Story Feedback

Savvy writers know the submission deadline for the awesome August 2021 issue of Electric Spec is coming up on July 15, 2021! Get those stories in!

We have started working on the new issue, in particular, on stories in the slush pile. We periodically get requests for story feedback from editors. Sorry! We can't do that except... right here! So here you go:

• Be wary of starting your story with the protagonist waking up. (We see this A LOT.)
• Do submit your story as an attachment in the correct format.
• Do include a cover letter with the word count. There is no need to summarize the story. If the editor can't figure it out...not good.
• Do include some kind of speculative element in your story.
• Do write something original and unique.
• Do read earlier versions of the ezine so you know what we like. The good news is: they're free!

We'll probably include more tips right here next week.
Good luck with your writing!

market resources

There are many on-line resources for authors seeking markets for their fiction.
My fave is: https://ralan.com/ .
Obviously, if you are reading this, you are familiar with the best spec fic market of all: Electric Spec! :)
I heard about an article on authorspublish.com recently: 28 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Markets That Pay.

They say: Electric Spec is a speculative fiction magazine that is published four times per year and they will consider any story between 250 and 7,000 words with speculative fiction elements. They prefer science fiction, fantasy and the macabre, and pay $20 for every story they publish. Although they don’t acknowledge story receipt, they aim to respond within 135 days by email, with a “reject”, “accept”, or “hold-for-voting” message. If you haven’t received any message by that time, please resubmit. Take a look at their submission guidelines here. Read the current and previous issues here.
I didn't include their links.

I must admit I don't know much about this site, but it's nice to be mentioned. If you do know about it, feel free to comment. ;)

Electric Spec is currently accepting submissions!

56th Annual Nebula Awards

Perhaps it's a bit old-fashioned, but I've always been a big fan of the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and their annual awards, the Nebulas. This past Saturday they announced the winners of the 56th annual awards. They include

• BEST NOVEL Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
• BEST NOVELLA Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom)
• BEST NOVELETTE "Two Truths and a Lie", Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)
• BEST SHORT STORY "Open House on Haunted Hill", John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots)

Congratulations to the winners and all the nominees!
I believe you can see the ceremony on sfwa_youtube.

basking in the glow

We are still basking in the glow of the new isssue of Electric Spec.
In this issue, we're proud to share:

• "A Touch of Cooperation" by D. A. D'Amacio--There's a great prize to be had on a hostile alien world, but no single person has the strength to claim it.
• "The Kipnibble Singularity" by Andrea M. Pawley--When an AI society arises in the most unlikely of places, how will they treat humans... or cats, for that matter?
• "Jeremy Sleeps" by Elizabeth Guilt--To be in love is to share our dreams... yet for one woman, the experience is anything but a honeymoon.
• "The Law of Stonekin" by Sean Mabry--In gargoyle culture, there are a few simple rules for survival. Then there's always that one person who has to push the limits...
• "The Annie Scam" by Luke Foster--Social media gives us a seductive illusion of connection--and for one influencer, reality crashes down in a startling way.

Woo hoo!
Check it out!

The New Issue Is Out!

The marvelous May 2021 issue of Electric Spec is out! Woo hoo!

Thank you so much to all the authors! To the cover artist! To the Electric Spec team! It's an honor to work with so many great creatives. Woo hoo!

And, of course, the reason we're all here: Thank you Readers!

from Author Pawley

We are excited to feature a brand new tale from Andrea M. Pawley in our marvelous May 31, 2021 issue of Electric Spec. It is called "The Kipnibbles Singularity." Here's what the author had to say about it:

---

Here's a fun thing to do -- find out how the brains of your friends work. I promise that interesting conversations will result.

Start by telling a friend that you're going to say a few sentences and that you'll ask afterward about what you just said. Then say something like this, "You see a person walking beside the street. Someone going in the other direction passes with a dog, and a car drives by." It doesn't much matter what you say. Just be sure to leave out the details, and only offer a few simple sentences about a scene. Then ask your friend to tell you what you just said.

