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Submit Your Stories Sunday: Apex

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday! Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a book to help inspire your story submission and finish off with a list of the best writing-related articles I came across this week.

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Apex Magazine

Eligibility: original, speculative fiction stories up to 7 500 words. This includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, and any mix of these three.

Take Note: stories previously published on patreon are considered reprints for this market.

What makes this call stand out: Apex offers professional rates and is an SFWA-qualifying market.

Payment: $0.06 per word for print and e-publishing,  $0.01 per word for podcasted stories

Submit by: rotating submission dates, please check Apex’s website

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A book to inspire your writing:

A. Merc Rustad has published multiple stories in Apex magazine. Aside from checking out copies of the magazine itself (e-published in the usual places) I recommend reading Merc’s short story collection So You Want to be a Robot. A. Merc Rustad is consistently on the year’s “best of” collection and awards ballots for a reason. Their stories bend your mind and explode your imagination past borders you didn’t know it had.

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So You Want to be a Robot begins with Merc’s Nebula-nominated This is Not a Wardrobe Door. This is a quintessential Merc story, taking your usual portal story and subverting every trope, juggling it while standing on their head, and giving you the ending you didn’t realize your soul was yearning for. This story has been published in Fireside, Cicada, and Podcastle. In fact, you can follow this link to Podcastle and hear the podcasted version right now.

This collection of Merc’s work includes science fiction and fantasy tales. Gender is a fluid concept here, and Merc’s protagonists’ beautiful way of seeing the world is both familiar yet fresh with each character. I give this book six and a half out of five stars.

Writerly links worth sharing this week:

Lightspeed magazine is offering a free anthology on their website. What better way to familiarize yourself with what they like to publish than downloading a copy and reading it for yourself?

The author list is up for the Unlocking the Magic anthology, which includes me and my story The Night Janitor and features the wonderful authors A. Merc Rustad, Ferrett Steinmetz, and Cat Rambo. Editor Vivian Caethe created up this anthology as a response to negative mental illness tropes often seen in fantasy fiction. Our stories were vetted by a psychologist before acceptance to ensure they wouldn’t contribute to any negative tropes. I urge you to check it out if this intrigues you. The book is on pre-order now and should be available this spring.

 

Posted on by JenniferShelby

Submit Your Stories Sunday: New England Folk Horror

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday! Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a book to help inspire your story submission and finish off with a list of the best writing-related articles I came across this week.

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Would But Time Await: an Anthology of New England Folk Horror

Eligibility: original folk horror stories between 4 000 and 6 000 words

Take Note: the website (linked below) provides links to what they consider folk horror and what they do not. Read with care.

Payment: $75 USD, a print copy, and an e-copy of the final anthology

Submit by: January 31st, 2019

Click here to go to the original call for details.

Stories to Inspire Your Submission:

The editors for the anthology have made an excellent list of works they consider folk horror (you can see it in full at the link above). Instead of sending you away from that list and potentially off-track, here are a few links to short stories on their list which are available to read for free online.

The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. This might ring familiar, as it is on many high school’s English curriculum. I hope your high school didn’t ruin it for you.

The Summer People, by Shirley Jackson. As someone who lives in a popular summer tourist area, I tend to read this story from the wrong perspective, and I love it.

The Picture in the House, by H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft is wordier than modern writers, so if you’ve never read his work before, be patient and let the creepy sweep you along.

Writerly links worth sharing this week:

Writer Beware posted this article writers should be reading about the latest predatory ‘services’ on the market.

Lightspeed is offering a free anthology featuring some amazing authors! Reading it is a great way to get a feel for the kind of stories they prefer before you submit.

In his latest Storyville column, Richard Thomas gives some tips on reading the ‘best of-‘ collections. My favorite bit of the article is where he mentions his stories take a few years to come to fruition. I’m not alone!

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Submit Your Stories Sunday: Wonders

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday! Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a book to help inspire your story submission.

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Cast of Wonders

Eligibility: Stories written for an audience of 12-17 years, filled with wonder and emotional resonance. High fantasy, science fiction, and horror are welcome providing they can no adult elements.

Take Note: Cast of Wonder is accepting both flash fiction and short stories during this submission window. Be aware that all submissions are anonymous and adjust your manuscript accordingly.

What makes this call stand out: Cast of Wonders offers pro rates to writers and give you the chance to hear your story read by a voice professional on their highly rated podcast

Payment: $0.06 per word, USD.

