Happy Holidays!

The Electric Spec staff are taking a little time off...
Best wishes and happy holidays to you and your families!

Year in review

At the end of the year, Locus, collects information/stats on all the speculative fiction magazines. Thus, I recently looked over the stats of Electric Spec to send them. Electric Spec is considered a non-profit semiprozine. We had about 1000 unique visitors per month 2023 and about 7600 hits per month.
Thank you, readers!

We continue to get hundreds of submissions for each issue. Thank you, authors!

I do recommend reading Locus' Year-in-Review for lots of great info about spec fic markets. The 2022 summary is here.
I'll try to post the 2023 review here in February (when it usually comes out) 2024.

What a wonderful issue!

We just published another wonderful issue of Electric Spec!
We were pleased to present:

• "Coffee with a Repentant Ghost" by Maureen Bowden--It's hard to let go of your best friend, especially when they keep showing up for coffee.
• "Whispers in the Wind" by Jess L Freed-- Being the chosen avatar of the wind only ever ends in tragedy. Is it possible to change fate?
• "I Am Your Demise" by Clifford Piel--Is death a mystery, or a puzzle that can be solved?
• "Meat Flower" by Ian Keith--Tom has a horrible affliction, but he can't see it, and nobody will tell him what it is. Until...
• "The Tank and the Grasshopper" by J Wallace--You might think a giant war engine would have every advantage over a tiny mechanical bug. You might be wrong.

In addition, in Editor's Corner, we have a fascinating interview with Associate Editor Bonnie Ramthun and an excerpt from her wonderful new middle grade fantasy series The Centerville Chronicles!
Check it all out!

We Are Live!

The fabulous November 2023 issue of Electric Spec is live!
Thank you, authors! Thank you to our artist!
Thank you to the whole Electric Spec team!

Thank you, readers!
We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we did.

From November Author Piel

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome November 2023 Electric Spec is "I Am Your Demise" by Clifford Piel. Clifford was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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The idea of this story was taken from a dream my father-in-law had before he passed away in 2009. The premise of his dream revolved around a jigsaw puzzle that kept changing, but other details of his dream were murky. He had told my wife’s sister that the dream had haunted him so she thought the concept would be a good springboard for a story. I allowed it to stew in my head for a few months but I didn’t start typing until my wife recently reminded me again of her father’s dream.

I used a military veteran as my protagonist since my father-in-law, my son and I are all military veterans. As a father and Operation Desert Storm veteran, I also understand how worrisome it is when a loved one gets deployed, especially to a hostile region. I decided to tap into that worry and fear associated with the terrifying thought of “what if”. Once I got going, the rest just came together. What I have found for myself and writing is that sometimes it is best for an idea to steep in my head a while before I try to make any sense of it. And when I get stuck, I just read more. Reading tends to unclog the blockage.
I am very grateful to the editors at Electric Spec for choosing my story.

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Interesting! Thanks, Clifford! Be sure to check out all the new stories on November 30, 2023!

From November Artist Quinn

In November we're excited to feature another piece of art from Brian Malachy Quinn, "Of Mice and Men." Brian was kind enought send along a few words about his piece...

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"Of Mice and Men" was inspired by my early days as a children’s book illustrator where I got my start as an illustrator. Of course, you do lots of cute animals wearing clothes and engage in anthropomorphism. I took it to the limits here as you do with speculative fiction and put our raging rodent in armor and made him fierce. Illustrating children’s books severely limits what you can do as an artist and my passion was in speculative fiction which when I went to basically shut the door on illustrating in the children’s genre – but so be it. I’m quite content with where I am today.

The background here had to be unique and eye catching as is my calling card. Whereas the title refers to the futility of a nobler idea to the overpowering by a trite concept such as vanity - we have the banality that mice can be vanquished by men easily, but maybe all will be turned on its head and here our mouse can not only stand up to any mortal but be the better of any homo sapien on the battlefield. Will future evolution or accidental DNA manipulation in a lab undo the current status quo? Maybe not such a bad thing considering the state of the world today.

---

Thanks, Brian! Very interesting! Without further ado, here's a tiny sneak peek at our cover art for the November 2023 issue of Electric Spec:

From November Author Bowden

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome November 2023 Electric Spec is "Coffee with a Repentant Ghost" by Maureen Bowden. Maureen was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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I belong to a little circle of writers. We discuss and critique each other’s work, as well as chatting about life, the universe and everything. We constantly put the world to rights but unfortunately the world won’t listen. We also take turns in setting a writing challenge every month. A recent one was to write about meeting a ghost for coffee. It inspired my story, ‘Coffee with a Repentant Ghost.’

I approached the story by considering what would be the ghost’s motivation for hanging around on the physical plain. It must be more substantial than just nostalgia. I hit upon match-making with a touch of emotional blackmail thrown into the mix. I added a couple of references to non-fictional characters and actual places to assist in the suspension of disbelief and I had my story. It was great fun to write. I hope you good folk find it fun to read.

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Interesting! Thanks, Maureen! Be sure to check out all the new stories on November 30, 2023!

Spooky Production Meeting

Phew! The Electric Spec Editors managed to get through the slush pile before the November issue production meeting. Thank you for all your submissions! We appreciate it! There were many excellent stories to choose from.

We had a spooky Halloween-influenced meeting. There was a Covid-19 scare. Boo! There were a lot of spooky horror stories among the finalists. Boo! Consequently, we had to discuss a lot of spookiness. Boo!

Authors whose stories didn't quite fit the issue should have been contacted by now. (Check your spam or junk folder.) Authors whose stories did fit the issue are being contacted this week. (Check your spam or junk folder!) Once we hear back regarding the contract we will start editing. We are excited to work with our November authors!

The bottom line for readers: the notable November 2023 issue is well in hand. I'll start telling you about it next week. Maybe we'll even have some blog entries from contributors!

Happy Halloween!

Slush decisions

The Electric Spec editors are hard at work reading lots and lots of slush stories. (Thank you for submitting!) We have about a week left until our deadline, so let's just say there's been a lot of reading. Perhaps that makes me a little less diplomatic than I might otherwise be. Here's a few behind the scenes insights into some slush decisions...

• I just don't have the stomach right now for stories with brutality and/or terrorism. These are getting a pass. It's unfair, but sometimes real-life interferes with objectivity.
• Loooong stories (more than 6,000) words are a lot of work for editors, so they're more like to get a pass.
• Make sure your story involves something being different at the end. If things are just status quo...did a story really happen?
• We enjoy genre mashups. We also enjoy unusual takes on traditional spec fic tropes. These are more likely to move on to the next level.
• We enjoy stories with a strong authorial voice. This usually involves a protagonist with a strong/unique point-of-view. These are more likely to move on.

