more from our authors

One of the stories we're proud to present in our upcoming awesome August 2014 issue of Electric Spec is "The King Must Die" by Bo Balder--and it's not a fantasy, which you may be thinking. This is one of the most unique stories I've ever read.
Bo would like to tell us about:

My Experience in Writing "The King Must Die"
by Bo Balder

It was one of these rare moments of inspiration – I woke up at 5 in the morning with most of this story in my brain. I couldn't get back to sleep as long as the story was forming. I tossed and turned, feverishly imagining more, fleshing it out, until I gave up, got out of bedand wrote a brief outline. The actual writing, later that day, was as feverish and unusually smooth. I'd been to Vegas once, so imagining and looking up what it looked like in the seventies was easy. I've always loved Elvis and his music, so that wasn't hard either. The title is from Mary Renault's novel about Theseus in ancient Greece. In the novel, kings die to ensure their people's health and prosperity. I don't know where the frogs came from, I really don't. They were just there in the story from the beginning. Maybe somebody else will have an explanation what metaphor they are, but as a writer I think you should leave these symbols alone and just be grateful they appeared to you at all… Of course the story needed revision, but the essence was there from the beginning. It's special to me because of its strange birth, and I'm glad it's found a home!

from our authors

At the recent production meeting we came up with the idea to let some of our authors 'talk' to the blog readers directly. Thus, I am happy to introduce to you author Larisa Walk; we're going to publish her Fantasy "When the Moon is Waning" in our August 2014 issue. So, without further ado, take it away Larisa!

One Writer's Inspirations
by Larisa Walk

People often ask writers about the sources of our inspiration. It is not an easy question to answer, because the ideas often come from many sources: dreams, something heard on the news, nature, another writer's book or story that triggers an A-ha moment, a conversation overheard while having a cup of jasmine tea at a tea house, mythology, or seemingly out of nowhere at all. That latter one is a gift, especially when the story comes to you from its beginning to its end, all but wrapped in shiny paper with a pattern of peach-colored roses and a matching bow.

I can identify my two of the most frequent sources of inspiration: Russian history and mythology. They inspire me not only because I was born and raised in Russia, but because there is so much conflict and mystery in them. And to me conflict and mystery are what makes a satisfying story.

Take the fact that Russia lived under the Mongol domination for 200 years. Immediately questions rise up like bubbles in a boiling pot of water: How did those people survive? What was their life like? Was there a resistance movement? Was there nothing but hatred toward the oppressors or were there stories of love between the Mongols and the Russians? After five years of research of both English and Russian sources, I wrote a novel that answers those questions: A Handful of Earth.

Then there is the Russian fairyland where each character has a dominion over a certain part of people's lives. The domovoi keeps an eye on the house; the dvorovoi rules over the yard and cares for the animals that live there; and the bannik looks after the bath house. This, of course, brings more questions, more mystery, and more inspiration. From here the writer's imagination takes over, and the crafting of a story begins.

notes from the Production Meeting

The editors of Electric Spec had our Production Meeting this week. Approximately 6 beers and 2 scotches were consumed. We had a large number of very good stories in hold-for-voting, so it was tricky to narrow down the field to 5. Eventually we prevailed, however, and authors are being emailed the good (or bad) news as we speak. Hopefully all the hold-for-voting authors will hear back from us by the end of this week.
When we accept a story we send along a contract. Once the author accepts the contract we start editing the story. Things move pretty quickly this month since we're publishing the next issue on August 31.

Here are some tips based on our story discussion:

• A strong voice is important but other things are important as well, namely, a plot
• Make sure your story is speculative fiction. Macabre fiction, in particular, can be tricky here. For example, if a story contains a mysterious blurry figure, is it a ghost or an illusion? If it is a ghost you've got speculative fiction. If it's ambiguous...maybe not.
• It's probably not a good idea to include tampons in your story. Editors are susceptible to the ick factor like everyone else.
• We don't like super long (over 5000 words) stories. They're a pain to edit.

Other take-aways from the meeting: we're going to modify our webpage to indicate that we've been taking longer to get through slush. :(
We're going to ask authors if they'd like to contribute to the blog.
We were thinking of doing something special for our ten-year anniversary (next year), but we're leaning against it.
I guess that's all the highlights. We'll start previewing coming attractions next week.

check back Thursday

Behind the scenes at Electric Spec we are in the final stages of preparing for the Production Meeting for the August 2014 issue. This involves ranking the stories in hold-for-voting. And then changing our minds and re-ranking the stories. And then changing our minds.... Ugh.