Submit by: the current submission window closes December 15th, 2018, but check their schedule in the link below for upcoming dates if you miss this one.

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A Book to Inspire Your Submission:

Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook: the Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction is an art-rich extravaganza for the writer’s senses. Featuring essays and contributions from Neil Gaiman, the late Ursula K. Le Guin, Nnedi Okorafor, Catherynne M. Valente, and many more, there is something within these pages for every writer to learn.

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My first attempt to read this book from cover to cover faltered, but keeping it on my bookshelf and dipping into chapters as I need guidance has given me much inspiration. For those who like to know exactly what they’re getting into, the chapter heading are as follows; Inspiration and the Creative Life, the Ecosystem of a Story, Beginnings and Endings, Narrative Design, Characterization, Worldbuilding, and Revision. Included are some of the wildest infographics I’ve seen yet.

This book mimics a university text, but it sets aside the dullness for feats of the imagination and pockets of real wonder. Find a copy, flip through it, and see if you don’t agree.

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In writing news, I have a flash fiction story published in the latest Fantasy Files newsletter from Engen Books. You can read it for free here.

Happy writing!

 

 

Posted on by JenniferShelby

Submit Your Stories Sunday: Artemis Rising

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday (previously known as Submission Sunday). Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

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photo courtesy of rawpixel at Unsplash

Artemis Rising 5

Eligibility: speculative fiction written by women. This call covers all four of the Escape Artists podcasts. In the case of Podcastle, submissions must be fantasy stories up to 6 000 words.  Escape Pod is looking for science fiction from 1500 – 6 000 words. For Pseudopod, submit horror stories 1500 to 6 000 words. Cast of Wonders wants your young adult speculative fiction up to 6 000 words.

Caveat: for the Artemis Rising event, only women or individuals who have identified as a woman at some point in their lives are eligible to submit. However, at all other times writers who identify as men are welcome to submit their stories, so keep those links handy.

What makes this call stand out: because the Escape Artists markets are podcasts, writers will have the chance to hear a professional read their story.

Payment: $0.06 per word for original fiction

Submit by: Artemis Rising is open from September 1 to September 30th. Check the websites linked above for other submission dates.

Click here to go to the original call for details.

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Artemis Rising 2 cover art by Galen Dora

Writerly links worth reading this week:

This older link (from 2015), new to me, offers helpful revision suggestions to look at your work in new ways. 

Melissa Frey’s article How to Write an Antagonist Everyone Loves – and Why You Should is a quick study on adding depth to villains and what doing so can do for your story. If you’d like to take this idea further, I recommend Lesson from the Screenplay’s 2016 video The Dark Knight – Creating the Ultimate Antagonists.

 

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Submission Sundays: Arsenika

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submission Sundays! Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

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Arsenika

Eligibility: Original, speculative poetry or flash fiction (less than 1000 words). Writers are welcome to submit 2 pieces of flash or 5 poems at a time.

Head’s up: Arsenika’s website has a fine collection of free-to-read stories available to see the kind of stories the editors prefer (or to read for fun!)

What makes this call stand out: Arsenika’s rates for flash fiction are considered professional rates ($0.06 per word at the maximum word count)

Payment: $60 for flash fiction, $30 for poetry, American dollars.

Submit by: September 15th, 2018, for this particular call. However, as an ongoing journal Arsenika has rolling submission dates. Please check their website to be sure.

Click here to go to the original call for details.

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Writerly links worth reading this week:

Electriclit wrote an excellent summary of the twitter uproar regarding penis-shaped soap that appeared in a book box this week. Warning: this is NSFW industry news. On a marketing note, going viral has only helped this subscription box and its elements.

This powerful piece on the writing mother by Claudia Dey entitled “Mothers as Makers of Death” has me wondering if she’s been inside my head for the past six years.

Posted on by JenniferShelby · 2 Comments

Submission Sundays: Young Explorers Adventure Guide

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submission Sundays. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

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The Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide

Eligibility: Original science fiction adventure stories for readers aged 8 to 12-years-old from 3000 to 6000 words.

Caveat: judging is blind, so make sure your manuscript is scrubbed of your identifying information before submitting.

What makes this call stand out: a sale to the annual Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide is considered a professional sale and qualifies writers to join the SFWA.

Payment: $0.06 per word

Submit by: December 15th, 2018

Click here to go to the original call for details.

Writerly links worth reading this week:

This powerful article written in response to an RWA speech gutted me.