I better get back to reading...

We Want You To Succeed

The submission deadline for the awesome November 2023 issue of Electric Spec has passed. (But we are accepting submisisons for the February 2024 issue.) We editors are very busy getting through lots and lots of slush. We appreaciate all your submisisons. Thank you!
All the editors love reading fiction and sincerely want authors to succeed. We want to share lovely stories with readers! If you submitted, good luck to you!

As a consequence of all this, we editors have a lot to read right now. This is both wonderful and challenging.
I have some advice for potential Electric Spec authors...

• Please do submit rtf files. This is safer for our computers.
• Please do utilize standard manuscript formatting. A uniform text helps you. We can judge each story by its merits and not be distracted by weird formatting.
• Please do not inundate us with multiple stories at once. This contradicts our submission policy.
• Please do not utilize artificial intelligence to create your work. We only publish stories for and by humans.
• Please do not send us an unusual cover letter. The longer it is, the greater the possibility of offending an editor. No soap-boxing please. We just need the facts. But, be aware, we do require some kind of cover letter.

I'll leave it there. Stay tuned for more next week!

Don't Be Seasonal

The submission deadline for the November 2023 issue of Electric Spec is fast approaching: October 15! Get those stories in!

For some reason, we seem to get a lot of spooky, horror, and similar stories in October. Okay, I guess it's not a total mystery why we get them: it's Halloween season! Personally, I enjoy a good halloween story very much. :) But since the November issue comes out at the end of November, Halloween season is long gone by the time we publish. Of course, we do accept macabre/horror fiction all year... Make sure it's sufficiently general.
Trying to submit seasonal stories doesn't really work because of our production schedule, although we are quicker than many other markets. If you did want to try a seasonal story--which I don't recommend--try to hit the holiday near, or slightly after the production date.

I better get back to work reading slush! Good luck, authors!

the First Page

The submission deadline for the awesome November 2023 issue of Electric Spec is October 15, 2023. Wow! That's coming up soon. Get those stories in!

We are working hard reading the slush pile already. Psst! I've got a secret to tell you: editors don't always read the whole story. We know authors don't like this idea. It seems unfair, right? It is unfair. Unfortunately, with hundreds of submissions for each issue, we just don't have time to read all of all the stories. :( Of course, some editors are more likely to read more of a story than other editors. And some markets read more than other markets.

This means authors need to make sure their first page is excellent! I can't stress this enough. The first page is very important. Check and double-check to make sure the first page doesn't have a lot of grammar, spelling, formatting or other obvious errors. Make sure the short story starts on page one. (Novels can take longer to start.) This will mean different things for different stories. But, after page one, a reader should at least have a guess of what the story is about. It's fine if this changes during the tale, but a story needs to seem to be about something--even on page one.

Good luck with your first page!

How not What

I don't think it's a secret that many of the Electric Spec editors are members of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW). Some of us are also members of The Inklings, a Speculative Fiction Critique Group. We had an interesting discussion the other day about ideal critiquing. I think it applies to editing, as well.

Critiquers should be concerned about how authors execute their vision, not about what they're writing about. When focusing on how, we can focus on the effectiveness of writing. Does the reader get engrossed, get carried away? That's what authors want. That's what readers want, too. :)

Furthermore, each author should write about what they are passionate about. Each author should follow their muse. Each author has their own unique path, experiences, and imagination--make use of them! As an editor, I've often found a story written about something I'd never before considered. Editors love that! I think readers love it, as well.

Good luck creating what you want effectively!

August First Lines

Some pundits say short story first lines are crucial. I say they're fun to look at. Here are the first lines from our awesome August Electric Spec stories:

• The last of my buy-out pay got me as far as Utross IV.
• Gary and I fight, and afterward, I go shopping.
• A giant eyeball opens in Michelle's living room floor.
• I am walking in the city at night.
• Of all the apothecaries in all the neighborhoods in San Francisco, he has to walk into mine.
• They dropped anchor just after dawn.

Can you identify the story from the first sentence? Do you think first sentences are crucial? Talk amongst yourselves...

Basking in the August glow...

Yes! Less than a week ago, we published the awesome August 2023 issue of Electric Spec! We are still basking in the glow of

• "The Last Deal" by Sophia Alapati-- The best witch in San Francisco is a man with a big debt in his past, and he has only one chance to clear it... or pay the price.
• "Amber" by Clarissa Grunwald--What if you could make your worries, sadness, and fears disappear? What would be left of you?
• "Eye Contact" by A. C. Spahn--It's hard enough to be a painfully introverted artist. Then, a big eyeball appears in the studio...
• "Necropolis Waltz" by Glynn Owen Barrass--Even after an ancient god's moon-wrecking apocalypse, an unlikely band of survivors fights to preserve what's left.
• "King for a Day" by Ray Daley--A down-and-out spacer sets down on a planet with a unique tradition that might be the answer to his bad luck blues.
• "The Ring of Contradictions" by Allison Wall--In a strange little pub with a fighting ring where philosophies clash, truth is the grand prize.

Which was your favorite story? So many to choose from!
Savvy readers will realize this is one of our biggest issues ever--especially when you consider we also had two entries in Editor's Corner.

Thank you to all who helped make this a great issue! You are very appreciated!

Awesome August 2023 Issue Live!

Huzzah! The Awesome August 2023 Electric Spec issue is live!

Thank you to our cover artist! Thank you to all our authors! Woo hoo! We appreciate you!

Thank you so much to the entire Electric Spec editorial team! Woo hoo! We appreciate you!

Thank you especially to the readers! We wouldn't exist without you. :)

From Author Alapati

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome August 2023 Electric Spec is "The Last Deal" by Sophia Alapati. Sophia was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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The Last Deal was brewed from three ingredients: a queer witch, a powerful ex, and a noir setting. I intended to write this for an anthology of positive queer witch stories, but by the time I finished writing, the submission deadline had passed and I had written something a little too dark and twisty to fit the bill.

As an author who is more pantser than plotter, all I knew when I sat down to write was that protagonist Cas was salvaging his life in the aftermath of a tortured history with a god. I wanted to explore the idea of trying to escape a relationship with something that feels omnipotent--whether that’s a religion, a job, or another person. I also love concocting magic systems, and had fun researching chemical and symbolic properties of potential potion ingredients.

