Inventing Reality Editing Service Blog

An online quarterly, Laser and Sword publishes episodic short fiction involving traditional heroes.

n Pay: $10 per story

n Word count (maximum): None given

n Seeks: Episodic short fiction involving traditional heroes. Editors hold to a “Christian worldview”; according to the Laser Web site, “This does not mean that a story will not ruffle someone’s theological feathers or that all the characters are Saints. But rather, we believe in a right and wrong and absolute truth, and absolute good and evil. That will be reflected in the stories we tell.” Fantasy, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Adventure/Action Hero serial fiction.

n Doesn’t want: Omniscient narrators; Tom Swifties; post-modern heroes.

n Reading periods: Deadlines for issues are the 15th of February, May, August, and November.

n E-mail to: E-Query first with an outline for a series of at least three short stories.

Tags: getting published, hero, submitting your story

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A quarterly that publishes speculative fiction, Shimmer focuses on material that is dark, humorous or strange. First published in June 2005, Shimmer is available in both digest format and downloadable PDF.

n Pay: 1 cent per word, minimum $10

n Word count (maximum): 5000 words

n Seeks: According to the Shimmer web site: “Unusual and beautifully-written speculative fiction stories with full plots and strong characters. … We’re most drawn to contemporary fantasy, and seek out stories with a strong emotional core. We like unusual stories with a fluid and distinctive voice, with specific and original images. Send us your odd unclassifiable stories–though we prefer traditional storytelling mechanics to experimental approaches.”

n Doesn’t want: Hard SF, space opera, paranormal romance

n E-mail to: Email as an attachment (.doc or .rtf only; no .DOCX). Make sure the subject line begins with Submission and has the title of your story. Example: “Submission: Attack of the Evil Robot Monkeys.”

Tags: getting published, submitting your story

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Strange Horizons is a weekly web-based magazine of and about speculative fiction. It first published in Sept. 2000.

n Pay: 5 cents/word, with a minimum payment of $50

n Word count (maximum): 5000 words; but will consider up to 9000 words

n Seeks: According to the magazine’s Web site: “We want stories that have some literary depth but aren't boring; styles that are unusual yet readable; structures that balance inventiveness with traditional narrative … characters we can care about … settings and cultures that we don't see all the time in speculative fiction … stories that address political issues in complex and sensitive ways.” Interested in hypertext stories.

n Doesn’t want: Horror (especially stories in which the main goal is to evoke feelings of fear, terror, or revulsion in the reader); stories that explain a scientific or technological phenomenon in great detail; stories with twist endings

n Mail to: No email; upload a file in Rich Text Format using their submission form.

Tags: getting published, submitting your story

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A monthly online magazine, Clarkesworld published its first issue in Oct. 2006. It was a 2009 Hugo and World Fantasy Award nominee.

n Pay: 10¢ a word

n Word count (maximum): 1000-8000 words (4000 words preferred)

n Seeks: Need not be hard SF but scientific rigor is appreciated

n Doesn’t want: Adaptations of unfunded films or plays; a lengthy list of science fiction clichés is given at Web site

n Mail to: No email; send using submission form

Tags: getting published, hugo, submitting your story

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Looking for a place to publish your science fiction story? Here's a good one, though perhaps not for novice and unpublished writers. One of the top SF magazine markets, the award-winning Fantasy and Science Fiction was founded in 1949. It is the original publisher of Stephen King's “Dark Tower”, Daniel Keyes's “Flowers for Algernon” and Walter M. Miller's “A Canticle for Leibowitz”.

n Pay: 6 cents per word to 9 cents per word on acceptance

n Word count (maximum): 25,000 words

n Seeks: Character-oriented stories

n Mail to: Gordon Van Gelder, Fantasy & Science Fiction, P.O. Box 3447, Hoboken, NJ 07030.

Tags: getting published, submitting your story

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