more slush pile tips

Sometimes it seems the slush pile is never-ending... We know it takes awhile for authors to hear from us. Sorry about that! Without further ado, here are more tips gleaned from the slush pile:

• Regarding plot:
  • Please don't start your story with the protagonist waking up.
  • Please don't send us your story of a man killing his girlfriend and/or wife. You wouldn't believe how many of these we get and it's very hard to do something fresh.
  • In terms of horror plots, possession by demonic types is a close second. If you must write this, do something unusual with it.
  • Do consider sending us epic fantasy with some kind of unusual twist. We don't get enough epic fantasy.
  • Do consider sending us urban fantasy (without vamps or weres).
  • Do consider sending us some kind of genre mashup.
  • Do consider sending us steam punk.
• Regarding point-of-view: Fiction does follow trends and omniscient narrators are off-trend. If you want to try this, more power to you, but make sure you do it right! Head-hopping within a paragraph and especially within a sentence is not good. The current trend is for very close third-person pov or first-person pov.
• Regarding science: I have been known to say you don't have to know a lot of science to write science fiction. (Of course, knowing science is a plus!) I stand by this. However, including blatantly wrong science will get you automatically and very quickly rejected.

Please do continue sending us stories.

FYI the submission deadline for the November 2015 issue is approaching: October 15, 2015. Good luck!