GUIDELINES FOR AOIFE'S KISS

 

These guidelines are published in three sections:

 

1.  General Information

2.  How to submit

3.  Peeves--pet and undomesticated

 

Please read the entire guidelines before submitting your work.

 

 

I.  GENERAL INFORMATION:

 

Aoife’s Kiss publishes short stories and poetry and art and articles and book and movie reviews in the following genres:  fantasy, science fiction, horror, and sword & sorcery.  It is a quarterly magazine, 8 1/2 x 11, perfect bound, and is published on the first day of March, June, September, and December.  Aoife's Kiss is published in both electronic and print versions.  The two versions are not identical.  Your submissions will be considered for either version. 

 

Aoife’s Kiss will consider original short stories of any length up to 6000 words.  Payment is 1/4 cent per word, with a $6.00 minimum.  For flash fiction [under 1000 words] the payment is $3.00.

 

Aoife’s Kiss will consider original poetry of up to 100 lines.  Payment is $5, or $1.00 for scifaiku and related forms. 

 

Aoife’s Kiss will consider original art in color or black-and-white for interior art.  Payment is $5 per piece.  Payment for the artpiece selected for the cover of the print version is $20.  Payment for the art selected as the door art for the year is $40 [this price to be effective with the March 2008 issue.  Art for the December 2007 door will pay $20].

 

Aoife’s Kiss will also consider reprints of short stories or poems, provided these do not exceed the word limit of 6000 or the line limit of 100.  Payment for reprints is $5 per story and $3 per poem.  Generally, we will publish no more than one reprint per version per issue.

 

Aoife's Kiss will consider articles related to science, science fiction, fantasy, horror, sword & sorcery, mythology, folklore, and the history of any of these.  Preferred length is under 3000 words, but that is not firm.  If in doubt, submit it.  Payment is $5.00 for original articles, $3.00 for reprints.  Probably we will publish no more than one outside article in each edition.

 

Aoife's Kiss will consider reviews of movies and books related to the genres we publish.  Preferred length is under 3000 words.  Payment is $5.00 for original reviews.  Probably we will publish no more than one outside review in each edition.

 

All payments will be made upon publication. 

 

Aoife's Kiss makes every effort to respond within 2 months.  Please do not query until after 3 months.

 

II.  HOW TO SUBMIT:

 

A.  For electronic submissions [preferred]:

 

In the upper left corner of the first page of your story, I want to see the name to which you wish the check made out to, the address to which the check is to be mailed, and your e-mail address.  In the upper right hand corner of the first page of your story, I want to see the approximate word count.

 

Ten lines below your e-mail address, and centered in the page, I want to see the title of your work and your byline [note that the name in the byline does not necessarily have to be the name in the upper left hand corner].  Four lines below your name, I want to see the beginning of your work. 

 

Indent paragraphs five full spaces.  Double-space the lines.  If you submit in text format, use asterisks * before and after words and phrases to denote italics.  Please use a font that is easy to read...such as the one you are now reading, which is Times New Roman, size 12. 

 

Submit your short story, review, or article as an RTF or Word attachment, or pasted as text in the body of the e-mail.  If you submit by attachment, type Submission Aoife - and the title of your work in the subject line.

 

Submit your art as a JPEG attachment.  Type Art Aoife - and the title of your piece in the subject line. 

 

Submit your poem as text pasted into the body of the e-mail.  If you desire italics for words and phrases, place an asterisk * before and after the words to be italicized.

 

In your e-mail, say hello, and provide your contact information.  This is the same information that appears in the upper left corner of the first page of your submission.  If your submission is accepted, I will request a bio and send you a contract.

 

Send your e-mail submission to:  aoifeskissNOSPAM at yahoo.com.  You'll have to remove the NOSPAM and replace at with @.

 

B.  For snail-mail submissions [tolerated]:

 

Follow the electronic submissions format.  Additionally, identify and number each page of your work.  At the top of each page, in a header, I want to see your name, a word from the title of your work, and a sequential number.  For example:  Campbell - Shash, p.475.  Paperclip your story in the upper left corner.  Be sure to include a #10 [that’s business-size] SASE with your submission.  Please submit disposable manuscripts.  Please print your manuscript in a font that is easy to read...such as the one you are now reading, which is Times New Roman, size 12. 

 

If we accept your snailmail submission, you will be asked to supply an electronic version.

 

Send your snail-mail submission to: 

Tyree Campbell

P.O. Box 782

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 52406-0782

 

Final Note:  If you have questions about any of this, e-mail me at tyr3403 at yahoo dot com.  You'll have to adjust this address, of course. 

 

III.  WHAT WE EXPECT OF WRITERS:

 

If you want your work to be published in Aoife's Kiss, please pay close attention to the advice below. 

 

1.  Do proofread your work, and eliminate mistakes of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax.

 

2.  Do practice word management.  Use the right word, and only as many words as necessary. 

 

3.  Plot does matter.  Without a plot, a story is history--in more ways than one.  A plot, simply put, is the answer to the question:  How do I get from the conflict to the resolution?  Answer that question before you write the story, and let the answer guide your pen/keyboard/magic marker.

 

4.  Do make your characters live through your words, for characters carry your story.  A good story is not about an event or a circumstance or a moral question, but about how your protagonists and antagonists respond to the stimuli of the event or circumstance or moral question.  In a proper story, your protagonist will change in some way as a result of the circumstances or events.  If your protagonist does not change, you have not written a story.

 

a.  Corollary:  we receive a lot of submissions in which someone is abused as a child and therefore misbehaves as an adult.  This sort of blaming is reductionist and not very useful.  We as humans have and make choices, regardless of our traumas.  We want stories with an eye to the future, not to the past.

 

5.  Do NOT preach.  If you absolutely must make a moral point, or a statement about the state of society, politics, or religion, do so with a subtle velvet hammer...or compose an essay.  Yes, I agree, the world is in a sorry state...so what else is new?  Send me a story, not a sermon.

 

6.  I do not object to colorful language....IF it has a purpose in the story.  You cannot shock me...I was an Army sergeant.  But you can annoy me with unnecessary florid language.

 

7.  Do NOT send simultaneous submissions.  Do NOT send multiple submissions.  One submission at a time, please.

 

8.  DO tell me if your submission has been published previously, and where and when, so that I may accredit the proper sites.

 

9.  Do NOT send art of more than 100 KB, unless you wish to hear colorful language which has a purpose.

           

10.  Set off direct address with commas.  Thus, "Hello, Harry, how are you?"  "Harry" is used in direct address, and therefore is set off by commas.  Put another way, there is a huge difference between "Let's eat, grandmother," and "Let's eat grandmother."  Commas are important.  Editors do not have time to insert them into direct address for you.  That's your job.