Some people will add texture to the recollection. Some will stick to what you said. Others may only be able to recall one sentence. Regardless, when that's done, ask your friend if the thing they just recalled was something they saw or something they heard or something else entirely. The point is to get to how they formed and retained the memory.

In doing this little brain glimpse exercise with one of my favorite writer friends, I learned that she created the memory of what I said completely in sound. She had no visual at all. It turns out that when she writes, she doesn't see anything either. I was stunned at the time, but my conversation with her was an early one. I've since learned that the way memory works is all over the place.

I have about six mental tracks going at once with four of them completely visual. In my field of view when my eyes are open, the layers I can see exist on top of each other. One of the non-visual mental tracks sometimes ponders what it would be like not to have so many tracks observing and thinking about things all the time. The irony isn't lost on me.

In my visual way, I wrote "The Kipnibbles Singularity." I started with the name Vespasian. The image of a cat immediately came to mind, and I started to look around in my brain for what was in Vespasian's environment and what was important to him. The house revealed itself to me from the ground up. I saw that Vespasian had very strong feelings toward his food bowl, and that bowl was special in a science fiction way.

That story was a lot of fun to write. My mental tracks don't spend much time visualizing a technological singularity, but when they do, Vespasian the Cat is always involved.

---

Very interesting! Thanks, Andrea! Check out all the stories on May 31, 2021!

from Author Guilt

We are excited to feature a brand new tale from Elizabeth Guilt in our marvelous May 31, 2021 issue of Electric Spec. It is called "Jeremy Sleeps." Here's what the author had to say about it:

---

Sleep can telescope or collapse time, and can mess with our perceptions. Yet because it's something that we (usually) do every day, we regard it as mundane.

Sometimes we're not even aware that we are sleeping. How often have you seen someone asleep on a sofa, snoring, only to have them open their eyes and deny that they've been asleep? Sometimes, lying awake at night, I feel as if I haven't slept at all - but am aware that the time has passed too quickly for that to be true. I might have memories of things that happened during the night which, when considered in the literal light of day, are too fantastical to have actually happened. Conversely, sometimes people will tell me things I said or did which I don't remember at all.

Years ago, I woke up in the middle of an argument; I was furious that a friend refused to accept what I was saying. As I repeated my point over and over, my conviction faded until I realised that I was talking absolute rubbish. By the time I was properly with it, I couldn't even remember what it was I'd been trying to say. The friend, by the way, was genuinely present, and was somewhere between amused and baffled by their end of the conversation - apparently I'd appeared completely alert the entire time, forming sentences that were syntactically correct, but utterly meaningless.

I am a sound sleeper, and often my alarm clock intrudes into a reality which waking-me wouldn't recognise. The things I believe about this little, ringing monster beside my bed - and the decisions I can take while wrestling with it - often owe far more to dream logic that sense. I am, quite literally, not myself when only half awake.

Sleep is, by any definition, a mind-altering substance, and I wanted to write a story which explored the experience of living more permanently in that half-space between sleeping and waking.

---

Very interesting! Thanks, Elizabeth! Check out all the stories on May 31, 2021!

from Author Mabry

We are excited to feature a brand new tale from Sean Mabry in our marvelous May 31, 2021 issue of Electric Spec. It is called "The Law of Stonekin." Here's what the author had to say about it:

---

Why non-human protagonists?

That is the question I often ask my imagination, and always with a tone of accusation. After all, it’s much more difficult to write non-human protagonists. Whenever I do, I have to work that much harder to help the reader relate to them.

So what makes Guillaume the Gargoyle like us? What makes his story worth our time? A few things. First, he has an insatiable desire for novelty. I once read an essay about early human sex differences. It talked about the male tendency to push out into the unknown even in times of relative peace and comfort. That's weird, isn't it? And while it's not exclusive to males, it does speak to a certain impulse that makes our species unique.

Second, he's selfish, but in a particular way. He has an idea of what he wants and he makes the deadly mistake of assuming others want the same. Worse, he acts on it. If Guillaume wanted to hurt others, especially Benoit, then he'd be a flat, boring villain. Instead, his fundamental goodness becomes corrupted by a subtle and devious Ego. Sound familiar?