Check back on Thursday this week and I'll let you know how the meeting went.
Happy Tuesday!

behind the scenes

We're working hard behind the scenes at Electric Spec preparing for the production meeting next week. I thought I'd give you a little peek behind the curtain...
We try to be objective when choosing stories to go in hold-for-voting. I even have a kind of check-list I use. Some items on the list include:

Does the story have the following within the first 2 pages:
• speculative fiction?
• protagonist?
• a problem?
• is it hooky? am I intrigued? drawn in?
• is the writing reasonably good? --meaning it's NOT distracting me.
• does the author have a unique voice?

Does the story have the following by the end:
• the protagonist acts?
• something happens?
• things are resolved?

Note not all these things are required--but if they're there, that story will get in hold-for-voting.

After stories are in hold-for-voting the editors rank them in numerical order. I then compile the total score of each story for the production meeting. The total score is just the sum of the individual editor's rankings--so a lower score is better. For example, if all three editors think a story is #1 among those in hold-for-voting it gets a total score of 3. And incidentally that story would be in the issue. (We've never had a story get a score of 3.) Notice, with all these numbers we're trying to be objective here as well.

However, when I decide on my personal rankings I'm not objective. I do take into account if I like the story or not. I don't know if this is good or bad, but it's how I do my rankings. Generally, each editor's favorite story, their #1, does make it into the issue.

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

perfection not required

I've passed along a lot of tips from the slush pile over the years. Unfortunately, these tips tend to be a list of 'what not to do' rather than 'what you're doing right.' So, what are you doing right?

First of all, if you started writing a story and actually finished it: Kudos to you! This is not an easy task. You should be proud you've created something from nothing. I think this is especially true today when we have sooo many other things clamoring for our time and attention.
Second of all, if you submitted your work and subjected it to possible rejection: Kudos to you! This is not an easy task. Everyone at Electric Spec is a writer and knows rejection stings. The trick to learn is: don't let it sting too much.

The vast majority of the stories we receive have an appealing protagonist with a problem who works to solve said problem. They often have neat or horrifying creatures and beautiful and/or intriguing worlds and/or fascinating science. These stories grab us. They emotionally manipulate us (good!). They have realistic and compelling dialogue. If you read the 'zine you know this. :)
So, hurray, for authors!

The vast majority of stories we receive are not perfect, however. That is totally fine. We don't expect perfection. We are not perfect. A few grammar issues or misspellings are no problem.
I would say the most common reason we don't publish a story is: the author hasn't quite transferred the story to the page. We ask questions like: What is this story about? Who is the protagonist? What happens in the end? It's not always easy to answer these questions after reading a story. What's the easiest way to avoid this problem? Ask a friend or family member to read your story and then ask them what it was about.
Another reason we don't take a story is: we've read or published several similar stories previously. A story can be well-written but if there's nothing fresh or new or unique about it, we probably won't take it.

We should finish with slush for the next issue within the next two weeks. So, keep an eye on your in-box if you haven't heard back from us yet. We'll have the Production Meeting for the awesome August 2014 issue at the beginning of August. And then I'll start blogging some previews of coming attractions!

slush pile notes 2

Today is the deadline for submissions for the August 2014 issue of Electric Spec. Get those stories in and good luck!
We've been making some progress on getting through the slush pile, so here are some more tips in no particular order...

• Put your story hook in the beginning of your story. I strongly recommend it appear on page 1. There's a school of thought that recommends you start fiction with the ordinary world. This can work, but you don't want to bore the reader. I think readers, including editors, have less patience now than they used to. If you have the cool reveal that your protagonist is a god in the middle of the story, readers might not get that far.
• Seriously consider avoiding Urban Fantasy creatures including vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc. It is very difficult to put a fresh spin on these. We'd love to see some creatures from more obscure mythologies. Are there any interesting fables in your ethnic or cultural background?
• Don't use non-said or non-asked dialogue tags. You can use different verb tenses of say and ask but use anything else at your own peril. Why? It pulls the reader out of the story. Can you really moan, sigh, hiss, grunt words? No-ooooo-ooooo.
• Speaking of which, writing out screams of horror is rarely effective. Gaaaahhhhhhh! In general, macabre fiction is difficult. It should be spooky or creepy rather than bloody. Bloody horror is more suited to visual media.
• Keep market in mind. Over the past nine (!) years we've created a specific Electric Spec 'brand.' In particular, our stories must have a speculative element. Our stories have dialogue. Our stories have protagonists. In our stories something happens. Our stories are mostly showing rather than telling. Our stories have a resolution. We like unique fresh stories.