In further industry news, more information has come out in the strange case of literary agent Danielle Smith. Authors beware.

Posted on by JenniferShelby

Submission Sundays: Tor Novellas 2

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submission Sundays. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

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Tor Novellas

Eligibility: Original speculative fiction novellas from 20 000 to 40 000 words.

Caveat: Submissions must be polished and complete before submitting.

What makes this call stand out: This is Tor’s second opening to novellas, and the last expected opening for 2018. By opening to unsolicited submissions like this, writers have the chance to submit their work to an established publisher without first acquiring an agent.

Payment: Advance against royalties, or royalties.

Submit by: August 13th, 2018 (Please note they do not open the submission window until Monday, July 30th)

Click here to go to the original call for details.

Writerly links worth reading this week:

I was excited to find this lesson on tab indents for Word 2010. It’s handy for prepping submissions for web publication. Alas, the next day trusty laptop died and the new one uses Office 365, where the find and replace ^t does not work. If anyone has a similar guide to use with updated versions of word, please share with me!

This older post from Allison Maruska has excellent tips for manuscript editing.

In this interview Maria Dahvana Headley, she offers her methods of getting started when her brain refuses to let her write. When the heat is high and the sleep is rare, I need all the tricks I can collect to get the words out.

ProWritingAid shared 22 Rules for Storytelling from Pixar. I bristle at the idea of ‘rules’ but there is good stuff in there for kickstarting creativity.

Happy writing!
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Submission Sunday: Lab Coats and Love Letters

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submission Sundays. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

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Spark: Lab Coats and Love Letters

Eligibility: Original, paranormal romance flash fiction (or just regular romance) from 300-1000 words, though stories less than 700 words are preferred. Stories must follow the theme of ‘lab coats and love letters.’ I encourage writers to click through to their website as there are other themes and submission dates available.

Caveat: Authors are required to submit a professional headshot upon acceptance, to be published with the story. Selfies are not allowed. Do you have one? Can you get one? Is this feasible for you considering the small payment offered?

Payment: $0.02 per word, American, plus a print copy of the magazine.

Submit by: August 24th, 2018

Click here to go to the original call for details.

Writerly links worth reading this week:

This first link is a bit of a rabbit-hole, but as most markets are gearing up for their Halloween issues this should help you get into a macabre mood. It is an in-depth read about coffin flies sure to inspire a macabre tale or two.

The Write Practice published this piece on how to sell your books locally. The last section, on how to sell books in person, was particularly enlightening.

Whether you call them trigger warnings, content warnings, or content notices, Mythcreants has posted a thoughtful argument to their value. I’m still unpacking how I feel about the idea of rating books as we do movies.

Happy writing!
Posted on by JenniferShelby · 1 Comment

Submission Sundays: Unlocking the Magic

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submission Sundays! Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

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Unlocking the Magic

Eligibility: original, noblebright fantasy stories from 3000-6000 words. The theme is mental illness and the editors want stories which empower those who suffer from them. Stories which encourage and show the bravery of asking for help and the possibilities said help brings.

Caveat: the editors want stories of perseverance and strength through mental illness in a fantasy setting. No horror, no science fiction.

What makes this call stand out: this project is an attempt to subvert harmful mental illness tropes in fantasy, and that’s worth applauding.

Payment: $300.00 per story, plus royalties (listed on the American Kickstarter site)

Submit by: November 1, 2018

Click here to go to the original call for details.

Good luck to everyone submitting and have fun writing!
Posted on by JenniferShelby

Submission Sundays: Punk Rock

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submission Sundays. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories and maybe inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

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This week, consider submitting a story to:

A Punk Rock Future

Eligibility: original speculative stories from 350-6000 words dealing with a punk rock future. Not steampunk, dieselpunk, ecopunk, solarpunk, or penguinpunk (okay, I made that one up) but punk punk. Sit back, listen to the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, crank up some Clash. That punk. The original punk.

Caveat: no torture, porn, zombies, or vampires. But what about my vampire story, Fab Vicious? He pierced his sparkling eyebrow with a slightly disinfected safety pin and tortures grammarians by spelling anarchy with a K! Nope. Save it for another anthology, pal.

What makes this call stand out: this is original stuff that’s going to take some serious creative chops. Which is why they’re offering professional rates. Are you up to the challenge?

Payment: $0.06 per word

Submit by: August 15th, 2018

Click here to go to the original call for details.

happy writing and good luck to everyone submitting!