Expressions 107

May 2009

Table of Contents

How to Participate in Expressions

News Flashes

International Thriller Writers Announces Nominees for Thriller Awards

The Midnight Library

Sam’s Dot Publishing Update by Tyree Campbell

Interview with Matthew Joseph Harrington by Joy V. Smith

Interview with Hal Colebatch by Joy V. Smith

Paying Markets

 

How to Participate in Expressions

 

Expressions is published monthly, it’s open to submissions all year round, and participation is encouraged and appreciated.

 

Editors are invited to send their guidelines, readers are invited to share their news and views, writers and artists are invited to share their work, and their news about successes. If you’d like your book or magazine featured in The Midnight Library section of Expressions, please get in touch.

 

I welcome poems (under 20 lines preferred), flash fiction (under 500 words preferred), articles (less than 1,000 words preferred), interviews (less than 1,000 words preferred), book or magazine reviews (under 700 words preferred), and art (jpeg under 30k).

 

Include a fascinating bio of three or four sentences (written in the third person) at the end of your submission. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, crime, and seasonal work are most appreciated, but I will consider all genres.

 

Send each submission in the body of the email - no attachments please - with "Expressions" in the subject line. Send only one submission per email.

Submit to Editor Cathy Buburuz at cathyartist@hotmail.com

 

The payment offered for contributions to Expressions is sincere gratitude and free ad space for whatever it is you’re selling, especially if you’re selling your own work or want to promote your own website.

 

In most cases, your submissions will be responded to within 48 hours or less, longer if I’m extremely busy. The deadline for each issue is the 15^th of the month. Everything received after the 15^th will be included in Expressions the following month.

News Flashes

 

Analog Science Fiction and Fact pays $1,200 for cover art, and $125.00 for interior illustrations. 

 

Apex Publishing, the innovative publisher behind such titles as The Apex Book of World SF and the Stoker Award-nominated Mama’s Boy collection, has announced the acquisition of Elizabeth Engstrom's When Darkness Loves Us, a collection of two stories—a novella and a short novel—that exemplify Engstrom's early style of soft-spoken but fierce speculative horror.  "When Darkness Loves Us" shows the inner strength and moral deterioration of a sixteen-year-old girl trapped alone in the underground darkness shortly after her wedding day. "Beauty Is..." follows the tragic life of Martha Mannes, a woman born without a nose, and the beauty and horror of the small town life that surrounds her as her mind works its way out of the trauma that has buried it for most of her life.  When Darkness Loves Us is scheduled for release in November 2009. Pre-orders begin summer 2009; watch the Apex website http://www.apexbookcompany.com for details.  Apex Publishing is  a small press dedicated to publishing exemplary works of dark science fiction and horror. Owned and operated by Jason B. Sizemore, Apex publishes the critically acclaimed Apex Magazine. In 2006, Apex Publishing branched into producing novellas, collections, and anthologies, earning a Bram Stoker Award nomination for the Aegri Somnia  anthology in 2007, and another for the collection Mama’s Boy by Fran Friel, published in 2008.

 

Byzarium will close permanently after publishing its June 2009 issue.

 

Champagne Shivers is closed to submissions, but if there’s an artist out there who has a chilling portrait of a female that would be great as a cover, please send it as a jpg with a fascinating bio written in the third person to cathyartist@hotmail.com

 

Cyber Wizard Productions’ website has been revamped, redesigned and redecorated, and now boasts three new releases:  Michael H. Hanson's Sha'Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse. A shared world anthology featuring 11 different authors all writing about... the end of the world and the brave souls who fight fearlessly to prevent it.  Sarah Ashwood's A Minstrel's Musings. A lovely book of poetry that touches the heart and isn't written in such a way that only beatniks in smoky coffeehouses might understand it. Beautifully illustrated by A.R. Stone, if you like poetry or even THINK you might, you want this book.  Abandoned Towers 1st Annual Challenge Anthology. Yes, I know, Abandoned Towers is a magazine, but CWP is the driving force behind it and the anthology is truly a labor of love. 6 fantastic stories written around the central theme of Johnney Perkin's amazing cover art. An anthology that any lover of adventure, sword and sorcery, or just place good reading needs to have on their bedside table. Get over to the CWP home page at http://cyberwizardproductions.com and snag some of the fresh, hot goodies before they're all gone!

Dark Discoveries is still alive and kicking. Not only that, but we have been working like mad on a completely new face for Dark Discoveries magazine.
To start off, we're adding colour to the covers and increasing the scope to include a focus on movies, TV and comics. We've also got some of the biggest contributors we've ever have coming up in the pages of the next few issues. Topping it off, Dark Discoveries has a brand new website and a new newsletter to boot. There's the cover for issue #13, which is a special Tribute issue for Forrest J. Ackerman (with an interview with Ray Bradbury; tributes to Forry by John Landis, Joe Dante, Ray Harryhausen, William Nolan; and more!) and a new blog talking about upcoming ones. We'll be heading to the printer very soon on this one. Here's the link:  http://www.darkdiscoveries.com  Sign up for the Dark Discovers Newsletter.  Anybody who does will receive a coupon for 10% off anything in the Dark Discoveries store as a special thank you.

Dragons with Cancer, an e-anthology of real and surreal stories has been published in collaboration with Magic Helicopter Press. The anthology includes stories by Blake Butler, Ray Fracalossy, Avital Gad Cykman, Sam Pink, Gina Ranalli, Sean Kilpatrick, Rhys Hughes, Ofelia Hunt, Andersen Prunty, and Kevin L. Donihe.  Read it by clicking on to this link: http://www.absurdistjournal.com/downloads.htm

Eternal Press will publish John Bushore's paranormal/erotic romance titled Prisoners of Gender in September, both as an e-book and print copy.  John Bushore writing romance? Who'd have believed it? But wait!  There's more!  It's not the same old love story when a princess and her guardian exchange bodies due to a botched spell. Add a clueless maid-servant along with a half-witted giant who loves pretty girls, and this bawdy, romance takes off with plenty of adventure and a bit of situational comedy.  Princess Marissa, a virgin, yearns to be a man so she can control her fate. Captain Bardak is sworn to protect her. The caravan is attacked; all are killed, save the princess, the injured captain, and Janella, a loyal but superstitious servant. They are taken captive by the minions of a vengeful wizard intent on using the princess to avenge himself on the king. An enchantment goes awry, and the captain and the princess secretly switch bodies. Can Bardak, in his unfamiliar, frail, female persona, manage to save Marissa, near dead in his battered body. Can he return her form in a virtuous state? It'll be a tough battle, because Marissa quickly learns to enjoy being a male and wants to try out her new "equipment," while Janella lusts for the captain. And even if Bardak succeeds, he’s likely to be executed by the princess’s hardhearted father.

 

From the Asylum will officially close its doors on July 1, 2009, and is no longer accepting or considering submissions.

 

Horror D’oeuvres has closed permanently.

 

Keith “Doc” Herber, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Miskatonic River Press passed away on March 13^th, 2009.  Miskatonic Press is suspending business operations.

 

Morpheus Tales #4  has been published.  The magazine is now on myspace

http://www.myspace.com/morpheustales and on the website

http://www.morpheustales.com

 

Pedestal Magazine has increased its pay rates from five cents a word  to eight cents a word for short stories, and continues to pay five cents a word for flash fiction.

Potter’s Field 3 will be published this month, and a fine anthology it is. 

Side Show 2: Tales of the Big Top and the Bizarre, the new trade paperback scheduled for publication in January or February 2010 is still wide open to submissions and ideas for the cover.  Payment for cover art is $25 and one copy of the book.

 

Sloth Jockey, the online literary magazine, is open for submissions. Please view the guidelines page http://www.slothjockey.com/submit.shtml and send your poems, stories, flash fiction, essays, art, and music in for consideration. Sloth Jockey also reviews books regularly. If you'd like your book or magazine to be reviewed at the site, please see the guidelines page.  Sloth Jockey is not yet a paying market, but the editors are working toward that.

 

Joy V. Smith has a new edition of her book, Building a Cool House for Hot Times without Scorching the Pocketbook, coming out. This edition will have colour photos! (And it gave her the opportunity to update the info on the back cover.)   Her story, Crystal Quest, is in the shared world anthology, Magistria II: Shards of the Goddess; it should be out this summer. And she has an article on Anthology Builder on the WOW (Women on Writing) blog in the April 3rd issue: http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/blog.html

 

Sotto Voce buys fiction, flash fiction, essays, poems, art, and photographs.  To read the guidelines for submissions and the pay rates, visit http://sottovocemagazine.com/submissions_full.htm

 

Space and Time Magazine now offers a download version of each quarterly issue.

 

Space Suits and Sixguns should now be considered as a dead market.

 

 

Taste of Tenderloin by Gene O’Neill is a collection of eight stories of dark science fiction and fantasy that weave a path through the underbelly of San Francisco's most notorious district. Best known for his strong sense of place and uniquely vibrant characters, O'Neill brings the gritty underside of the city to life with eight interwoven stories of broken lives, missed dreams, and all that can go wrong with both reality and fantasy among the down and out. The city itself opens wide to swallow all comers with the temptation of its secrets and sins, while O'Neill brings dignity and humanity to a set of characters often overlooked in both society and fiction.  Coming in the August of 2009 from Apex Publishing, Taste of Tenderloin gives fantasy, science fiction, and horror a home in the city streets. Pre-orders available soon—watch the Apex website for details: http://www.apexbookcompany.com

 

The New Bedlam Project will be published quarterly on April 1, July 1, October 1, and January 1.

 

The Willows has closed permanently.

 

The Writer’s Eye is a paying market for fiction, flash fiction, non-fiction, photo essays,  poetry and book reviews.  To read the guidelines and the pay rates,  visit http://www.thewriterseye.com/thewriterseye_submissions.html 

 

William Blake Vogel III, a talented and prolific poet and a wonderful flash fiction writer whose work appeared in many publications over the years including Night To Dawn, the Potter’s Field anthology, and every online and print issue of Champagne Shivers, passed away a few months ago at the age of 35, but will always be remembered for his unique style.  He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

 

Withersin Magazine is open to fiction submissions until May 15, and pays one to five cents per word:  http://withersin.com

 

 

International Thriller Writers proudly announces its nominees for the 2009 Thriller Awards:

 

BEST THRILLER OF THE YEAR
Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffrey Deaver
The Broken Window by Jeffrey Deaver
The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Calumet City by Charlie Newton
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Criminal Paradise by Steven Thomas
Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton
The Killer’s Wife by Bill Floyd

BEST SHORT STORY
Between the Dark and the Daylight (Ellery Queen Magazine) by Tom Piccirilli
Last Island South (Ellery Queen Magazine) by John C. Boland
The Edge of Seventeen (The Darker Mask) by Alexandra Sokoloff
The Point Guard (Killer Year Anthology) by Jason Pinter
Time of the Green (Killer Year Anthology) by Ken Bruen

The 2009 Silver Bullet Award for outstanding charitable contributions recipient is Brad Meltzer.

The 2009 ThrillerMaster, honouring an influential body of work, goes to David Morrell.

Recipients will be recognized and winners announced in New York at ThrillerFest 2009 which will take place at the Grand Hyatt, July 8-11. The banquet, where the awards will be presented, is Saturday July 11. For more information, registration and tickets, visit www.thrillerwriters.org .

 

The Midnight Library

 

Abandoned Towers

The First Annual

Artists Challenge Anthology

Cover art by Fantasy Artist Johnney Perkins

 

Table of Contents:

The Song of Jaelyn by Craig Comer
Looking through the Moon by TW Williams
Mantle of Darkness by Wesley Lambert
The Fall of Fauk Toraum by Timothy A. Sayell
A Father’s Love by Keith Gouveia
A Maiden Drawn to Sea by Y.B. Cats
The Aspiranto by Martin Turton

 

More than a year after fantasy artist, Johnney Perkins, painted a woman in white on a storm-tossed ship at sea, Abandoned Towers has finally released an incredible anthology. Entries poured in from all over the world as hopeful authors tried to write the story that the image might be about. Johnney and two other judges read through all the entries, agonized over the decisions and selected the six best. Those six stories are presented in this anthology, and Johnney's painting graces the cover.