The genre was the final component that made this piece come together. To me, a warlock--etymologically from the Old English wærloga, meaning "oathbreaker"--fits right in with the noir setting, where we often see a morally dubious protagonist haunted by the deeds of their past. Noir also gives me the chance to write lush similes, which I'll never turn down.

My best little piece of writing advice for fiction writers is to read nonfiction. All my best short stories have been sparked or made richer by learning about things from breeding apples to bank heists to immortal mushrooms. So go forth, read, and stay curious!

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Interesting! Thanks, Sophia! Be sure to check out all the new stories on Aug 31, 2023!

From Author Grunwald

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome August 2023 Electric Spec is "Amber" by Clarissa Grunwald. Clarissa was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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When I was in third grade I was obsessed with Bruce Coville. I read everything I could find by him. And while I've aged out of his core demographic and moved on to other authors, I still have tremendous respect for his ability to write fascinating, challenging stories for early chapter book readers. When I wrote "Amber", I wasn't intentionally writing a tribute to his Magic Shop series, but that's what it turned out to be. It's a little shorter, and a little more cynical, but I can't deny the inspiration.

The boutique itself is inspired by a souvenir shop in my town. I have nothing against the shop and go there for gift cards sometimes, but I have to admit that I have no idea how they stay in business. We are not a tourist destination, so there can't be many people in the market for souvenirs. If they are hawking dangerous magical items on the side, that at least explains how they get the rent paid.

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Interesting! Thanks, Clarissa! Be sure to check out all the new stories on Aug 31, 2023!

From Author Wall

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome August 2023 Electric Spec is "The Ring of Contradictions" by Allison Wall. Allison was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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Deconstruction is a big theme in my work. I've gone through waves of deconstructing beliefs and values, and consequently, my perceptions of myself and my life. On a larger scale, I think the pandemic stripped people of what we thought the world was. Stability, predictability, disappeared. In the void of post-deconstruction, what do we believe in? Where is the line between faith and subjective reality? Is there any such thing?

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Interesting! Thanks, Allison! Be sure to check out all the new stories on Aug 31, 2023!

From Artist Quinn

We're excited to feature another piece of art from Brian Malachy Quinn, "Dragon Kingdom." Brian was kind enought send along a few words about his piece...

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"Dragon Kingdom" was a piece I did in a recent series of fantasy art. I generally do that in one type of genre when I have some sort of inspiration from a dream or see a striking image. This was inspired by a worker at a grocery store I frequent that had just gotten a dragon tattoo on his forearm that does designs for skateboards and we share our work from images from our phones. The tattoo had very vibrant, contrasting colors and the greens really were beautifully prominent. When I was in high school, I was into the whole Dungeons and Dragons craze and created a lot of fantasy art and it really helped me through those difficult years – all that teenage angst. I would come home from school and paint for hours - barbarians, elves, dragons, wizards - all the wonderful denizens of that world– it soothed my soul. So, fantasy art has a deep and cherished place in my heart.

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Thanks, Brian! Very interesting! Without further ado, here's a tiny sneak peek at our cover art for the August 2023 issue of Electric Spec:

From Author Spahn

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome August 2023 Electric Spec is "Eye Contact" by A.C. Spahn. A.C. was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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I was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum at the age of thirty. It answered a lot of questions about the way my brain works, and it explained multiple experiences I had growing up, but for years it didn't make it into my writing.

Then, as such ideas generally arrive at random moments, I had the first inkling of "Eye Contact" while brushing my teeth. At first I thought it might be a horror story about a house coming to life with nightmare body parts, but that didn't fire my interest. Then, a few days later, I wondered, "What would I do if an eyeball suddenly opened in my floor right now?" My answer came immediately: "Have a meltdown." I thought, "That's probably pretty relatable." And so, for the first time, one of my characters became neurodiverse.

The rest of the story fell into place over time, from realizing the main character's art preferences to recognizing the need for humor. Thematically, it might hit you as being "about" various things, depending on your own life experiences. I'll keep its exact personal meaning to myself, but in general, I think it's an exploration of the faces we wear when others are looking at us, how we move between them, and whether they can ever integrate into a whole.

It's one of my weirdest pieces to date, and I cherish it immensely. I'm so excited for Electric Spec to share it with you. Thank you for reading, and take good care of your giant eyeballs.

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Interesting! Thanks, A.C.! Be sure to check out all the new stories on Aug 31, 2023!

From Author Daley

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome August 2023 Electric Spec is "King For A Day" by Ray Daley. Ray was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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This story was written when I was exploring a period of creating stories involving the topic of homelessness. As I'm a veteran myself, I wondered what life would be like for someone who'd left the military and had no money or anywhere to live. How would they survive, or could they? Setting this in the future on the edge of the known universe gave me room to play with a little, and once I had the idea of the loophole, this came together fairly easily. According to my archive copy, this was written on May 29th 2015. It looks like I wrote quite a few stories that month, but oddly enough left no records regarding this one on Facebook.

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Interesting! Thanks, Ray! Be sure to check out all the new stories on Aug 31, 2023!

Propitious Production Meeting!

Writers and readers will be happy to hear we had a propitious Electric Spec production meeting this past weekend! We had a lot of very good stories to choose from and consequently selected six stories! Woo hoo! It's always very exciting when we can give readers an extra story.
Authors are receiving editor emails this week with either a yay or nay. The yays also get a contract. Once those are returned, editors will get to work editing stories! In addition, once those are returned, we can start blogging about the stories and art right here. :) So, stay tuned.

In other news, we wish associate editor Lauren Slawson best wishes as she moves on to new challenges. Thank you for all your contributions to Electric Spec, Lauren! You rock!

Tips from the Slush pile

At Electric Spec we are hard at work on the slush pile. Reading so many stories fills me with some too(?) blunt advice...

• Do follow the rules on the Submissions page, including
  • Do write a cover letter
  • Do submit in the format we request, rtf, double-spaced, etc.
  • Do submit as an attachment
  • Do not use weird formats, colors, fonts, etc
  • Do write within our word limits--and, honestly, you're best chance is between 1000 and 4500-words.
• Do include speculative elements in your story
• Do grab readers on page one
• Do have something change by the end of the story
• Do avoid spelling and punctuation errors--especially on page one

That's it for a advice for now.
Next time, I'll report on the Production Meeting. Thanks for reading!

Thank you, Authors and Editors!