I guess that's it for now. Thanks for reading.

slush pile notes

Once again it seems we are behind with our slush pile. Apologies. If you submitted for the August 2014 issue rest assured we will get back to you. Eventually.
Here are some miscellaneous comments related to the slush pile...
Of course, the only rule of writing is there are no rules to writing. :)

• Please do not give a synopsis of your story in the cover letter. It gives me the idea that you think your story is confusing. If your story is confusing, explaining it in the cover letter won't help.
• Please do not use giant fonts or weird formatting in your story. It's distracting and it makes me think you are an inexperienced story-teller. (Along those same lines, don't tell me this is the first story you've ever written.)
• Please do not submit stories of more than 7000 words. This is outside our word limit and honestly, if you can write a story of ~7400 words are you sure you can't find 400 words to cut? If I was going to give one overall tip for everyone it would be: make your story shorter. Cut everything that doesn't need to be there.
• It is not recommended that you use sentences of more than 100 words. Can you say 'run on'? Related to this: generally, don't repeat a word multiple times within a sentence.
• Generally, a story needs to have a protagonist.
• Generally, a protagonist needs to do something in the story. If no one does anything, it's not really a story, IMHO.
• Don't start your story with the protagonist waking up. Don't start your story with the protagonist dreaming. Don't start your story with the protagonist opening the front door.
• Don't write a story about real-life political figures or other famous people.

Do send us your submissions by July 15, 2014 for the August 2014 issue. Recall the submissions guidelines are here.
Good luck!

endings

Oh, come on, you knew "endings" was coming. :)
The end of a story is the most important part. The end has to tie everything together and should address the beginning in some way. Most importantly, the end has to evoke an emotional response in the reader. I'm not kidding. The end has to make the reader feel something. Maybe it's only satisfaction that everything was wrapped up or 'Huh, interesting idea,' but it has to be something.

One of my fellow RMFW members wrote a very interesting (long) blog post lately about emotion: Emotional Barrier in Fiction: The Most Important Barrier For You To Cross (Part One). When I wrote the story that was my first pro sale, I was sobbing at the end as my protagonist sacrificed herself for her family. Was sobbing and sale a coincidence? I think not.

The tricky thing about evoking emotion in the reader is you have to make the reader care about the protagonist. I took a creative writing class last Fall and the young students tended to go right for death, dismemberment, rape, etc., before we cared about the characters. The teacher said they didn't "earn" the drama. How do we make the reader care? I think the author has to care.
What do you think?

Good luck with your emotional endings!

middles

Recently, one of my writing groups was discussing how we approach a story. Most folks had at least an idea about the beginning and the ending. I didn't hear a lot of enthusiasm, or even planning, about middles. I'm not surprised. Are you? In my own writing, too often middles become muddles. :( Unfortunately, as an editor, if I get lost in a muddle, that leads to rejection.

Luckily, short fiction is easier, in some ways, than long fiction. In the beginning, you must hook the reader; you must set up the story problem. In the middle, you must make things worse for the protagonist(s). The story problem gets even more dire. Also in the middle, you must set up the protagonists with the tools to succeed--even as it looks like they will fail. Piece of cake, right? Ha!

How you do this is totally up to you. If you have to write a muddle and then rewrite it, so be it. I have personally rewritten many a muddle. Having some one else read your work may help you identify muddles. "What happened here, in the middle?" Please don't send us your muddle. :)

Good luck with your middles!

