m. c. de marco

VIa Futurismic: Jetse de Vries has announced a near-future science fiction anthology, SHINE, which will be open to submissions of (preferably) under 10,000 words in May and June 2009. Keep an eye on the guidelines until then.

I blogged last month about Clarkesworld Magazine reopening to submissions. Sunday is my new submission day, so today I picked a story of (barely) less than 4,000 words to send to them. Their new submissions system was surprisingly high-tech. It’s not just prettier than everything else out there; it even tells you where your submission is in the queue.

As previously promised, the second part of The End of Science Fiction by Nader Elhefnawy, concerning the poor business prospects of the genre, went up at The Fix on September 15th. First of all, you should watch your word counts:

Back in the days when the pulps controlled the market, books rarely got much beyond 60,000 words, as Robert Bee noted in an article on the subject in the April issue of IROSF. However, a well-known literary agent (who deals in science fiction, among other things) confirmed what a lot of people have long suspected when he briefly included in his site’s guidelines a flat statement that works in that range were unsalable.

SFScope reports that Clarkesworld Magazine has reopened to submissions, which are now online only. Stories should be 1000—4000 words. For an entertaining sample from the current issue, check out “Can You See Me Now?” by Eric M. Witchey.

Via SFScope: it’s Bulwer-Lytton time again, and the 2008 winners have been denounced—-I mean, announced. Bulwer-Lytton penned the eternal “It was a dark and stormy night,” and the contest challenges writers to produce worse opening lines than that gem.

Via SFScope: Jay Lake will be judging Apex’s Annual Halloween Contest. The word limit is 1,000 words, and submissions (by email) are already open. The theme is Election Horror.

Via SFScope: an open anthology, Federations, edited by John Joseph Adams, will pay 5 cents per word up to 5,000 words.

Prime Books expects to publish it in May 2009. He describes the anthology thus: “From Star Trek to Star Wars, from Dune to Foundation, science fiction has a rich history of exploring the idea of vast intergalactic societies, and the challenges facing those living in or trying to manage such societies. The stories in Federations will continue that tradition.