Wow! We have a lot of slush this time! I think we've received several hundred stories for five open slots. That's something like a 1% acceptance rate. Yikes. :(
Bottom line: thank you for sending us your stories, Authors! Huzzah for you!

Wow! The editors have been working hard reading and carefully considering the slush. Thank you, Editors! We couldn't put the issues together without your excellent efforts! You are appreciated!

Awesome August issue in the works!

We are fast approaching the deadline for the awesome August 2023 issue of Electric Spec! Send us your stories by July 15, 2023!
Of course, this means we are deep in the slush pile reading your submitted stories. If you submitted: thank you very much! We couldn't exist without authors! We get a lot of stories submitted for each issue. This means we also get quite a bit of variety in terms of author skill... Unfortunately, we don't have the manpower at Electric Spec to give feedback to prospective authors. We do give feedback to accepted authors. :)

As I allued to here last week, writers' conferences are excellent sources of information. I strongly recommend them. A cheaper option is a local writers' group in your community. (Check you local public library!) There are also a lot of writers' groups online. Often these writers' groups are free. Members volunteer their time to help each other become better writers. I believe every author should be getting some kind of feedback from other authors. Feedback from your friends and family is often too complimentary and/or vague. Good luck finding good feedback!

Good luck with your writing!

A Classic: More About Colorado Gold

Happy 4th of July!

I continue posting blogs that got thousands of hits... (Why? It's a mystery.) Here we have 'More About Colorado Gold.' Although some of below was specific to that conferences, I still think writers conferences can be very valuable for writers. And RMFW is still awesome!

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As Editor Dave mentioned earlier...the Electric Spec Editors will be out in force at RMFW's Annual Conference Colorado Gold. In my M.F.A. program we had a discussion last week about writers conferences and how they are great for your writing career. The consensus was: not-huge conferences, like Colorado Gold, are the best because you can mingle with pro authors, editors, and agents and not get lost in the crowd, and they are relatively inexpensive. There may be a few spaces left if you're interested in attending and haven't signed up yet. Otherwise, I definitely recommend considering it next year. It's always in Denver the weekend around September 11. (Yes, this is a sad anniversary, but Colorado Gold pre-dates the tragedy by many years.)

So, anyway, what are we up to at the conference? Well, I'll tell you...

• Friday afternoon we are all participating in a Short Story Intensive where pre-registered participants receive feedback from editors and other attendees on their 4000-word short stories. (three hours).
  
• Friday evening we have Short Story & a Beer a casual workshop held in the lounge where we can do a short reading of published short story, discuss how it works—and maybe how it doesn't—and let the conversation—and drinks—flow from there. And, yes, I do believe this was Editor Betsy's idea.
  
• Sunday morning we have Focus on Short Fiction We'll focus on crafting short stories, why some stories make the cut and why some don't, short fiction markets, the growing electronic fiction market, and how to build a career by writing short stories. (one hour)

We hope to see you there! If you see us, please feel free to come up and say hi.

A Classic: Writer's Cheat Sheet

Here's another very popular post, titled Writer's Cheat Sheet:

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I had the opportunity to critique some less experienced writers in workshop recently. Writers who have not partaken in many workshops tend to do many of the same not-recommended things. If you would like to appear to be an experienced workshopper, here's my cheat sheet for writers:

• Dialogue Tags:
  
  • Know how to punctuate these, e.g. "You rock," Joe said.
    
  • Only use "said" or "asked" in your dialogue tags. I'm not kidding.
    
  • Only use one dialogue tag per paragraph.
    
  • It's better to use beats instead of dialogue tags, e.g. "You rock." Joe picked up his pick.
    (Beats are small physical actions.)
  
  
• Characters' Physical Description:
  
  • Characters shouldn't think or talk about the color of their skin, hair, eyes, etc. when in their own point of view.
    
  • Generally, do not describe the height, weight, girth, color, of characters--unless you write romance, or maybe fantasy.
    
  • Describe characters via qualities that are important by showing these qualities to the reader.
  
  
• Don't use Distancing words, like "thought", "perceived", "realized"--anything that's a synonym for "thought". These put an extra layer between the character and the reader and you don't need it. Similarly, words of perception like "saw", "heard", "felt" also put distance between the character and the reader.
  
• Don't use extra words like "that", "well", "just", etc. These are rarely needed or effective.
  
• Don't use adverbs.
  
• Know your genre. Of course Electric Spec writers know they write horror, science fiction, and/or fantasy--so you're ahead of the game. Kudos!
  

We are starting the production process for our February 28, 2012 issue so stay tuned for more information.

Keep submitting (for our May 2012 issue)! Thanks!

A Classic: Literary Tension

This blog has been going for many years. In fact, we've had 1420 posts and 785245 views. (!) I thought it would be fun to revisit some high-hit posts. Here's one of the highest "Literary Tension."

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The story discussion at production meetings is always rather spirited. We often veer into questions of what makes a story good, in general.
One thing you need is literary tension. What the heck is this, anyway? Recall, in general, tension is mental, emotional, or nervous strain. I think the thing to keep in mind, however, is we want to evoke tension in the reader. Tension is the mechanism we employ to make the reader want to keep reading. We want the reader to wonder, "What happens next?"

Often in critique groups, it seems like tension gets a bit mixed up with conflict. Literary conflict is something different. Conflict is when something or someone stops a character in a story from reaching his/her goal; it can be an external or internal obstacle. The reader has to know what the goal is for this to work. I would say tension, then, is a result of conflict. The reader wonders, "Will the character overcome this conflict?"

How, then, do writers create tension? In a nutshell, the author has to evoke questions for the reader and not answer them right away.
how-to-evoke-tension suggestions from around cyberspace include utilizing:

• a mystery or puzzle--The classic here is, of course, a dead body or other committed crime that must be solved. But an author could also have a secret, a magic ring, locked treasure chest, etc. that the reader wants to find the answer to.
• a solution--The author tells the reader the end of the story and the reader wants to find out how the story gets there. A lot of thrillers utilize this, e.g. bad guys are going to blow up the world unless... Come to think of it, romances use this method as well: the reader knows the boy and girl (or whatever) will get together at the end, but how does it happen?
• Related to the solution is the author actually telling the reader things. I see this a lot in the beginning of (successful) books and stories.
• present hints and possibilities--Savvy readers know when an author spends time on a character or object it's important, e.g. gun on the mantle, suspicious janitor, etc. Readers wonder, "What's up with that? What's up with him?" This method could also encompass multiple plot lines or protagonists. Readers want to know how they all fit together. Plus, as an added bonus, when you change point-of-view it evokes tension in the reader: "Wait. What happens next with this first guy?" This can be tough to pull off in a short story, however--you don't want to get too complicated.
• knowledgable reader--Here, the reader knows more than the characters, often because of multiple points-of-view. The reader gets to see them all, but the characters do not. "Oh, no! That guy she's dating is the guy that killed her sister." :) Horror stories often utilize this. Readers know the characters should not go into the basement. Alone. At night. Bare foot. In her negligee. With a killer on the loose. In the house...

