scads of slush

The Editors of Electric Spec are hard at work reading scads and scads of slush. If you submitted: Thank You! We appreciate our authors and our aspiring authors.
It's getting to be crunch time as our production meeting occurs in the beginning of February. So, next time, I'll report on that meeting.

In the meantime, here are some takeaways from our recent slush pile...

• Do include some showing within your first 500 words. I saw a lot of telling. Other markets may like 100% telling; we do not.
• Do earn your death. I saw a lot of people die. I get it; death is very dramatic. But authors should make readers care about their characters before they kill them off. After reading so much death, I'm a little tired of it. :(
• It's odd but sometimes we end up with some quite similar stories in Hold-For-Voting. When this happens, we only pick one of the bunch. I guess the way to deal with this is to make sure your story and characters are unique.

I'll leave it there. I need to prepare for the production meeting!
Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes info!

Snow day

Phew! It is very snowy here in the U.S. Rockies with high winds and extremely cold temps. :( What a great day to stay inside and read slush...

The submission period for the fabulous February 2024 issue of Electric Spec has passed. If you submitted: Thank You!
The editors are all hard at work doing their reading. Stay tuned for more info later in the month.

Stay warm!

Slushy tips

Welcome to 2024! Wow, time flies! We are already working on the fabulous February 2024 issue of Electric Spec. Editors are reading lots of slush. If you submitted: Thank You!
This brings me to some tips for slush authors:

• Do obey our submissions rules. Failure to do so may make the editor cranky. If you need a refresher, see the submissions page.
  Highlights include:
  • Do stick to our word limits (250 to 7000)
  • Do include an rtf attachment
  • Do include a subject line at least with: Submission: Title
  • Do include at least a brief cover letter
• Do not start with all dialogue
• Do not start with all description
• Do start your story on page one. If the editor is only confused at the bottom of page one, it doesn't bode well...

I'll leave it there for now.
Good luck, Authors!

Happy National Science Fiction Day!

Image by liuzishan on Freepik