Happy New Year from Electric Spec

Merry Christmas from Electric Spec!

Please Whitelist Us

We're still enjoying the latest issue of Electric Spec, but we have started working on the awesome February 2023 issue! We are knee-deep in the slushpile, reading stories. Thank you for sending in your stories!

In recent weeks, we've been having some trouble with authors not receiving our 'yay' or 'nay' emails. There's an easy-ish fix for this. When you send in your submission, please consider whitelisting (or approving) the electricspec email address.

Unfortunately, each type email software does this a little differently.
For example, for gmail:

1. Click the gear icon in Gmail and select "See all settings" from the Quick settings menu.
2. Navigate to "Filters and Blocked Addresses" in the top menu.
3. Select "Create a new filter."
4. Add a specific email or a whole domain in the "From" field.
5. Click "Create filter."
6. Check "Never send it to Spam" in the checkbox.
7. Click "Create filter."

For Outlook:

1. Click the gear icon in Outlook and select "View all Outlook settings."
2. Select "Mail" from the settings menu.
3. Choose "Junk email" from the submenu.
4. Click "Add" under "Safe senders and domains."
5. Enter the email address that you want whitelisted.
6. Choose "Save."

Good luck!
And keep sending those stories in!

Basking in the Glow

Huzzah! We're still basking in the glow of the awesome November 2022 Electric Spec issue!
So many great stories...

• "Bliss" by Chet Gottfried -- Bad enough to be boarded by ruthless space pirates... but now the ship is drunk, too?
• "Maysi's First Assignment" by Lyndon Perry -- Making the grade as a warden against evil takes more than witchcraft.
• "Princess Moon Lily's Last Riddle" by Leonora Lewis -- Defeating a cruel tecno-goddess at her own rigged game will take a special kind of hero.
• "Her Teeth are Long and Full of Venom" by Donna J. W. Munro -- A sin eater's job is as thankless as it gets, yet a good monster can lighten the load.
• "Grave Goods" by Michael Allen Austin -- An invitation to a distant relative's funeral turns into a ceremony of terror.

Which story is your favorite?

November Issue Live!

The awesome November 30, 2022 issue of Electric Spec is live!
Thank you so much to our artist and authors!
Thank you to the Electric Spec staff! You rock!
In particular, thanks againt to departing Editor Nikki Baird. Thank you for all your years of dedicated service!

And, last but not least: thank you readers!

November Cover Reveal!

It's almost time for our awesome November 30, 2022 issue of Electric Spec! Check out the excellent cover by artist Brian Malachy Quinn:

Happy Thanksgiving!

From Author Lewis

We are excited to feature "Princess Moon Lily's Last Riddle" by Author Leonora Lewis in the awesome November 2022 issue of Electric Spec. Leonora was kind enough to send along some comments about the story.

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I've read too many fairy tales with princesses sending princes to die on impossible quests or having them executed for not answering riddles. What did I find most disgusting? The hero who succeeds at the quest or answers the riddle and willingly marries a mass murderess and lives happily ever after. I found myself asking, what about all the others who died? What about their families who loved them? That's why I wrote this story.

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Thanks, Leonora! Very interesting!
Be sure to check out "Princess Moon Lily's Last Riddle" and all the rest of the stories on November 30, 2022!

from Author Gottfried

We are excited to feature "Bliss" by Author Chet Gottfried in the awesome November 2022 issue of Electric Spec. Chet was kind enough to send along some comments about the story.

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Thoughts on Bliss, or Blissful Thoughts:
Any story that I write begins with a central idea (and I expect that to be a common habit among many, if not most, writers).

Thus "Bliss" began as a one-line entry in what I call my 'idea file,' something I generally keep open since it is impossible to predict when an idea will arrive. For "Bliss," the one line had to do with a drunk spaceship, which sounded like fun, but the idea remained idle for months until the second idea came along. And that was a planet that has a natural alcoholic content. Yes! Lakes, seas, and oceans of different types of alcoholic beverages. Both ideas linked very well together, and along with the planet (named "Bliss"), created the tension I needed in the story.

I like to have two or more opposing sides in any given story. On the surface (if you don't mind a pun), an alcoholic planet is fantastic: for the tourist trade, the hotel industry, and so forth. They're the positive forces. But what about the other side? There are wineries and distilleries and so forth. What happens to their business endeavors? A third possible issue would be teetotalers. What would be more abhorrent to a teetotaler than a planet of alcohol?