What do you think? What's a good way to evoke tension?

Word Count

Word count is a powerful story element. At Electric Spec we accept stories of length 250-7000 words. This is a huge range; not many venues accept such a large variety of lengths. A 250-word story is very different from a 7000-word story in many ways. A 7000-word story is complex and can have many characters and/or many try-fail cycles. At the opposite extreme, a 250-word story is generally merely(!) conceptual, and often has a twist at the end.

As a writer, I recently sold a 42-word story! Talk about challenging! How do you even tell a story in 42 words?
I've noticed when submitting there are a lot of markets that only want 1000-words. It's also quite challenging to tell a story in only 1000 words. Editors may have a different perspective...

If you've read Electric Spec, you know we don't often accept stories under 1000-words. We don't often find effective stories of that short length in the slush pile. We don't often accept stories over 5000-words either. This is because editting such a long story is more work.
So, bottom line: 2000-words to 4000-words seems the sweet spot for Electric Spec story length in recent years. It's long enough to tell a good story but not so long that it scares off editors. :) Good luck!

Glowing in the Bask

We are still glowing about the marvelous May 31, 2023 issue of Electric Spec! Have you read all the stories yet? What's your favorite?
Have you matched up the first lines with the stories? Is the first line a good indication of the story as a whole? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? :)

Authors and Artists, thanks for submitting!
Readers, thanks for reading!

Huzzah! Marvelous May Issue!

Huzzah! The Marvelous May 2023 Electric Spec issue is live!

Thank you to our cover artist! Thank you to all our authors! Woo hoo! We appreciate you!

Thank you so much to the entire Electric Spec editorial team! Woo hoo! We appreciate you!

Thank you especially to the readers! We wouldn't exist without you. :)

Issue Sneak Peek!

Wow! Things are coming down to the wire! Tomorrow we will publish the marvelous May 31, 2023 issue of Electric Spec! This is the second issue of our eighteenth year! Woo hoo!

Psst! If you're interested, there's a link to a secret sneak peek of the new issue: here.
It's only good for a limited time...

Stories Announcement!

We are hard at work behind the scenes creating the marvelous May 2023 issue of Electric Spec! The stories are all coming along! I can't believe we'll publish the new issue in just a little over a week's time. We are far enough along that we can announce the fabulous featured stories. Without further ado they are:

• Secret Identity by James Van Pelt
• Blackwood Dragon Blues by Michael Haynes
• The Woman in the Mirror by Marissa Synder
• Bad Weed by Alison McBain and Edward Ahern
• Between a Roc and a Hard Case by L.V. Brooks

Woo hoo!
Be sure to check them all out on May 31, 2023!

First Lines

We are working hard behind the scenes on the marvelous May 2023 issue of Electric Spec! We're excited about it. :) To entice you as well, here are the first lines of the stories we will feature:

• The box was the wrong size.
• Charlotte, Cepeda's prim administrator (no one has secretaries anymore), showed Heather into the office.
• "Right," Martha said, reappearing as suddenly as she'd vanished.
• Naim snuck out of the house just after midnight dressed in black jeans, black shirt and a black balaclava pulled over his face.
• The space between worlds is cold and fragile, thin as a film on still water.

Stay tuned to this spot for more info about the new issue next week!

From Artist King

We are excited to feature original art "Argyle Cat" by E.E./Elizabeth Eve King for our May 2023 cover. The artist was kind enough to send along some comments about the piece:

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White reflects all color. Look at a "white" wall and concentrate. You will see browns, blues, yellows, magentas, and infinite shades of reality.

All colors absorb light reflecting a single hue back to the observer, except black. Black absorbs all light. It rarely occurs in nature, and only then in minerals. I never use black paint, instead I use mixtures of umber, acra and phalo blue which look dark, but unlike black draws the viewer into the painting.

In my work, I make details as intrinsic a part of the painting as the focal point. By emphasizing the details that form the whole, I emphasize the mood. Since emotion is shaped by the totality, my pieces focus on emotion. And life is neither emotionally, nor visually simple.

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Very interesting! Thanks a lot!
And without further ado, here's a sneek peak:

Notes from the Production Meeting

We recently had our Production Meeting for the upcoming marvelous May 2023 issue of Electric Spec! We had great quality stories in slush. If you submitted: Thank You Very Much!
I think all the rejections have gone out. (Check your spam/junk folder!) Editors are still contacting authors regarding acceptances. (Check your spam/junk folder!)
One of our editors saved the day by reading an extra amount of slush. (Thank you, Candi!)

We had a fun discussion on the pros and cons of ambiguous-ending stories. Do you like them or dislike them? Different editors had different opinions.
Oddly, we had a bunch of ghost stories that made it to hold-for-voting. Sadly, we could only choose one ghost story. It's curious how stories for a particular issue seem to have similar themes or topics. For example, this time we had ghosts and last time we had a bunch of twins/triplets stories. We are seeing more stories of high fantasy mashed up with other stuff; I've been enjoying those. We hardly had any hard SF this time. (Weird!) We are seeing fewer stories with a political axe to grind (Thank goodness!).

Next week I'll start bragging about our new stories! And, hopefully, we'll start hearing directly from our new authors!

An abundant assortment

Wow! We are grateful for the abundant assortment of stories we've received for the marvelous May 2023 issue of Electric Spec. Thank you!
Reading slush, we are as busy as bees buzzing spring blooms... Bzzz!

I've been reading so much I do have some tips. These are suggestions.

• Do not start your story with your protag waking up. We get so many of these.
• Do not start your story with several pages of description, aka 'telling.' It slows down the beginning of the story.
• Do not start your story with loud cussing, yelling, screaming, etc. On the first page readers don't care about the characters yet.
• Do not use weird fonts, colors, font sizes, spacing, or any other odd formating. It makes it seem like you don't know standard formats.
• Do use the file type and formatting we request.
• Do grab our attention with your unique character, world, and/or situation. A great way to do this is with voice.
• Do include some speculative fiction element(s).
:)

We still get a few returned emails when an author's email software automatically rejects us. Aw! :(

Next week I'll stalk about the production meeting right here!