Excerpts from The Song of Jaelyn by Craig Comer:

For a time, Jaelyn watched the shore crawl past as the deck tottered and creaked under her. Without their main sails raised, their progress was painfully slow. Doubt and frustration began to steal her thoughts, and her joyful song turned into a mournful dirge.

She spied a half-ruined stone wall perched on a bluff. Behind it, a spire rose like a broken finger. Whatever peoples had once lived there had long been extinguished; now wild vines and grasses claimed dominion. The sight warmed her spirits. Nature's power was eternal. It could conquer any foe, no matter its size or strength or bent.

She summoned that power and let it flow through her. She could feel the nurturing fluid that rushed through the vines as they wove into the hard stone, and the strength of the grass as its roots dug tight into the soil. Beyond her sight, she sensed streams gushing down embankments and through glens. Rocks became slick and struggled under the weight of water.
But as she drank in the wellspring of life, she began to sense Phorthes growing ever closer. The creature would not let her go so easily she knew in her heart. He was too cruel. She'd watched him allow desperate sailors to drift for days on flotsam, terrified and dying of thirst, before finally coming to rip them apart with his fanged maw and sharp claws.

Excerpts from Mantle of Darkness by Wesley Lambert

"Captain, what do you know about phantom islands?"
Swan reclined against the bulkhead, intrigued.

"Any seaman worth his salt knows about them, ma’am. They’re land masses that have a charming way of not staying put, or disappearing altogether. Some lie so low in the water that they get swamped by the waves, over time. Others are nothing more than mirages, the gifts of John Barleycorn, or errors in charting. I saw one, myself-years ago, about ten miles off Boston Harbor. A trick of the sun, no doubt."

"Eugene very much believes in their tangible reality," Damaris Stanbury said. "He goes through phases of mind. Most days, he’s content at home, with me. But sometimes he hears the siren’s call to adventure, and woe to me that he hails from wealth, easily affording the indulgence of these whims. This is one of those times."

Now available for purchase from http://www.cyberwizardproductions.com/AbandonedTowers/1startantho.html

 

Anomalous Appetites

An Anthology of Illustrated Speculative Poetry

Edited by John Irvine

Never before has an anthology like this been attempted. Many publishers spurn poetry, citing a lack of interest from the buying reader. However, it has long been my desire to offer poets in the speculative genre a platform to display their talents. I looked for subtle rather than brutal when selecting the final contributions, trying to avoid the ‘Hollywood’ style of hack and slash employed by most other magazines and anthologies in the genre. I wanted to offer the reader a vastly different experience.

 

As the poems for inclusion were selected, they were despatched to artists to interpret under the same plan… subtle rather than gory. The results of my desire have exceeded my wildest expectations. I am utterly indebted to the poets and artists without whom there would have been no anthology at all. I was also fortunate to secure the services of Australian graphic designer/artist/cartoonist Dave Freeman to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude.

 

For those readers who like their horror and science fiction sautéed slowly with garlic and served up on fine china, then this anthology is for you. Do not expect axe hacking, explosions, bug eyed monsters or crudeness. Do expect fine and subtle poetry augmented by exquisite art … every single poem is illustrated.

 

This is a collector’s anthology, created for those who are a little more discerning in their speculative tastes. We offer two hundred and nine pages of the best speculative poetry and art you will ever see from poets and artists from all corners of this creative planet, presented in the larger-than-usual format of 8.5 x 11”.

 

The book may be purchased by visiting the following link:

http://www.lulu.com/content/3236199 and on Amazon

 

It can be viewed, and samples read, on this website:

http://www.cooldragon.co.nz

Just click through from the link below the cover image on the Home page.

 

~John Irvine, Editor

~Dave Freeman, Design/Art Editor

 

 

A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter

by Peter Straub

 

While in the course of writing his new novel, The Skylark, Peter realized he had created a piece of literature so brilliant and so memorable that it must stand on its own.

 

The result of this inspiration is his new novella, A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter.

 

And as further proof of his brilliance, he has entrusted its exclusive independent publication to Borderlands Press.

 

We offer you the opportunity to own a copy of this signed, numbered edition--limited to only 250 Copies.

 

The First 60 Orders receive a free Borderlands Press Book from our Grab Bag!

 

A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter with Afterword by noted critic and scholar, Gary K. Wolfe is only $35.00 plus shipping and handling.

 

Shipping in May!

 

To order your copy, visit http://www.borderlandspress.com/newstraub.html

or call 1.410.877.1781

 

Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, PayPal

 

Oasis of the Moon

by John Kilian

Published by Cyber Wizard Productions

“Author John Kilian has transported the readers with his tale to a time that never existed, with people who never lived, with characters who experience things that never happened, in a place that doesn’t exist. That is fiction. But that he has done it so well without the stereotypical focus is to his great credit. Escapism is good, valid, and interestingly, Kilian presents a world to escape to that is founded in reality, despite being made of mythic components.”
- Alex Ness

 

“Experience things that never happened, in a place that
doesn’t exist.  That is fiction.  But that he has done it so well
without the stereotypical focus is to his great credit. Escapism is
good, valid, and interestingly, Kilian presents a world to escape to
that is founded in reality, despite being made of mythic components.”

~Alex Ness
 
 "It's all here -- eldritch sorceries, voluptuous maiden, strange
locale, high adventure and a barbarian set against men of evil intent.
All the ingredients of a Sword and Sorcery tale."
~Miko
 
Excerpt from the book:

  Jhallah turned, and gawped. “Inaya!”
     The broad area where they had collapsed in exhaustion the
previous night was cupped beneath the points of a low crescent shaped
hill, blasted and cut by the wind into strange disturbing shapes. Past
the oasis, lush beyond imagining, a strange square façade protruded
from the living face of the cliff. The base of it, only slightly
occluded by the vegetation, met the bottom rectangular part of the
keyhole shape, the still water touching the low opening that yawned
blackly into the depths of the cliff in the middle part of the
crescent. Both arms of the crescent reached out on either side of the
flat, flagstone plaza that lay before the oasis.
     “It is not a mirage, anh?” Jhallah took steps hesitantly towards
the lip of the pool before turning back to face his master. “It is not
a mirage!”
     “No. It is not a mirage.” Irenkhazi smiled at the shorter,
corpulent man. He reached out and, grasping the desert rat by the
scruff of his neck, he strode toward the water; propelling Jhallah
stumbling towards the keyhole shaped pool. “Come then! Let’s drink to
our good fortune.”

Purchase Link:
http://www.cyberwizardproductions.com/ancienttomes/oasis.html

 

Open Your Eyes

by Paul Jessup

Published by Apex Publications

Apex Publications is proud to announce today is the release date for Open Your Eyes by Paul Jessup. This is book #4 in our acclaimed novella series.

 

Her lover was a supernova who took worlds with him when he died, and as a new world grows within Ekhi, savage lives rage and love on a small ship in the outer reaches of space. A ship with an agenda of its own. Critically acclaimed author of weird fiction Paul Jessup sends puppets to speak and fight for their masters while a linguistic virus eats through the minds of a group of scavengers in Open Your Eyes, a surrealist space opera of haunting beauty and infinite darkness. 

 

Order your copy here:

http://www.apexbookcompany.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=77

 

She Murdered Me With Science

by David Boop
Publisher by Flying Pen Press
http://www.flyingpenpress.com

She Murdered Me with Science by David Boop blends detective noir with the pulp science fiction of Forties and Fifties.

It’s 1953 and disgraced scientist Noel Glass works as a P.I. to redeem himself for a deadly experiment that cost the lives of six people, including his fiancée’s. In walks a rich recluse who offers information that Glass was framed for the deadly accident. As Glass struggles to clear his name, he uncovers an evil organization bent on using his own invention for world domination. Who can Glass trust when everyone is keeping secrets? His mysterious Japanese sidekick — Wan Lee? The sultry blues singer — Merlot Sterling? The man-mountain bodyguard — Vincent Richmond? From the desolate streets of Industry City, Colorado, to a showdown in Chicago, Glass encounters death at every turn. As he’s pursued by two Mayan hit men determined to make him history, Glass must rediscover the self he lost years ago and face off against the one ghost he swore he laid to rest.

A child science prodigy, Glass uses forensics to solve crimes long before it was considered a legitimate resource for the police. He’s part Sherlock Holmes – part Mike Hammer.

Through his quest, Glass interacts with historical figures like J. Edgar Hoover, DNA Scientist James Watson and Photojournalist Art Shay. The story interweaves true events from the beginnings of the Cold War era with a fictional Armageddon. Glass also gets drawn into the growing racial tensions of the times, including the Trumple Park Riots, because of his femme fatale, the chanteuse Merlot. Cut from classic females of the era, Merlot takes no prisoners on stage or in the bedroom. She Murdered Me with Science is laced with the blues, packed with action and armed to kill.

Order from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0979588995

 

Space Pirates

Edited by David Lee Summers

Published by Flying Pen Press
http://www.flyingpenpress.com

Space Pirates is the first anthology of the Full-Throttle Space Tales series. Edited by David Lee Summers, editor of Tales of the Talisman, Space Pirates contains fifteen swashbuckling tales of pirates in space, by established and rising-star authors.

The contents of this treasure chest of adventure include these swarthy tales of deep-space piracy:

Eating Vacuum, by Robert E Vardeman: An asteroid miner matches wits with a desperate pirate who is short on oxygen.

On the Even of the Last Great Ratings War, by David Boop:  Genetically engineered animals battle humans for control of the space-borne airwaves.

Adrift, by Carol Hightshoe:  The Flying Dutchman legend takes to outer space.

Bad Traveling, by Neal Asher:  Pirates sailing the seas of a distant planet find their match in alien monsters of the deep.

Carbon Copy, by Denielle Ackley-McPhail: Recently demoted Private Alexander suspects that one of the ships of the space fleet are bearing false colours.

Space Pirate Cookies, by C. J. Henderson:  Aliens are mocking humanity, and that means war.

For a Job Well Done, by David Lee Summers:  A ruthless pirate finds himself rescuing a victim of human trafficking on the planet Epsilon Indi 2.

Lunacy by Anna Paradox:  The moon is being taxed to death, and a teenage girl is caught in the middle…by a satellite laser weapon.

The Claims Adjustor, by David B. Riley:  An insurance claims adjustor from Mars wants to ferret out the pirates who are driving up the cost of shipping from Earth.

Never Lie to Yourself, by Uncle River:  When a young boy marooned in a space habitat disaster is rescued by bloodthirsty pirates, what exactly does he owe his rescuers?

Star Wench, by Daniel M. Hoyt:  Captain Beech of the HMS Bounty IV must match his wits against a notorious pirate to save his spaceship’s crew.

Searching the Vastness of Space, by Alan L. Lickiss:  Rory is a bureaucrat who believes he has discovered proof of interstellar piracy, but finds that pirates are not always what they seem.

Captain Barti Ddu, by M.H. Bonham:  Morgan Roberts’ life is saved during an attack by Atolian Pirates…by an Eighteenth Century Buccaneer.

Earth-Saturn Transit, by W.A. Hoffman: Pirates in deep space are bound by debilitating circuits in their heads, but where there are pirates, there will be mutineers.

Ship’s Daughter, by Pamela D. Lloyd and Karl Grotegut:  A pirate’s daughter must prove herself to the rest of the crew, without losing her humanity.

AHRRRR!!!

Order from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981895700

Space Sirens

Edited by Carol Hightshoe
Published by Flying Pen Press
http://www.flyingpenpress.com

Space Sirens is the second anthology of the Full-Throttle Space Tales series. Edited by Carol Hightshoe, editor of The Lorelei Signal and Sorcerous Signals, Space Sirens contains 19 seductive tales of women in space, by established and rising-star authors.

