from Author McAllister

The editors are still hard at work on the awesome August 2020 issue of Electric Spec. We're excited to feature "Glass and Ashes" by Raven McAllister. Here's what the author has to say about it:

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'G&A' pulls heavily from my counseling experience. It deals with PTSD and alcoholism, and the isolation and hopelessness that often results. The other half comes from a mild fascination with burn piles growing up. My uncle was always burning things, and in all these ash mounds, fire ants had moved in. I wondered to myself, what would come to inhabit or evolve in a burn pile that’s been growing for over a century? What aberration would nature produce to survive constant rebirths through fire? And of course that theme runs concurrent with where the protagonist ultimately finds himself.

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Thanks, Raven! Very interesting! Be sure to check out "Glass and Ashes" and the rest of the stories on August 31st!

from Author Lawrence

We are hard at work on the awesome August issue of Electric Spec. One of the new stories we're excited about is "Smithsonian Soldiers" by E.A. Lawrence. Here's what the author told us about the story:

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"Smithsonian Soldiers" is another story of mine inspired by a dream. My subconscious seems to delight in coming up with weird, visually intriguing ideas. If the idea sticks with me long enough after I wake up, I usually write it down in one of my journals with a fountain pen and keep writing until my hand gives out or I finish a draft. I took up fountain pens before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis but given the symptoms I've had fountain pens have let me keep writing when computers aren't a great option.

Rewriting is actually my favorite part of the storytelling process. I savor tinkering with words and punctuation to craft the story that I want to tell. Most of my stories go through a minimum of four revisions. There is nothing like that satisfying feeling of saving the final version of a story and knowing it is complete.

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Very interesting! Thanks, E.A.!

awesome August assemblage

We successfully had our awesome August assemblage, also known as our August Electric Spec production meeting. Huzzah! As in May, we met virtually. A surprise attendee was Katara, Nikki's cat. She seemed fascinated by our discussion and contributed to it with her interesting expressions. :) (Can anyone explain to me why cats like video-meetings so much?) The editors had some significant disagreements about which stories to select but came to a consensus.

Thus, authors should hear back from us this week with a 'yea' or 'nay.' If you submitted a story between April 16, 2020 and July 15, 2020 and you don't hear from us, something likely went awry. Sorry! Resubmit.

If you are a lucky author, please do return your contract quickly. This enables us to start editing quickly. In addition, please do send us a blog entry, which I will post here. It's super fun to hear from authors! Don't you think?

We also have some really nice art and maybe something in Editor's Corner, so be sure to check out the new issue on August 30, 2020! Woo hoo!

train your muse

During the pandemic, I've been amazed at the quantity and quality of submissions we get at Electric Spec. Creativity in the time of COVID is not easy, so, kudos! I have heard writers can become better via the practice of writing regularly. It's as if writing is a muscle that becomes stronger with more practice. Along these same lines...

Scientists think people can train themselves to be more creative.

• Brainstorm, but don't stop at your first ideas.
• Don't listen to your 'inner-editor.' Accept all ideas without judgement.
• Allow yourself plenty of time. Don't worry about running out of ideas.
• Make use of downtime. Let your subconscious work behind the scenes.
• Give yourself a comfortable place to create. This might include things like scented candles or a soft chair.
• Go outside. Scientists have proved nature de-stresses us. Consider even turning off all your devices.
• Practice makes perfect. Make it a habit to create.

Good luck training your muse!

Next week I'll talk about the production meeting. Take care!

Thanks for submitting!

We're well past the submission deadline for the awesome August 2020 issue of Electric Spec. Thank you so much for all your submissions! Wow! We got a lot! It's great! :)
If you want to know what goes on behind the scenes, I'll tell you...

Slush We have about another week to finish up the first reads of slush. All the editors work on this. If you want to know a little bit more about us, you can read about us here.
Each story submitted is rejected (sorry!) or held for voting (yay!). Each of the senior editors ranks the stories in hold-for-voting, #1 for the best, and #whatever for the worst (ouch!). We compute numerical totals for each story.

Production Meeting We have our production meeting at the beginning of August. In 2020 we've been meeting virtually. :( We debate the various stories and decide on the ones in the issue. Usually, the stories with the lowest numerical totals get in the issue. We do try to pick a mix of speculative fiction genres. We also choose the cover art and assign various other tasks such as the Letter From the Editor. Soon after the meeting, we email out the good or bad news to each of the authors.

Issue Creation We do the tasks to put the issue together. After we get contracts back for the lucky authors we start editing the stories. The amount of editing necessary varies greatly by story. Once the content is in good shape, the stories are proofread. Then, we make the preview versions of the story webpages and ask authors for final okays. We create other elements of the issue, as needed.

Publication We publish the issue! Ta-da! And pay the authors and artist. :)

I better get back to work...

story openings

Tomorrow, July 15, is the submission deadline for the awesome August 2020 Electric Spec issue! Send us your story! (Of course, on July 16 you can submit for the notable November 2020 issue.)
We are neck-deep in slush. For every issue we get hundreds of submissions. Thus, I have some tips for authors...

Your story opening is crucial. I can't emphasize this enough. With hundreds of stories to read, if your opening isn't very good, editors may stop reading.

As an author myself, I know this is hard to internalize. I have written stories that I thought were really good and seen editors say, "The first paragraph was boring." And I thought, "But the next paragraph is awesome!" Too late. The editor has already rejected it.

A common issue I see is starting the story on the page before the story really begins. As an example, about a third of the stories I read the other day began with the protagonist waking up. Seriously. This is not a strong opening. I didn't hold any of these stories for voting. Another common issue is significant spelling, word choice, and/or grammar problems. These kinds of stories are more work for our editors, so more likely to get rejected.

Thus, please review your first page one more time before you send in your story. We want your story to shine. Good luck!

try-fail cycles

Yes! We are still hard at work on the awesome August 2020 issue of Electric Spec. Yes! The submission deadline is still July 15, 2020! Get those stories in!

As I read slush, I'm reminded of a tip from a famous editor: utilize try-fail cycles. A try-fail cycle is exactly what it sounds like. Your protagonist tries something (usually to solve a problem), and is not successful, and then tries something else... Most authors write these organically, without ever thinking Now, I need a try-fail cycle. It can be helpful, however, to consciously think about them.

Consider a definition of a story: a protagonist has a problem and acts to solve it. If the protag acts and is successful, a try-succeed instance, this is not an interesting story. Is it even a story? If the protag merely acts and fails, a try-fail instance, again, this isn't an interesting story. Thus, the cycle aspect of the try-fail cycle is also important. The protag needs to try more than once.

Most interesting stories have a series of try-fail cycles with increasing stakes. This makes the story more dramatic and gives the reader a more satisfying emotional payoff in the end. Try-fail cycles show and enable character growth. They also allow the overall story plotline to twist, change, grow. They make a short story much deeper and more interesting.

So, if your story is dragging, consider adding another try-fail cycle. Good luck!

Pandemic stories

We are hard at work on the awesome August 2020 issue of Electric Spec. The submission deadline for this issue is July 15, 2020--so get those stories in.

We have started to receive quite a few pandemic stories. We thought we'd start to get some for the last issue but they didn't materialize. I guess it took a little lag time for folks to wrap their heads around what was happening. We welcome stories on whatever topic the marvelous muse sends you, but...

For us, pandemic stories still need to be speculative. Recall, speculative fiction includes genres that all contain elements that do not exist in the real world. We love fantasy, science fiction, and macabre fiction and all their possible subgenres and mash-ups.

Thus, last year, a story about a global pandemic would probably be considered speculative fiction. In 2020, not so much. Can you take it to the next level? What will be the long-lasting consequences of the pandemic? How will it change our culture? Society? Hopes and dreams? How will it change humanity? How will it change your_idea_here? Write that story!

Good luck!

Voice, voice, baby

Here at Electric Spec we're starting to think about the awesome August 2020 issue. Editors have started going through slush again, albeit to varying degrees. Personally, I have made quite a dent in my stories. In the first cut, I try to consider if a story is objectively good. Does it have one or more compelling characters? Does it have a plot in which something changes? Does it have neat speculative elements? If so, I put it in the hold-for-voting folder, so all the editors can consider it.

In the final go-round, however, I'm subjective. All the editors have their favorite topics; I think I've mentioned mine here before. One of my favorite qualities in any kind of writing is voice. I think I've mentioned this before here, as well, but it's worth repeating. Literary voice is the particular style an author uses to create their story. Sometimes the characters embody this voice, while sometimes it's the narrator. Some authors can create different voices for different works, e.g. Charlaine Harris. Some authors have a unique writer's voice in all their work, e.g. Connie Willis. I don't care how you do it, but I do love me some good voice...

The submission deadline for the awesome August issue is coming up surprisingly soon: July 15, 2020. Thank you for submitting your stories. We appreciate you, writers!

from Author White

Author Desmond White passed along his thoughts on "writing and life's little diversions."

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For every ten articles of "5 Things Stopping You From Writing" and "4 Ways The Internet Has Interrupted Your Novel," there's the one titled "Distracted? It Could Help Your Writing." I'm in the diversion-is-good camp. Of course, when we go to write, we should write. Neil Gaiman advises the author to "sit down at the keyboard" and "put one word after another." But the paradox of the craft is how we need Focus and Distraction. Not the passively engrossing but exhausting delirium of tv show binges, but showers, walks, joyful conversations, a cooked dinner, a nap with the cats, a moment outside. The tedium of work, of emptying the litter, of walking to the mailbox. These aren't interruptions but priorities. When engaged but a little bored, dreams are more potent, solutions more frequent, and the laws of association meander like driftwood at twilight.

