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!

pet peeves

Today is the submission deadline for the May 31, 2014 issue of Electric Spec! Of course, after said deadline we're still accepting stories for the August 31, 2014 issue.
We've been trying to get through the mounds of fiction in the slush pile. (Thank you for submitting, by the way!) We're in much better shape than we were a month ago. Hopefully, we're doing a better job getting back to aspiring authors quickly.

Here are some thoughts motivated by the slush pile. Please note these are my personal pet peeves; they tend to engender strong negative reactions. Other editors may have others…

• Don't be racist/sexist/homophobic. In fact, don't be any kind of "-ist" in your story. This is a huge turn-off and may (probably will!) result in an automatic rejection.
• Don't proselytize. If I, as a reader, think you're trying to convert me…it may result in a knee-jerk rejection.
• Don't campaign. This is why we recommend you stay away from politics in stories you submit to us. I have a strong negative response to stories with political agendas of any kind.
• Don't bad-mouth groups of people, e.g. all lawyers are scum-sucking vermin. If a reader happens to disagree with the author's opinion ==> automatic rejection. One of my pet-peeves is scientist characters as one-dimensional losers and/or villains. Actually, you can easily avoid this by not creating one-dimensional characters. :)

Of course, I understand the most important component of a story is conflict and an author may intentionally chose to create a character that behaves in a negative manner of this sort. There is a little more leeway in character actions and dialogue, etc. than there is in the author's message. Am I contradicting myself? A little bit.

No one ever said writing was easy. Good luck!

Fantasy sub-genres

I got into a bit of an argument lately with an industry professional about the difference between contemporary fantasy and urban fantasy. The professional said urban fantasy had to occur in a city. That was not my understanding. For example, I thought Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire (Sookie Stackhouse) series was considered urban fantasy and it definitely doesn't occur in a city. What I learned in grad school was urban fantasy is fantasy that occurs on contemporary Earth. The pro in question would say urban fantasy is a sub-genre of contemporary fantasy. I would say the sub-genres in fantasy are not well-defined.

To my mind there are two major types of fantasy: fantasy that takes place on some version of Earth OR fantasy that takes place on a so-called "secondary", i.e. made-up imaginary, world. This second type of fantasy is often called high or epic, sometimes it's called heroic or medieval fantasy or sword and sorcery fantasy. The quintessential author here is J.R.R.Tolkien, with George R.R. Martin also hugely successful. Epic or high fantasies often involve a quest, so sometimes are called quest fantasy.

Bridging the gap between these two types of fantasy are fantasies involving a portal. Often the portal goes from Earth to the secondary world. C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia are a great example of this.

Back on Earth (also called the primary world), we can have superhero fiction or historical fantasy or weird fiction or science fantasy or insert_your_favorite_here.

What about fairytale fiction? It could occur on the primary world or a secondary world, so this one depends on the story.

Have I confused you? Sorry. The bottom line here at Electric Spec is we don't care what sub-genre your story is. Just send it in!

tips from the slush pile

Happy Spring! Around here it finally feels spring-y. I hope it's the same where you are, or will be very soon.
We've been working hard to catch up on slush here at Electric Spec. Something that struck me recently is: authors need to be aware of market. Over the last nine (!) years we have created a specific 'zine. Consequently, as a potential author you should read at least a couple stories to know what we like. Every market is unique and if you submit a story incompatible with it your story won't get accepted no matter how good it is.

So, here are some tips about what we like with the caveat that this is not an exhaustive list:

• Science fiction, fantasy, and/or the macabre! This is a requirement. We don't take non-speculative fiction.
• You must have one or more specific characters. Requirement. He/she/it can be anything from a giant space butterfly to an ogre to insert-imaginative-idea-here. The character is who the reader identifies with. The character must have something to lose. We should probably know who/what the character is by the end of the first paragraph, definitely by the end of the first page.
• Something should happen. I going to say this is also a requirement. There must be an external plot. Again, this should be evident by the end of the first page. Ideally, your character(s) should also have an internal plot/arc but this is not required.
• You should show us what happens, not summarize or tell it. This generally means there should be dialogue. Put the reader in the scene. If you have no dialogue your story probably isn't for us.
• Your story should have an original unique idea, concept, character, world, technology or something else. This means you need to read speculative fiction. You need to know that a man killing his wife/girlfriend has been done. The witch with a heart of gold has been done. The robot prostitute has been done. Vampires have been done.
• Related to the above, your story needs to have a non-cliche opening. Do not open your story with the main character waking up. Do not open your story with a dream. Do not open your story with the protagonist riding in a car. Do not open with your character looking in the mirror (for that matter: never have your character look in a mirror or other reflective surface).
• We enjoy genre mash-ups. We enjoy humor. We enjoy irreverent stuff (but nothing political).
• We'd like to see more:
  • fresh epic/high fantasy--this would be epic/high fantasy with some kind of twist
  • macabre fiction--spooky rather than bloody
  • fresh urban fantasy--note this is probably not vampires, werewolves. Give us some other kind of creature.
  • hard science fiction--SF based on extrapolation of actual science
  • a unique voice--this is a huge hook when we get it

I guess that's it for tips for now.
Good luck with your writing!

deep in slush

I hope you're still enjoying the marvelous March 15, 2014 issue of Electric Spec. I know I am. What's your favorite story or article? So many choices…

Unfortunately, our late publication of this issue means we are a bit behind with the upcoming marvelous May 31, 2014 issue. Thus, we are neck-, no, eye-deep, in the slush pile. What does this mean to you, our potential authors? It means we are a bit behind in letting you know if you advance to hold-for-voting or if you need to try again with another story. Sorry. :(
However, please do not email us and ask what the status of your story is. Despite having five(!) editors, we simply do not have the human resources to deal with queries about your queries.
Please also follow our submission rules outlined here.
Thanks! Following these rules makes things move along more efficiently.

Here's a little reminder of upcoming deadlines:

• We close to submissions for the May 31 edition on April 15, 2014. Note: this is coming up!
• We'll email all potential authors with a no-thanks or a hold-for-voting by approximately May 1, 2014.
• We'll have our production meeting around May 1, 2014.
• We'll email hold-for-voting authors by very approximately May 7, 2014.
• We'll edit stories for the May 31 issue from approx May 7 through May 31, 2014.
• We go live with the next issue May 31, 2014! :)

Of course, after April 15, 2014, we are accepting submissions for the August 2014 issue.

Happy Spring!

Huzzah!

No doubt discerning readers have already gleaned the marvelous March 15 2014 Electric Spec issue is live! A resounding Thank you! goes out to our authors, our artist, the technical staff and our associate editors, Chris Devlin and Nikki Baird! We really appreciate everyone's contributions. Did you notice we're starting our ninth year of publication? So, can I also say: Nine years! We rock!

One highlight of the issue I didn't brag about earlier is the Inteview with Mark Lawrence by Editor Dave. Of course, Lawrence is famous for his novels The Prince of Thorns, King of Thorns, and Emperor of Thorns. Check out the interview to find out who inspired the evil Jorg, what's the scoop on the post-apocalyptic setting, the value of short story writing, and Lawrence's new series.

Huzzah!

More enticements

It's almost here! The marvelous March 15, 2014 issue of Electric Spec. We just have to wait until Saturday…

As promised, here's some more enticements about what's to come. We have a very intriguing SF story, "Digital Rapture" by Charles Ebert. This raises the question: what is a person? What's a soul? A consciousness? Are we merely software? Could we run on another platform?

We also have "Butcher's Hook" by Van Aaron Hughes which is nice combo of horror and SF as you may have guessed from the title. And I have to say, it's pretty horrifying. What's the worst thing that a person could do? What's the worst thing that could be done to them?
Here, at Electric Spec we really enjoy multi-genre combos. Send us some!

We also have an urban fantasy "The Nightmare of Red O'Leary" by Vanessa MacLellan. I do love urban fantasy. Somehow the combination of our modern world with fantastic elements is very fun. The fun is evident in this story about a Red Cap fairy. Can you imagine how a Red Cap would manage in our world?
As of Saturday, you won't have to imagine!