The tales woven by our sirens include tales of adventure, intrigue and vengeance:

"Real Hero" by W.A Hoffman: Aphrodite Love is a mega-star who is kidnapped by eco-terrorists and learns what a real hero is.

"Bite the Hand" by Sarah A. Hoyt: Homo Sapiens meet their match in Homo Felis.

"Justice is Not Taken by the Storm" by David Boop: An assassin finds herself switching sides and then being outed by the group she decided to help.

"Just Another Day" by Terri Pray: Gianna hates when people judge her on her looks—now she’s been assigned to guard an actor who is just as stubborn and willful as she is.

"Field Work" by Anna Paradox: A student’s field research takes a dangerous turn when she befriends an alien no one has ever met before.

"Just Another Saturday on Outpost Nine" by Bobby Nash: For Erin Moonshadow, alert claxons and patching up battle trauma is all in a day’s work.

"Fire Mining" by M.H. Bonham: Plasma storms from the dying suns aren’t the only dangers a good pilot like Saraah faces on Taurii 6.

"High Heeled Distraction" by Alan Lickiss: Undercover work isn’t always easy—particularly when it involves high heels and exotic dancing.

"Slow Burn" by Barbara Johnson-Haddad: People with high metabolisms need not apply to travel to Earth.

"Interstellar Bitches" by Selina Rosen: When an Earth lumber salesman cuts into her business, Drewcilia Qwah hires the Interstellar Bitches to deal with the problem.

"Steel Scorned" by Calie Voorhis: When the planet Steel turned its back on Onyx after her accident, she found strength in becoming an outcast.

"Royal Duties" by Rebecca Lickiss: Station Manager Pulu finds his day interrupted by a beautiful woman seeking sanctuary.

"Rebel Moon" by Carol Hightshoe: A intelligence agent returns to the home she thought closed to her forever.

"Hijacking the Legacy" by David Lee Summers: All Suki wants to do is go home, but finds that she has a home she never realized she had.

"The Silver Snake" by Laura K Deal: An undercover agent is sent to rescue a missing woman, but finds herself dealing with a multitude of sex-crazed insects and a love-struck teenager.

"Outpost 6" by Julia Phillips: Nyssa joined a group heading out to a colony planet after her relationship ended. Now, she’s a frontier doctor with a handsome doctor looking out for her.

"Ruler" by David B. Riley: A spoiled Imperial Princess is sent to a rebellious planet to be the new governor.

"Precious Cargo" by Lindsey Duncan: Kirin’s stepfather gives her a necklace that belonged to her mother, before dumping her on her aunt and leaving her. Both the necklace and the young girl carry deadly secrets.

"Mistral’s Revenge" by Laura Kjosen: As humans move out into the galaxy, their legends travel. Perhaps there is some truth to the ancient stories of elves and sirens after all.

Order from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981895735

 

The Sha’Daa:  Tales of the Apocalypse

by Michael Hanson

Edited by Edward F. McKeown

Published by Cyber Wizard Productions

The Sha’Daa has its dark, eerie, terrifying roots anchored deep in the soil of fictional horror and mythic apocrypha. The end-of-days is a concept reinvented multiple times by each generation of writers with every new century, and our own 21st is no exception. We offer up this humble tribute to those who came before us.

A gruesome shout out is given for Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Bloch, H.P. Lovecraft, F. Paul Wilson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, Brian Lumley, Homer, Arthur Conan Doyle, and all the rest who have given us reason to fear the night.

Be warned. The Sha’Daa is coming.

 

Sha'Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse is a wild mix of the Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and end of the world genres that is well worth the time of any Survial fiction fan."

~Eric S Brown, Author of Season of Rot and Cobble.

"Even in a field that prides itself upon being unique, Sha’Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse, is a most unusual book...a world visited by hideous things every ten thousand years...stories ranging from those involving Greek and Norse mythology, to one about video-gaming warriors...it's a hell of a book."  

~ Mike Resnick

 

From The Dive by Ed McKeown:

As I met Johnney's gaze, the tunnel around me faded and I felt as if I was floating in air. A gray fog enveloped me, then a few seconds later images appeared below. With a shock, I realized I was floating over an immense stone city. A ghastly, greenish light emanated from walls of the buildings, pallid and somehow unclean. A foul odor wafted from it. Foul even by the standards of sewer workers.

I drifted down and then... I saw them. And I frantically prayed to the Virgin that they did not see me. Things shuffled and lurched through the ghost-lit streets, hideous horned-and-tailed things. Some had green, leathery-looking skin, while others walked upright like men, yet had heads like alligators.
“They see you not,” Johnny whispered in my ears, “because you are not. Long ago this place ended. Many of your kind died in its walls as a sacrifice... as food... as entertainment... for these.”

I whipped my head around and searched frantically for him, but he was invisible.

“Dread Falkaya this was,” Johnny’s theatrical whisper continued. “Once linked to your world. Those that lived here feasted on your distant ancestors. Sometimes they did worse, mating with them to produce demonic half-breeds. Some humans they broke the souls of and made them into the Shadalka: servants of demons. The Shadalka seek to outdo their masters in cruelty. Because they are part human, they can cross more easily to your world.”

From The Way of the Warrior by Arthur Sanchez

The General chuckled. "A true warrior is ever vigilant. We've been watching your kind since before you lived in caves. I know about video games. Let us begin!" Shinzo gulped hard.

Two-player games are different than playing the computer. There isn't as much finesse. A player chooses an avatar and tries to use its strengths while protecting against its weaknesses. Shinzo chose a fighter who was fast and precise. That came at the cost of strength and endurance. General Kra'tchaz' chose a fighter with limited mobility but a devastating punch. I guess, Shinzo thought, people stick to what they know.

Shinzo wiped the sweat from his hands on his pants and held his controller pad. General Kra'tchaz' stared at the screen. He looked as immobile as a house. "Let's do it," Shinzo said.

From Talking Heads by Nancy Jackson

Professor Veronica "Ronny" Johns stared at her grandfather’s picture on the wall of her tidy study at Exeter University. He’d been everything to her as a child, after her parents died in a car crash. The resemblance between her tall, elegant grandfather and herself was clear in the reflection from the portrait's glass. The same long, straight nose, brown hair and dark brown eyes, the same gangling body that looked better on him than it did on her.

"But you left me something else, Gramps," she sighed. "You left me a terrible burden that even now I only half believe in. Perhaps we’re both mad." She turned back to her laptop, where she was working on the details of the Exeter University expedition to Easter Island. It was a long way from Devon, UK, to the Pacific.

 

The Sha'Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse by Michael Hanson is on it's way and scheduled for official release on May 1, and you can order copies here:  http://www.cyberwizardproductions.com/altered/shadaa.html

The Tomorrow Solution

by Lee Gimenez

Lee Gimenez's collection of stories, The Tomorrow Solution, is now available on Amazon.com. The collection includes 35 thrilling science fiction and fantasy stories.

 

Lee is a science fiction writer, widely published in magazines in the United States, Australia, Canada and England. He is a member of SFWA and has just completed a new novel.

 

Visit his website at www.leegimenez.com

 

Sam’s Dot Publishing Update

by Tyree Campbell

 

From Mid-March through Easter SDP attended three conventions: MidSouthCon in Memphis; ImagiCon in Birmingham; and MiniCon in Minneapolis.

 

ImagiCon was a disappointment. The dealer room was well-run, but the dealers were assured there would be 3,000-3,500 people attending. The cost of tables was commensurate with that number--very expensive. On the second day the dealer room, which was in the first floor of the Birmingham Civic Center, and the other convention rooms on the first and second floors, were evacuated.

 

Everyone in the building had to leave through the front door. So we all gathered out front. I did a rough head count--because those outside were the convention attendees. The crowd was about 350. Even allowing for stragglers, people sleeping late, etc, the total was about 400. So: for 400 people, we did great. For 3,000...not so good. We came out ahead, thanks in part to the free gourmet jelly beans I put out on the table, but this should have been a better convention. I won't go back until/unless they get their...act together.

 

I did get to meet David Kopaska-Merkel, which was really the highlight of the convention for me. Y'know, I can't even recall what specifically we talked about. Just stuff, y'know?  He got to sign his book, Nursery Rhyme Noir, on several occasions.  After the convention was over, I kept thinking that no matter how much time you have, it's never enough. I hope I get to see him again. 

 

MidSouthCon was another profitable one, but the tables were only 5 feet by 2 feet. Most conventions have tables at least 6 feet by 2.5 feet. Needless to say, I was unable to display all the usual titles. I met David Blalock [again], author of Ascendant, which we published. He did a reading and some signings.

 

MiniCon was the best so far. We did well without having to say "considering," such as "considering the actual attendance." The tables were huge, 8 feet by 3 feet, and this is the same place where Convergence will be held in July. We only have one table, but there'll be decent room.

 

Here's the immediate convention schedule:

 

24-26 April: Conestoga14, in Tulsa, OK [with Suzette Haden Elgin]

 

1-3 May: DemiCon, in Des Moines, IA

 

22-24 May: ConQuest40, in Kansas City, MO [with Brad Sinor, whose story appears in Shelter of Daylight]

 

I'll be updating this each Expressions.

 

SPECIAL CONVENTION ANNOUNCEMENT:

 

If you are going to attend a convention and are willing to put some of our fliers on the freebie tables and/or otherwise spread them around, please e-mail me at tyr3403 at yahoo dot com. [You know how to assemble that e-mail address; we list it this way to reduce meat byproducts].

 

LIMERICKS

 

We have sold out of Unspeakable Limericks, and have just two copies left of Appalling Limericks. Guess what? We're going to do another limerick collection. This one will be called Disturbed Limericks. Details next month.

Updated Publishing Schedule

[NB: This is not a complete list . . . this schedule will be updated each month]

 

May 2009

 

Wondrous Web Worlds 8, an anthology of the best from Sam's Dot online from 2007 [tentative date]

 

Cover of Darkness 2009, an annual perfect-bound magazine anthology of dark fantasy and horror edited by Tyree Campbell

 

Potter's Field 3, edited by Cathy Buburuz

 

Heroes Fall, by Dylan Brody, a science fiction novella reminiscent of Quantum Leap and Schroedinger's Cat.

 

June 2009

 

Winter, by Rick Novy, a science fiction novella about a return to Earth . . . after some twenty millennia. This volume also includes a short story, The Adjoa Gambit.

 

Toward Absolute Zero, a poetry cryogenitor by Karen L. Newman

 

The Book of Styx, a poetry collection by C. M. Mattison

 

The Book of Tentacles, edited by Scott Virtes, Ed Cox, and Susan R. Campbell [tentative date]

 

July 2009

 

My Life As Brother Rat, a fantasy YA novel of ancient China by Lenora Rain-Lee Good.

 

August 2009

 

Infradead: Tales of Human Extinction, edited by Scott Virtes, J Alan Erwine, and Tyree Campbell [tentative date]

 

Unscheduled as yet:

 

Letters from the Minotaur, a collection of poetry by JoSelle Vanderhooft. [title and date tentative]

 

Living Purple in a Gray World, by L. A. Story

 

Interview with Matthew Joseph Harrington

by Joy V. Smith

 

I've been reading the Man-Kzin Wars series for a long time. The series was created by Larry Niven, but different authors joined in. The latest volume, Man-Kzin Wars XII (Baen, 2009), includes two great stories, Aquila Advenio and String, co-written by Hal Colebatch & Matthew Joseph Harrington; in both stories, humans and Kzin team up. For those unfamiliar with Man-Kzin relations, the Kzinti (tiger-like aliens) started attacking, enslaving, and eating humans a long time ago. Now things are different--somewhat, sometimes, and in some places. I enjoyed these stories so much that I tracked down the authors to learn more about them--and their stories.

