties that might have kept The Back Alley alive.

I was very proud of what we were able to accomplish in just four short years:

Five Derringer Award nominations. Two were for me, and one each went to John Weagly, Debbi Mack, and Chris F. Holm. Two of these nominations resulted in wins (Paper Walls/Glass Houses, written under my pseudonym Eric Shane; and In The Shadows of Wrigley Field, by John Weagly).

A Spinetingler Award nomination for Claude Lalumière (She Watches Him Swim)

An Anthony Award nomination for Simon Wood (The Frame Maker)

And, among my proudest achievements, The Back Alley Webzine became the very first all-electronic publication to be accepted by Mystery Writers of America as an Approved Publisher (Periodical/Webzine).

Along the way, we published stories by winners of the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha, Shamus, and Derringer Awards. Authors who graced our electronic pages included O'Neil De Noux, Ross Macdonald protege Fred Zackel, Wayne D. Dundee, Simon Wood, Stephen D. Rogers, Angela Zeman, Patricia Abbott, Jack Bludis, Tim Wohlforth, Keith Gilman, Jochem Vandersteen, Nick Andreychuk, Anita Page, Keith Gilman, John Lau, and G. Miki Hayden, among others.

While I was proud to showcase acclaimed authors, one of the greatest pleasures came from uncovering new and emerging talents. In each issue, I tried to feature at least one story by an author who either had never had a paid publishing credit, or was at the very beginning of what I hoped would be a jet-propelled ride up the writing ladder.

I plan to keep the website up for at least a few more months, and eventually I will migrate all the archived issues over to my personal website, so that they will continue to be accessible for readers looking for a toot of the good ol' hard stuff.

As a side note, I really would prefer to see the webzine keep going, even though I just don't have the time anymore to make that happen. If anyone out there would like to take up the reins and drive the second generation of The Back Alley Webzine, I will happily sell the domain name and rights to produce the 'zine. How about twenty bucks and bottle of Patron Anejo tequila?

Thanks to all the readers for a great run. Onward and upward!
R

Richard Helms

The Edgar Short Story Nominees

The Mystery Writers of American have announced the nominees for their annual Edgar Awards. Listed below are the short story nominees. The rest can be found over at The Rap Sheet http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2012/01/edgars-out-of-box.html Congrats to all the nominees!!!

Best Short Story:
• “Marley’s Revolution,” by John C. Boland (Alfred Hitchcock
Mystery Magazine)
• “Tomorrow’s Dead,” by David Dean (Ellery Queen Mystery
Magazine [EQMM])
• “The Adakian Eagle,” by Bradley Denton (from Down These Strange Streets, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois; Ace Books)
• “Lord John and the Plague of Zombies,” by Diana Gabaldon (from Down These Strange Streets)
• “The Case of Death and Honey,” by Neil Gaiman (from A Study in Sherlock, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger; Bantam)
• “The Man Who Took His Hat Off to the Driver of the Train,”
by Peter Turnbull (EQMM)

The Joys of Marketing

Reading about this contest gave me a great chuckle this morning. I kept thinking what a great marketing ploy for an author who really doesn't need it. The contest is for Stephen King's latest entry in the Dark Tower series "The Wind Through the Key Hole". All you have to do is send your picture to Facebook and it might be one of a thousand that will be selected to grace the back cover of the book. Great, right? People will be buying the book to see if they made the cover :) Plus one winner will be selected to win some Stephen Kings books. You can check out all the details here http://hellnotes.com/the-face-through-the-key-hole Deadline is January 23.

Coming in March

This looks like it might be a fun new zine. "Blood and Tacos" is bringing back the pulp heroes of past eras. Submissions are currently invitation only but they are willing to take a look at a query if you're up for writing men's adventure stories. You can check out the new site and read all about the new project here http://www.bloodandtacos.com/

Hat tip to Brian Lindenmuth for the link!!

Anthology Markets Galore

From Katherine Tomlinson there are two links:

Tentacle Books has 5 open anthologies and the payments range from 4theluv, to 1/2cent a word, with a contest payment scale stuck in there. You can find the calls here http://www.tentaclebooks.com/?tag=open-anthology

J Taylor Publishing has a call for "Make Believe". The stories must be based on the picture they've posted. 5000 to 10,000 words, payment is a percentage of sales. The genre is romance. http://www.jtaylorpublishing.com/blog/?p=572

Over at Angie's Desk, Angie has posted her monthly anthology submission calls. http://angiesdesk.blogspot.com/2012/01/anthology-markets.html

Twit Publishing has two open anthology calls. The first is for their Summer/Fall 2012 Pulp! which is open to all genres. The second is for a Diesel Punk anthology. Payment is a percentage of royalties. You can find the details for both here http://www.twitpublishing.com/Submissions.htm

And if that's not enough for you stop on over to the recent updates page of Duotrope. They've got a long listing of new anthologies for you to check out. http://www.duotrope.com/recentupdates.aspx