In other news, the deadline for the awesome August 2014 issue of Electric Spec is approaching. Submissions need to be in by July 15 for consideration. Thanks!

beginnings

As we begin work on the next issue of Electric Spec I find myself thinking about beginnings… (This may also have something to do with the fact I'm starting a new novel.) There's a lot of talk in the writerly cybersphere about how to write. Do you plan everything out? If so, you're a plotter. Do you plan very little out, write by the seat-of-your-pants? If so, you're a pantser. A long time ago I learned I do have to do some planning when writing a short story. If I don't my stories meander all over the place, only arriving at their destinations by a very circuitous route or by accident. Not good. I could usually whip said stories into an actual story with the help of my critique partners but it did take a considerable amount of time. Also, not good.

Often as I read slush, I wish our aspiring authors had critique partners (or better critique partners). I wish I could tell the author: 'your story doesn't start until page 3' or 'your beginning and your ending must relate to each other.' Story beginnings are crucial. If I'm not hooked on page one, I usually won't make it to the end of the story. Show me what your story is about on page one.

I suggest authors think more about their story before they begin. What, exactly, is this story about? Who is it about? What's the problem? What's the resolution? What's different at the end of the story? What emotions do you want to evoke in the reader? You don't have to write these answers down, but you should know them.

Good luck!

the latest issue

I hope everyone's still enjoying the new issue of Electric Spec. In addition to the excellent stories by Barton Paul Levenson, Mark Webb, Kathryn Yelinek, Jason Sturner, and Melinda Brasher, we have some other interesting items… In passing I mentioned Editor Betsy's interview of fantasy author Brian McClellan. Check it out to find out what inspired his world, McClellan's writing style, how he does research, how he plans his books, and other tidbits.

Also in this issue, Editor Dave shares a flash-y story, "Forgetting." How many words do we need to tell a story? What's flash fiction? I forget…. :)

In this issue we also have an interesting article about movies from our longtime columnist Marty Mapes. If you love speculative fiction and movies, I highly recommend you read his columns over the years. This time, he discusses "Under the Skin." Have you seen it? Do you agree or disagree with Marty's take?

We welcome any and all comments about the issue.

Now, off to work on the upcoming awesome August 30, 2014 issue!
Send in your stories!

Hurrah!

Discerning readers deduced we went live with the latest issue of Electric Spec on June 1, 2014! Hurrah!
If you were one of the folks waiting for the issue with bated breath, our apologies for not publishing on May 31 as advertised. :( Sometimes technology is a hindrance instead of a help.

A resounding Thank you! goes out to our authors, our artist, our columnist, the technical staff and our associate editor, Nikki Baird! We really appreciate everyone's contributions.

technical difficulties

Unfortunately, we're having technical difficulties.
We're working to resolve them but it's possible the issue might not go live until June 1. :(

more coming attractions

We're entering the home stretch now for the upcoming May 31, 2014 issue of Electric Spec.

In "Girl with the Crooked Spine" by Jason Sturner we have an unusual fantasy about a unique girl and a misfit boy who meet in the Field Museum in Chicago. Let's just say: adventures ensue. The editors thought this was one of the most unusual fantasies we've read in a long time.

In "A Learned Man" by Melinda Brasher we have another unique fantasy. This one is inspired by "La Leyenda de Bolsa Salgado," an El Salvadorian folktale. Is he, in fact, a learned man? We'll let you read it and decide for yourself.

I'm told we're also including a 'Spec Fic in Flicks' column by our own Marty Mapes. He's writing "An Alien Perspctive on the Human Condition." I can't wait!

Check it all out May 31, 2014!

good titles

We're still working hard on the marvelous May 31, 2014 issue of Electric Spec. I thought I'd take a little time today to brag about our science fiction story in the issue.

This month we'll be publishing "Khuminay and the Axe-Wielding Psycho" by Barton Paul Levenson. As you might have guessed from the title, there's a creature named Khuminay and there's at least one murder via an axe. Just that little bit sounds dramatic, doesn't it? :) It is dramatic. I highly recommend you check it out on May 31.
And, yes, this is a good title.

Interestingly, we've published Levenson before: "The Boogie-Woogie, Time-Traveling, Cyborg Blues". This is also a very good title! Clearly, Levenson has a way with titles. Of course, you have to have a good story to back up a good title, and luckily Levenson delivers.