Matthew Joseph Harrington was born February 8, 1960, in the US Naval Hospital at Yokosuka, Japan. He moved to the US sometime in the next two years, not sure when as he was unable to keep notes yet. He taught himself to read when he was two years old; and when enrolled in public schools in Bowie, Maryland, he got his education by skipping class to hang out in the public library.

 

He reports that he joined the Navy after the hostages were taken in Iran, but was discharged within the year for drinking too much to be a sailor. Then he moved to California, quit drinking, and spent twenty years deteriorating until fibromyalgia began being treated in 2000. He is currently living with fantasy artist Valerie Anne Shoemaker and six cats.

 

Interview:

 

JVS: How did you get involved in the Man-Kzin Wars stories?

 

MJH: My first story ever sold was to Larry Niven for Man-Kzin Wars series — which, given that the authors up to then were such lights as Poul Anderson, Dr. Jerry Pournelle, Hal Colebatch, Dean Ing, and Donald Kingsbury, was a sensation not unlike showing up for a draft physical and being inducted into the Justice League.

 

I'd found Larry's email address; I'd been thinking about the book Protector and what it would take to remove a plague from an entire planet, and about Ringworld Engineers and the fight between a human protector and a kzin, and he expressed interest. I wrote 15000 words in 6 weeks, which is blazingly fast for me, and sent him Teacher's Pet.

 

Next word I got was a copy of an email he sent to Jim Baen, saying that the series had to be extended past the ten volumes originally planned, because there was a story that had to get into print.

 

JVS: So this story was in Man-Kzin Wars XI?

 

MJH: It was. The next volume out was X, but that was filled entirely with Hal Colebatch's stories-- a decision I supported wholeheartedly when I was informed of it. Hal's story in VII, The Colonel's Tiger, had added a new depth of background to Known Space, he kept up the habit in VIII and IX, and I wanted to see as much more as I could ASAP.

 

JVS: Were you asked to write more--after Teacher's Pet--for XI and XII?

 

MJH: Not asked, but definitely made to feel welcome. One of Larry's emails to Jim, which as usual he courteously copied to various people to keep us in the loop, referred to dismay he had known while editing: having to go over spelling and phrasing, cutting material that lagged, and generally teaching people how to write for the series. He included the observation, "Harrington seems to have emerged a fully-trained writer when he sprang from the brow of Zeus or whatever," which I could not help regarding as encouragement.

I wrote Teacher's Pet to tie up some loose ends (I do that) in Known Space. My feeling afterwards was, "Well, that's done." Then I got to thinking about Harvey Mossbauer, and I wrote War and Peace.

 

Larry's never solicited a story from me per se. Hal Colebatch had gotten in contact with me after Larry had told Jim he wanted Teacher's Pet, and we struck up a friendship. I sent him my two Peace Corben stories, and he got his fur all buzzed out and wrote Catspaws, which story I regard as dynamite with magnesium wrapping.

 

Hal subsequently emailed me to ask whether I could offer any suggestions on a story he had paused after eight chapters. His working title was Sol Invictus. The only ending he could see for it was one he found unsatisfying, and he liked my plot twists, so he sent me what he had. I loved the basic concept, threw in some nasty surprises, and came up with the title Foreign Legion. (Just before publication somebody recalled that there was a David Drake collection a few years earlier called Foreign Legions, so we had to change the title. It is now Aquila Advenio.)

 

He came up with another story, which would involve a Kzinti version of a protector. I told him that Kzinti protectors opened up a can of worms so big I couldn't see the opposite rim, and Larry said NO KZINTI PROTECTORS. The thing is, I'd gotten the oddest notion when Hal explained what the lure was to induce Kzinti to change, and I suggested making that the basis of the story instead. Hal agreed. I removed the protector references and set out to write the first Kzinti situation comedy.

 

It seemed to work. My partner Valerie (Valerie Shoemaker; artist, partner, Faithful European Companion--like a lot of Americans I'm part Indian, it's a Lone Ranger joke), who has spent 25 years developing an immunity to me in self-defense, laughed out loud fifteen times while reading it.

 

Currently Hal and I are working on another collaboration, which will, when we complete it, explain not only why the terrifically-powerful Jinxians are so little represented in the Wars, but also why Kzinti espionage didn't wreck every human military campaign. I wasn't satisfied with my Jinxian story, and Hal had something from the same timeframe that it took me two days to realize wouldn't conflict with it but complete it.

 

I love this writing relationship. Hal does these brilliant thorough backgrounds, I cook up weird variants. It's like he's arranging a huge banquet for all the rotten bastards that can be gotten in one place, and I see to it that the brandy glasses for the toast at the end are made from contact explosive. The way I see it, he's doing the hard part. It's occurred to me he may see me the same way.

 

JVS: Where did you get that cool Kzin icon you use on LiveJournal?

 

MJH: Blest if I know. I think I got it from the Known Space website. I'd credit the artist if I knew the name. I trimmed it a little for avatar purposes: the full image shows him holding a variable-knife. The name Harvey-Rrit is of course from Peace and Freedom.

 

JVS: I know you've put some inside jokes and references in your stories. Can you give me some examples?

 

MJH: Oh, my, yes. The title Aquila Advenio has more than one meaning. When the Romans lost a Legion, it was a matter of deep insult to national pride that the gold eagle that was the Legion's standard was lost with it. Aquila Advenio may be read as, "Here is the Eagle." Or, when you consider that the Ninth Legion of the tale are the first humans to walk another world, "The Eagle has landed."

 

In Teacher's Pet, I refer to Cornelius Industries of We Made It. This is a planet with a large population of albinos. Years ago, Michael Moorcock announced that other authors were welcome to write and sell stories about his character Jerry Cornelius, who was the final incarnation of his Eternal Champion. The earliest such was Elric, who you will recall was an albino.

The Name Krosp, in String, is from Phil Foglio's online comic Girl Genius. He gave me permission to use it as soon as I explained what it was for; he's a Larry Niven fan, and a good guy. (Larry's also a Phil Foglio fan, which pleased Phil when I passed it on.)

 

The mention of the Gasperik Society is a reference to the late Frank Gasperik, who was the model for the character Harry Reddington in Footfall, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Frank never got to see the completed story before he died, but he did get to see that passage. He was delighted to give me permission to use it.

 

Also, Manexpert (Kzin) wakes up in an autodoc, but lying on what is indisputably clean laundry. (Of course I'm a cat person.)

 

JVS: Had you been doing any writing before Teacher's Pet?

 

MJH: Writing, yes. Selling, no. Valerie used to buy me any number of pads of graph paper to set down my ideas on. Soul Survivor was originally sketched out on those. (It started as a series of dreams I'd had, about a couple who'd been staying in a ruined hotel.)

 

JVS: What have you done lately?

 

MJH: My third published story, Soul Survivor, in Baen's Universe, has been recommended for the Nebula.

 

I have a novel in the works:  Godspawn. I had sent Eleanor Wood, agent for the late Robert Heinlein and for SFWA, a group of short stories, only to learn that she does only novels. However, she did read them, and told me she wanted to see any novel I wrote.

 

JVS: So, are you just working on that novel?

 

MJH: Well, there was one idea I suggested to Larry about the story that became String. I was intrigued by Hal's concept of a superkzin, and I suggested, "What if the ship encounters a nasty surprise left behind by the tnuctipun, that turns any creature that runs into it into a superintelligent killer? Maybe that's why the galactic core exploded-- somebody who used it ran into the Pak, and came up with a Really Effective Weapon to deal with the little maniacs. We could make an entire novel out of it."

 

Larry said, "If you're going to that much trouble, why not set it in your own universe and not have to pay me to edit?"

 

The prospective title of the novel is Yuga. In Hindu mythology, this is the name of the time at the end of the world when all the gods kill each other.

JVS: So, what do you think of Larry Niven as an editor?

 

MJH: There are editors, and then there are great editors. Any editor can drive the writer nuts once. He gets material handed to him that you sweated blood over, then alters it. A great editor drives the writer nuts twice: once, when he changes what's been handed down from Sinai; and a second time, when it works:

 

Author: "You want to move the circus scene to a cemetery?"

 

Editor: "Right, but keep the clowns."

 

Author: "KEEP THE CLOWNS?"

 

Editor: "Yeah, I figured it'd be a good place to put in that eulogy for the court jester."

 

Author: "I-- You-- yeah, okay." Gibber gibber....

 

Larry is a great editor.

 

JVS: And do you have much input into these changes?

 

MJH: After Teacher's Pet had been accepted, I kept thinking of more details. They told the story better. They also drove Larry half nuts keeping up with them. He coined a new addition to Niven's Laws: "Once a story has sold, stop writing it."

 

He told me it's going to be in the next iteration of them he publishes. (He does a new list every few years.)

 

JVS: Anything really personal you'd like to share?

 

MJH: I have fed a feral kitten from the palm of my hand. I have repeatedly been bitten on the palm by a kitten. On two occasions I have been propositioned by female porn stars. I turned them both down. I do not drink beer.

 

Links:

 

Matthew Joseph Harrinton website: http://www.sfwa.org/members/harrington/

 

Man-Kzin Wars series: http://www.larryniven.org/kzin/reviews.shtml

 

Larry Niven website: http://www.larryniven.org/

 

 

Interview with Hal Colebatch

by Joy V. Smith

 

One of my favourite theme anthologies is the Man-Kzin Wars series, which was created by Larry Niven; since then different authors have joined in. The latest volume, Man-Kzin Wars XII (Baen, 2009), includes two stories, “Aquila Advenio” and “String,” co-written by Hal Colebatch & Matthew Joseph Harrington, in which humans and Kzinti team up. For those unfamiliar with Man-Kzin relations, the Kzinti (tiger-like aliens) started attacking, enslaving, and eating humans a long time ago. Now things have changed somewhat. I really enjoyed these stories and tracked down both of these authors to learn more about them and their stories:

 

Hal Gibson Pateshall Colebatch, BA (Hons) MA BJuris LLB PhD, is a writer, journalist, editor and lawyer, he has a PhD in Political Science and lives in Perth, Western Australia, where he practices law. 

 

His published work includes seven books of poetry (In 2008 he received the West Australian Premier’s Award for his book of poetry, The light river.) and thirteen stories (including the two collaborations with Harrington) in the Man-Kzin Wars series, plus a mainstream novel, short stories, and radio dramas. His non-fiction books include social commentary; history; a legal text-book; and three biographies, including one of his father, Sir Hal Colebatch, a former Premier of Western Australia. He has written a book on caves in literature and legend, Caverns of Magic, and Return of the Heroes, comparing and contrasting “Star Wars” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

His book, Blair’s Britain, was a Book of the Year (1999), and he was awarded a Centenary Medal by the Australian Government for services to Writing, Law, Poetry and Political Commentary, the only person to be awarded a medal for achievements in this combination of fields; it was a one-off award to celebrate the first 100 years of Australia's existence as an independent country.

 

Interview:

 

JVS: I love your stories co-written with MJH. How did you meet?

 

HC: I've never actually met him; we have the width of the Pacific Ocean plus the Australian continent between us. I think it is extraordinary that our collaborations seem to work together pretty well (We may be beginning another one now). Matthew is better at wise-cracks than I am, and probably knows more science and technology. He is excellent at wrapping a plot up in a parcel that is fun and surprising to unwrap. One of his rare gifts is the ability to portray a super-intelligent mind convincingly. Not many people can do that. In the case of my Dimity, for example, she has to "talk down" to the people around her (which is also one reason why her love-life is a bit strange - she is physically very beautiful and feminine but most men are scared of her brain-power). Also he gets the essential ruthlessness of even a benevolently-inclined Protector in a way that can be quite chilling.

 

JVS: You've both also written separate Man-Kzin stories. Can you explain what makes you want to write a story with him--or not?