Third, and finally, he’s trapped in the Cycle of Trauma. Tauri the Stoneweaver created the Stonekin to suit his own needs. Guillaume created Benoit to suit his. Is Guillaume not perpetuating the same harm as before? He is, at first. He only escapes the cycle by sacrificing his own happiness for the autonomy of his new friend. Of course, that very decision earns him a second chance.

And if a weatherbeaten gargoyle can find his redemption, can't we all?

---

Very intersting! Thanks, Sean! Check out all the stories on May 31, 2021!

from Author Foster

We are excited to feature a brand new tale from Luke Foster in our marvelous May 31, 2021 issue of Electric Spec. It is called "The Annie Scam." Here's what the author had to say about it:

---

Not every pandemic story is about a virus. Last year, many people tried their hand at online dating, some for the first time. Other people tried to take advantage of them. Those stories inspired "The Annie Scam."

---

Fun! Thanks, Luke! Check out all the stories on May 31, 2021!

Cover Reveal!

We are excited to feature art by Michael Anthony Dioguardi for our May 2021 cover. He shared "We Get to Eat Now" with us:

About the piece, he says: My mushrooms need goopy yellow plutonium juice to thrive. They need to eat, right? We must continue to provide for them. Quinuclidinyl benzilate does wonders for their spore production And dimethylheptylpyran--such an aphrodisiac!

Fun! Thanks for sharing, Michael! Check out his bio on our Artists page. Check the whole issue on May 31, 2021!

Production Meeting Report

The marvelous May 31 2021 issue of Electric Spec is coming in less than one month! Woo hoo! We had a great Production Meeting recently. I think we had as many cats in attendance as people--that's virtual meetings for you! Hopefully, it was our LAST virtual meeting! It was great because we got a lot of excellent stories and we were in agreement about how fabulous they were. If you submitted: thank you! We are very grateful to get so many excellent stories and pieces of art.

Down to business... All authors should have received an email from us with a yea or nay by now or within the next couple of days. If you haven't heard from us: please resubmit. Mysteriously, it does seem like cyberspace eats a story every once in a while. :(
Savvy readers of this blog know 'yea' emails are accompanied by a contract. Please send those back ASAP so we can start editing your story. Don't worry! We edit with authors.

All this means we should start posting blog entries from contributors in this exact space very soon. Woo hoo! Stay tuned!

May the Fourth Be With You!

behind the scenes

We are preparing the marvelous May 2021 issue of Electric Spec! We are working hard to finish those last stories in the slush pile. We are rereading all the stories in hold-for-voting. We are ranking the stories in hold-for-voting. We are chosing our favorite cover art. We are polishing items for Editor's Corner. We are planning the Production Meeting.

Bottom line: next week I'll give the Production Meeting report here.

Thank you very much for submitting your stories! We really appreciate it!

utilize your uniqueness

The deadline for the marvelous May 2021 issue of Electric Spec has passed--but never fear, you can submit for the awesome August issue. :)
We have received many, many excellent stories. Thank you for submitting! The time-crunch is on to finish the stories in the slush-pile. If you submitted, you should hear from us within the next two weeks.

How do you get your story published? You write the story only you can write. This means we want to see unique specific details of setting, world(s), characters, thoughts, feelings, and the like.
What are you passionate about? Why? Show us! What do you have expertise on? Why? Show us! What experiences have you had? What people have you known? What are your values and ideals? What are your dreams? What are your worries and fears?

When you incorporate your specifics, your story will shine!
Good luck!

Your First Page

The deadline for the marvelous May 2021 issue of Electric Spec is fast approaching: April 15, 2021. Get those stories in!
We get hundreds of submissions for each issue. (Yay!) This means we do not read every story in the slush pile from start to finish. Sorry.

This means your first page needs to be very good, and your first paragraph needs to be very good. Grab the attention of the editors with something unique. This could be beautiful prose, a dramatic problem, a personable voice, or a fascinating world. This could be a speculative fiction genre we don't get often such as steampunk, or humorous horror. This could also be a fun mash-up of speculative genres.