It's crunch time

As you know, the submission deadline for the marvelous May 2023 issue of Electric Spec just passed. That means it's now crunch time for the editors.

Did you know it takes 8 editors to put together an issue? You can read more about the editors here.
Some editors read slush stories every week. (Like me!) Some editors wait until the submission deadline has passed and do all their reading in one two-week blitzkrieg.

We all have to finish reading in time for the Production Meeting at the beginning of the month. The senior editors have to rank all the final stories. And, then, the wrangling really begins as we decide what final stories make the cut. Phew! Sometimes the friendly collegial 'discussion' gets very heated.

If you submitted: Thank you! We appreciate you!

Next week I'll impart more behind-the-scenes info.

Is Death Necessary?

We are neck deep in all the great slush you guys are sending in. (Keep 'em coming!)
You would not believe how many stories we get where a character dies at the end. Seriously, it's a lot. I guess it's not surprising for horror/macabre. And I know death is very dramatic. But for your story, is death necessary? It's difficult to stand out when we have so much death in our slush pile.

Consider: there are worse things than death. I'll leave that for the author's imagination.

If you are going to kill off your darlings, make an effort to make the reader care about the character(s). An effective writer's trick is the 'Save the Cat.' Show the character saving a kitten or puppy or baby and reader will care more about them. Making the character an underdog also works, for example, being bullied, or being diagnosed with cancer, or your_idea_here. Another trick is show the character is necessary/important. For example, the character is killed but his/her/their baby is sitting alone in the next room... Dark! Dramatic! The reader is hooked!

Good luck with your lethal, or nonlethal, story!

Writers read

The deadline for the marvelous May 2023 issue of Electric Spec is fast approaching: April 15, 2023! Get those stories in, ASAP! This means we are very busy reading the sensational slush stories. :) I've given at lot of tips here in the blog over the years, including 'Show, don't tell,' which is still relevant. Check out the old blog entries.

Today, though, I want to encourage writers to read. All writers, or aspiring writers, should read regularly. Read in your genre. Read outside your genre. Read short fiction. Read long fiction. Reading will improve your writing. The more you read, the better you'll write. As you read, think about what's working and what's not working. Then you can translate it into your writing.

Of course, the best resources for reading are libraries. Support your local library! Do this by checking out books (and obviously returning them on time), buying 'retired' books at the library bookstore, contributing to fundraisers, voting for local library-related ballot measures and other activities. Plus, librarians are amazing! They can help you find the perfect book, or do research or your_task_here.

Good luck with your reading! And your writing, too, of course!

Thank You Ralan!

Earlier this year I was sad to see the writers' resource Ralan.com closed. Ralan.com was a free listing of speculative short fiction markets including science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It covered professional markets, semi-pro, pay, 'for the love,' anthologies, and other opportunities. And, yes, Electric Spec had a listing. I, and many other authors, used Ralan.com for over twenty-six years.

I don't know anything about the person or persons who ran it, but I am deeply grateful for all their work over the years. It was a great resource for writers. Thank you, Ralan!!! You rock!!!

AI Kerfuffle

If you've been following the news lately, there has been a lot about artificial intelligence (AI). I think the terms AI and machine learning are quite misleading; computer software isn't intelligent and can't learn the way human beings do. Humans 'train' computer software using existing data to create a 'model' of the data. Then, humans can use this software model to predict new data. We had quite a discussion about AI-generated content at the production meeting. The result was a change in our submission policy and this portion of the recent Letter From the Editors:

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We find ourselves contending with what was once a science fiction concept: AI-generated content.

Those of you who have seen the updated submission page or our blog will know that Electric Spec does not accept machine-generated or assisted content--meaning stories or artwork. We don't have space in this letter to review all the pros and cons of the various ways automated tools are impacting the creative landscape. Yet we can encapsulate our reasoning in two basic points:

1. As anyone who has read the recent news about Clarkesworld magazine knows, machine-generated stories can be produced in such quantity so quickly that they flood the submission process. We simply do not have the time to sift through so much material.

2. We believe the most critical function of creativity is about human connection. An artist reveals something of their inner self--their soul--with their creation and communicates their perspective, imagination, and uniqueness with each person they touch with their work. No matter how deftly it imitates human creativity, machine-generated content lacks that essential quality.

So as you read this issue's stories, think about how they allow you to touch the life of each author.

---

Hopefully, all this will end up being a minor kerfuffle...
Keep reading Electric Spec for human-centric stories written by humans!

Celebrating super stories!

Huzzah! We're still celebrating the fabulous February 2023 Electric Spec issue!
So many super stories...

• "What the Buck!" by Zoë Blaylock--Discover what happens when the only thing worse than being abducted by aliens is not being abducted by aliens.
• "Hecesiiteihii" by Jim Genia--A young warrior encounters a legend from the pre-colonial past of North America in the modern world.
• "The Willingham Bay Witches" by Sarah Jackson--What's more dangerous than being a detective? Trying to solve mysteries in a town full of witches.
• "Duet for a Soloist" by Jameyanne Fuller--Music and magic intertwine as the rivalry between two sisters reaches its crescendo.
• "Galatea at the Circus" by Ana Gardner--When a virtual being enters a circus of the imagination, her freedom is on the line.

Which story is your favorite?

From Author Jackson

We are excited to feature "The Willingham Bay Witches" by Author Sarah Jackson in the fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec. Sarah was kind enough to send along some comments about the story.

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My short story The Willingham Bay Witches grew out of three main ideas converging in a fairly haphazard fashion.

Witches!

I've been a witch fan for a very long time, so while I wasn't at all surprised to find myself writing a story about a coven of witches, I was slightly dismayed that they turned out to be such assholes.

I've written other stories about good, kind witches who are excellent role models, but these three arrived, if not wicked, then definitely ruthless, selfish, and opportunistic.

While my protagonist, Sandy, has a magical gift, they don't particularly align themselves with witchcraft, but do feel envious at the feeling of belonging they believe they might find in a coven. (Though that isn't always the case, as poor Mona discovered to her cost.)

I didn't know it when I started writing the story, but I was exploring some ideas and feelings around femininity and feminine power, which as a feminist I have always championed, but as someone who now identifies as nonbinary, never strongly related to.

I wanted to write witches who were powerful and frightening, but not in the old misogynist mode that so many witches were cast in. They're not bad because they are powerful women, they are powerful women and they're bad. That's what I was aiming for, anyway.

