Darkest Night

Perhaps it's the changing of the clocks or Barbara's great story, "A Stash of Goods", over at Beat to a Pulp but it seems to me that most crimes and crime stories take place at night, or in a dark place (oops the electric went out, a cellar or attic in a house, a cave or mine shaft, the woods), or during a storm. And maybe its just human nature to want to hide our darkest thoughts and deeds under a midnight cloud. And is it this fear of the dreaded dark that has us turn our clock forward and back so we can grasp every last bit of daylight to push back the nightmare fears that walk in the dark?

If you're stopping by while the sun is shining click on over to BTAP (link to the left) and read Barbara's story. If it's after dark, grab your Teddy Bear or your honey before you start to read. Yep, we're Snoopy Dancing here at The Corner again! Way to go, Barbara! Now there's a lady who knows how to use the dark to send a chill up your spine.

And just as an afterthought. Can anyone name a short story where the crime takes place in broad daylight? I know of one. "The Payoff" by Stanley Ellin takes place in the sunshine of Miami Beach. Now there's a short that will rock your perception of a crime story.

A Dash of This - A Pinch of That

First up, the Story South Million Writers Award for fiction. While there is a cash award given to the best story, this award process is a great way for zines and writers to draw attention to the work they're doing. The nomination process provides links to stories and zines, which is great press for the world of short stories. So, what are you waiting for? Head on over, read the rules and nominate your favorite short story of 1000 words or more that was published last year (2008). Hey, nominate your own if you're so inclined. And you editors out there - you can nominate three stories that you published last year. Here's the url http://www.storysouth.com/millionwriters.html Step up! Don't be afraid to admit that you're a short story junkie.

Ran across a couple of markets that are open to submissions. They're both spec-fiction print markets.

Shimmer is looking for stories under 5000 words, you'll find the guidelines here http://www.shimmerzine.com/guidelines/fiction-guidelines/

Crossed Genres has a Western theme with a March 31 deadline. What they're looking for in space westerns can be found here http://www.crossedgenres.com/current.htm and the regular guidelines are here http://www.crossedgenres.com/submissions.htm They're asking for stories in the 1000 to 8000 word range.

And a couple of Snoopy Dances are in order again for friends of The Corner.

I'm fast becoming a fan of Jack Martin/Gary Dobbs short stories. As Jack Martin he writes one hell of western that you can find in the archives at Beat to a Pulp call "A Man Called Masters" and currently he's up at A Twist of Noir with a nasty little bit of crime fiction call "Loose Ends" under Gary Dobbs, entry number 51. Go on, have a read, you won't be sorry.

And congrats to Scott D. Parker who picked up a reviewing gig over at New Mystery Reader Magazine.

Links to the left - Hurrahs to the right!

If there's anyone else out there who's had a bit of success, drop us a line here at The Corner and I'll send a Snoopy Dance your way. It's always nice to know if the posts and links are helping you guys in your search for markets.

Up For a Challenge?

I sometimes forget about this neat little magazine. The First Line Magazine supplies the first line and you supply the story. Fiction or non-fiction, 300 to 3000 words and they pay. The next deadline is May 1 for the Summer 2009 issue and the sentence is:

"For two weeks now, I've been trying to figure out if people are laughing with me or at me."

The First Line is a lit magazine but they're open to all types of stories. You can find the guidelines here http://www.thefirstline.com/submission.htm

So, are you up for it?

Procrastination Updates

While going through some old e-mail files, I found a marketing list that had been compiled by a member of SMFS back in 2005. Some of the links were dead, but I found three that might be helpful and posted them in the market sources column to the left. Some days it pays to hang on to old emails.

One link went to Kerlak Publishing's anthology call for stories page and I found one listed that might be of interest to the corner's readers. The editor is looking for WTF mysteries, but there's a catch, no swearing in the story. He explains what he's looking for here http://www.kerlak.com/storycall.html and the deadline is April 30.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Plots with Guns is looking for cross genre stories for their May issue. Yep, sci-fi noir, Plots with Ray Guns. http://www.plotswithguns.com/4info2.htm

And yes, like the title says, I'm doing this rather than write. But hey, at least I'll have some markets at my fingertips when I do finally finish a story.