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Thanks, Desmond! Good advice! :)

Nebula Awards

Winners of 55th Annual Nebula Awards Hopefully, everyone's familiar with the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and their prestigious awards. The latest batch of winners was announced recently.

Novel: A Song for a New Day, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley) Novella: This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga; Jo Fletcher) Novelette: Carpe Glitter, Cat Rambo (Meerkat) Short Story: "Give the Family My Love", A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld Magazine 2/19)

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

SFWA has quite a few resources available to members and nonmembers http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/information-center/.

The Marvelous May 2020 Issue

Wow! I'm so impressed with the Electric Spec authors and editors! We got the marvelous May 2020 issue out even in these challenging times.
Check out the awesome stories:

• "Gabriel Vane's Carnival Extraordinaire" by Kate Everett -- You don't need a ticket. You don't even need to pay. Just be careful what you bring with you. . .
• "Where There Once was Wind" by Clint Foster -- What does the wind see and know? A tale of magic and ambition told from an unexpected perspective.
• "Under Our Skin" by Owen Leddy -- Three young people seek to protect the last threshold of personal independence from a truly hostile takeover.
• "All the Way Home" by Gail Ann Gibbs -- In the place between life and death, a group of strangers searches for where to go next.
• "Rona of the Els" by Desmond White -- A novice witch at the edge of civilization makes a desperate grab at her one chance to fulfill her dreams.

In addition, making a debut appearance for us is cover artist Yuri Magalhães with "Quiet Reflections."

Finally, don't miss our interview with Barbara Bennett, author of the urban fantasy novel Alchemy of Glass--"a celebration of time, history, science, magic, technology, and love."

Check them out if you haven't already!

Woo hoo!

May 2020 Electric Spec live!

The marvelous May 31, 2020 issue of Electric Spec is live! Woo hoo!

Thanks so much to all the authors!

Thanks so much to all the Electric Spec staff.

And, especially, thanks so much to all the readers!

Woo hoo!

from Author Barnett

In the marvelous May 31, 2020 Electric Spec issue we feature an interview of author Barbara Barnett. Here, she'd like to share how to ground fantasy:

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Grounding Fantasy in History and Science

Nothing takes a reader out of a story faster than screwing up the setting or the history--even, or perhaps, especially--in a fantasy. Fantasy is fantasy, but as a writer you have to ground it something real, authentic to make the fantastical elements work and not seem absurd. And that’s where the research comes in. Pick and choose what you want to include in the story (and don’t overload your reader with unnecessary detail and exposition), but as the author--you have to know of what (and whom) you speak.

In writing The Apothecary’s Curse and its sequel Alchemy of Glass, I took great pains to research every assertion, setting, the science, and, yes, even, word I used. Was the word “hooligan” in common use in 1837 London? What did an apothecary do in London? What was King James’s VI take on the supernatural back at the very end of the sixteenth century? (Not very favorable, which helped me set up the execution of my hero’s father for magical healing after he’d cured the entire court of a disease).

Quite a bit of Alchemy of Glass is set in the bowels of ruined monastery in the Borders region of Scotland. I came across an article about medical archeologist working in the area had unearthed healing potions and medicines that would have likely been completely beyond the technology and skills of medieval monks that worked and dwelled there. The “how” and “why” of that became a fictional pivot point for the entire novel.

There’s a pivotal scene in The Apothecary’s Curse where my main character has a motorcycle accident north of Chicago along the Lake Michigan coast. People who do not live in Chicago (or perhaps some that do) are often unaware that to the far north of the City, along the lake, the terrain is far from the flatland with which Chicago is often associated. There are high bluffs, deep ravines, plunging eighty, one hundred, even one hundred fifty feet to the rocky shore. Who’d have thought? I used the idea because I knew people would find it strange, and maybe a bit fantastical (after all The Apothecary’s Curse is a fantasy), but before I put a number on the height of the cliff, I researched everything I knew (and didn’t know about the shoreline and the quite mystical ravines that line the shore from Wilmette to the Wisconsin border).

Although I know the Chicago setting quite well, and felt comfortable playing with it, the same is not true of the early Victorian setting of 1837-1842 London. I chose Smithfield Market as the location for Gaelan Erceldoune’s Apothecary Shop for some very specific reasons. Smithfield is a place where the immortal Gaelan could be more or less anonymous. Having moved locations after ten years in the posher environs of Hay Hill, he needs to reboot his life, and Smithfield is perfect. He’s also needed there. Few physicians (mostly gentlemen) would dare not dirty their hands in the “vile zoology” that is Smithfield (and by the way, that is exactly how accounts for the time describe place, so I copped the description and put into the story).

Also, Gaelan’s heritage comes into play, especially in Alchemy of Glass which looks back on when Gaelan first moved to Smithfield in 1826 (11 years before events in The Apothecary’s Curse)--and his youth. My research uncovered the fact that William Wallace (AKA, The Wallace, a Scottish hero) was executed in Smithfield, perhaps even right on the very same corner that Gaelan’s shop sits. Hmm. So the locale was very carefully chosen.

William Wallace was a contemporary and confederate of Lord Thomas Learmont de Ercildoune, Gaelan’s ancestor–a figure that is steeped in supernatural legend, but who also existed in medieval Scotland! History, meet mythology, meet fantasy!

So, by placing the fantasy in a real location with a real history related to the ancestor of a historical figure, I hope that grounds the story in history as well as the legend that so pervades the story. It’s a device often used by H.G. Wells--putting a single impossible thing set into an otherwise quite realistic scenario.

I also underlaid the story with real people in cameos who lived during the times in which the story takes place (or in its back story): Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his medical mentor Joseph Bell (who is related to Gaelan’s frenemy Simon Bell), Leonardo of Pisa, Michael Scot, and Nicola Tesla (who’ll you’ll meet in Chapter One of Alchemy of Glass.

All of this is to say that no matter whether you’re writing historical fiction (for which accuracy is an imperative when dealing in the “actual” factual world) or speculative fiction, everything has to make sense (at least within the world you’ve built. And if the world you’ve built is fantastical, but set (even partially) in the real world, attention to detail, gentle use of tropes, diction, setting--and fact, can give your fantastical creation an air of authenticity.

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Very interesting! Thanks, Barbara! Be sure to check out her interview and all the awesome stories on May 31!

from Author Everett

We're excited to feature Kate Everett's spooky story "Gabriel Vane's Carnival Extraordinaire" in our May 31, 2020 issue of Electric Spec. Here's what she had to say about the story:

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While raiding a Halloween shop many years ago, my husband and I picked up an album called Carnival Arcane by Midnight Syndicate. The group, in their own words, creates scores for imaginary films by blending orchestral horror music and sound effects. This album plunged me into the rich atmosphere of a traveling carnival that promised thrills and wonder…but also something sinister and possibly supernatural. Questions popped up in my mind whenever I listened to it: what did this carnival want? Who ran it? Did everyone have the same experience there, and did everyone (or anyone) get out unscathed?

Eventually, I needed to invent my own answers to these questions. I decided to explore the story through the eyes of kids, mostly because I’ve never stopped feeling like a kid myself, but also because I thought a kid’s spirit complimented this setting better than anything else.

I didn’t quite unravel the carnival’s every secret, but that’s okay—some things should stay a mystery. It’s more fun that way.

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Thanks, Kate! Very interesting! Be sure to check out all the stories on May 31!

from Author White

We're excited to publish the fantasy "Rona of the Els" by Desmond White in the May 2020 issues of Electric Spec. Here's what the author had to say about it:

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With "Rona of the Els," I wanted to create an interesting knight, or specifically, a knight's interesting origin. I decided my protagonist would be a peasant girl knowledgeable about the druidic arts and wearing a brave but coarse persona—what the colorless call a "tomboy." Rona's counterpart (Aeradia) would represent everything she was not—affluence, wealth, untouchable beauty. (With characters, the fiercer the clash the better.) As the story came along, it became a meet-cute; the beginning of a great romance. By the time I was finished, I hoped to inspire my reader with dreamlike visions of adventure—a brilliant woman in plate armor, hair wild in the wind, saddled on a dragon—without ever providing the image. I owe a debt to Tamora Pierce's Alanna and Christopher Paolini's Eragon. I am indebted also to Electric Spec, who saw the story's potential.

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Thanks, Desmond! Very interesting! Be sure to check out this story and all the others on May 31, 2020!

Notes from the Production Meeting

Greetings, Speculative Fiction Fans! We hope you and your families are safe and well. The Electric Spec Editors are doing okay.
We had our first virtual production meeting recently. Everything went pretty well. We had a spirited discussion of the stories in our hold-for-voting folder. One editor said they thought we'd get a bunch of apocalypse stories (we didn't). One editor said they didn't want to publish a bunch of gloomy, grim stories. The good news is we had a great selection of publishable speculative fiction tales to choose from. We were able to select a balanced group of stories with a variety of sub-genres and tones. Yay!

So, all authors in hold-for-voting should get an email from an editor very soon, if they haven't received one already. When we hear back from those 'yes' authors, we'll start bragging on them. Hopefully, we'll have some blog entries from them right here in this exact spot very soon.

The next step is the editors will edit the stories. Yes! Seriously! Go figure. :)
We'll start working on the webpage and new issue, and all the rest.

If you were in hold-for-voting but your story didn't get selected, take heart. Your story is 'publishable.' You will find a market.
Those who submitted: Thank You! Those who are still writing speculative fiction: Thank You! And Congratulations for following your dreams even in these difficult times. You rock!

Take care.

submission deadline April 15

We hope you and your families are weathering these difficult times all right.
As things stand now, we are planning to publish the May 2020 issue of Electric Spec on time, i.e. May 31, 2020.
So, get your submissions in by April 15, 2020 for this issue.
Good Luck & Best Wishes!