Small town drama!

That all emerged as I was writing, but my starting point was the idea of a witch running a seaside tearoom and lording it over the locals. Evil, but in a kind of petty, mundane way.

The setting was influenced by the small town I grew up in, where there seemed to endless feuds about which pasty shop was the best, or where you got your haircut.

I thought it would be interesting to take these powerful supernatural beings and put them in this very normal place with limited horizons, where a new cafe opening seems like reasonable grounds for murder.

Seaside noir!

The third ingredient was a bit of film noir pastiche. Once I had the idea for the tearoom coven, I needed a protagonist to discover their schemes.

Initially I thought about making them a real private detective or supernatural investigator (I definitely didn't want to go down the witch hunter route because misogyny). Perhaps even an especially dogged health and safety inspector from the council.

But then I realised it would be much, much funnier to have a dreamer who had done an e-learning course in private investigation (they're real!) and felt equipped to take on the case.

I also thought it would be a fun subversion if they were a disaster bi (like myself) who was already in love with the femme fatale, who in fact goes looking for her rather than waiting for the dame in question to come waltzing into their office.

Once I had those details Sandy appeared more or less fully-formed. It was very enjoyable writing from their point of view because they think they're in Brighton Rock or The 39 Steps, but actually they're in a Point Horror book.

I do hope they ditch Debbie and get their thumbs back.

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Thanks, Sarah Very interesting!
Check out "The Willingham Bay Witches" and all the rest of the stories now!

Fabulous February Issue Live!

The fabulous February 28, 2023 issue of Electric Spec is live! Woo hoo!
Thank you so much to our artist and authors!
Thank you to the Electric Spec staff! You rock!

And, last but not least: thank you readers!

From Author Fuller

We are excited to feature "Duet for a Soloist" by Author Jameyanne Fuller in the fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec. Jameyanne was kind enough to send along some comments about the story.

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I wrote “Duet for a Soloist” as part of a series of short stories set in the same fantasy world, a world where everyone has a magical bond with an instrument they call their Harmony, and they use their Harmonies to create Resonance, which gives strength to the Phoenix who carries the world. “Duet for a Soloist” is the fourth of these stories to be.

I wrote my first story set in this world, “Dissonance,” more than ten years ago for a creative writing class in college. In 2016, “Dissonance” was published by Abyss and Apex. By that time, I written a second story, “Harmonies for Cadence,” which was published by the Voyage YA Journal in 2021, and I was working on an epic poem about the mythology of the world, “A World in Seven Flames,” which appeared in the 2020 anthology Twilight Worlds, the Best of New Myths Volume II.

I’ve always loved the concept of interconnected standalone novels set in the same world, along with the idea of writing short stories in the same world as longer works. Back in college, and to this day, I approach many of my writing projects with this in mind. But when I wrote this first story, and even the second story, I didn’t intend for them to become a broader series of connected stories. I thought of “Dissonance” as a single story, a story and a world I loved, yes, but I didn’t have ideas for more. When I wrote a second story, “Harmonies for Cadence,” I viewed it only as a companion to “Dissonance”: “Dissonance” was about a girl who seemingly had no Harmony, while “Harmonies for Cadence” was about a girl who seemingly had too many Harmonies. But once I wrote that second story, the gears in my head started turning, and the project suddenly seemed much bigger. I had a whole world to explore, and I had so much freedom to do it.

The benefit to writing connected but standalone short stories, I discovered, is that there is always more to explore. Because each story is so short and focused, there is always more to the world, tucked around the edges of stories and waiting to be uncovered, or not even present in earlier stories. Over the years, my world building has shifted, and if I look back at “Dissonance,” I find elements of the world building that I might recognize as inconsistent with what I’m writing now, but are in fact simply a different way of looking at the same aspect of world building. It is so fun to just be able to play around in this world, creating it more fully with each story. In addition to the four pieces that I’ve had published now, I have seven other stories in various stages of revision and submission, and ideas for many more stories. My goal is that all of these stories stand alone, showcasing different pieces of the world and different moments in these characters lives, but I also eventually hope to put these stories together into a collection that will reveal a larger story of this world at this point in time. I’ve even been working on a novel, though that’s set five hundred years after the short stories, when the world is very different. This means that while much more of the world building is nailed down in the novel, I still have so much to explore in the time of the short stories.

“Duet for a Soloist” specifically came about as part of a mini-arc of stories about kids in this world who don’t fit in, but unlike the characters in “Dissonance” and “Harmonies for Cadence,” they don’t find a way to fit in and instead decide to build an orchestra of their own. I’m also revising a story about Po, the deaf boy Nina meets in this story who inspires her to take action. I’m also working on stories in this mini-arc about other characters who feel disenfranchised from the world, because of disability, sexuality, class, and so on, who will come together and bring their own unique experiences and come together to try to build a better world for everyone.

I hope you enjoy reading “Duet for a Soloist” as much as I enjoyed writing it. You can find links to my other Phoenix world stories and more background on the world and the other stories on my website, www.jameyannefuller.com, and I hope I will have more of these stories to share with you soon.

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Thanks, Jameyanne Very interesting!
Be sure to check out "Duet for a Soloist" and all the rest of the stories on February 28, 2023!

From Author Genia

We are excited to feature "Hecesiiteihii" by Author Jim Genia in the fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec. Jim was kind enough to send along some comments about the story.

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The differences between the various Plains tribes can be great, but one common denominator is a shared mythology around the menace of "the little people." From tiny tricksters to predators that would eat both wayward children and unwary warriors alike, these dwarf-like creatures are believed to have once been a grave threat to mankind's survival--so much so that the various tribes were forced to unite against them in a Great War. By the end of this costly conflict (which predated the arrival of the White Man to North America), the tribes of men were victorious, and the little people were more or less wiped out.

But what if there were survivors?

The near-genocide of an entire race is a heavy burden to bear for anyone. What if that burden were to rest upon the shoulders of an Indigenous culture that would eventually suffer a similar fate at the hands of the White Man?

Speculative fiction is full of tales of vampires and werewolves roaming about the modern world. It's time Native American myths and legends had their day in the literary sun.

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Thanks, Jim. Very interesting!
Be sure to check out "Hecesiiteihii" and the rest of the stories on February 28, 2023!

From Artist Candiotti

We are excited to feature "Synth" by Artist Barbara Candiotti in the fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec. Barbara was kind enough to send along some comments about the piece.