 

HC: Quite simple. I wrote the first eight chapters of “Aquila Advenio” and got stuck, so I sent it to him to finish, which he did, brilliantly, I think. The same with “String.” Larry vetoed my original ending as departing from the parameters of Known Space too much, I sent it to Matthew and he wrote, basically, the second half as it now stands – a piece of sheer genius! In each case, however, I don’t think it’s possible to work out the exact proportional contribution of each party to either story.

 

JVS: Can you give me some background on any of your Man-Kzin characters?

 

HC: In the Dimity-Vaemar stories and Ginger-Perpetua stories, a Kzin and a Manrett form a partnership as also happened in my second story, "Telepath's Dance," in MK VIII. Kzin-Manrett partnerships have a different kind of competitive edge and tension.

 

Arthur Guthlac appears in the first of my stories, “The Colonel’s Tiger” in MK VII as a museum guard, a frustrated warrior and adventurer who secretly collects scraps of military history – which is dangerously illegal. “One War for Wunderland” gives backgrounds of Dimity, Nils Rykermann and Leonie.

 

Leonie and Raargh have a bond in that they saved each other’s lives in “The Corporal in the Caves.” I think he sees that Leonie has qualities the Kzin species needs.

 

Leonie survives treachery in "Music Box" and goes on to further adventures with Raargh in "Catspaws" in XI. Dimity Carmody is in a bit of an impasse relationshipwise. She may find happiness with Colonel Cumpston....

Dimity Carmody - well, her story is a bit complicated - she based a little (aren't they all?) on a school sweet-heart of mine. In "One War for Wunderland" (MK X), Nils Rykermann, who is in love with her then, says she looks like the Venus of Cyrene (Much lovelier than the Venus de Milo, I think). In the events of "One War for Wunderland" she develops a dread and horror of Kzin, but gradually loses this in "Music Box" (MK X) as she discovers Vaemar and she have something in common - they are both misfit geniuses.

 

Thinking Dimity dead, Nils Rykerman married Leonie Hansen, his student. But when he finds Dimity alive, there are, of course, complications. There's a scene in “Music box” when Dimity returns just after they have been discussing her, thinking she is dead. Raargh comes upon Leonie and tries to comfort her.

 

JVS: And do you want to tackle any of the Kzin names? Or give some background on the other alien species involved in these stories?

 

HC: The Kzin language has many “tongues.” The Heroes’ Tongue is used by adult male Kzin warriors and sounds like cat-fighting. Humans can’t pronounce it properly, and it is generally considered a deadly insult for them to even try. There is also the female tongue, which is softer, the nursery tongue, used by infants, and the slaves’ patois, used in talking to human slaves.

 

The Jotok, who feature in “Grossgeister Swamp” and “Aquila Advenio” are a sort of awful warning of what humans might have become had they lost the wars – a once-great race, now horribly degraded after generations as Kzin slaves. The Jotok of “Grossgeister Swamp” are pathetic creatures after the proud, noble ones of “Aquila Advenio.”

 

The Jotok are very necessary for the whole architecture of the stories, of course – they originally employed the Kzin as mercenaries and guards and taught them about technology, and the Kzin revolted and overthrew them, thus getting control of space-ships and high-tech weapons. Normally, such barbarians would never have achieved space-flight.

 

And when they do get into space, they find other space-faring races, by virtue of the very fact that they have got space-flight, are peaceful, highly-civilized and co-operative. Thus the Kzin, the savages with hi-tech weaponry, just eat them up and enslave them, until they run into humans, who are another abnormality among space-faring races – they have made themselves pacifists not because they have become pacifists by natural evolution but because they know they are too good at war. Only such a race could have stopped the Kzin... A super-technological race like the Puppeteers, if provoked to move against them directly, would not have fought them to a standstill and then tried to make peace, but exterminated them.

 

JVS: There are certainly some interesting alien races in the Man-Kzine series! Who are your favorite characters?

 

HC: Perhaps Dimity and Vaemar, but it is hard to say. I am very fond of Rarrgh, Leonie, and Karan and Arthur Guthlac. Gay Guthlac in the later stories is a sort of bright, bubbly, life-giving person. I find I get involved in them all as I’m writing about them. Some of them, including some of the Kzin, are based on real people (Karan II has a little of one of my family in her); some are entirely imaginary.

 

My characters have off-stage lives which I know something about, but which don’t get into the stories directly. It is probably very impudent of me to tell J. K. Rowling how to write, but I think it was a mistake for her to say Dumbledore was gay – that kind of information, unless it is directly relevant to the plot, is best kept in the author’s own mind to help subtly delineate the character – mind you, I fully understand the temptation and the impulse to tell everything about a character who is important to you. I’ve had to button my lip about a couple of things which I was tempted to come out with regarding some of them.

 

JVS: Can you give me any hints as to where some of your characters may be headed?

 

HC: I haven't resolved what is going to happen to the main characters yet, particularly the Dimity-Vaemar relationship. The overall shape of my stories is the gradual growth of Human-Kzin co-operation, which takes centuries. Each species has something to learn from the other.

 

JVS: Is science fiction your favourite genre?

 

HC: I like writing science-fiction for several reasons, though some “literary” people I know are horrified by it. Also there is a question of market availability. I enjoy writing novellas and long short stories. SF seems the only market for them now. I think in SF you can do everything you can in a mainstream novel, and more. In “Three at Table” (M-K XI) for example, I set out to make everything dark, gloomy, depressing and miasmic, until the lights are turned on both literally and figuratively, and everything is seen in a new way. The story is meant to be a bit of an emotional roller-coaster at the end.

 

Also, I think it's the most alive literature today: go into an SF-Fantasy bookshop or convention, and you find knowledgeable, enthusiastic people who are having a literary experience - you don't get that with much so-called “mainstream” literature now. When did you last hear a group of people actually talking excitedly about the last Man-Booker or Whitbread prize-winner, for example? C. S. Lewis says in “An Experiment in Criticism” (a book every writer should read) that you can get a salon full of people engaged in literary talk and the only genuinely literary experience going on in the house is upstairs where a small boy is engrossed in “Treasure Island” and is reading it under the bed-clothes with a torch-light. It’s the equivalent of that small boy that I try to write for.

 

In many ways modern mainstream literature - prose, drama and poetry - seems to have simply come to a dead end, as does much of modern art generally. Perhaps science-fiction can play some part in renewing it. I say a bit more about this in my book "Return of the Heroes." We have the derisive term "space opera." But I would love to see a real opera about space. What might Verdi or Mozart - let alone Wagner! - have done with the dramas of Apollo 11 or Apollo 13? Remember Verdi's 'The Force of Destiny!' Even some of the "gentler" composers like Puccini or Handel .. Of course "Star Wars," of which I'm a huge fan, is operatic up to a point."

 

I grew up on the classic English adventure writers, children and adult – Kipling, for example, as well as Arthur Ransome, “Dan Dare,” Biggles, "Bartimeus," C. S. Forester, later Geoffrey Household, Berkeley Mather, Nigel Balchin, the “Argosy” stable - innumerable others. I love G. K. Chesterton’s “The Ballad of the White Horse.” I try to quote some poetry in all my Man-Kzin stories as my little contribution to keeping the knowledge of great poetry alive, and I have a couple of Kzin who quote The Ballad’s more stirring passages.

 

I know “The Lord of The Rings” pretty well, and I am the author of some entries in the International J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopaedia. When I was in Britain, like so many other tourists, I went to Oxford and had a few ceremonial drinks in the “Eagle and Child” pub where Tolkien used to read chapters of “The Lord of The Rings” as he wrote them to C. S. Lewis and others.

 

SF also seems to be a very good means of taking on deconstructionism, post-modernism, political correctness and suchlike contemporary plagues. It allows you to deal with themes which, because of political correctness and postmodernism, and sheer snobbery, simply wouldn't get published in mainstream fiction today, and to deal with genuinely thought-provoking ideas, while not necessarily losing anything in the way of character, plot and style.

 

Good style is good style wherever you encounter it – of course, I’d like to go back an improve things in some of my earlier stories, and will if there’s ever a new edition, but that’s one of the problems of being a writer – an artist who is not satisfied with a picture can do an improved one on the same theme, but with words in print its much more difficult.

 

I’ve talked more here about writing SF than reading it. Nowadays I read mainly non-fiction. The best literary style I find today is seldom in fiction, but more in things like the very best historical writing, and in a variety of other non-fiction, including the work of clear, lucid contemporary philosophers like John Passmore or Peter Kreeft. My personal literary hero, and a close friend, was the late Michael Wharton, who wrote the Peter Simple column in the British “Daily Telegraph” for many years. And as you may have noticed, I dedicated Man-Kzin X to the memory of Poul Anderson. I never met Poul but we corresponded for some time before his death – he wrote long, wonderful letters – and though we never met face-to-face I counted him a friend also. I have a poem to him in The Light River.

 

JVS: I would love to see a companion volume to the Man-Kzin stories. Is there anything available for readers?

 

HC: There has been one book written, “Annals of the Man-Kzin Wars”, which is very useful for the earlier stories but now out of date – It stops at about Vol. VII or VIII. I have tried to get in touch with the author to suggest an updated edition but can’t find him. Certainly I think there is room for another now.

 

Also, I’d very much like to see more scenes from the series illustrated: a book of some of the great scenes in the various stories – not only my own! – would be tremendous, I think. Of my own stories, there are, for example, several scenes in “Telepath’s Dance,”, “Peter Robinson”, “Three at Table” and “Grossgeister Swamp” I’d like to see illustrated, as well as scenes from Matthew’s “Teacher’s Pet,” “War and Peace,” and “String.” The earlier stories, too, are a mine of possible scenes. Obviously, my great dream, like almost every writer, would be a film.

 

At present you’ve got to work a bit to see the chronological order of the stories, but that’s because they are published, in my case, in the order in which I thought of them, and I am sure the same is true for the other authors. I begin them all with a date now. It should be obvious, I hope, that stories like “Peter Robinson” and “String” are set hundreds of years after the stories of the first war. The techniques of space-flight have changed, and the Kzin have changed a bit, too.

 

I should also say that it’s a tribute to Larry Niven’s editorship that the stories are very largely consistent, and, while I can’t judge my own writing, I think the standard of the other stories is consistently very high. For me, at least, none of the stories in the 13 books are duds (that is 13 counting Paul Chafe’s “Destiny’s forge” – a full-length novel), and some are quite extraordinary. Of course, when your work is appearing in company with greats like Poul Anderson, Jerry Pournelle, Steve Stirling, Larry Niven himself, etc., there’s no room for bad writing. Obviously I am standing on the shoulders of giants.

 

JVS: What are you working on now? What do we have to look forward to?

HC: I have the beginnings of another collaboration with Matthew, plus the beginnings of a long story, a complete novel, I hope, about a human and a Kzin family fighting on Wunderland during the whole length of the Kzin Occupation. There are any number of stories still to be told – how did Raargh lose his arm and his eye? (Not to humans I think, probably fighting with other Kzinti).

 

Plus I am doing a near-“mainstream”novel set in Western Australia about 2015 – part of it is just a sunny story about sailing round the islands, falling in love, looking for a lost shipwreck, but there is also another tone: what happens to the world when the US gets sick of being the unthanked policeman and goes home? When the sheriff turns in his badge? I am also at present trying to get published a book on why the West alone developed scientific and technological civilization and the threats to it today, and a history of industrial strikes in Australia during World War II.

 

I also write fairly frequently for “The American Spectator Online,” “Quadrant” and various Australian newspapers. I was a reporter with “The West Australian” for a long time and still do some features and reviews for them and other publications, including the British quarterly “The Salisbury Review” and the Australian quarterly “The IPA Review,” and the New Zealand magazine “Investigate.”

 

JVS: What do you enjoy doing--beside writing?