Authors Give Back

There's lots of free fiction accessible from Electric Spec Issues. Please check it out, if you're looking for shockingly good speculative fiction. :)

Smashwords is holding the very neat Authors Give Back promotion March 20, 2020 through April 20, 2020 with many, many books marked down, so folks stuck at home can have good stuff to read. Now extended through May 31, 2020!

Authors Give Back

From our Electric Spec family to yours: take care!

from Editor Smith

If you haven't checked out the fabulous February 2020 issue of Electric Spec yet, I highly recommend it! In addition, there's lots of free fiction from our fifteen years linked to the Issues page--if you were stuck at home for some reason. Feel free to share your favorite story in the comments here! :)

Like Dave and Renata, I am a founding editor of Electric Spec. It was fun to connect with them lately and share their thoughts here on the blog. As I recall, creating Electric Spec was Dave's awesome idea. I also recall the name "Electric Spec," for electronic speculative fiction, was Renata's awesome idea. Wow! Talk about ideas that stand the test of time. Hurray for them!

I've told the story of the origins of Electric Spec at cons, but I don't think I have on the blog...
Dave, Renata, and another founding editor, Georgia, were in a Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW) critique group together. We were all sending out short stories and getting rejections. One evening, we were shooting the, ah, stuff, about this sad state of affairs and Dave said, "Hey, why don't we start our own ezine?" We discussed it and thought we could be a kinder, gentler 'zine. We thought we could encourage and nurture writers. Bottom line: we all embraced the idea immediately.
This was in the very early days of ezines, so we basically invented our own wheels. As I recall, we all helped each other with everything, but Dave was great with the legal stuff, Renata was excellent with the editing stuff, and I did a lot of the technical stuff. Happily, it all came together.

Eventually, Renata and Georgia stepped down and we got another editor, Betsy Dornbusch, who put her stamp on things. (Betsy was also in a RMFW critique group with Dave and I.) She was instrumental in creating the current look of the ezine. Eventually, both Dave and Betsy stepped down and Grayson Towler and Nikki Baird stepped up. Chris Devlin stepped up to be a copy editor. Grayson, Nikki and Chris are also in RMFW. Hmm, I'm sensing a pattern...
As our popularity has grown, we've had to get a bunch of associate editors. First Minta Monroe and Candi Cooper-Towler joined us, and recently, Lauren Slawson and Beth Chan.

All our editors are committed to nurturing writers, helping them grow, and reach a wider audience. And, all our editors are volunteers!
So, kudos, to all the editors, past and present! Thank you for making a positive difference in the world! Hopefully, we'll be nurturing writers and entertaining readers for many years to come!

Take care, everyone!

from Editor Hill

Check out the new issue of Electric Spec!
In honor of our fifteenth year, we asked Emeritus Editor Renata Hill for some of her thoughts.

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Wow, 15 years! Very cool! I'd love to participate. A couple of stories STILL stick in my head...

My fave story was the one about the baby gargoyle and his guardian (sorry, I've long forgotten the title). The man went out in the countryside and tried to get the gargoyle to stay and live out there, but it flew home after him. I enjoyed it so much bc the characters were complex and vivid, I could see the setting (his house, this place in the country, etc) and the protagonist's development followed an interesting arc as he struggled to figure out what to do with this extraordinary creature who had entered his life.

The second most memorable story for me was an urban sci-fi adventure (don't remember this title either) about a young man who made money selling body parts on the black market. He had a pair of eyes that were very valuable. Gangsters were involved. The author did an excellent job of plunging the reader into this gritty, dark reality. I sympathized with the protagonist's determination to succeed and found the story very compelling.

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Thanks, Renata! Very interesting! :)

from Editor Hughes

We're still excited about the new February 28, 2020 issue of Electric Spec. Thanks again, to everyone who contributed!
You may not have noticed, but we started our fifteenth year! In honor of this, I asked emeritus editor David E. Hughes for his thoughts.

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Thanks for the chance to comment. I'm so excited that Electric Spec has reached the fifteen year mark and is still thriving!

I remember being so nervous about launching the magazine. We were starting from scratch, and we had no idea if people would submit stories for our first issue. We did get submissions, but I was dismayed by much of the slush. Then I read "Raising Archie" by Michael Stone. Not only was it a clever story, but it was about gargoyles, which I already had a fondness for. I knew if we could pick up stories like that, then Electric Spec would be a worthwhile venture.

For the early issues, some of the stories that we picked needed some editorial help. We were often willing to take a diamond in the rough and make it sparkle. I don't think there were many (if any) magazines that would take time and effort to work on substantive edits in that way. For those stories where I ended up doing some major edits, I was often worried that the authors would be upset when they saw the proof. However, it turned out that most authors understand and appreciate edits. We ended up with some great final products.

I'd be remiss if I didn’t mention the Editor's Corner story: "The Dog that Broke the Camel's Back." I was lucky enough to co-write that one with current editor Lesley Smith. If I recall correctly, that one arose out of a writing exercise we did in our critique group. Lesley and I decided to try to write a story by trading off on the narrative. It turned out to be quite a wild ride since neither of us knew exactly where the story was going as we wrote it. (I know, not the recommended technique for a good story). It was so fun reading it again—-I love stories that make me laugh!

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Thanks, Dave! Very interesting!

New Issue Out!

Woo hoo! The new issue of Electric Spec is out! Woo hoo!

We're excited about all our new stories: "Welcome to the 27 Club" by JL George, "Strings" by P.G. Streeter, "The Tenders" by Aaron Emmel," "Mira Bug" by Stefani Cox, "The Prey" by John Wolf. Thank you so much authors! Thank you Artist Brian Malachy Quinn!

Thank you Editors and tech staff that made it happen!

Most of all, thank you readers! Woo hoo!

from Author Cox

We're almost done with the fun February 2020 issue of Electric Spec. We're excited to feature the SF tale, "Mira Bug" by Stefani Cox. Here's what she has to say about it:

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With "Mira Bug," I wanted to examine human longing for connection, particularly in the context of a mother/daughter relationship. The protagonist, Ginny, is adrift in her life, spending much of her time alone and focused on her work. When Mira comes into her life through the capabilities of Altern, she has a new way to reach out to another person. She's especially longed for a child, so her ability to "create" the kid she never had is at first empowering. However, as Ginny gets drawn further and further into the virtual reality of being with Mira, she loses touch with real world connection, which she also needs. It’s through letting go of her obsession with Altern (with the help of Alexis) and opening up to the possibilities of an actual child in her life, that Ginny reawakens to her true existence.

I'm always curious about how future technologies can both help and hurt us in questing for connection, and in seeking to understand ourselves better. I'm inspired by stories like those in the TV show Black Mirror, where human dramas interface with future technology. (Though I'd like to think "Mira Bug" leads to a happier ending.) Like most things in life, there are both positive and negative aspects upcoming advances, and we'll have to learn as a society how to deal with both.

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Thanks, Stefani! Very interesting. Check out all the new stories on February 28, 2020!

from Author Emmel

We're excited to feature Aaron Emmel's story "The Tenders" in our February 28, 2020 issue of Electric Spec. Here's what he has to say about it:

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What excites me about this story, along with the magic tree and swashbuckling pirates, is a world where understanding how the world works is only the first step to being able to advise monarchs. You also have to understand and learn from your own capacity for failure. That ended up seeming even more fantastic than the magic, in two senses of the word--it doesn’t really exist, but it would be great if it did.

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Very interesting! Thanks, Aaron!
Check out "The Tenders" and the rest of the stories at the end of the month!

from Author Wolf

We're excited to feature "The Prey" by author John Wolf in our February 2020 issue of Electric Spec. John had the following to say about his story.

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This story owes its existence to many things. There was an announcement in September 2019 for a shared universe anthology. Following some world-building rules, all the stories would take place just before, during, or after an invasion. A lot of talented authors wrote pieces for that one. I thought it might be interesting to experience something like Independence Day or War of the Worlds through the eyes of Earth’s wildlife. I read a bunch of Jack London and re-read the great novel Raptor Red in order to prep. In the end, my piece got rejected.

But I still thought the story had, you’ll pardon the pun, teeth. You can’t give up as a writer. Stuff gets rejected. You take the critique (if you’re lucky enough to get it), re-tool the piece, and send it out again. That is exactly what I did with this. Now several drafts and more rejections later, here it is. It's very different from the one I wrote for the anthology. I still like this story quite a bit. Writing from the point of view for a wholly separate species was fun but tough. I’ll probably try it again.

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Thanks, John! Very interesting!

from Author George

We're excited to feature "Welcome to the 27 Club" by J.L. George in our February issue of Electric Spec. J.L. tells us the following about the story.

---

I've suffered from depression and anxiety from a young age, and over the years, the desire to simply stop existing for a while--and perhaps hand over the reins of my life to somebody more qualified in the meantime--has become a familiar one. There's a hint of wish-fulfilment in this story, I think. The idea of a benevolent ghost who'll swoop in and fix things while you take a nice, soothing nap is quite seductive.

It's not a real-world solution, of course--and it wouldn't be healthy or ethical if it were. There's a paternalism inherent in making decisions about someone's life while they're not around to voice an opinion. And when aid is conditional on somebody else deciding you deserve it, what happens when a more compelling victim comes along? That's why it can't, ultimately, be only the narrator's well-intentioned meddling that spurs Serena to find a way to manage her depression. It has to be her own desire to regain control of her life. The narrator does manage to help her, but maybe not in the way they expect.

With this story, I also wanted to push back against the romanticising of mental illness, particularly in the creative professions. It's something I bought into hard when I was younger, and it can be so damaging. The dead artists whose pictures Serena pins on her walls are famous partly because of their tragic ends, but imagine how much more great work they might have created if they'd got the help they needed.