Writing Violence

There's an interesting essay over at the Clarion Foundation site about violence in stories. The essay is written by Lynda Williams. http://clarionfoundation.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/writers-craft-55-writing-as-a-violent-act/

2012 Spinetingler Award: Best Novella

The polls have opened to vote for best novella over at Spinetingler. This is the first year for the category but hopefully not the last. http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2012/01/16/2012-spinetigler-award-best-novella/

Anthology Call

Keith Snyder has issued a call for "Ride-2" an anthology set in the world of bicycles. Up to 12,000 words in any genre with a March 31 deadline. Payment is a royalty split. You can find all the details at http://keithsnyder.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/call-for-submissions-ride-2/

Commas, Apostrophes, etc.

Dan Waddell has an interesting post about grammar at the Murder is Everywhere blog http://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/2012/01/grammar-bores.html

Kick-starting Yourself

Did you stop writing over the holidays? Yeah, and now you can't get your foot high enough off the ground to kick yourself in the butt with a good jolt of motivation, right? Join the club. I usually hit a slump long about this time of year and then kick into overdrive during the spring and summer months. But this year I have a problem - there's a deadline looming for a short story I promised an editor.

I have pages of notes for the story, but couldn't seem to find the right starting place. Four files with four different starts? There's definitely a problem. Then I read a post over at Alexandra Sokoloff's Dark Salon blog where she gives some great advice:

"If you write five minutes a day, you will write more than five minutes a day most days."

Sounds weird, doesn't it, but hey, it worked for me today. I sat down at the computer several times today and did the five minutes and each time I kept going for about fifteen minutes more. Doesn't sound like much does it? But I have almost a thousand words and a place to pick up the story tomorrow.

Give it a try, what do you have to lose? Five minutes of your day?

Open Markets

Bust Down the Door and Eat all the Chickens is open to submissions for issue 11. It's hard to describe what they're looking for here but the guidelines give you a long list of what they don't want. They're open to all genres of shorts in the 2000 to 5000 word range and payment is $10. http://www.absurdistjournal.com/guidelines.htm

Fear and Trembling is an online horror zine that seeks short stories with a spiritual bend. In other words, keep it clean. They're open until April 30. Flash of 900 to 1500 words and shorts of 1500 to 6000 words. Payment is $5. http://www.fearandtremblingmag.com

Midwestern Gothic is open for submissions to their 5th issue. They're seeking work from Midwestern writers of up to 10,000 words. Payment is one electronic copy. http://midwestgothic.com

Linkage

Richard Parks takes a look at the downside of persistence. http://richard-parks.com/2012/01/09/the-downside-of-persistence/

And Brian Lindenmuth sings the praises of the novella. Http://dosomedamage.blogspot.com/2012/01/was-2011-year-of-novella-new.html

In Honor of Frank Bill

Punchnels is sponsoring a "Hard Boiled-Down Noir" fiction contest. Up to 500 words max with a deadline of January 27. The top five stories will be published and the authors will be paid the zine's usual fee of $10. And a side note, all entries will be considered for publication. You can find the details here:

http://www.punchnels.com/fiction/the-hard-boiled-down-noir-fiction-contest/

A big tip of the hat to Brian Lindenmuth for the link!!

Charity Anthology Call

Author, Eric James Stone has posted a call for submissions for a charity ebook anthology. He's looking for PG-13 stories up to 4500 words in any genre inspired by the theme "The Three Bill Goats Gruff". The deadline is February 19. You can find the details here http://www.ericjamesstone.com/blog/contact/writing-for-charity-anthology-open-submissions-guidelines/

The charity is an ongoing one that supplies books to kids http://writingforcharity.com

The Short Story Process

Over at the Bookview Cafe is a fun essay by Linda Nagata on why science fiction short stories are so hard to write. http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2012/01/06/why-science-fiction-short-stories-are-really-hard-to-write/

Truth is, this applies to every genre a short story writer works in.

When More is Just Right

Victor Gischler has a great post about the less is more theory of writing. http://victorgischler.blogspot.com/2012/01/remember-writers-less-is-more-really.html

Western Anthology Call

Michael Knost has a call for a Western anthology listed on his blog. The title is "Dark Trails" and the deadline is June 1. He's paying pro-rate plus a percentage of shared royalties. He wants weird or dark Westerns. The stories must be Western first but no modern westerns. You can find the details here http://michaelknost.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-anthology-guidelines-dark-trails.html

Competitive Writing

Some of the blogs I visit have a little yellow block on them that contains writing advice. In general I agree with most of the tips that show up but the one today had me scratching my head. "Every writing project competes in the marketplace. It's important to know your competition."

As a short story writer it's hard enough to figure out what an editor wants without having to worry about what other writers are writing to fill one of those vacant slots. The truth is, I don't write like Patti Abbott, or Michael Bracken, or Stephen Rogers, or Keith Rawson, or any one of a thousand other writers out there.