 

HC: As a journalist with The West Australian newspaper, I participated in several expeditions to remote parts of the Kimberlies in the far North-West of Australia and also in the discovery of several kilometres of extensions to the Easter Cave system near Augusta in the South-West. I'm a yachtsman, and my hobbies include undersea photography, mainly around the reefs of Rottnest Island.

 

Links:

 

Hal Colebatch: http://www.the-rathouse.com/HalColebatch.html

 

Man-Kzin Wars series: http://www.larryniven.org/kzin/reviews.shtml

 

Venus de Cyrene:

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/miscellanea/museums/venuscyrene.html

 

Joy V. Smith, who conducted the above interviews, writes fiction and non-fiction. Her non-fiction includes interviews. articles on writing, and her book, Building a Cool House for Hot Times without Scorching the Pocketbook.  Her fiction includes Science Fiction and Fantasy, and has been published in a number of publications and anthologies, including The Ghost in the Gazebo, Kings of the Night II, Womenscapes, and Magistria: The Realm of the Sorcerer. Her fiction books include the children's picture book, Why Won't Anyone Play with Me? and a short story collection, Aliens, Animals, and Adventure. Her SF has also been published in two audiobooks, including Sugar Time from Hadrosaur Productions. She lives in Florida with Xena, the warrior puppy, and Bryn, the flying Corgi.

 

Paying Markets

 

A Fly in Amber

Pays $10 for Written Work & $20 for Art

 

Some common guidelines apply to all types of submissions:

·        All written submissions should be in standard manuscript format.

·        Please submit in either MS Word DOC or RTF format.

·        We also accept plain text submissions, provided they are presented legibly with proper paragraph spacing and indentation (i.e. make your plain text submissions look as much like the standard manuscript format as possible.)

·        Please use underscores (_) around italicized text in plain text manuscripts, as in _the following text should be italicized_.

·        Unless otherwise indicated below, please submit only ONE work at a time for consideration. Once we have either accepted or rejected that piece, you are of course welcome to submit additional works. However, we will only consider the first work submitted in the event of multiple simultaneous submissions from one author.

·        Please do not resubmit a work that has been rejected without solicitation.

·        Like most publishers, we don’t accept “simultaneous” submissions — that is, we greatly prefer that you not submit a piece to us and to another publisher at the same time. This gets messy if two or more parties accept your work at once.

·        If you would like to withdraw your submission from consideration prior to 60 days, please contact the administrator at aflyinamber@gmail.com .

Short Fiction

·        Make sure to read out General Submission Guidelines above before submitting.

·        Short fiction should be between 1,000 and 10,000 words. Due to resource constraints, we cannot consider unsolicited pieces that go beyond this word limit.

·        We are looking for good fiction in any genre — we’re more interested in the quality of the story itself than in the shelf you’d find it on. Short fiction of any genre should say something unique — we want to see something special, something we haven’t seen before.

·        Because we will also be publishing work for young readers and by young writers, we cannot accept pieces that contain excessive and/or gratuitous sex, violence and profanity. The inclusion of such adult elements and themes won’t immediately disqualify a piece as long as they are tastefully done and appropriate to the story. Such justifications aside, however, we will not accept anything we feel is inappropriate for our readers.

·        Please submit short fiction using our Fiction Submission Form.

Flash Fiction

·        Make sure to read out General Submission Guidelines above before submitting.

·        We are accepting flash fiction (under 1000 words) in any genre. However, we are picky when it comes to this style. Good flash is hard to write — harder, in some ways, than traditional short story formats.

·        Successful flash for us must tell a complete story. It should leave an impression out of proportion with the number of words it uses.

·        Please submit flash fiction using our Fiction Submission Form.

·        Because of it shorter form, we are willing to consider up to three separate flash submissions from one author at one time. This is an exception to the “one submission per author” rule listed above. However, we will not consider more than three submissions from one author at one time.

Non Fiction

·        Make sure to read out General Submission Guidelines above before submitting.

·        We are interested in non fiction essays and articles on a range of subjects, but holding to the same standards as the fiction we publish. We want to see something new and different. Blogs these days are a dime a dozen, and we don’t want to just rehash the argument of the day. We’re looking for unique insight into unique issues. We’re looking for articles that make us feel or think in ways we haven’t before.

·        Non fiction should be appropriate for a wide range of readers, young and old. Just as with fiction, we will not publish any piece we feel is inappropriate or in poor taste.

·        Please submit non fiction using our Fiction Submission Form. (Yes, we know it’s weird. But David is lazy, and until we can get him to cough up something more fitting….)

Artwork

·        Make sure to read out General Submission Guidelines above before submitting.

·        Artwork should be submitted in a digital format. We will not accept artwork by mail and scan it in.

·        Artwork may have any subject, but must be tasteful. Nudity is not necessarily going to disqualify a piece, but must be artistically appropriate.

·        We will accept photography with artwork.

·        Please submit all artwork in JPG or PNG format. If you wish to submit artwork that is larger than 1 MB is size, please compress the file using a standard Windows ZIP compression utility. (For those of you using an non-Windows OS, we also happily accept gzip (.gz), bzip2 (.bz2) or compressed tar archive (.tgz) files.

·        Please submit artwork using our Artwork Submission Form.

·        We will consider up to three works of art submitted by a single author at one time. This is an exception to the “one submission per author/artist” rule in our general guidelines. However, we will not consider more than three submissions from one artist at one time.

Featured Artwork / Story

Each issue, the Editors will choose one piece of artwork and/or one written submission as our Featured Artwork/Story. Features can be chosen from any fiction genre. It represents the best of the best, in our view.

Guidelines for Young Authors

A Fly in Amber invites submissions by young authors and artists under the age of 18. Make sure you have parental permission to submit works to our website — we will need to work with them as well as you in the event your piece is accepted. Please indicate that you are a young author by checking the appropriate box on the submission form.

Response Time, Rights Selling and Payment Rates

·        A Fly in Amber buys First Exclusive Electronic Rights to all works we accept for a period of six months. After that, any and all rights revert to the author. We ask, though we do not require, that you allow us to maintain a copy of your piece in our archives. However, you may request that we remove your work from our site at any time after our initial six month period expires.

·        We pay a flat rate of $10 per piece. Artwork pays $20 per piece. Works selected as our features receive an additional $10 “prize payment.” Payment method, as well as any additional per-submission considerations, will be negotiated at the time of acceptance.

·        Make sure to provide current contact information with your submission, as this is our only means of getting in touch with you should we accept your piece for publication.

·        We strive to give every submission a response within 60 days of receipt. If it’s been more than 60 days since you submitted your piece and you have not heard back from us, please send us a query at aflyinamber@gmail.com . In all probability, the absence of a response indicates that something went wrong with our response email — perhaps we filed the wrong address or otherwise could not deliver to the address you provided.

 

Ancient Paths

The two featured poets and the two featured writers will be each be paid $50.  Published artists receive $10 per work.

 

Ancient Paths Literary Magazine Submission Address:

Skylar Hamilton Burris, Editor
P.O. Box 7505
Fairfax Station, VA 22039
SSBurris@cox.net (no attachments)

 

Publication & Submission Calendar:

March 1, 2009: Query period opens for Issue 16.
June 1, 2010: Query period closes for Issue 16.
August 31, 2010: Two featured poets and two featured writers will be chosen by this date.
January 2011: Issue 16 will be published and available for purchase.

Changes:

Issue 16 will feature the work of two select poets (15-30 poems each) and two select writers (5,000-10,000 words each). Therefore, I am no longer accepting submissions of complete manuscripts. Instead, query with samples. Read on for details.

 

Theme:

All works should have either Christian themes or universal religious themes (i.e. religious themes common to most religions and consistent with Christianity). The religious element can, but need not be, explicit. Works should not be overly didactic.

 

Art:

Submit black and white art work or photography as a .jpg or .gif attachment to an e-mail. Include your name and address in the message area.

 

Poetry:

 

Send a cover letter and your three best poems only.

 

Poems should have a minimum of 8 lines. No maximum.

Make sure you have 15-30 completed poems available for submission upon request. In your cover letter, note how many poems you have available and if they have a uniting factor.

 

Include previous publication details in your query letter. In order for your poems to be considered for inclusion, no more than five may have been previously published, and none may have appeared in a previous issue of Ancient Paths. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable.

 

I have no prejudice against traditional, rhymed verse, but it must be well written. I prefer that free verse employ standard punctuation and capitalization. I look for many things -- profound insights, resonant sound, and striking imagery. I will avoid poetry that is entirely image driven and poetry that communicates a moral message without beauty or poetic skill. Ideally, poetry should be accessible at the surface level and then contain other levels of more subtle meaning.

Prose:

 

Query with the first five double-spaced pages of your best short story.

Short stories must be at least 1,000 but not more than 10,000 words.

If querying, make sure you have 5,000-10,000 words available for submission upon request. In your query letter, note how many stories you have for submission, their total word count, and whether or not the stories are connected thematically (or otherwise) to one another.

I consider fictional short stories, stand-alone novel excerpts, and creative non-fiction. No devotions, testimonies, reviews, essays, or articles. I tend to favor literary fiction, but genre fiction (historical, mystery, science fiction, etc.) may be selected if it is particularly good. I rarely publish allegories, parables, fables, or retellings of Bible stories.

 

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable.

 

Previously published works may possibly be considered, depending on when/where they were published. Include previous publication details in your query letter.

 

Payment:

The two featured poets and the two featured writers will be each be paid a flat fee of $50. Published artists will be paid $10 per work. All contributors will receive one free copy of the publication.

 

Rights Purchased:

The following rights will be purchased by the published poets and authors--

Nonexclusive print rights (i.e. I can print your work in Issue 16 for as long as the issue remains in print, but you are free to sell the work elsewhere).

Nonexclusive electronic excerpt rights (i.e. I can post a "teaser" portion of your work, such as a poem or a few pages of a story, online on the Ancient Paths website)

 

Submission Details:

Include your name, address, and e-mail (if any) on your query letter. If submitting via mail, enclose an SASE for reply only. Your query will be recycled. If submitting via e-mail, send query and sample poetry/prose in a single e-mail. Paste text directly in the e-mail. No attachments please. If submitting via e-mail, use the subject heading "Ancient Paths Query." If you do not, your message may be lost in the spam filter.

 

Art from Art Anthology

Pays $100/Story and two copies of the book

Deadline is July 1, 2009

 

This collection of short fiction by literary writers aims to feature stories that are connected directly to—or inspired by—a work of art. It could be a song, a painting, a museum, an architectural monument, a blueprint, a piece of writing—a play, novel, poem, letter, etc. The art in question needs to be a major component of the story—a character—within the fabric of the story. Perhaps the idea will be inspired by an event from life or maybe it will be something completely fabricated.

 

All genres welcome. ART from ART will bring new and established voices and ideas to a fine collection of fiction. I aim to have the art featured on a page either at the beginning or the end of each story—a visual correlative that will enhance the experience. Submit your story and a brief bio via email to Stephen Soucy at shsoucy@modernistpress.com. Please follow standard submission guidelines (Microsoft Word Document with 12-point font).

UPDATE: Payscale for this project is $100 for the right to publish each author’s story in the anthology, and two copies of the finished book. I’m finding that stories between 2000-5000 words are working best. I’m really looking for a story with a completely developed narrative and with finely drawn characters. I’m not looking for a brief 2-page piece, and I’m not open to poetry at this time.

 

ALSO: DUE TO THE OVERWHELMING RESPONSE TO THIS COLLECTION, ANYONE SENDING A SUBMISSION AFTER 4/13/09 - PLEASE MAIL ME A HARD-COPY VERSION OF YOUR STORY, WITH YOUR BRIEF BIO, TO STEPHEN SOUCY, 1733 N OGDEN DRIVE, LOS ANGELES, CA 90046. IF I FIND YOUR STORY A MATCH, I WILL E-MAIL YOU, ASKING FOR AN ELECTRONIC VERSION.