---

Thanks for sharing, J.L.!

Second Person Point-Of-View

We had a successful, if uneventful, Production meeting this past weekend. All authors should be hearing from editors this week. We got into a spirited discussion of second person pov... Editor Nikki Baird submits the following for your consideration.

---

In addition to the joy of getting to read so many great short stories for free, one of the things I like about being an editor at Electric Spec is that I feel like, quarter to quarter, I have a window into the zeitgeist of the collective consciousness of aspiring speculative fiction writers.

This manifests itself in themes that emerge from the slush. I know there is a high chance that these themes are coincidence only. Certainly I have never invested the time in documenting themes by quarter to validate if my impressions are real or just bias. But whether it's true or not, I am convinced that Chance's shuffling of the deck often deals me what feels like an outsize proportion of stories related to one subject, quarter by quarter. We deal in a broad range of speculative fiction here at Electric Spec, so the themes vary widely: spiders one quarter, body parts another, ghosts, dragons, robots turning on their human overlords -- you name it, there has likely been a theme on it.

This quarter, I ended up with a slug of submissions all in second person. The "you" stories:
You walk into the entry of your house. You set your keys on the table. Something moves in the living room and you freeze. No one else should be home.
Or, they are first person but really just a one-sided conversation:
What's that you say? You want to buy a dragon? Well, you haven't got the guts for it, I say!

Sometimes these show up as letters to "you". I call these "Dear Mom" letters, though they can be addressed to almost anyone:
My love, I mark these last words on the silver sheen of my transport's floor, using my own blood, to convey to you all that went wrong before the crash.

A related category of You stories are really more like instruction manuals:

1. First you strap on the jet pack
2. Then you pull the string

Invariably, the concept of all of these stories is really interesting. I can't bring up examples without calling people out in a way they would immediately recognize, and that's not fair, but suffice it to say, I often reject those stories with a bit of regret because the spec fic angle is interesting and usually pretty unique. But the storytelling gets in the way of exploring the topic.

Here are two main things that I see go wrong:

Description falls away, because you're not writing in real time -- in media res or very close to it. The story becomes a talking head, and you have no room to add descriptive narration because you have now cast your story in a form that is really more just dialogue presented in a narrative format. It gets repetitive too, like the one-sided conversation, where, in order to get the You person's dialogue into the story, the character has to appear deaf or inattentive: "What's that you say? You want to buy a dragon?"

The opportunity to move into the POV character is much harder to achieve.
Here's my response to the first kind of You stories:
You walk into the entry of your house. Oh yeah? How do you know what I did? I don't use the front entry of my house -- I only use the garage entrance.
You set your keys on the table. What table? I don't have a table by my front entrance. What kind of table is it, anyway -- oh wait, there's no room for that because if you're forcing me into this You POV, then I would already know exactly what kind of table it would be, wouldn't I? It would be breaking POV to describe the table, but my ability to be inside that POV character's mind is already shot because we're two sentences in and here I am arguing with you about whether or not I would actually do any of these things that you're telling me I'm doing.

The Point of Storytelling
To the authors who submit the instruction manual stories: when has it ever been exciting to read an instruction manual? Even with the most powerful and engaging voice ever invented in fiction writing, you're already struggling to get up a big hill to hook a reader. The saying goes that someone with a beautiful voice "could read the phone book and still get an audience" -- sure, because you just need an excuse to listen to the voice, not because the content conveys any real meaning.

One exception might be Neil Gaiman's "Instructions", a poem in second person. However, I would like to point out that it is a poem, not a story. It's there to evoke a feeling, not take a reader on a journey. I might argue that the poem itself is about the hero's journey, but again, at more of an emotional level than full engagement of the imagination and senses as you would in a narrative.

A story is all about meaning. It is about taking a theme and emotionally engaging a reader so that when they get to the end, they have internalized that theme. You have touched them in a way that hopefully stays with them forever. When I think of books, I think of the line from the LOTR: Two Towers movie: Some of these were my friends!

Books -- stories -- got me through some of the darkest times in my life, by letting me escape my world, even for a brief time. Any author should be aspiring to achieve that level of meaning in a reader's life. But you do that through the hero's journey or some other construct of embedding the reader so deeply into the main character's transformation that they take that transformation with them into the real world. That doesn't have to be tragedy -- comedy can achieve the same effect. It's all just a different side of a many-sided coin.

If you prevent a reader from engaging with the main character at this level, then the transformation has not been achieved. "You" does not create intimacy. It creates distance, a gap that voice or concept really struggle to close. I'm not saying it can't be done -- I'm sure there are examples out there that have overcome this gap. But they are very rare unicorns of fiction, and probably not going to be discovered by little ole me at little ole Electric Spec.

Make your stories deeper and more engaging! Make them about "me" or a him or her that is so fabulous I want to be them -- I want to move into their mind and make myself at home. That is how transformation is achieved.

Irony
Finally, I want to note that you could argue that this article is written in second person. Here I am, talking directly to you. I appreciate the irony, but I would also argue that it underscores my point. I'm not trying to tell you a story here. I'm not trying to take you on a transformation journey that will mark your soul for all time.

I'm trying to convey advice. That's a totally different circumstance than storytelling. Stephen King, one of the greatest storytellers of our generation (and I would argue beyond) once followed up all of his stories with "Dear Reader" letters that were really the same thing as I'm doing here -- speaking in an intimate way to an unknown number of a mass audience. My audience is a lot smaller than his, guaranteed! But it serves a purpose -- and not a storytelling one. I mean, really -- who voluntarily reads an instruction manual? Who wants to find out what happens to someone who starts a "Dear Mom" story already dead? Who wants to spend the length of a story arguing with the narrator?

As far as I can tell, no one. So, my advice to you: if you have a great idea and you're struggling to put it to pages, don't fall back on "you". It's not as clever as you think it is. In fact, it's terribly limiting. If that's all you've got, marinate on it longer. Don't give in to "you". Write a real character I can get behind (or climb into) and use the story to transform that character in such a powerful way that I can't help but carry that with me for the rest of my days. You do that, and you won't be submitting to Electric Spec for very long -- you'll be on your way to the big time, for sure.

---

Very interesting! Thanks, Nikki!

our popularity grows

We are hard at work behind the scenes, toiling away on the February 2020 issue of Electric Spec. It will be another excellent issue. (And that's not braggy because it's the awesome writers that make it great.) Stay tuned for more info about it. Here, next time, I'll give the Production Meeting report.

As you may have noticed, we've increased our staff in the past few months (Hi there, Beth and Lauren! Thanks!) We had to do so because our submissions and our popularity have been growing.

Why this is happening as we begin our fifteenth year, I do not know. It's a bit mysterious--in a good way.

Thank you, everyone!

New Associate Editor Chan

We've been busy working behind the scenes at Electric Spec. We have exciting news: a new Associate Editor! Huzzah!

Beth Chan grew up in a family of readers who frequently frustrated movie lovers by telling them "the book was better". She has a BA in Asian Studies and has studied Japanese and French. She has lived, worked, and traveled throughout the US and internationally and enjoys exploring different cultures through history, language, food, and art. She is an amateur artist specializing in whimsical portrait drawings of children

We're excited to have her on the team!
Welcome, Beth!

Writing Resolutions

It's the beginning of a new year and a new decade. How exciting! Do you have any new writing resolutions? I touched on one last time, namely, to think about the interior lives of my characters more. Another writing-related resolution I have is to do a better job submitting my short stories in 2020.

Do I have any editing-related resolutions? Yes! We are already working hard behind the scenes at Electric Spec on the fabulous February 2020 issue. I announced a new associate editor, which is exciting. Consequently, we resolve to get back to authors a little more quickly moving forward.

The submission deadline for the next issue is coming up suprisingly quickly: Jan 15, 2020!
Resolve to

• grab the reader
• set the scene
• include sensory details
• not begin with the protagonist waking up
• include speculative elements
• follow the formatting and submitting guidelines

Resolve to get your story in before the deadline!
Good luck!

Interior Life?

As the new year begins the Electric Spec editors are not immune to thinking about New Year's resolutions. Every year I resolve to try to become a better writer. In 2019 this quest led me into the influence of a university Creative Writing program. Consequently, a professor really made me think about characterization. Suffice it to say, every character you create should have multiple layers. There are the external layer(s) like occupation, what he/she/it looks like, etc. And then there are internal layers such as what they feel, hope, dream--and why. A main character should also have a hidden layer, one that is revealed to the reader and the character during the course of, and as a result of, the story.

One thing I haven't thought about much is: what is the interior life of my character? This can include elements such as: How do they choose to spend their time and why? What do they choose to talk about and why? What do want their life to be like in twenty years? What do they think of the world? What are their values? What are their thoughts?

Heck, for that matter, what is my interior life?
I'll be pondering some of these ideas as we begin a new decade.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

New Associate Editor

We've been busy working behind the scenes at Electric Spec. We have exciting news: a new Associate Editor! Huzzah!

Lauren Slawson is a world traveler who believes that sometimes the best vacation is a well-written book. She is a writer, reader, and editor, and before launching her own editorial business in 2018, she worked in the production and editorial departments at Sounds True Publishing for many years. She has worked with authors at every stage of success and enjoys helping them grow.

We're excited to have her on the team!
Welcome, Lauren!

notable November issue

Woo hoo! We're still basking in the glow of the notable November 2019 issue of Electric Spec.
And how about that awesome cover art by Brian Malachy Quinn?

Thanks again to everyone who helped create the issue and to everyone who submitted! You all rock!

November 30 issue out!

The awesome November 30, 2019 issue of Electric Spec is live! Woo hoo!

Thanks so much to all the authors! Thanks so much to the cover artist!