Often authors waste precious real-estate on the first page with backstory, setting descriptions or world-building info-dumps. Another way of putting this: often authors start the story too early. Start your story when the story starts.
If you must include backstory, descriptions, info-dumps, etc. put them a little later. (Notice this is market-dependent; some markets like front-loaded description.)

I hate to be negative, but ... If you have weird formatting, grammar issues or other similar problems on your first page, it will count against you.

Good luck making your first page awesome!

don't annoy the editors

The deadline for the marvelous May 2021 issue of Electric Spec is a little over a week away. Get those stories in! Thank you for submitting! :)

Today, I thought I'd pass along some tips regarding not annoying your editors.

• Don't ask for an update on your story. Unfortunately, we just don't have the resources for this.
• Don't ask for exceptions to various submission rules. Please do attach your story as an rtf file. Please do use standard formatting.
• Don't send your submission to the wrong email address. It likely will get lost even if you send it to editors at you-know-where. Again, we just get too much email to deal with this.
• Don't submit a story outside the word count limits. We won't bend the rules for your story.
• Don't critique instructions on the submisisons page or elsewhere on the website.
• Don't tell us the wrong things in your cover letter. I don't want to know you've never published a story before. I don't want to know your political or religious or other very subjective opinions. If you've published dozens of stories before I don't want to know the names of all the markets; pick the top few. Don't summarize your story.
• Do tell us your name (and pen name, if relevant), your story name, your story genre, your story word count. Do tell us a short writing-related bio.
• Don't open your story with a lot of racism, misogyny, brutal murder-of-editors (!), or other offensive stuff.

Good luck!

Consider Kindness

Yes! We are working hard on the marvelous May 31, 2021 issue of Electric Spec. The submission deadline for this issue is fast approaching: April 15, 2021 U.S. Mountain Time Zone. Get those stories in! Thank you if you have already submitted.

I must admit some real-world events have overtaken us, or at least, me. I live less than a mile from a recent mass-shooting in the U.S. The rest of the editors live in the same general area. Consequently, I have no stomach for stories full of dead bodies. If you have such a story, please wait to submit it. If you've already submitted such a story: sorry, try another market.

We will all get through these challenging times with time and kindness.

Take care!

Consider vaccination

The pandemic has been challenging for everyone.
Please continue to follow best safety practices: wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands, avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces.
Please consider getting the vaccination when you are eligible.

I'm looking forward to the day when we're all safe! Take care!

Consider writing positive

We're still enjoying the fabulous February 2021 issue of Electric Spec. But we have started reading slush for the next issue. We've already received many, many stories. If you've submitted one: thank you!

The last year has been difficult for everyone. At the last Electric Spec meeting the editors discussed how tough it had been and how we didn't really have the stomach for negative, depressing, or dytopian stories.
So, if you're writing, consider creating a story with a more positive spin. Optimistic stories will get more editor-love in the near future.

Hopefully, things will get better and better as 2021 progresses...

Fun February Issue!

The February 28, 2021 issue of Electric Spec is loads of fun. Did you see the excellent cover art:

by Anselmo J. Alliegro?

Did you read part 1 of Nikki Baird's enjoyable short story "The Iron That Binds?" What will happen in part 2?

Did you read the fascinating interview of D.A. D'Amico Interview by Candi Cooper-Towler? How has D.A. managed to published in Electric Spec multiple times? What does he know about audio publication? Read about these topics and much more!

Woo hoo! New issue!

We're still very excited about the fabulous February 2021 issue of Electric Spec. Perhaps you've already devoured the whole thing? If not...

Here's what we've got for you in our first 2021 issue:

• "Al and the Skeleton Tree" by Paul Wilson--Is the most notorious tree in a run-down neighborhood really haunted...or is the mystery even deeper?
• "Keeper John" by Bill Hughes--An elite courier of magical artifacts receives the deadliest package of his career.
• "The Flip Side" by Jay Tyler--Extreme measures to control overpopulation conceal an even darker secret.
• "Visiting Hours" by Selah Janel--The faerie hunter known as the Erlking pursues the one mortal who escaped him.
• "Paper Wings" by Brian Low--In the chaos of the Three Kingdoms era, a young scavenger befriends a magical paper bird.

Woo hoo!