Also coming up in the next issue is a special interview with author Brian McClellan. McClellan writes epic fantasy, specifically, The Powder Mage Trilogy. The first book was Promise of Blood. Wow, very dramatic title! Editor Betsy will be asking him about several things including his brand-new book The Crimson Campaign.
I can't wait!

first preview of coming attractions

We, The Electric Spec Editors, are working hard on the Marvelous May 31, 2014 issue. Among other things, we have two fun unique urban fantasy stories: "Showdown" by Mark Webb and "Between the Covers" by Kathryn Yelinek.

In "Showdown" an older Australian woman discovers her helpful neighbors are even more helpful and unusual than she suspected. When some other folks object to these neighbors, the woman helps them out and a showdown ensues. Is that sufficiently cryptic for you? :) Well, I can't give the story away! Trust me: you'll want to read it!

In "Between the Covers" we have a story that takes place partly on Earth and partly on another very interesting world. The challenge here: what do you do if your memories of yourself aren't reliable? Again, trust me: you'll want to read it to find out what I'm talking about!

Huzzah for these authors! You can read about them and other authors on our Authors page

Of course, we'd like the opportunity to celebrate you as an author in the future…
Submit your story!

production meeting May 2014

Well, we had a productive production meeting last night. :) Yes, it was on Cinco de Mayo and we did enjoy some Mexican food and lots of beer. Editor Betsy warned us she might fall on the floor--but luckily this didn't come to pass. Even so we managed to get business done. We are in the process of writing all the folks in hold-for-voting with the good or bad news. The authors receiving good news will also be receiving their contract. The sooner you send the contract back, the sooner we can get your story ready for publication.

Some thoughts on the stories we considered… We had a lot of fantasy in this bunch; it was a little odd. Also curiously, we had more than one gargoyle story. What's up with that? Is there a gargoyle meme floating around?
I don't know if it's good or bad but we had a number of repeat authors in hold-for-voting. Since we don't look at the author name when we're considering the stories, I guess kudos to those authors.

Of course, before we got down to business we had to have a gab-fest about various speculative fiction stuff. I recommended Kristin Cashore's novels to my fellow editors. We had a lively discussion of George R.R.Martin's work which moved on to HBO's incarnation of it. Like many, we expressed our concerns about how rapey it is. Bottom line: it's too rapey.

Don't worry: this is related to Electric Spec business. One of the stories in hold-for-voting this time had an attempted rape of a little girl. It got into hold-for-voting because the girl is saved. But, ultimately, we decided it was too much. Please recall our submission guidelines say We do not consider ..stories with over-the-top sex or violence. Considering two of the Editors have little girls at home, I think it's safe to say we will never publish a story in which a little girl gets raped or even almost raped. Or, for that matter, a little boy. Or anyone else. Bottom line: no rape.

The marvelous May 31, 2014 issue will have several excellent stories! Check back this month as I entice you about them and other aspects of the issue. Thanks for reading. :)

rejection

We, The Editors of Electric Spec are getting ready to make the final selections for the marvelous May 31, 2014 issue. This is always a very difficult task. All the stories in hold-for-voting are publishable, so if we don't pick your story it's because of things like issue balance and the like.

All the editors (and tech folks for that matter) here are writers so we know what it's like to have a story rejected. It's rough. Personally, I got two rejections today and one of Friday. Ugh. Even after decades of writing I still get a quick sword-to-the-heart feeling when I read "Thanks, but no thanks." We've all been there.

Thus, if we have to reject you or if you didn't make into hold-for-voting: take heart. Writing is a noble pursuit; it's worth all the heartache. Try to remember the joy of creating new characters and worlds and the fun of sharing stories with family and friends. Writing is one of mankind's greatest endeavours.

And there's always the next issue...

working...

We, the editors of Electric Spec, are hard at work behind-the-scenes getting ready for the Marvelous May 31, 2014 issue! Stay tuned for exciting tidbits about the upcoming issue throughout the month of May.

In the meantime, did you know science fiction is an area of scholarly study? Did you know there's an esteemed open access online forum in science fiction studies called "deletion"? Well, there is! You can find it here: www.deletionscifi.org.
And Episode 4 just came out: The New! The Now! The Fantastic!: Artistic and Scholarly Innovation helmed by Marleen S. Barr, noted for her foundational work in feminist science fiction criticism. This episode has a thematic focus on women’s creative practice intersecting with the science fictional, the authorial and the scholarly.

Check it out!