Thanks so much to all the Electric Spec staff.

And, especially, thanks so much to all the readers!

Woo hoo!

Five More Days

Only five short days until the publication of the notable November 30, 2019 issue of Electric Spec! It's a very exciting time.

I haven't fully announced all the great stories we'll be featuring, so without further ado...

• "I Want You to Want Me" by Nicole Lungerhausen
• "Twenty-Nine Langwood Street" by Drema Deoraich
• "The Merciless Geometrical Angel" by Sergey Gerasimov
• "A Choice of Memories" by Michael Robertson
• "The Binary Conundrum" by Igor Ljubuncic
• Editor's Corner Story by Nikki Baird

Woo hoo! They're fabulous. Check them all out on November 30!

from Author Robertson

We're pleased to present the story "A Choice of Memories" by Michael Robertson in our notable November 30, 2019 issue of Electric Spec! Here's what the author has to say about it...

---

I was trying to think of a novel way to incorporate faster-than-light travel in a story, when I was struck by the thought of horse drawn carriages. What if, instead of building a new kind of drive, people encountered a new kind of creature, and made it into a beast of burden?

That's where my idea for geists came from. Filling in the concept also added questions that I tried to address in the story. Is it moral to use a creature for your own ends? The substantial differences between a geist's consciousness and a human's complicate the moral question, and of course there are those in this world who would rather not think about such questions at all.

The characters came to life for me, first, in the ways they related to their work. I tried to give the captain a shrewd arrogance, with a dash of humor, that fit her role as a leader and someone who had climbed the ranks to get where she was. I found in Jeda a world-weary professionalism with an aversion to thinking about some of the hard questions of working with geists.

The story came together around the question of how the Solar Federation ought to treat geists. What do the characters value more, the rights of alien creatures, or the practical benefits of harnessing their abilities? Examples of both responses appear, and I nodded toward a third path with the story's resolution.

---

Very interesting, Michael! Thanks!

Check out all the stories on November 30!

From Author Lungerhausen

We are pleased to present "I Want You to Want Me" by Nicole Lungerhausen in our notable November 30, 2019 issue of Electric Spec. Here's what she has to say...

---

Sometimes other stories are cued up and waiting in my subconscious while I'm actively working on another project. At the time I started "I Want You to Want Me", I was working on on a secondary world epic fantasy story that wasn’t going particularly well. While I liked the world and characters I'd made, I couldn't seem to figure what to do with them, or what point I was trying to make with the story itself. And the longer I pushed and pulled on the story parts, the more of a heavy-handed hot mess it became.

So I decided to take a break from the struggle and start a new story. I wanted to write something silly and offbeat that would make me laugh while I wrote it. The inspiration point came from "100 Days of Flash Prompts" by E.A. Deverell (www.eadeverell.com). The specific prompt was "an impulse buy leads to intergalactic warfare". While "I Want You to Want Me" probably escalates to more of an interspecies fracas than intergalactic warfare, it still leads to an increasingly chaotic, dangerous, and weird journey for Panu, the main character.

I love Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy, Shel Silverstein, and 90's Australian comedies. Though the characters, setting, and plot of this story are all mine, the story tone unabashedly echoes these influences. And it’s funny. . .even though “I Want You to Want Me” is a total 180 from the epic fantasy story I ended up abandoning, they share a similar focus on love and friendship and the fear of being left behind. It's a good reminder that, as much as I wish it was otherwise, the process of writing about the stuff that matters to me rarely follows a straight line.

---

Thanks, Nicole! Very interesting!

from Author Deoraich

It's very exciting! The notable November 30,2019 issue of Electric Spec is in the works. We had our Production Meeting and, as usual, it was diffiult picking amongst so many good stories. Folks should be getting their email notifications with decisions this week. Without further ado, let's start bragging on the new stories...

We're very pleased to be presenting "29 Langwood Street" by Author Drema Deòraich. She tells us...

---

“29 Langwood Street” was one of my very first short stories; its subject is near and dear to my heart, and I’d like to think I’d be as brave as Joe if confronted with that scenario.

Writing is such a big part of my life, I feel a little lost and adrift when I can’t get to the keyboard for a few days. Just like anything else, the more I do it, the more skilled my craft. And even though writing is sometimes the hardest thing to do, I can’t not write. Penning new stories, or even revising existing ones that haven’t yet found a home, feeds my spirit.

---

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing, Drema!

Happy Halloween!

The Electric Spec Editors have pretty much finished going through the initial slush pile. What this means to you: if you submitted during the current window July 16 through October 15, 2019 (U.S. Mountain Daylight time), you should have gotten or will be getting, an initial email very soon. This initial email says: 'No, thanks,' or 'Stay tuned.' We've gotten some feedback that people don't like to hear they made it past the first cut, but this is how we do it.

We have our Production Meeting scheduled for this Saturday Nov 2. We all meet in person and fight it out. Everyone has their story favorites so it can be an interesting meeting. Anyway, by the beginning of next week, we will have finalized the stories for the issue. We will email all the 'Stay tuned' folks as well. 'Yes' folks will get a contract. 'No' folks will get a 'No, thanks.'

It's always tough to reject a story. We do sincerely appreciate you sending us your works of art.
Hopefully, everyone is enjoying the fall season.

Happy Halloween!

manipulate reader emotions

Wow! We are busy with slush for the notable November 30, 2019 issue of Electric Spec. Thank you for sending us your stories!

I guess it's the time of year, but I'm reading a lot of stories involving murder, suicide, homicide, regicide, basically lots of death and destruction. Of course, this is the most dramatic type of story conflict. But...

An author's job is to manipulate the reader's emotions. Thus, the way to make a death a powerful story element is to make the reader care about the character before the death. I'm reading quite a few stories which thrust the death upon the reader not unlike they thrust the sword into the character--quickly, suddenly, and before we care.

How do you make a reader care? Create a realistic empathetic character. This is a character that cares about other characters and that has other characters care about him/her. Readers love an underdog, they love a character that keeps trying even when the odds are against them. There are also writerly tricks in the 'save the cat' variety: save the cat, baby, puppy from harm.

So, sure, write your murder and mayhem, but don't forget to write empathy first.

Good luck!

Deadline Today

Today, October 15, 2019, midnight U.S. Mountain Standard Time, is the deadline for the notable November 30, 2019 issue of Electric Spec.

The editors have had varying levels of success getting through slush so far. But we have all agreed that the number of stories is up and the quality remains very good.

So, thanks very much for sending us your stories! We appreciate it! Spec Fic authors are awesome! Good luck!

I better get back to slush, so I'll leave it there...

cli-fi versus lab-lit

We are very busy reading submissions for the notable November 2019 issue of Electric Spec. If you sent us a story: Thank you! If not, keep in mind the submission deadline for this issue is October 15, 2019. Good luck!

There are two relatively new fiction sub-genres called "cli-fi" and "lab-lit" which sometimes get confused.

Cli-fi is an abbreviation of climage fiction; this is literature dealing with climate change and/or global warming. Cli-fi may be speculative in nature. Thus, it might be science fiction. There are a lot of great examples of cli-fi novels and movies, e.g. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Cli-fi does not have to have any speculative element. Cli-fi may also have aspects related to science and/or laboratories, but does not need to.

Lab-lit is an abbreviation of laboratory literature; this is literature dealing with science and/or scientific laboratory culture. Lab-lit is not speculative in nature. Thus, it is not science fiction. There are also some great examples of lab-lit novels and movies, e.g. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Lab-lit does need to have some aspects related to science and/or laboratories.

Thus, if a novel is about climate science and involves laboratory scientists it can be both cli-fi and lab-lit. A great example of this is Carbon Dreams by Susan M. Gaines.

Bottom line: potential Electric Spec authors can send us their speculative cli-fi, but not their lab-lit.

Horror is hard

The deadline for the notable November issue of Electric Spec is in sight: October 15, 2019. Get those stories in!

We are deep in the slush...
Recently, I read some horror stories, and it strikes me that horror is very difficult. This is because in horror, in particular, the author needs to evoke an emotional response in the reader. Moreover, the range of emotions is not huge; generally, readers look for fear and/or a sense of the uncanny. I had a professor that always said horror needs to subvert readers' expectations of reality. Possibly, horror evokes shock or disgust--but since we focus on more macabre horror, these are less common in our 'pages.'

Supposedly Stephen King said, "Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there..." That does sound terrifying! There's clearly a reason he's considered the master.

Horror has additional common elements, including exploration of wicked deeds, events, and/or characters. Often they contain plot twists near the end. Often they have a strong spooky tone and mood, created via vivid descriptions.

Send us your horror-ible stories! :)

Slush Recommendation

We, the Electric Spec Editors, are starting to get into slush reading in a big way in preparation for the notorious November 2019 issue. Thus I have a particular recommendation...

When you've finished your story, take a step back and ask: What is this story about? What's the main point? You should be able to summarize your story succinctly.

I've read some stories which didn't go anywhere, were muddled, or anticlimactic. Basically, I couldn't have told you what the story was about. It doesn't have to be a big external plot arc. It could be a small internal character arc, such as a decision is reached or a person changes their opinion. The point is: it needs to be something.

Thus, consider asking one of your friends or family to read your story. Can they then tell you what the story is? If not, you may have a problem. But I'm sure it's easily fixable. We all know writing is rewriting.

Good luck!

Slush Suggestions

We, the Electric Spec Editors, have started the first steps to create our notable November issue. Job one is going through slush. Thus, I have some suggestions...