I'm me, and I'm my only competition. All I can do is write the best story I know how and submit it. The rest is up to the editor. If a hundred stories show up for one slot in a magazine, chances are I won't be the one filling it. That doesn't mean my story wasn't wonderful, it just means the editor preferred someone else's story. And the reasons can range from the subject matter I chose to write about to the fact that he spilled hot coffee in his lap while reading it.

When you submit, study your market, see what the editor has published in the past, try to get a handle on the market's target audience. Then sit down and write and rewrite until you have a polished story that you're proud of. The rest, well, that's up to the luck of the drawn.

Our best chance of getting published is to keep learning, to keep improving our writing skills, and to keep writing and submitting. Worrying about what the other guy is writing? Well, that will just drive you crazy.

The Big Click

"The Big Click" http://www.thebigclickmag.com/ is a new bi-monthly noir fiction magazine set to launch in March of 2012 and helmed by Nick Mamatas. Since there were no guidelines at the link I emailed Mr. Mamatas with a request for more information. Here's what he had to say:

"It'll be invitation-only for calendar year 2012, so that writers can read a few issues and get a sense of what we like. We will be publishing submission guidelines, but only opening for our 2013 issues.

It's a paying market: a flat rate of $100 for fiction. We prefer fiction of under 6000 words.

We're running two stories per issue, a column by Tom Piccirilli every issue, and other non-fiction. We'll be free on the web and also bundling the issues as low-priced ebooks for every e-reader. Our first issue will include fiction by Ken Bruen and an interview with Joe Lansdale. We also have stories lined up from Anonymous-9 and Jim Nisbet."

It looks like this is going to be a top notch site and I, for one, am looking forward to its first issue. And a big tip of the hat to Brian Lindenmuth for the link!

Plotting Die Hard Style

Janice Hardy has a great post about plotting using the original Die Hard movie as a plotting guide. http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/01/i-meant-to-do-that-three-things-die.html

Twitter Pressure

http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1313785

And we thought peer pressure was bad back in the good old days!! Now, you've got the whole world telling you what to think and do. Will all the social media out there kill free thinking?

All Due Respect

The first story of the new year is up at All Due Respect, it's "Dog Days of Summer" by John Kenyon. New editor, Chris Rhatigan has also announced that they're open for submissions. Be sure to check out the guidelines as the word count has changed. And starting in May there will be two stories a month featured instead of one. http://all-due-respect.blogspot.com/

Markets and a Note

This market is for Pinoy writers only. Philippine Genre Stories has a call for submissions of genre stories (sci-fi, fantasy, crime, mystery and horror). The submission period is January 1 to April 30 for stories of 1500 to 8000 words, payment is P500. You can find all the details here http://philippinegenrestories.blogspot.com/2011/12/pgs-online-call-for-submissions-and.html

Over at Duotrope I found a new market getting set to launch called Fantasy Short Stories: the New Magazine of Fantasy. They are looking for Epic, High, Heroic, and Swords and Sorcery Fantasy short stories and they will be publishing the new zine as an ebook. Payment is a flat fee of $10. Submission through Submishmash. You can find the details here http://fantasyshortstories.org/submissions

Also, something everyone who uses Duotrope should be aware of - they have announced that they will be listing fee-based submissions (excluding vanity presses) in the near future. So be sure to read submission details carefully.

Words of Wisdom

"Almost anyone who is literate can write a short story. But to write a good short story ... Aye, there's the rub, as Hamlet once remarked. The short story is right up there next to poetry in the demands it places on the writer. It is not just a short novel; it is, say a battle rather than a war. A moment, not a lifetime. It marks some vivid instant that forever alters the life of its protagonist, rather than depicting the slow evolutional effect of time and events on a group of people.

It is unforgiving. There is very little room for artistic maneuvering and none at all for self-indulgence. Every word, every phase, every nuance, is vital. The short story can teach a beginning writer the elements of his craft--along with precision, discipline and grace."

Words of wisdom from Joe Gores in his introduction to Lawrence Block's collection of short stories, "Like a Lamb to Slaughter".

Market Links

The lovely Katherine Tomlinson sent me a link to an ebook anthology call, "Twisted Realities: Of Myth and Monstrosity". They're looking for short stories that deal with the question, "What would happen if horror and mythology collided?" The deadline is February 13 for stories of 4000 to 10,000 words. Payment is a percentage of royalties.

While looking around the site where the call was posted I discover that Horror Tree lists calls for submissions to both anthologies and magazines. Most seem to be paying markets in the horror genre. You find all the calls here http://horrortree.com I've also put the link over there to the right in the Markets column. Many thanks to Katherine for the new link!!

And if you're looking for markets to fulfill that New Year's resolution to write and submit more this year, check out the Recent Updates link over at Duotrope. They have 83 markets that opened for submissions today. http://www.duotrope.com/recentupdates.aspx

Happy writing, everyone!!