Happy Halloween!

Slush decisions

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

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

I better get back to reading...

We Want You To Succeed

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

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

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

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

Don't Be Seasonal

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

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

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

the First Page

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

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

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

Good luck with your first page!