• Do follow our rules.
  • Submit an rtf file as an attachment.
  • Do include a cover letter.
  • Do include some variant of 'Submission' on the subject line.
• Consider length. What is the perfect length for your story.
  • Even though we accept flash, it's very difficult to tell a story in less than a thousand words.
  • Editors don't like long stories because it's more work for us.
  • I don't think readers like stories over six thousand words, either. It's a big committment.
• Make your page one awesome! This includes
  • minimal spelling mistakes,
  • minimal grammar mistakes.
  • Consider an attention-grabbing, possibly telling, first sentence.
  • Make sure your writing is smooth, not awkward.
  Sadly, if page one isn't good...we don't always read to page two.

A very helpful writing tip I received some time ago is: consider reading your work out loud. You can read it to yourself, or someone else can read it to you. This can really pinpoint where a story is working and where it's not. Where does the reader stumble? That might be a grammar problem. Does the story sound smooth? If not, how can you modify it?

Whatever your writing method(s), thank you for submitting your stories! Good luck!

Keep Learning

I spent the weekend at the 2019 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (rmfw.org) annual conference. It was an amazing and exhausting experience. I got a bunch of great writing-related ideas, from craft to writing-business topics.

I'm not saying you should go to this particular conference, but I am saying: keep learning about writing. You can get this via writing conferences, but they don't need to be big national ones. Many local libraries or colleges have smaller conferences or programs. There are also tons of online resources, including videos, virtual conferences, online writing groups and the like. Of course, there are also lots of awesome books about writing. Figure out what you need to work on and find a book about that.

Reading carefully in your genre is also super helpful. What works? What doesn't? What can you steal, er, borrow, for your work?
No matter how long you've been writing, there's always more to learn...
Good luck learning!

Awesome August Issue!

We're still enjoying the awesome August 31, 2019 issue of Electric Spec! Awesome! Thanks again, to all the authors. Thanks, Readers!

I think this is one of our most diverse issues, with a large variety of genres.

• Live Fast, Die Young by J.L. Shioshita
• A Warrior Still by Shelly Campbell
• Red Zone by Harry Pauff
• A Partial Record of the Early Life of Lys by E. Saxey
• Ten Cents to See the Unicorn by Meredith Morgenstern
• Editor's Corner Story: Lusca Bait by Minta Monroe

What do you think?

August issue is live!

The awesome August 31, 2019 issue of Electric Spec is live! Woo hoo!

Thanks so much to all the authors!

Thanks so much to all the Electric Spec staff.

And, especially, thanks so much to all the readers!

Woo hoo!

from Author Monroe

We're excited to showcase the tale "Lusca Bait" by associate editor Minta Monroe in our awesome August 2019 issue of Electric Spec. The author tells us the following...

---

One piece of writing advice that has always stuck in my mind is to blend at least two different ideas. Ideas are everywhere, and chances are pretty good that another writer has already written my first idea. But if I take another idea (the more different the better), and twist it into the first idea, then I’m more likely to come up with something unique.

This is what I tried to do with "Lusca Bait."

My first idea for that story was to write about a monster. Hardly an original idea! I went searching for a different type of monster. When I found out about the Caribbean's legendary "lusca," I decided that was what I wanted to write. The lusca gave me the setting, too, but I had no idea what the story would be. I put the idea on hold.

Some time later, a writer from the Oregon coast challenged me to write a story about one of the antiques collected by the somewhat eccentric innkeeper of a haunted hotel. Several tempting ghost stories came to mind, but I tossed them out when I came across a treasure chest, which I’m pretty sure could've belonged to a lusca in another ocean...

---

Thanks, Minta! Very interesting!
Readers, I'm intrigued, how about you?
Check out all the new stories on August 31, 2019!

from Author Campbell

We're excited to showcase the fantasy tale "A Warrior Still" by Shelly Campbell in our awesome August 2019 issue of Electric Spec. The author tells us the following...

---

Like many, I dive into stories to immerse myself into worlds far from my own comfortable living room, in the shoes of someone utterly unlike myself, because—let’s face it—I keep my own shoe collection and day-to-day life fairly bland. A Warrior Still features a main character from an entirely different species. If she wore shoes at all, they’d be horseshoes. My goal was to make her relatable.

Although Morcant is a creature of war from 4th century BC Caledonia, she navigates the common experience of motherhood, the loss of a baby, and piecing together survival beyond both. She’s also a wonderfully unreliable narrator who thinks detachment and killing are her strong suits when she’s hungering for connection, and desperate for something to live for. I loved making her world as realistic and broad as possible while never moving beyond one setting and scene.

Many thanks to Electric Spec for agreeing to publish this story. I hope you enjoy a peek into a mythical alternate history where Alexander the Great still builds his empire in the East, ancient Ireland remains isolated, but inhuman creatures are woven into the fabric of it all, and they’re not so different from us.

---

Thanks, Shelly! Very interesting!
Readers, I'm intrigued, how about you?
Check out all the new stories on August 31, 2019!

from Author Morgenstern

We're excited to showcase the fantasy tale "Ten Cents to See the Unicorn" by Meredith Morgenstern in our awesome August 2019 issue of Electric Spec. The author tells us the following...

---

There are few people in this world that I’m still friends with who knew me back when I still had my natural hair color. But Mariangelica and I have been besties for over 30 years now and, as she likes to say, “We know where each other’s bodies are buried.” Despite our drastically different personalities, backgrounds, and politics, there is no one in my life I trust more than her.

When the summer of 2016 hit Americans (and, dare I say it, the world?) like an 18-wheeler, Mari took me on a road trip. I needed it. She knew I needed it. I had just spent the better part of the previous 18 months reeling with an alphabet of emotional and behavioral diagnoses for my then-7YO. In addition to the stress that divided my country, I suddenly had to help a first grader adjust to yet another new school (his third school in less than a year because we’d just moved), put him on meds, drive him and his 3YO brother half an hour each way to therapy once a week, and self-educate on IEPs and therapeutic toys. How could I be the best parent possible for his needs? What did he need from ME? Was he going to be OK?

I needed self-care and, as much as I love my children more than life itself, I needed a break. So while we were in Miami visiting my parents anyway, Mari shoved me into a car and drove four hours, non-stop, to Universal Studios, Orlando. Did I mention that I had also broken my foot a week before? Yep. She spent two whole days pushing me around in my wheelchair and only occasionally bumping me into people, mostly not on purpose. In Florida. In August. Uphill both ways.

Everyone needs a friend like that.

A story about a special needs child and a unicorn had been bouncing around my brain for a while, and that trip gave me the structure I’d been looking for. If the two of us can be friends, if she could be there for me in ways no one else could, if she was my Person with a capital P, then maybe two characters like us could help a fictional child with special needs get a happily ever after. If we could find a way to still be friends despite the world telling us we should be enemies, then maybe others could, too. Optimism doesn’t come naturally to me – I’m usually a horror writer – but yeah, I just said that. It’s Mari’s influence.

The story is set during the Great Depression because I enjoy historical fiction and that era seemed to fit the themes of my story: swindlers, bad luck, desperation, overcoming impossible odds, and of course, unicorns. Because if anyone deserves a unicorn, it’s those who keep getting beat down yet rise up to fight another day again and again…with a little help from their friends.

And by the way? My special needs kid is now almost 11, and he’s happy, healthy, and thriving better than ever.

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Thanks for sharing, Meredith! Great backstory.
Readers, I'm intrigued, how about you?
Check out all the new stories on August 31, 2019!

from Author Saxey

We're excited to showcase the science fiction tale "A Partial Record of the Early Life of Lys" by E. Saxey in our awesome August 2019 issue of Electric Spec. The author tells us the following...

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This story is indebted to the 'Science for Fiction' events organised at Imperial College by David Clements. These talks from experts in different fields are a chance for SF writers to really raise their game. However, I'm so lacking in scientific basics that the talks often inspire me at a slant. They offer vivid images which become metaphors (neutrons jostling in a uranium nucleus turn into characters jammed into a untenable living situation). The timescales and sizes described by the astronomers dunk me right into the sublime. Those experiences fed into this story.

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Thanks, E! Very interesting!
Readers, I'm intrigued, how about you?
Check out all the new stories on August 31, 2019!

Aug 2019 Production Meeting

Yes! It's that time! The time when we meet to plan a new issue of Electric Spec! We overcame the (inter-)tuber traffic and got together. What happened at the production meeting? Why, I'm glad you asked...

The stories in hold-for-voting were more diverse than ever. And the editor's favorites were more diverse than ever, as well. :) This makes picking stories for the issue more difficult. In the past, there might have been fisticuffs, loud vigorous debate, possibly feats of strength, or magic spells to break the deadlock. This time, we just let each Editor edit their favorite stories. Problem solved.
It will be interesting to see what the overall feel of the issue is with such diverse stories.

We couldn't even agree on what the overall theme of the submissions had been. One editor thought it was love. I thought it was more like death and depression since many stories had protags die or fail in the end. You'll have to draw your own conclusions from stories published.

Of course, all this means authors should hear a final decision from us early this week about their stories. If you don't hear from us, your story may be lost in cyberspace. :(

Hopefully, we'll start getting some fun blogs from authors soon!

Be sure to check out the new issue on August 31, 2019!

l’arrière de la scène

Hi there! The Electric Spec Editors are hard at work on the awesome August 31, 2019 issue. I thought I'd give you a look l’arrière de la scène ...

We've finished reading slush for this issue. I think everyone who submitted has received at least one email. If you haven't heard from us, it's possible your story was lost in cyberspace. (Sorry!)
Now, we're working on the hardest part of the issue process: picking the stories. Generally, all the stories that get into hold-for-voting are publishable. So, if you've made it in there: congrats! Each editor ranks the stories in hold-for-voting from best to least-best.

I must admit, this process is subjective. Up until now, I try to be very objective; a good story is a good story. But when you have several good stories how do you pick between them? I think you have to be subjective. For this particular editor what goes into this ranking?

