Happy Holidays!

The Electric Spec staff are taking a little time off...
Best wishes and happy holidays to you and your families!

Year in review

At the end of the year, Locus, collects information/stats on all the speculative fiction magazines. Thus, I recently looked over the stats of Electric Spec to send them. Electric Spec is considered a non-profit semiprozine. We had about 1000 unique visitors per month 2023 and about 7600 hits per month.
Thank you, readers!

We continue to get hundreds of submissions for each issue. Thank you, authors!

I do recommend reading Locus' Year-in-Review for lots of great info about spec fic markets. The 2022 summary is here.
I'll try to post the 2023 review here in February (when it usually comes out) 2024.

What a wonderful issue!

We just published another wonderful issue of Electric Spec!
We were pleased to present:

• "Coffee with a Repentant Ghost" by Maureen Bowden--It's hard to let go of your best friend, especially when they keep showing up for coffee.
• "Whispers in the Wind" by Jess L Freed-- Being the chosen avatar of the wind only ever ends in tragedy. Is it possible to change fate?
• "I Am Your Demise" by Clifford Piel--Is death a mystery, or a puzzle that can be solved?
• "Meat Flower" by Ian Keith--Tom has a horrible affliction, but he can't see it, and nobody will tell him what it is. Until...
• "The Tank and the Grasshopper" by J Wallace--You might think a giant war engine would have every advantage over a tiny mechanical bug. You might be wrong.

In addition, in Editor's Corner, we have a fascinating interview with Associate Editor Bonnie Ramthun and an excerpt from her wonderful new middle grade fantasy series The Centerville Chronicles!
Check it all out!

We Are Live!

The fabulous November 2023 issue of Electric Spec is live!
Thank you, authors! Thank you to our artist!
Thank you to the whole Electric Spec team!

Thank you, readers!
We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we did.

From November Author Piel

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome November 2023 Electric Spec is "I Am Your Demise" by Clifford Piel. Clifford was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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The idea of this story was taken from a dream my father-in-law had before he passed away in 2009. The premise of his dream revolved around a jigsaw puzzle that kept changing, but other details of his dream were murky. He had told my wife’s sister that the dream had haunted him so she thought the concept would be a good springboard for a story. I allowed it to stew in my head for a few months but I didn’t start typing until my wife recently reminded me again of her father’s dream.

I used a military veteran as my protagonist since my father-in-law, my son and I are all military veterans. As a father and Operation Desert Storm veteran, I also understand how worrisome it is when a loved one gets deployed, especially to a hostile region. I decided to tap into that worry and fear associated with the terrifying thought of “what if”. Once I got going, the rest just came together. What I have found for myself and writing is that sometimes it is best for an idea to steep in my head a while before I try to make any sense of it. And when I get stuck, I just read more. Reading tends to unclog the blockage.
I am very grateful to the editors at Electric Spec for choosing my story.

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Interesting! Thanks, Clifford! Be sure to check out all the new stories on November 30, 2023!

From November Artist Quinn

In November we're excited to feature another piece of art from Brian Malachy Quinn, "Of Mice and Men." Brian was kind enought send along a few words about his piece...

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"Of Mice and Men" was inspired by my early days as a children’s book illustrator where I got my start as an illustrator. Of course, you do lots of cute animals wearing clothes and engage in anthropomorphism. I took it to the limits here as you do with speculative fiction and put our raging rodent in armor and made him fierce. Illustrating children’s books severely limits what you can do as an artist and my passion was in speculative fiction which when I went to basically shut the door on illustrating in the children’s genre – but so be it. I’m quite content with where I am today.

The background here had to be unique and eye catching as is my calling card. Whereas the title refers to the futility of a nobler idea to the overpowering by a trite concept such as vanity - we have the banality that mice can be vanquished by men easily, but maybe all will be turned on its head and here our mouse can not only stand up to any mortal but be the better of any homo sapien on the battlefield. Will future evolution or accidental DNA manipulation in a lab undo the current status quo? Maybe not such a bad thing considering the state of the world today.

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Thanks, Brian! Very interesting! Without further ado, here's a tiny sneak peek at our cover art for the November 2023 issue of Electric Spec:

From November Author Bowden

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome November 2023 Electric Spec is "Coffee with a Repentant Ghost" by Maureen Bowden. Maureen was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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I belong to a little circle of writers. We discuss and critique each other’s work, as well as chatting about life, the universe and everything. We constantly put the world to rights but unfortunately the world won’t listen. We also take turns in setting a writing challenge every month. A recent one was to write about meeting a ghost for coffee. It inspired my story, ‘Coffee with a Repentant Ghost.’

I approached the story by considering what would be the ghost’s motivation for hanging around on the physical plain. It must be more substantial than just nostalgia. I hit upon match-making with a touch of emotional blackmail thrown into the mix. I added a couple of references to non-fictional characters and actual places to assist in the suspension of disbelief and I had my story. It was great fun to write. I hope you good folk find it fun to read.

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Interesting! Thanks, Maureen! Be sure to check out all the new stories on November 30, 2023!

Spooky Production Meeting

Phew! The Electric Spec Editors managed to get through the slush pile before the November issue production meeting. Thank you for all your submissions! We appreciate it! There were many excellent stories to choose from.

We had a spooky Halloween-influenced meeting. There was a Covid-19 scare. Boo! There were a lot of spooky horror stories among the finalists. Boo! Consequently, we had to discuss a lot of spookiness. Boo!

Authors whose stories didn't quite fit the issue should have been contacted by now. (Check your spam or junk folder.) Authors whose stories did fit the issue are being contacted this week. (Check your spam or junk folder!) Once we hear back regarding the contract we will start editing. We are excited to work with our November authors!

The bottom line for readers: the notable November 2023 issue is well in hand. I'll start telling you about it next week. Maybe we'll even have some blog entries from contributors!