These groups had the main issues of "Bliss" firmly in hand. Then came the characters. Who would they be? Who is most likely to fly in what amounts to a tramp cargo spaceship? Who would want to hire it? There are different goals and different motivations. All of which contributed to the fun of writing the story, in which the various characters show their strong and weak points.

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Thanks, Chet! Very interesting!
Be sure to check out "Bliss" and all the rest of the stories on November 30, 2022!

Spook-tacular Production Meeting

Among blowing autumn leaves, diminutive ghouls and goblins, and hordes of homecoming celebrators, we had our production meeting for the notable November 2022 issue of Electric Spec. (Note to future self: don't meet in Boulder on Homecoming weekend the day before Halloween.) Luckily, we only had one item knocked over on our table. Was it a ghost?

As usual, we had a lot of very nice stories to choose from. As usual, it was difficult to make said decisions. But, also as usual, we persevered to put together the issue.
Successful authors should hear from an editor, including their contract, by the end of this week. Unsuccessful authors should have heard from us already. If you haven't heard from us by now, your story may have been lost in cyberspace. :(
As soon as editors received the signed contracts back, they'll start working with authors to make the stories even better. Once the editor and author are happy with the story we'll send it to the proofreader and post a preview version. Authors should double-check this version and approve it or give further feedback.
And then we publish the new issue! Woo hoo!

Next week we'll start bragging about the new issue...

If you submitted: Thank you!

Thanks and Good Luck Nikki!

We are working hard behind-the-scenes at Electric Spec! We're almost done with slush for the wonderful November 2022 issue! We have the Production Meeting coming up this weekend. Stay tuned for more info about the new issue next week!

In other news, one of our editors of many years, Nikki Baird, is moving on. Nikki started out as a slush reader and associate editor many years ago and was promoted to Editor years ago. We are sorry to see her go.
Thanks so much for all your years of hard work, Nikki! You rock! Good luck with all your exciting new challenges! We look forward to seeing all you accomplish! Woo hoo, Nikki!

Tips from an Editor

The submission deadline has passed so we are working fast and furious now on the fabulous November 2022 issue of Electric Spec. We get a lot of slush--which is great. But it also means we have a lot of work to get through it all. Here are some tips for publication that other editors might not admit. Sadly, when push comes to shove, we may be looking for reasons to reject you.

• Follow instructions.
  • Do submit your file in the format we request.
  • Do include some kind of cover letter.
  • Do obey word-length rules.
  • Don't include weird formatting.
• speaking of Word-length...
  • Submitting the maximum number of words will make success more difficult, because editors don't really want to edit such long stories.
  • Conversely, submitting less than 1000 words will also make success more difficult, because it's difficult to tell a full story in so few words.
• Genre.
  • We get a lot of dark, depressing stories. I guess it's because we accept 'macabre.' Personally, I'm tired of murder stories. If you submit a more positive story you might be more successful.
  • other genres we don't get as much include: steampunk (basically, any kind of punk), alternative history, cli-fi, magical realism, and any kind of genre mashup. Less common genres will be more successful because they seem more fresh and fun.

I guess that's enough for now. I better get back to work!
If you submitted: Good Luck!

Deadline Looming!

Phew! Where does the time go? The Fall season is well underway which means the submission deadline for the notorious November 2022 issue of Electric Spec is looming! It is October 15, 2022.
In particular, we're looking for genre mashups, alternative history, steampunk, cli-fi. magical realism and other fun stuff! Get those stories in!

Thank you!

Writing Race

Another potential conundrum for authors is writing race. In Craft in the Real World Matthew Salesses also addresses this issue. Check it out if you can.

I've pondered writing race quite a bit. Some writers specify the races of all characters. Some writers specify the races of no characters. Some writers give descriptive details and let the reader decipher races for themselves. I must admit I've tried all methods with varying success. What do you prefer?
I think the takeaway should be to treat all the characters consistently re. race descriptions (unless there's a conscious choice not to).

The deadline for the awesome November 2022 issue of Electric Spec is fast approaching: midnight U.S. mountain time October 15, 2022!

Writing Culture

Continuing the discussion of Matthew Salesses' Craft in the Real World, he makes a great point about writing about one's culture. When workshopping you can get confusing advice about writing the sensory details of a culture:

1. Choose "striking" or "lasting" or "unusual" (or so forth) details.
2. Leave out unnecessary of "common" details.
3. Defamiliarize the familiar.