 

Black Matrix Press LLC

Pays Royalties

Black Matrix Press LLC is a new royalty paying small press company that
specializes in developing science fiction, fantasy and horror projects
from writers on the rise. We are not a vanity press; publishers are
supposed pay authors, not the other way around. We are currently
accepting manuscripts for both anthology collections and novel length works.

Novel Submission Guidelines
Black Matrix Publishing LLC (BMP) releases books in both ebook and trade paperback formats. All novels published by BMP retain worldwide ebook and trade paperback rights for a period of three (3) years. All rights
then revert back to the author. Authors receive royalty payments
quarterly for books sold in the amount of 10% of cover price. Authors
pay no fees of any kind for publishing services. Cover design and
production, ISBN numbers, editorial services and book set-up fees; all
are covered by BMP.

Writers may submit a minimum of three sample chapters, although we
prefer the full manuscript. If you submit sample chapters, they must be
from a completed manuscript, not a work in progress. All material must
be submitted electronically to submissions@blackmatrixpub.com  as an
attached document. Document must be in RTF or Word 97 and above format.

This is not a general purpose address - use it for sending manuscripts
only. Address other messages or queries to editor@blackmatrixpub.com .
Novels should be a minimum length of 60,000 words, however, we will
accept manuscripts as short as 35,000 words for publication in our "BMP
Doubles" series.

Attach a cover letter as a separate document with name, postal address
and phone number at top of document. Cover letter also should contain
title of manuscript, author name, genre and approximate word count plus
a brief outline of the book, with a summary of the major events not to
exceed 2 pages. Finish with a brief history of other published works,
currently in or out of print.

We do not accept simultaneous submissions or previously published novels.

Response to submissions will be approximately 90 days.

We are currently accepting manuscripts in the science fiction, fantasy
and horror genres. A wide range of material is considered within each
genre from old-fashioned space-opera to high-tech SF, sword and sorcery
to contemporary dark fantasy and gothic to modern horror. Above all, a
story must be well told with good character development.

Anthology Submission Guidelines

We are planning a number of anthologies in three different genres:
science fiction, fantasy & horror.

Stories should range in size from 3,000 to 5,000 words with a focus on
solid plotting and character development. If readers don't care about
any of the people they meet in the story, you will lose their interest
after the first few pages. Don't forget all the senses when developing
your story. Characters not only see- they touch, hear and smell as well.
Flesh out the world you create, it makes for a rich environment that
keeps the pages turning.

Science Fiction: We're looking for everything from old-fashioned space
opera to cautionary tales of the high-tech future. Above all, tell us a
good story, no matter what the setting.

Fantasy: Sword & sorcery or contemporary dark fantasy. We'll take a look
at whatever your mind can create as long as it has elves, etc. and sharp
blades.

Horror: We're not overly fond of pure psychological horror. We prefer
stories where the malevolent creature lurks just outside the circle of
light, the mutated beast menaces the town or ancient evils refuse to
stay buried in the past.

Payment is .0020 of a cent per word for First World Publication Rights
in English for a period of five (5) years. All manuscripts must be
submitted in RTF or Word 97 and higher format. Please, no Word Perfect,
Mac or Microsoft Works documents. Payment will be made on acceptance of
story.

We accept only electronic submissions. Manuscripts must be sent via
email as an attached file to submissions@blackmatrixpub.com . Allow 60
days for a response to your submission. This is not a general purpose
address - use it for sending manuscripts only. Address other messages or
queries to editor@blackmatrixpub.com .

BMP Doubles

Black Matrix Publishing LLC has created a new class of book to showcase
shorter novels with word counts between 35,000 and 50,000. Each book
will contain 2 short novels with similar themes in SF, fantasy or
horror. Each book will have a front cover on both sides. When readers
complete one, they can flip the volume over and begin reading the second
side. Royalty payments will be split between the authors for these
shorter novels.

Black Static

Pays One to Five Cents a Word

 

Contributors' Guidelines

 

It is strongly recommended that you study the magazine before submitting. Being familiar with what we publish will obviously greatly improve your chances of acceptance.

 

Non-Fiction

 

We are not currently open to unsolicited submissions of non-fiction, although suggestions of what we should be covering are always welcome. The best place to make such suggestions is the forum.

 

Artwork

 

All of Black Static's original art is supplied by David Gentry. But our sister magazine Interzone is always looking for illustrators.

 

Short Stories

 

We are always open to submissions of new horror and dark fantasy short stories of up to about 10,000 words in length. Please follow these simple guidelines:

·        Send your manuscript mailed flat or folded no more than once, in standard manuscript format — typed (not handwritten!), double spaced, good margins all round, printed in black ink on one side of white paper, numbered pages, a key word from story title and author's name on each page — with a covering letter and adequate means of reply (ie a stamped, self-addressed envelope or a working email address if outside the UK).

·        Please include a covering letter but don't worry too much about it, just introduce yourself and list any relevant credits, things like that. If you've never been published before tell us that too — we've published many debut stories over the years.

·        Use a paper clip to hold pages together, not staples or any kind of binder. There is no need to put your manuscript in a folder. An ordinary paper envelope is sufficient, don't use bulky padded envelopes.

·        Don't send a submission by recorded delivery.

·        Make sure you enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage for return of your manuscript, or send a disposable manuscript (clearly marked as such) with a small SAE for reply. Overseas submissions should always be disposable and accompanied by an email address for reply. Any submission that arrives without means of reply won't be read, just recycled.

·        Never send simultaneous submissions, multiple submissions or reprints.

·        All submissions must be sent in hard copy only.

Don't be offended by a form rejection. It simply means that we're really busy, with lots of stories to read. But even a form rejection means what it says: send the rejected story somewhere else and try us with something new…and keep on trying! Don’t submit a rejected story to another of our magazines though, as we will already have considered that option.

 

Where to Send Your Stories

Black Static

Andy Cox, Editor
TTA Press
5 Martins Lane
Witcham
Ely
Cambs CB6 2LB
United Kingdom

 

 

Brain Harvest

An Almanac of Bad Ass Speculative Fiction

Pays 5 Cents a Word, up to $37.50 U.S. by PayPal.

 

We are those jaded editors who’ve seen everything. We worry about fiction. Where are the new ideas? Where’s the weird shit? What’s the future going to look like, and why will it matter? Please, surprise us. Shock us out of our ennui, and, like the iconic hooker with a heart of gold, or the free spirit w/terminal illness, help make our lives worth living again.

 

We want 750 or fewer words. Weird. Surprising. Preferably no elves.

 

Brain Harvest is looking for short fiction, 100 - 750 words. We want well-crafted, interesting stories that do not fall back on old, well-worn tropes—unless they have an interesting, bad-ass take on an old, well-worn trope.

We are a speculative fiction magazine, and while your submission should have speculative aspects we’re not looking for any particular genre — substance and execution are more important than subject matter. We are not particularly keen on elves or steampunk, but if you have something different to say that requires elves or steampunk, feel free to send it along.

 

Email submissions as attachments to submissions at brainharvestmag dot com.

 

Submissions must be submitted in RTF (Rich Text Format) only. If they are in another format, we won’t read them.

 

Again, 750 words or fewer, please. This doesn’t have to include the title.

In the subject line, please write “NAME/TITLE OF SUBMISSION.”

 

No simultaneous submissions.

 

Please only send one submission at a time. When you hear back from us, you may send another.

 

Standard manuscript format is a bonus.

 

We pay “pro-rates” (5 cents a word, up to $37.50 USD) by PayPal.

 

We accept reprints, but pay for them at a different rate. Please indicate if your submission has been printed elsewhere.

 

We do not publish poetry. We may, at some point in the future publish a special poetry issue, but please do not send us poetry unless we’ve asked for it. Really.

 

Cover letters are nice because we’re nosy. But, really, we only need a few lines about who you are and what you’re submitting. At this length, quality speaks louder than what you’ve already done or where you’ve been.

We try and keep our response time lightning quick. That being said, if you haven’t heard from us within a month, don’t be shy. Query us at submissions at brainharvestmag dot com and ask.

 

Themes

 

Once in awhile, we will toss a theme out into the arena for a “special” issue. We are brimming with ideas about fiction we wish existed, and this is our opportunity to make that happen. We will announce upcoming themes well in advance of any deadlines we set, and will always continue to read non-themed submissions.

 

Other stuff you should know

 

Unpublished work

 

By submitting your unpublished work, you understand that, if accepted, Brain Harvest will buy First North Americal Serial Rights, which gives is the one-time right to publish the story first in the North American market. Additionally, we will keep the story up in our archives and are allowed to include it in any future anthologies, either electronic or print. We will contact you if we want to use your story in an anthology.
You, the author, retain all other rights to the work.

 

Reprints

 

You must own the rights to the work you are submitting. Brain Harvest will buy the rights to reprint your piece in a issue of the magazine and keep the story up in our archives. We will happily give credit to the first/initial publisher of the piece.

You, the author, retain all other rights to the work.

 

Podcasts

 

Monthly, we would like to take one work from Brain Harvest and distribute it as a podcast, read by a chosen performer. These podcasts would be distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/), which allows visitors to download, distribute, and share this podcast. However, please note that these Creative Common rights refer only to the podcast itself, not the work being read. The writer continues to own all rights beyond First North American Serial Rights or our granted rights to reprint the story.

 

Bucket ‘O’ Guts Press

(Pays $25 and Five Contributor’s Copies for Stories)

 

Bucket ‘O’ Guts Press loathes the idea of applying any guidelines to the type of fiction we are seeking. But even chaos has some sort of discernible order.  So, here goes nothing.

 

What (we want): anything and everything weird, but no frickin’ vampires or zombies, damnit. Also, if you send us a story with child pornography or any type of injury to kids, we’ll wipe our backsides with it.

 

How (long): the main goal of Bucket ‘O’ Guts Press is to deliver cheap chapbooks to the masses. The ideal story length would be 8,000 to 10,000 words.

 

How (much):  if accepted, your story will earn you $25 (American) and five contributor’s copies.

 

Where (to send): rtf will work just fine with us. Send stories as an attachment to bogpress(at)gmail.com. No queries until after 30 days. No multiple submissions. No simultaneous submissions.

 

Meanjin Quarterly

Pays a Minimum of $50 for poetry and $100 for prose

 

Meanjin will consider unsolicited manuscripts from Australian and overseas writers. Contributors are paid a minimum of $50 per printed page.

 

Types of contribution

 

We are interested in material in diverse genres including:

poetry

fiction

creative non-fiction

memoir

cultural analysis

graphic novels

 

Submitting Your Work

 

Submissions should be sent in hard copy with a covering letter including full contact details and a brief biographical note.

 

Feel free to send more than one example of your work, but be aware that we may not be able to read long or multiple submissions with the same care and attention as shorter selections. We do not impose word limits on submissions, but note that we rarely publish work over 5,000 words.

A stamped, self-addressed envelope or international reply coupon must be included with all submissions. We cannot undertake to return manuscripts or advise about unsuccessful submissions unless this is provided. If we choose to publish your work, we will request a copy sent by email as an attachment or, where that is not possible, on disk.

 

Contributions are refereed when writers identify themselves as academics with an affiliation to a tertiary education institution and make a written request in advance for the services of a referee. Where the referee demands a fee for their service, this will be deducted from the contributor's payment, as will any related administrative or postal expenses.

 

Please allow three months for a response to unsolicited pieces. Submissions should be sent to:

 

Meanjin

187 Grattan Street

Carlton, Victoria 3053

Australia

 

Style

 

We strongly encourage writers to look at a recent issue of Meanjin for guidance to house style and the kind of articles we publish. We use endnotes, not footnotes and request that these notes be kept to a minimum. Where used, they must include full publication details, including author's full name, publisher, and date and place of publication.

 

Please think carefully before submitting an unrevised conference paper or chapter from a thesis or novel. Meanjin has sometimes published work that has originated in this way, but such writing often requires substantial revision to be publishable as a stand-alone contribution.