• Number of words. Stories between 1500-words and 4500-words are my favorite length.
• Less ick factor. If I'm grossed out or feel horrible after reading a story, I'm less likely to pick it.
• Less common genres. If the story is from a genre we get rarely, I'm more likely to rank it higher. What would be an example of this? Steam-punk. Any of the obscure genres I blogged about in the last month.
• Beautiful writing. This will entice me no matter what.
• A very grabby opening paragraph.
• Quantum physics and/or time travel. My favorite genres involve quantum physics and/or time travel. So, they do tend to end up higher on my list.
• Don't offend me. Anything sexist or racist will be at the bottom of my list.

If your story doesn't match up with the above list too well, don't worry! There are a bunch of other editors...

Next time: I'll tell you about the Production Meeting!

entre bastidores

As you know, we closed submissions for the awesome August 31, 2019 issue of Electric Spec July 15, 2019. Consequently, we are working on the issue entre bastidores. We received many, many lovely speculative fiction stories. Thank you for sending us your stories!

All the editors are currently going through slush and sending out rejection emails or notices of hold-for-voting.

Here are some recent sugestions I've gleaned:

• Do send us your file as an attachment in the correct format (rtf).
• Do send only one story at a time.
• Do include a brief cover letter.
• Do proofread for grammar and spelling issues. A few mistakes aren't a big deal, but a lot of mistakes will get you rejected.
• Do obey our word-ount rules, namely, 250-words to 7,000-words. A further tip: it's difficult to tell a story in less than a thousand words. Another tip: a story with more than 5,000-words makes editors tired; if your story is over 5,000-words make sure you need all those words!
• Grab the reader (aka the editor) on the first page. Short stories don't work with 250-plus words of setup--at least at this market.
• Do set the scene on the first page. As a reader, I don't want to be confused about where we are and/or who or what is there.

That's it for now. Next time, more entre bastidores!

fabulism

The deadline has passed for the awesome August 2019 issue of Electric Spec. If you got your story in: Thanks! If you didn't get your story in: consider submitting for the notable November 2019 issue. :)

In our continuing series of obscure sub-genres of speculative fiction, today we consider fabulism. Fabulism is a form of magical realism in which fantastical elements are placed into an everyday setting. If you're thinking that sounds like magical realism, I agree. Some people consider fabulism to be a type of literary, rather than genre, fiction. In this context, Gulliver's Travels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Life of Pi would be considered fabulist.

In my graduate studies of popular fiction the consensus was fabulism is a bridge between fairy tales and magical realism. Magical realism is more real than fabulism. Fabulism is more real than fairy tales. Make of all that what you will.

Bottom line: send us your magical realism, your fabulism, or your fairy tale. We enjoy them all!

What's your favorite obscure sub-genre of spec fiction?

Fairy Tales

We've all read fairy tales and know they often involve fairies (!), dwarfs, dragons, gnomes, goblins, and other similar fantastic folk. "Wait a minute," you're saying. How does this differ from fantasy? Doesn't fantasy involve stuff like gnomes, trolls, elves and the like? Yes, it does.

Fantasy, or fantastic fiction, is any kind of fiction with fantastic (not realistic) elements. It's worth noting fantasy is not based on reason or rationality. There should be some element of irrationality, such as magic.

Epic fantasy is sub-genre of fantasy with some element of epic-ness: setting, plot, or similar. Often it involves the whole good versus evil battle. Often there's a quest. High fantasy is differentiated from this by focusing a little more on character than on plot. Often there's one main protagonist. Both epic and high fantasy usually involve a secondary world--an imaginary world. Not our modern planet.

Fairy tales, then, have many similar elements of epic and high fantasy. Fairy tales are also called magic tales or wonder tales and are based in myth and/or folk tales. The main thing that differentiates fairy tales from other fantasy is the element of fable, namely, a moral lesson. There's a huge literary trove of fairy tales from Cinderella, to the Little Mermaid, Snow White, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, etc. Consequently, there have been many fun modern riffs on all aspects of these tales.

Consider sending us your fairy tale before the upcoming July 15, 2019 submission deadline for the awesome Auguest 2019 issue of Electric Spec.

magical realism

Magical realism is another genre that's a little difficult to pin down. One possible definition is: modern-world fiction with magical or fantastic elements added. Often it's quite liminal, just on, or over, the boundary of the fantastic. Sometimes, the prose itself can be distorted or unreal in some way, e.g. utilizing nonlinear time.

Traditionally, its goal has been to make the reader question reality, to make some point (often political or social) about reality. I think this intention is crucial for something to be classified as magical realism. Of course, the most famous magical realism novel is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Latin American literature has a rich history with magical realism.

How do you create it? One way is to create a story with a very detailed realistic setting and let the strange invade. This strange could be fable or folk tale brought to life. Alternately, it could include supernatural powers such as telepathy or telekinesis. You begin to see how this could be difficult to differentiate from straight fantasy.
What do you think? What is magical realism? What's the best way to create it?

Consider sending us your magical realism story before July 15, 2019 if you want to get in our awsome August 2019 issue!

slipstream fiction

There's a relatively new genre of speculative fiction called 'slipstream.' Author Bruce Sterling is credited with first defining it in 1989, It is a contemporary kind of writing which has set its face against consensus reality. It is fantastic, surreal sometimes, speculative on occasion, but not rigorously so. It does not aim to provoke a 'sense of wonder' or to systematically extrapolate in the manner of classic science fiction. Instead, this is a kind of writing that simply makes you feel very strange; the way that living in the late twentieth century makes you feel, if you are a person of a certain sensibility. Supposedly, slipstream falls between speculative fiction and mainstream fiction, so it's a sort of spec-fic 'lite.'

On the other hand, authors John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly say it's less about genre, rather, cognitive dissonance is what slipstream is all about. I've read quite a bit of fiction by Kelly Link that is considered slipstream. It's lovely. :) What do you think? What's slipstream? Who does a good job with it?

Whatever it is, we'd be happy to get some at Electric Spec. The deadline for the amazing August 2019 issue is July 15, 2019!

similarities and differences: short stories and novels

I'm judging a novel contest right now while working on Electric Spec slush. So, I've been noticing the differences between short stories and novels. And, no, I'm not talking about the obvious one: length. :) In some ways short stories are similar to novel chapter ones and in some ways they're very different.

Today's short stories must grab the reader on page one. It's even better if they grab the reader in paragraph one, or, ideally, line one. There are myriad ways to grab the reader, some of which I mentioned here last week, including unique voice, engaging character, dramatic problem, etc. The pace of a short story often builds until the end of the story, the climax, and then relaxes in a short denouement.

Today's novels must grab the reader by the end of chapter one. Chapter one usually begins by setting the scene, introducing main character(s), building the world a little. The pace of chapter one usually increases until the end. Thus, ideally, chapter one ends with a dramatic cliffhanger. Obviously, what this cliffhanger is depends on the genre. In a murder mystery, for example, usually it's a body drop.

An effective writerly trick in both is an initial sentence of telling. For example, It was the best of times.... Another effective writerly tool in both is referencing other literary works either explicitly or implicitly. Literature has a long tradition of self-reference.

Whatever you're currently writing: good luck with it!

so many stories...

We've started working on the awesome August 2019 issue of Electric Spec. I've been reading some of the many stories we've received. Wow! It seems like we're getting more and more really good stories! Thanks! Thus, instead of a list of 'don't do' from slush, I have a list of 'do do.' :) In your story:

• Do start with a unique voice.
• Do start with an engaging character.
• Do start with a dramatic problem.
• Do start with some amazing world-building.
• Do start with some intriguing and realistic dialogue.
• Do start with your_awesome_idea_here.

Thanks for sending us your stories! And keep them coming!

Hurray for us!

We're still enjoying the fabulous May 31, 2019 issue of Electric Spec! Hip, hip, Hurray!
How about that nice cover art, huh?

What's your fave story? Tar? Krarg the Barbarian vs. the Afterlife? A Mouthful of Mushies? Zhai Chengda's Wife? Kill Screen? Pride Goeth Before A Fall? Garder L'Equilibre?

We enjoyed them all and hope you did, too!

from Author Rodenhausen

On May 31, 2019 we will be featuring Evan Rodenhausen's excellent story "A Mouthful of Mushies." Here's what he has to say about it:

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Let’s talk about how lazy I am.

Every day, without fail, I think about writing. I think about it while I’m at work, I think about it while I’m going for a run, I think about it while I’m reading. I think about it with the same fear and reverence that I imagine inhabits the minds of the devoutly religious. It is, in a sense, a religion for me.

And yet, I come to it with reluctance. Writing is a daily habit for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or even compulsive. Not so much the act of writing itself—once I’m in the zone, fuggedabout it—but the commitment to sitting down for one or two or three hours and putting words on a page and banging out a story. I have to hype myself up, give myself space, build up the mentality like I’m laying the foundation of a house. Maybe it’s fear of failure, or a sense of incompetence, or just a side-effect of my constantly restless mind.

But I like to think it’s laziness.

It’s the same thing before I go for a run, or write a paper, or meet someone for dinner. I find all of these things fulfilling and enjoyable—but why do them when I could nothing! And so we come to this story, “A Mouthful of Mushies”, which the editors at ElectricSpec have so graciously agreed to publish. Change is hard. Laziness can creep into your life under the guise of habit or routine—I like to run the same five-mile loop four days a week, go for dinner at the same three or four places, and write about the same sorts of people (men) in the same sorts of situations (despair).

See where I’m going with this? You can be active, you can be social, you can go through the routine and the self-hype and sit down and write for two hours every day and still be lazy. If you’re not growing, I feel, you’re being lazy.