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!

How not What

I don't think it's a secret that many of the Electric Spec editors are members of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW). Some of us are also members of The Inklings, a Speculative Fiction Critique Group. We had an interesting discussion the other day about ideal critiquing. I think it applies to editing, as well.

Critiquers should be concerned about how authors execute their vision, not about what they're writing about. When focusing on how, we can focus on the effectiveness of writing. Does the reader get engrossed, get carried away? That's what authors want. That's what readers want, too. :)

Furthermore, each author should write about what they are passionate about. Each author should follow their muse. Each author has their own unique path, experiences, and imagination--make use of them! As an editor, I've often found a story written about something I'd never before considered. Editors love that! I think readers love it, as well.

Good luck creating what you want effectively!

August First Lines

Some pundits say short story first lines are crucial. I say they're fun to look at. Here are the first lines from our awesome August Electric Spec stories:

• The last of my buy-out pay got me as far as Utross IV.
• Gary and I fight, and afterward, I go shopping.
• A giant eyeball opens in Michelle's living room floor.
• I am walking in the city at night.
• Of all the apothecaries in all the neighborhoods in San Francisco, he has to walk into mine.
• They dropped anchor just after dawn.

Can you identify the story from the first sentence? Do you think first sentences are crucial? Talk amongst yourselves...

Basking in the August glow...

Yes! Less than a week ago, we published the awesome August 2023 issue of Electric Spec! We are still basking in the glow of

• "The Last Deal" by Sophia Alapati-- The best witch in San Francisco is a man with a big debt in his past, and he has only one chance to clear it... or pay the price.
• "Amber" by Clarissa Grunwald--What if you could make your worries, sadness, and fears disappear? What would be left of you?
• "Eye Contact" by A. C. Spahn--It's hard enough to be a painfully introverted artist. Then, a big eyeball appears in the studio...
• "Necropolis Waltz" by Glynn Owen Barrass--Even after an ancient god's moon-wrecking apocalypse, an unlikely band of survivors fights to preserve what's left.
• "King for a Day" by Ray Daley--A down-and-out spacer sets down on a planet with a unique tradition that might be the answer to his bad luck blues.
• "The Ring of Contradictions" by Allison Wall--In a strange little pub with a fighting ring where philosophies clash, truth is the grand prize.

Which was your favorite story? So many to choose from!
Savvy readers will realize this is one of our biggest issues ever--especially when you consider we also had two entries in Editor's Corner.

Thank you to all who helped make this a great issue! You are very appreciated!

Awesome August 2023 Issue Live!

Huzzah! The Awesome August 2023 Electric Spec issue is live!

Thank you to our cover artist! Thank you to all our authors! Woo hoo! We appreciate you!

Thank you so much to the entire Electric Spec editorial team! Woo hoo! We appreciate you!

Thank you especially to the readers! We wouldn't exist without you. :)

From Author Alapati

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome August 2023 Electric Spec is "The Last Deal" by Sophia Alapati. Sophia was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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The Last Deal was brewed from three ingredients: a queer witch, a powerful ex, and a noir setting. I intended to write this for an anthology of positive queer witch stories, but by the time I finished writing, the submission deadline had passed and I had written something a little too dark and twisty to fit the bill.

As an author who is more pantser than plotter, all I knew when I sat down to write was that protagonist Cas was salvaging his life in the aftermath of a tortured history with a god. I wanted to explore the idea of trying to escape a relationship with something that feels omnipotent--whether that’s a religion, a job, or another person. I also love concocting magic systems, and had fun researching chemical and symbolic properties of potential potion ingredients.

The genre was the final component that made this piece come together. To me, a warlock--etymologically from the Old English wærloga, meaning "oathbreaker"--fits right in with the noir setting, where we often see a morally dubious protagonist haunted by the deeds of their past. Noir also gives me the chance to write lush similes, which I'll never turn down.

My best little piece of writing advice for fiction writers is to read nonfiction. All my best short stories have been sparked or made richer by learning about things from breeding apples to bank heists to immortal mushrooms. So go forth, read, and stay curious!

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Interesting! Thanks, Sophia! Be sure to check out all the new stories on Aug 31, 2023!

From Author Grunwald

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome August 2023 Electric Spec is "Amber" by Clarissa Grunwald. Clarissa was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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When I was in third grade I was obsessed with Bruce Coville. I read everything I could find by him. And while I've aged out of his core demographic and moved on to other authors, I still have tremendous respect for his ability to write fascinating, challenging stories for early chapter book readers. When I wrote "Amber", I wasn't intentionally writing a tribute to his Magic Shop series, but that's what it turned out to be. It's a little shorter, and a little more cynical, but I can't deny the inspiration.

The boutique itself is inspired by a souvenir shop in my town. I have nothing against the shop and go there for gift cards sometimes, but I have to admit that I have no idea how they stay in business. We are not a tourist destination, so there can't be many people in the market for souvenirs. If they are hawking dangerous magical items on the side, that at least explains how they get the rent paid.

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Interesting! Thanks, Clarissa! Be sure to check out all the new stories on Aug 31, 2023!

From Author Wall

We are excited to announce one of our featured stories in the awesome August 2023 Electric Spec is "The Ring of Contradictions" by Allison Wall. Allison was kind enough to send us some comments about the story:

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Deconstruction is a big theme in my work. I've gone through waves of deconstructing beliefs and values, and consequently, my perceptions of myself and my life. On a larger scale, I think the pandemic stripped people of what we thought the world was. Stability, predictability, disappeared. In the void of post-deconstruction, what do we believe in? Where is the line between faith and subjective reality? Is there any such thing?

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Interesting! Thanks, Allison! Be sure to check out all the new stories on Aug 31, 2023!