 

Contributor Payments and Fees

 

Contributors are paid minimum fees of $50 for poetry and $100 for prose. The total fee will be determined by the number of pages the article fills in published form, so we can’t give any precise sum until we have final proofs. The average fee paid is about $50 (Australian) per printed page; higher fees are sometimes paid to specially commissioned authors. Each author owns the copyright to his or her work while Meanjin keeps copyright of the collection. All authors we publish are sent a detailed contract.

 

Side Show 2: Tales of the Big Top and the Bizarre

Pays $12 for Original Stories & $7 for Reprints

Pays $25 for Cover Art

 

Description:

 

Side Show 2 is a trade paperback anthology of entertaining stories designed to awaken the thrills, chills, and spills, and memories of time spent on the midway and beyond. We want unique stories about side shows, freak shows, travelling shows, carnivals, circuses, and fairs. Stories may fall into one or more of three genres: horror, fantasy, and science fiction (although typically we do not expect many science fiction stories). Although we are looking for original stories, we will consider reprints, but probably will accept no more than two--we really want original work.

 

Please note that the editor prefers stories written in the third person, so those are the stories that stand the best chance for acceptance.

 

Guidelines:

 

Story length should be somewhere between 1,500 and 5,000 words. Your contact information must appear in your submission: your full name, mailing address, and e-mail address. Also include a word count, and let us know which rights are being offered. We prefer unpublished stories and are therefore most interested in First North American Serial Rights. Use a common font--we prefer Times New Roman, 12 point, but will also accept Courier New, 12 point.

 

Normally we include a notice here regarding writing. We'll keep it simple. It is not the editor's job to spell the words in your story correctly, or to punctuate your sentences correctly. We do understand that sometimes something gets missed. When the mistake is repeated over and over again, that's not an oversight . . . that's a problem. Please solve your problems before you submit your work.

 

Please do not send us your first drafts. We can recognize a "first draft" by the opening paragraph, and usually by the opening sentence. We want to see your best work, work that is high in entertainment.

 

Bios:

 

All submissions must include a bio of five or six sentences written in the third person. The bio must tie in with the theme of the Side Show 2 anthology. Include information on what inspired your story, or include a few sentences about your own experiences with carnivals or side shows.

The bios will be published with the stories, so please make them interesting.

 

Cover Art:

 

We want cover art depicting our theme and we will consider images in full colour or in black and white. The art will be published on the cover of a trade paperback (about 6” wide 9” long). Submit the art as a jpeg in the body of your email. Include this in the subject line of your email:

Side Show - Art Submission - Art Title

 

Where to Submit:

 

Submit your work, bio, and all relevant information in the body of an email to sideshowsubmissions@hotmail.com

Include this in the subject line of your email:

Side Show - Title of Submission - Your Name

And be sure to include a special bio (read the above information on bios)

 

Payment:

 

We pay $12.00 for original stories, and $7.00 for reprints. We also pay one contributor's copy of the trade paperback. Contributors receive a 25% discount on purchases of extra copies.

 

We pay $25.00 and one contributor’s copy for cover art.

 

Publication Date:

 

We will close to submissions when full. We hope to publish in January or February 2010. Please watch for further announcements in Expressions.

 

Severed Press

 

Severed Press is now OPEN for NOVEL submissions.

 

Severed Press is currently accepting novel submissions in the following categories:

 

Survival Horror
Apocalypse
Dark Humour
Sci-Fi Horror

 

Novels should be submitted as an attachment with brief Bio and synopsis to

Novels@severed press.com

 

The Blackness Within Anthology

Payment is £15 per story or equivalent according to XE.com

 

The Blackness Within will be published by Apex Book Company, and edited by Apex Magazine senior editor Gill Ainsworth.

Publication is scheduled for late 2009/early 2010.

 

Gill’s Guidelines:

 

Somewhere in a parochial village in Herefordshire, England, the Celtic God, Moccus, was re-born. Whether the winds were blowing in the wrong direction, or whether the times were accommodating, no one knows, but it happened.

 

If you haven’t heard of Moccus, google. You’ll find he’s a Celtic pig-god whose influence affected all aspects of life, particularly fertility. The word pig has many connotations in today’s world and doesn’t necessarily limit Moccus to a pig-like appearance. Neither does it make a pig-like appearance mandatory. In other words, there is a lot for the imagination to explore.

 

I’m looking for stories that encompass all stages of Moccus’s reappearance from infancy — contemporary — to death (his middle age and near-future) — and how his influence spread throughout the world. He is powerful; his presence will be felt even in the backwaters of the Nile Delta. What I’m looking for are truly international takes on this theme, with settings from all over the world. The UK has already been covered.

 

This is primarily a horror/dark fantasy anthology but will stretch to the near future. That means no space exploration, nor out-and-out far-fetched science, and I don’t want apocalypse-type stories — the world will continue even after his death. However, psi stories, dark fantasy (not high fantasy) will all be considered. I’m not afraid of a little adult content. If in doubt, try me. Worst-case scenario is rejection — in the nicest possible way.

 

But please proof read. I don’t take grammatical problems well. Know your its from your it’s, effect from affect and please, please, to lay is a different verb from to lie. I rest my case.

 

Specifics:

 

#The anthology will close when filled.

 

# Word count between 3000 and 7000 words

# No simultaneous submissions and no multiple submissions; please wait until you’ve heard back before sending another story

# Stories should be sent either as a Word DOC (.doc) or RTF (.rtf) and attached to your e-mail. A short covering letter stating approximate word count and giving contact details is expected. If you send your story in the body of an e-mail, it will be deleted unread

# Contact details should be given on the manuscript as well as in the body of the e-mail

# Courier New, 12 point. Double line spacing, with indented paragraphs. A hash (#) denotes a section break.

Single space between full stops and double speech marks for dialogue. Otherwise, follow your UK/US/SA/Aus… formatting, spelling etc, but please remain constant throughout; don’t switch from one to another.

# Payment is £15 per story or equivalent according to XE.com (through PayPal — I can’t issue dollar cheques) upon publication. If no currency preference is stated in the covering letter, payment will be made in pounds sterling.

# I ask for FNASR

 

If you have any questions, please ask. Submissions and questions to be sent to gill@apexdigest.com . Please put ‘Blackness Within’ in the subject line followed by either your story title or the word ‘question’. You should receive a ‘got it’ or answer to your question within 48 hours; if you haven’t received such, assume that it didn’t arrive and resend.

 

I will endeavour to respond to submissions within 4 weeks but please don’t query until at least 2 months after sending your story.

 

The Pedestal Magazine

Pays $40/Poem , 8 Cents a Word for Fiction,

5 Cents a Word for Flash Fiction,

2 Cents a Word for Interviews and Book Reviews

 

As editors of The Pedestal Magazine, we intend to support both established and burgeoning writers. We are committed to promoting diversity and celebrating the voice of the individual.

All queries should be sent to pedmagazine@carolina.rr.com  

The Pedestal Magazine does not accept previously published work, unless specifically requested; however, we will accept simultaneous submissions, if so noted. Please inform us immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere. Also, we do not accept submissions by direct mail. Neither do we accept direct email submissions. Please use the submission form. If you send us work, please wait for a response to your first submission before you submit again.

We are currently receiving submissions in the following areas:

Poetry: We are open to a wide variety of poetry, ranging from the highly experimental to the traditionally formal. There are no length restrictions. There is no need to query prior to submitting poetry. Submit up to six (6) poems. Please submit all poems in one (1) form.

Pay Rate: $40 per poem

Fiction: We are receptive to high-quality literary fiction of all sorts, including traditional and experimental works. Genre fiction (such as science fiction, horror, mystery, and romance) is encouraged as long as it crosses or comments upon its genre and is both character-driven and psychologically acute. We are also interested in works that do not readily fall into one specific category. Please do not send more than one (1) piece of fiction at a time. There is no need to query prior to submitting fiction; also, please do not send fiction directly to the fiction editor's email, as emailed submissions will not be read. As noted above, please submit work via the submission form.

Pay Rate: $.08 per word
Length: up to 4,200 words

Flash Fiction: We encourage submissions of shorter fiction pieces. Please do not send more than three (3) flash fiction pieces at a time.There is no need to query prior to submitting flash fiction.

Pay Rate: $.05 per word
Length: up to 1,000 words

Book Reviews: We accept reviews of poetry collections, short story collections, novels, and books of non-fiction. Please query prior to submitting reviews.

Pay Rate: $.02 per word
Length: 850-1,000 words

Interviews: We are currently accepting freelance interviews. Please query prior to submitting interviews.

Spoken Word/Slam: We are currently accepting submissions of slam, spoken word, poetry with music, and performance poetry. For this category, we are not interested in "straight" readings of poems. If interested, please send one (1) sample piece as an attachment in mp3 format to pedmagazine@carolina.rr.com . Please keep in mind that all mp3 files must be no larger than 7mb.

As mentioned above, The Pedestal Magazine does not accept previously published material, unless specifically requested. It asks for first rights to any piece its editors select. At the time of publication, all rights revert back to the author/artist; however, The Pedestal Magazine retains the right to publish the piece(s) in any subsequent issue or anthology, whether in print or online, without additional payment. Should you decide to republish the piece elsewhere, we ask that you cite The Pedestal Magazine as a place of previous publication and provide The Pedestal Magazine's web address.

Spoken word and slam submissions can be previously published and/or previously recorded.

 

For previous contributors: We utilize a "two-issue break" policy when republishing contributors, meaning, for example, that if your work appears in a February issue, we would need to let the April and June issues elapse and could then consider your work for our August issue.

We do our best to respond to submissions in 4-8 weeks. All questions pertaining to submissions should be addressed to the editor at pedmagazine@carolina.rr.com

We will be accepting submissions according to the following schedule: Our new issues are released bimonthly on the (give or take a day or two) 21st of the month. During a month in which an issue of the magazine is released (February, April, June, August, October, and December), we will close submissions beginning a week prior to the release date and reopen submissions a week after the release date; for example, we will close submissions on August 14th and reopen them on August 28th. In addition, during the odd month (January, March, May, July, September, and November), we will close submissions for one week, from the 12th to the 19th. We will be receiving submissions at all other times.

 

Tweet the Meat

Pays $1.00 Per Tweet

(A tweet consists of 140 characters or less)

 

Opens to submissions on May 25, 2009.

Our submission periods are on Saturdays and Sundays. If your clock says it's Saturday or Sunday, you may submit. If it says it's Monday, Friday or any other day, don't submit.

 

Tweet the Meat is a Twitter-only, horror/weird/speculative market. No serials. No unfinished stories. You must scare us in 140 characters or less. Are you up to the challenge?

No fan fiction or any other trademarked characters.

No reprints.

Nothing that would be illegal in any way.

Dear Lord, nothing in SMS or text-speak.

All stories must be complete. (No Serials.)

Other than that, the world is your oyster... Your 140 character oyster.

Please, no simultaneous submissions. Multiple submissions are allowed and encouraged up to five at a time, but please put them all in their own email.

Once submissions begin, we aim to have a response time of one week.

Please submit in the body of an email to tweetthemeat (at) gmail(dot)com. Put "Submission" in the title. Include your name and a short bio. Your bio will appear in this blog with a link to your tweet.

Due to the length of the Twitter stories, no title is necessary. Bylines are given in a secondary tweet.

We ask for non-exclusive, first digital rights. Original author retains all copyrights. All we ask is it first appears on Tweet the Meat, and immediately thereafter it's yours to do with as you please.

We pay a flat rate of $1.00 a tweet. We pay via Paypal only, so if you don't have a Paypal account, we can donate your payment to the paypal-accepting charity of your choice.

We publish one Meat Tweet a day at approximately 6 p.m. Pacific Time. In the future, we hope to increase both the frequency and pay rate.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at tweetthemeat (at) gmail(dot)com

Visit Expressions again in June for more news about the publishing industry and the scoop on paying markets