And that’s fine. Sometimes you want to be lazy, sometimes it’s good for you to be lazy. But when I handed a friend another story of mine about another dude in another bummer of a situation filled with vague supernatural elements he said, “It’s fine, but why don’t you try something different?”

“What do you mean?” I said.

“I don’t know. Write about women. Something different.”

Ok then. I don’t think “A Mouthful of Mushies” is a great story by any means, but I do think it’s solid. More than that, I’m proud of it. It forced me to try something new, put me in a foreign land, and made me grow. Writing, as much as any other formative influence in my life, has shaped who I am today. But like your parents or your hometown or your life experiences, they shouldn’t limit you. You should grow with them, learn from them.

This story is for Ryan Flynn, who made me a better writer without even realizing it.

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Very interesting! Thanks, Evan!
Check out "A Mouthful of Mushies" and the other stories now!
Electric Spec.

We're Live!

The marvelous May 31, 2019 issue of Electric Spec is live! Woo hoo!

Thanks so much to all the authors!

Thanks so much to all the Electric Spec staff.

And, especially, thanks so much to all the readers!

Woo hoo!

from Author Johnston

On May 31, 2019 we will be featuring Andrew Johnston's excellent story "Kill Screen." Here's what he has to say about it:

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The Twilight Zone is perhaps my favorite show of all time, and time has only magnified my appreciation for it. There's a simplicity in the show that's often absent in comparable genre anthology shows, including its own revivals. Absent the effects and production values of movies (or for that matter, modern prestige TV), The Twilight Zone sold itself on the fundamentals of live visual storytelling, especially writing and acting.

A great example of this dynamic - and one of my personal favorite episodes - is "A Game of Pool," starring Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters in, to quote Rod Serling, "the story of the best pool player living and the best pool player dead." This is a thirty minute program with few distractions - two actors, one simple set, a plot that's laid out in its entirety within the opening minutes. From that point on, everything is presented through dialogue and camera angles, and the creators needed nothing else.

If you're going to steal, steal from the best. "Kill Screen" is one of several stories I've written that are based on Twilight Zone episodes, and is one of my favorites. It is not a direct one-to-one adaptation, nor is it meant to be. The aesthetics of an arcade are very different than those of a pool hall, and they attract very different crowds. "A Game of Pool" was a quiet, isolated match between two men with that isolation adding to the suspense, whereas "Kill Screen" uses the growing crowd and chaos to generate a different sort of tension.

"Kill Screen" is also one of my longer stories, mainly because as I wrote it I found myself bringing more and more outside references. Aside from being a Twilight Zone homage, it is also a love letter to retro video games. Some of those references are obvious - the cabinet itself, with its deadly legacy, is a reference to the 1980 game Berzerk, and the antagonist bears more than a slight resemblance to recently disgraced arcade icon Billy Mitchell. As I wrote it, though, I had a hell of a lot of fun dreaming up colorful figures for Jimmy's list of victims, who constitute a Cavalcade of People Who Take Video Games Too Seriously (a list that includes Jimmy himself, though he's too egotistical to acknowledge that).

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Very interesting! Thanks, Andrew!
Check out "Kill Screen" and the other stories on May 31, 2019!

from Author McKeever

On May 31, 2019 we will be featuring Tim McKeever's excellent story "Pride Goeth before a Fall." Here's what he has to say about it:

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I don't know about you, but I find that there are few things more pedantic than reading an author's description about his own composition, inspiration and intent. You often end up with a self-congratulatory piece that is more about revisionist history than the true creative process. I offer Poe’s The Philosophy of Composition as a case in point. In an effort to avoid pomposity -- which I've already failed to do by using the word pomposity -- I generally shrug off questions about the creative process. Why be a jerk when you don’t have to?

And yet here we are.

I tried to explain Pride Goeth before a Fall to a colleague at work. I've done similar things in the past, and it always goes the same way. I start by explaining the tenants of hardboiled crime and what writers were doing in the 40s with detective fiction. People are generally interested and might even be familiar with The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep. I tell them that I like the style and borrow from it. By way of explanation I might explain the scene of the story, in this case an upper class brothel hidden in an ordinary suburb. This may elicit a few questions or comments, and the conversation progresses. After some further niceties, I casually mention that my main character is a demon. Moments later I'm alone at the water cooler.

Belial as a main character in a hardboiled story sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud. I get that, but stick with me. The heroes of hardboiled crime are men and women that do the right thing in an uncaring world that doesn't acknowledge their efforts. This style of storytelling avoids simple solutions of clear morality, looking instead at the complexity of the human condition. The best outcome may not always be a fairy tale ending, but it’s better than the alternatives presented by the narrative. Hardboiled heroes are real people with real problems. They fight their personal demons, but try to do what’s right. Who better to tell that story than a demon himself?

The rest fell into place with the usual sort of influences: TV, film, books, media, popular culture. If you have a character you like, build the rest of the story from your own interests. It really is that simple. If it connects with you, it will connect with someone else. Beg, borrow and steal to create something unique. Poe would like you to think it's more complicated than that, but take a look at his personal history. Is there any wonder he wrote the works that he did? If a literary great couldn't escape his influences, what hope do the rest of us have? In the end, my message is a simple one that doesn't require a rambling essay with a shot of self-aggrandizement.

Put simply: shut up and write.

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Very interesting! Thanks, Tim!
Check out "Pride Goeth before a Fall" and the other stories on May 31, 2019!

from Author Foster

One of the excellent stories we'll be featuring on May 31, 2019 is "Krarg the Barbarian vs. the Afterlife" by Luke Foster. Luke sent us some thoughts...

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Comedy is a funny thing, no pun intended.

I've written and drawn comic strips and comic books for almost 11 years now, and most of them were comedies. Comedy and comics have gone hand-in-hand for almost a century, and they will continue to do so as long as comics are made.

But writing prose comedy is a much different beast. Instead of relying on visuals to help sell (or, in some cases, be) the joke, you need to work with the reader's imagination and really have a knack for language to make the laughs come to life. Writers like Douglas Adams, P. G. Wodehouse, and even Robert B. Parker had a real aptitude for writing and comedic timing, and not only were they gifted with those skills, but they made it look effortless, too. That, in many ways, takes just as much talent.

As much as I love comedy, this is actually the first humorous prose piece I've written. When I'm working in this medium, I tend to lean towards crime, horror, and other, darker genres. This story, though, just had to be a comedy. The moment I was given the challenge "write a story about death that isn't negative or grim" was the moment Krarg the Barbarian was born. I may not be Adams, Wodehouse, or Parker, but I hope you get as many laughs reading this story as I did writing it.

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Very interesting! Thanks, Luke!
Be sure to check out this story and all the others on May 31, 2019.

from Author Knighton

We're pleased to feature the excellent story "Zhai Chengda's Wife" by Andrew Knighton in the may 31, 2019 issue of Electric Spec. Andrew tells us...

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The Inspiration Behind Zhai Chengda's Wife:

One of the toughest things we can do for something we love is to acknowledge its faults. Whether it's tolerating your partner's snoring or recognising that eating a whole cheesecake will expand your waistline, it's tough to accept that there's bad mixed in with the good. But when it comes to writing fiction, acknowledging those problems gives us a chance to grow.

I love steampunk fiction, and I'm terribly aware of one of its biggest problems - that it's very Eurocentric. As a genre, it's usually focused on the achievements of the western world, particularly Britain, to the exclusion of other societies. There's nothing wrong with stories set in London, Paris, or for the more adventurous the Wild West. But steampunk can be so much more, and thinking about that inspired me to reach further afield for a setting.

Historically, China has been responsible for many of the world's great inventions, from gunpowder to the printing press, and that makes it a natural location for a steampunk story. Inspired by the industrial achievements of Song Dynasty China, I created a world in which the Chinese Empire has made great leaps forward, including airships and rocketry, and is dominating its neighbours. Not everyone wants to bow down before a great power, and a nation on the borders is intent on resistance. But when your opponent is a military giant, more subtle forms of resistance are needed, and so a tale of spies and diplomacy begins. This is the story of Zhai Chengda’s Wife.

Many details in this story are extrapolated from real life. From the military manuals to the political conflict, everything has its roots in something from our world. This isn't a story about the world as it was, but perhaps it's a world as it could have been. And if it adds to the variety of those steampunk unrealities, then I'll consider my work well done.

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Thanks, Andrew! Very interesting!
Be sure to check out this story and the others May 31, 2019!

May 2019 Production Meeting

We, the Editors of Electric Spec, had our in-person Production Meeting recently. Yes, in the Star Wars Day/Cinco de Mayo/Kentucky Derby/Game of Thrones/Avengers craziness we still managed to get together. At a cidery, no less! At least this time we didn't have to contend with hundreds of golden retrievers.

Meeting face-to-face goes back to when the 'zine first started fifteen (!) years ago. We fight it out in person, each promoting our favorite stories submitted for the issue. There were an unusual number of finalists this time. We feel blessed to have so many writers share their art with us. Thank you for sending us your stories!

By now, hopefully, everyone who made it into hold-for-voting will have heard back from us with either a 'Yay!' or a 'Nay!' We're all writers so we know it is annoying/depressing to receive a rejection. If you received a reject from us: Sorry! But you can take heart that your story is publishable. Yay authors need to send back the contract and paypal info to get the editing process going.

I'm hesitant to say it, because something could go wrong, but it looks like we will be publishing six spec fic stories in the marvelous May 31, 2019 issue!

So, stay tuned right here for info from featured authors in the coming weeks.
Woo hoo!

hard at work!

We, the Electric Spec Editors, are hard at work on the next issue. The good news is we have lots of awesome stories to choose from. The bad news is we have lots of awesome stories to choose from.

I better get back to it.

Next week I'll let you know what happened at the production meeting...