Be sure to check out the new issue this weekend!

Enticing details about the forthcoming issue

Wow. Our March 15, 2014 issue of Electric Spec threatens to be our best ever! Here are some enticing details...

We have a steampunk story, "The Family Tree" by Daniel Kason, in the next issue. Steampunk is a fascinating sub-genre of speculative fiction.

Wikipedia says, "Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery, especially in a setting inspired by industrialised Western civilisation during the 19th century." I believe the term was coined as a reaction to cyberpunk.
Kason's story is steampunk set in the present-day, which is an excellent twist on the genre.
We'd love to see more steampunk in subsmissions...

We have cover art by Ron Sanders. Readers may not know this about Sanders, but this will be the fourth time we've used his work. About the piece for the March 15 cover, Exodus, he says it is "Ethereal and philosophic." It sounds intriguing, right? Check it out!

Earlier, I blogged about Fiction Inspired by Fiction. More specifically, we'll be featuring "This is Just to Say" by Timothy Mudie. Be sure to read how Mudie turns this classic poem into a speculative fiction short story. Very nice! Also in the Fiction-Inspired-by-Fiction category we have my own "A Sea of Stars" inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest in Editor's Corner. Does it work or not? You decide. :)

We have more stories and an exciting author interview also in the issue. I'll blog about them next week!

originality via specificity

If you're a reader of Electric Spec you know we enjoy original stories. I mentioned recently we had some stories in hold-for-voting that seemed to be based on similar memes, so how did we chose between them? We chose the more original, more unique, more specific stories. The protagonist in a story should be the only possible protagonist that could be the actor in that story. This should be reflected in how he or she is described. Do not use height, weight, hair color, eye color, skin color, clothing. Use unique qualities. Similarly, avoid obvious metaphors, like the crack of dawn--they're too cliched. Do use similes and metaphors; they should be unique to the character(s), e.g. the yawn of dawn for a not-morning person.

The world in a speculative fiction story should be extremely specific, as well. Don't use bland adjectives like pretty. (World-building is a great place to use similes or metaphors--again, they should be unique.) Don't use any generic nouns. For example in your story don't use 'a guitar', use 'a Fender Jag-Stang,' or whatever's appropriate. Also, don't explain, never explain.

I'll get more specific about the next exciting issue of Electric Spec (coming March 15, 2014) starting next week!

Fiction Inspired by Fiction

Fiction has a long history of being inspired by other literary works. This is true even in the speculative fiction realm. For example, one of my favorite novels of all time (no pun intended), To Say Nothing of the Dog (1997) by Connie Willis, was strongly inspired by Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) (1889) by Jerome K. Jerome. Interestingly, Jerome's novel is also mentioned in Robert Heinlein's Have Space Suit--Will Trav el (1958). As another example, I recently read Triggers (2012) by Robert J. Sawyer which seems to have been influenced by Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End (1953)--I'll let you read for yourself to see why I say this.

You may be wondering why I mention all this. Well, I'll tell you: our upcoming marvelous March 15, 2014 Electric Spec issue has two stories inspired by other famous literary works. One was inspired by William Carlos Williams' poem "This Is Just To Say". One was inspired by William Shakepeare's play "The Tempest." Of course, any story inspired by something else must stand on its own two feet; it must make sense whether you're familiar with the other work or not. If you are familiar with the reference work, it can add some lovely layers and complexity.

However, be careful not to let the other work overtake the story. In an early draft of the Tempest-inspired story the author was too slavishly following the plot of The Tempest. Readers raised important questions like 'Why is the Cal[iban] character so bad? Why's he trying to hurt the hero?' Once the author looked at the story with fresher eyes, it became clear the story could lose some of The Tempest influences and be stronger for it.

We'd enjoy reading more fiction-inspired fiction in the slush pile...

tales from the production meeting

We had the Electric Spec production meeting for the March 15, 2014 issue recently. Folks with stories in hold-for-voting should have heard from us, or will hear very soon. If you made it into hold-for-voting you should congratulate yourself, no matter what happened.