I say write what you want, and don't explain anything. At Electric Spec we have had many writers from numerous different countries and if a reader is occasionally a little confused, so be it. :)
What do you think?

What is a story?

What is a story? I recently read a very interesting book Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salesses. Salesses says "Craft is part of the history of Western empire...What we call craft is in fact nothing more or less than a set of expectations. ...These expectations are never neutral. They represent the values of the culturally dominant population..."

Wow! While this is very obvious in hindsight, I'd never thought about it this way before.
A writer (in the culturally-dominant Western population) might say a story is: a protagonist with a problem acts to solve that problem and either succeeds or fails. Said problem could be: man against man, man against nature, or man against self.
The idea that the protagonist has power over his/her life is definitely part of this culturally-dominant paradigm.

In fact, a story could be something, anything else.
What do you, think a story is?

Basking in the Glow

We're still basking in the glow of the awesome August 2022 issue of Electric Spec. There's so much fun fiction to enjoy!

• "Widow's Pass" by Si Wang
• "Speak Me in Passing" by Tyree Campbell
• "The Tailor of Gloomwick" by Lisa Voorhees
• "For the Love of Earth" by Dawn Bonanno
• "A Brief Accounting of All the Times I Thought I Was Pregnant" by Rachel Rodman
• "VEND3000" by Hannah O'Doom

Which is your favorite? I can't decide! :)

From Author Rodman

We are excited to feature "A Brief Accounting of All of the Times I Thought I was Pregnant" by Author Rachel Rodman in the awesome August 2022 issue of Electric Spec. Rachel was kind enough to send along some comments about the story.

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“A Brief Accounting of All of the Times I Thought I was Pregnant” began as a twin to a second story, “Men I Have Given a Fish”: https://brilliantflashfiction.com/2022/01/31/january-2022/. I wrote both in the spring of 2021.

I continue to think of both as featuring the same character, shaped by different story conceits. In “A Brief Accounting…” the creative challenge in each section was to succinctly present a pregnancy scare/hope, while also moving the larger story forward. In “Men…”, the challenge in each section was to succinctly intertwine a description of a dysfunctional relationship with a different fish, while also moving the story forward.

In the end, though, these became very different stories. What absolutely defines the main character in “Men” is still important in “Brief.” As composition proceeded, though, this trait evolved to become almost a misdirection. In the end, what really defines this second character, through space, time, and a series of increasingly weird hobbies, cults, jobs, and social groups, is her absolute dedication to something—someone—else.

The stakes in each story are also very different. In “Men” they are personal; in “Brief,” they are cosmic, spiritual, AND personal. At the same time, each story ends on a similar note. Whether everything--or anything--will work out is unclear. In each case, too, the character and the reader perceive this ambiguity differently. Where the character is hardwired to hope, the reader is more skeptical.

For the writer, of course, both of these stories have the same sort of happy ending: publication. Both twins found excellent homes. I was delighted to have “Men I Have Given a Fish” accepted by Brilliant Flash Fiction and I am delighted that “A Brief Accounting of All of the Times I Thought I was Pregnant” will appear in Electric Spec.

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Thanks, Rachel! Very interesting!
Be sure to check out "A Brief Accounting of All of the Times I Thought I was Pregnant" and all the rest of the August 2022 stories!

New Issue Available!

Huzzah! The awesome August 2022 issue of Electric Spec is live!

We need to thank our excellent cover artist and authors. Hurray for our creatives!
We need to thank our excellent editors and tech staff. Thank you for all your hard work!
And most of all, we need to thank our readers! Woo hoo! We wouldn't exist without you!
Thank you, everyone!

From Author Campbell

We are excited to feature "Speak Me in Passing" by Author Tyree Campbell in the awesome August 2022 issue of Electric Spec. Tyree was kind enough to send along some comments about the story.

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After being heavily and emotionally influenced by Longfellow's poem and the specific quote that goes "Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence," I was struck by the utter solitude of it. I wanted to capture that in a character, and to do so I chose the last dragon, still eking out life after life and now in the modern world. He always has to hide his true self, he seldom can risk showing his true form. But he is old now, even for a dragon, and must die again in order to become someone else...or not.

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Thanks, Tyree! Very interesting!
Be sure to check out "Speak Me in Passing" and all the rest of the stories on August 31, 2022!