And a quote today from WH Auden.
"How do I know what I think, until I see what I say."

***David Cranmer has reminded us in the comments that Out of Gutter is open for submissions. Issue 6's theme is sexploitation. Here's the url to the guidelines http://outoftheguttermagazine.blogspot.com/2007/05/submission-guidelines.html

For Your Listening Pleasure Markets

All those new gadgets out there have created a new market for short stories. Beside reading stories on a screen you can now listen to them with your ipod or whatever gadget you're holding in your hand these days. Listed below are a few markets that are open for submissions and all are open for your listening pleasure. So, if you don't have to time to read, you can still enjoy short stories by just plugging in during your travel, exercise, or washing dishes times.

Courtesy of Cynthia Sterling's newsletter is The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine. While their preferred genres are sci-fi, fantasy, and horror they're open to all well-written stories. You can find their guidelines here http://dunesteef.com/submission-guidelines/

SnipLits has been around for a while and right now they're closed to subs but you can still listen to a wide variety of stories at this site. http://sniplits.com/

CrimeWAV.com podcasts stories on their site. They aren't open to submissions but seek out stories from anthologies and zines to broadcast. They have a nice mix of new and well known authors there. http://crimewav.com/

And finally there's Well Told Tales which is a pulp fiction podcast. They're open for subs and their link is in the zine column to the left as I've mentioned them before.

I've noticed at Ralan.com that there are quite a few new sites that are podcasting now mostly in the sci-fi and horror genres if you're looking for this type of market for your shorts.

Save a Genre - Read a Western

Gary Dobbs, over at the Tainted Archive http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/ , has launched Wild West Monday in an effort to spark more interest in the Western genre. Come on, folks, you know you love westerns, so step up and demand that your library and local bookstores stock them. And if you mystery lovers don't know where your loner protags came from, you need to take another look at those drawling, long-legged legends that brought justice to the west. For a prime sampling, stop over at Gary's blog and read the first four chapters of Chap O'Keefe's "The Sheriff and the Widow".

Wow! 100 Posts!

Who knew when I started this blog that I'd manage to hit a hundred posts in four months. I've got to say that I'm enjoying blogging and all the folks who stop by. There have been a few surprises along the way, such as Robert Fate stopping by and the student who reviewed my story in The Thrilling Detective for a class writing project. All in all, it's been a fun ride that I hope continues for a long time.

Now, on to a few other things. Relating to the last post about writing, yesterday I came across a writing post at Tom Piccirilli's blog that works in nicely with the rest of the links I posted. Mr. Piccirilli discusses outlining. Here's the link http://thecoldspot.blogspot.com/2009/02/fuck-outlining.html As you can guess from the link title he doesn't think much of outlining.

I don't know if you noticed or not but I've added some new links to the left. A column of print magazines and most of the links take you straight to the guidelines. With my computer out, I actually found the top of my desk under all my files, notepads, and scribbled notes. I also found a few resource links I'd forgotten about, also added to the left.

Crimespree Magazine opens for fiction submissions today and until the end of the month. They only take subs every other month so get polishing.

I got a note from Chris Pemental today. He'd like to open up Bad Things for weekly flash pieces if anyone is interested. If so, drop him a line at chris (at) chrispemental.com and let him know. Tell him Sandra sent you.

And a few of Snoopy dances are in order.

First, a dance for David Cranmer and his excellent zine Beat to a Pulp. You've pulled together a great zine, David. Keep up the good work. And for those who haven't read the latest issue, link's to the left.

Second, there's a new issue of Plots with Guns up which leads to our third.

Big time Snoopy dance for friend of the corner, Keith Rawson, who's hit a tipple play of stories this week - You can find him at Plots with Guns, The Flash Fiction Offensive and PulpPusher. Way to write, Keith!

And finally, a quote today from Clint Eastwood. While he's referring to acting, this works equally well for writing.

"Once you're in the character you can do anything."