We'd especially like to thank our Associate Editor Nikki Baird who helped us read stories. Thanks, Nikki! You rock! :)

At the meeting we had a spirited discussion about stories and what makes a story good. (Okay, we also had buy one get one free drafts.) Once a story makes it to hold-for-voting the competition is fierce.
Some thoughts:

• One thing that makes a story really good is an emotional payoff, a resolution, at the end. This is hard to do without a clear protagonist; readers want to know who to root for. This protagonist needs to have a clear problem at the beginning of the story, needs to act to resolve it, needs to be changed at the end of the story. If things aren't different at the end of the story or if they're different because of another character's actions it is not as satisfying.
  Note: if one or more people die at the end of the story, it's difficult to make this satisfying.
• The beginning and end of the story need to speak to each other and be consistent with the title. More specifically, the first paragraph should at least hint at the main story problem. The last paragraph should at least hint at the main story resolution. The title should reflect the core of the story (without giving it away) and not be peripherally related to it.
• Authors, try not to be dazzled by a really neat world. In speculative fiction authors must create a new world, be it spooky, fantastic or futuristic. The world-building needs to serve the needs of the story, not replace the story. (See point one, above.)
• Be original! If readers can guess what will happen in your story, it's not optimal. How do you avoid this? Read! At Electric Spec we definitely strive for originality.
• Do not be political in your stories, at least for Electric Spec. It's not that we don't want to offend anyone, it's more that we don't agree amongst ourselves. And, ultimately, all the editors have to agree on a story in the end.

Yes, writing is hard. Good luck!

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more info about the new issue!

memes

Soon, we will have our production meeting for the next issue of Electric Spec and I'll give you an update about that. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, it occurs to me we have more than one story in hold-for-voting involving utilizing sentient creatures as food sources. This seems to be a rather odd coincidence--especially since these stories were submitted during the American holiday season including Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Years. (!)

Furthermore, it's not the first time we've had such coincidences. The meme 'meme' is an intriguing idea. Wikipedia says, A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing …or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.

Very cool idea! Our culture has definitely evolved over the years and possibly memes were the mechanism.
What do you think? :)

I think I will not be asking our authors what they did over the holidays...

writing resolutions

We are working hard on the fabulous February 2014 issue of Electric Spec which will be published March 15, 2014. We have a lot of good stories in hold-for-voting so it promises to be another excellent issue. Stay tuned for more info about it in coming weeks.
Of course, we're currently accepting submissions for our marvelous May 2014 issue.

A lot of my writer friends have been telling me about their writing resolutions and goals for 2014. They are very impressive including such goals as finishing novels, publishing novels and the like. Wow! They also say sharing their goals makes them feel more accountable and hence more likely to complete their goals. I absolutely wish my ambitious writer friends the best of luck in achieving their 2014 goals.

I must admit, however, I'm not a fan of grandiose goals or resolutions, writing or otherwise. I prefer small daily assignments such as: write something new every day and every time you get a rejection, submit the piece somewhere else right away. I like assignments I can definitely complete. I guess I'm more like the turtle than the hare. But everyone's process is different. Go with what works for you.

How about it? Did you make a lot of writing resolutions and goals for 2014? Feel free to share in the comments.

Good luck with your writing in 2014!

Narrative Prompt Story Glove

Rest assured we are working hard behind the scenes on the upcoming fabulous (March 15, 2014) issue of Electric Spec.

In the meantime, one of the founders of Electric Spec, Renata Baron Hill, suggested we blog about the Narrative Prompt Story Glove. It's used for brainstorming new stories. You can see a nice picture of it here: instagram.com/p/gXprv3jFgO.

Here are some highlights:

• Grabber: Begin with an opening or sentence that hooks the reader.
• Conflict: What problems or dilemma does the main character face in the story?
• Action: Move the story along. What are 2 or 3 events that happen while trying to solve the conflict?
• Solution: How is the conflict of the story finally solved?
• Takeaway: Wrap it all up. What did the main character learn or how did his/her life change?

Good luck with your new stories!