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The artwork “Synth” depicts an artificially created Synthetic Person staring intently at the viewer with one eye fixed and focused and the other eye taking measurements, data, and scientific readings. A wavey blue marble background of liquid or gel intersects with the Synthetic, as do light-infused wires and small cables.

As Bio-Engineering, AI, CRISPR, and Cloning technology become increasingly advanced and sophisticated, will the definition of “human” change? That is for the viewer to decide.

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Without further ado, here's a sneak peek:

Thanks, Barbara Very interesting!
Be sure to check out the new Electric Spec issue on February 28, 2023!

From Author Blaylock

We are excited to feature "What the Buck!" by Author Zoë Blaylock in the fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec. Zoë was kind enough to send along some comments about the story.

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Having long looked up at a starry sky and wished that benevolent aliens would invite me to explore the galaxy, I waited. But no invitation came. Finally it occurred to me that just because wishes can’t come true in three dimensions, doesn’t mean they can’t come true in two.

So, armed with a yearning in search of satisfaction and a prompt to write about aliens, I set to work. Not that I didn’t need to write and re-write the story ad nauseam—and also to get generous feedback from several writing groups...

And, of course, I often cried because it was the worst story ever written. And, of course, I sometimes crowed that it was the best story ever written. Funny, huh?

Indeed. That’s what saved the day: humor. I first laughed at my ego. Then I laughed at my dejected alter ego. And, before I knew it, my alter ego and his twin brother began acting like real wise guys and making "What the Buck!" a story worth telling.

In a nutshell, I laughed my way to the end—and I hope you will too!

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Thanks, Zoë Very interesting!
Be sure to check out "What the Buck!" and all the rest of the stories on February 28, 2023!

Production Meeting Notes

Winter is packing a wallop here in the U.S. Rocky Mountains! We recently had our production meeting for the fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec and the weather was so bad, we had to do virtual! Yes, snowing. Yes, temps near zero degrees Fahrenheit. Ugh.

It's always intriguing to see the variety, or lack thereof, in hold-for-voting story themes/topics we get for a particular issue. This time there were multiple apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic world stories. Read into that what you will. As editors, we were not feeling it for the post/apocalyse.
Curiously, we had more than one finalist story featuring twins...
Next week, I'll start blogging about our exciting new issue right here!

At the meeting we also had a discussion about AI-generated prose and art. Bottom line: don't submit this to Electric Spec. We will be amending our submission page to reflect this.

We have been having trouble with authors not receiving our rejection or acceptance emails. Please check your spam and junk folders.
All editors will contact their authors with the good news and contracts by the end of this week. All rejections have been sent out. Thus, if you submitted within the Feb 2023 issue window and don't hear from us by the end of this week...possibly your email software shunned our message. :(

Take care and stay warm!

Approve Our Email Address

We've been working hard on the fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec. Unfortunately, several emails we sent to authors this month were unsucessful. Please check your Junk, Spam, and similar folders! We already discussed Whitelisting here. Below is some more info for other email software; your specific case may be slightly different. In all cases, authors should approve our submissions at electricspec dot com address.

• Yahoo! Mail Click the Contacts icon located in the upper right-hand corner of your Yahoo! Mail Inbox Homepage. When you scroll over the first icon, it should say 'Contacts'. Click 'Add a new contact' located below the list of your contacts. Fill in the contact details and paste the email address you wish to add to your contact list. Click Save.
• AOL Mail Locate the Contacts option on the left navigation bar of your AOL Mail Home Page (under the Trash folder). Click New Contact icon.Type the contact information in the required and optional fields. Scroll to the bottom and click Add Contact. A confirmation message that the contact has been created will appear.
• Apple iPhone Mail App Tap 'Create New Contact' from the menu at the bottom of the screen.
• Android Gmail App Tap the 'Add Contact' icon located in the top right-hand corner.

Good Luck!

Editor Fisher

As we work hard behind the scenes on the fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec, we're pleased to announce a new associate editor: Collette Fisher.

Collette Fisher grew up on a farm in eastern Iowa, got degrees from Michigan State University (German and math) and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (library science). She worked in the library of the chancery office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, Germany for 41 years, and lives with her husband in Titisee-Neustadt, Germany. She has published "Blue Sunset", inspired by Spoon River Anthology and The Martian Chronicles, electronically and has had stories published in Fiction River, Pulphouse, Penumbric Speculative Fiction, Alien Dimensions, 4 Star Stories, Fabula Argentea, The Lorelei Signal, Dark Horses, Wyldblood Magazine, and other magazines and anthologies.

She says: I encourage all writers to keep submitting while continuing to write new stories. You never know who will love which story you have written. It could indeed be the next one you write that is the one everyone will remember. At a workshop in 2018 I asked two successful writers how many rejections I should "collect" for a story before I gave up and just published it myself. One writer said "50", and the other said "75". I have decided to follow this advice.

Thanks for the advice, Collette! And welcome aboard!

Deadline Looming and Locus

Savvy authors know the deadline for the fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec is looming. Please submit your stories by midnight (US Mountain Time)! We already have a good crop of stories: Thank You!

Really savvy authors know about Locus Magazine, a monthly print 'zine covering the science fiction and fantasy field since 1968. It publishes news of the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and young-adult publishing field. At the end of every year they ask other editors about their zines. Here are some of the responses Electric Spec Editors gave for 2022:

• Do you have any comments on how 2022 was, or any planned changes for 2023? Our longtime editor Nikki Baird stepped down at the end of 2022. (Thanks for all your hard work, Nikki!) And we are excited to be in the process of hiring a new associate editor starting in 2023.
• What kinds of stories got the best response for the year, and what would you like to see more of? We, and our readers, enjoyed all our sensational stories. :) Please send us more spec fic mashups, steampunk, and magical realism.
• What are your average unique visitors per month? What are your hits per month? For 2022: Our average unique visitors per month were approximately 2000. Our hits per month were approximately 30,000.

Locus is a very good resource for spec fic authors. For more info see https://locusmag.com/.

Show us your story!

We are hard at work on the upcoming fabulous February 2023 issue of Electric Spec. Right now, this hard work consists of reading all the great stories in the slush pile. We have been getting a few stories which are all telling. Telling is when the author narrates the story. In other words, the author uses exposition or summarizes the story. The author doesn't show the story.

Showing is when the author uses descriptions, actions, and dialogue to let the reader experience the story for him or herself. Different markets look for different things. Electric Spec doesn't really publish stories that are all telling. Check out any of our published stories, with showing, to see what I mean!

Good luck showing us your story!