Ideomancer magazine

THE MARKET

• Zine: Ideomancer Speculative Fiction
• Editor(s): Leah Bobet (interviewee), Marsha Sisolak, Jaime Lee Moyer, Claire Humphrey, Elizabeth Bear, John Bowker, Beth Langford, Erin Hoffman, Alena McNamara, Michael Colangelo, Alyssa Smith
• Pay Rate: 3 cents a word up to a maximum of $40.00 USD
• Response Time: 30 days maximum
• Reading Period: December-January, March-April, June-July, September-October
• Description: Ideomancer publishes speculative fiction and poetry that explores the edges of ideas; stories that subvert, refute and push the limits. We want unique pieces from authors willing to explore non-traditional narratives and take chances with tone, structure and execution, balance ideas and character, emotion and ruthlessness. We also have an eye for more traditional tales told with excellence. We are especially interested in non-traditional formats, hyperfiction, and work that explores the boundaries not just of its situation but of the internet-as-page.
• Submission Guidelines: www.ideomancer.com

NOTE: Horror author D.L. Snell conducted the following interview to give writers a better idea of what the editors of this specific market are seeking; however, most editors are open to ideas outside of the preferences discussed here, as long as they fit the basic submission guidelines.

THE SCOOP
1) What authors do you enjoy, and why does their writing captivate you?
China Mieville, for the twists of his sentence-level craft and the layering of his worlds; Matt Ruff, for the sheer imagination and balls; Sean Stewart, for his incredibly flawed and human and three-dimensional characters; Connie Willis, for her wry sense of humour; Dashiell Hammett, for his incredible prose; A.S. Byatt, for her ability to examine every single angle of a thematic idea; Patricia McKillip, for her ability with subtext; Emma Bull, for the way she weaves whole worlds by implication; Caitlin Kiernan, for the ability to make ugly things beautiful, or at least fascinating; Sharon Shinn, because she’s sneaky; Peter Beagle because he inevitably makes me cry.

2) What are your favorite genres? Which genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?
We’re interested in any of the speculative genres: fantasy, science fiction, horror, fabulist fiction, slipstream, interstitial, anything punk—the works. That said, we’re usually more interested by work that’s aware of the tropes of its genre and has something to say about them, as well as work with a bit of a literary twist.  Think China Mieville, not J.R.R. Tolkien!

3) What settings most intrigue you? Ordinary or exotic locales? Real or fantasy? Past, present, or future?
We’re happy to read stories and poetry set anywhere, so long as it’s done well! The quality of the setting work and the author’s skill in evoking it are more important to us than it being any specific setting.

4) Explain the type of pacing you enjoy, e.g. slow building to fast, fast throughout, etc.
Whatever pacing works best for the story you’re trying to tell; we view things like pacing as a tool for telling stories, rather than an end in itself. Again, this is a question of something done well versus a preference for a particular kind of story.

5) What types of characters appeal to you the most? Any examples?
Characters who are, above all, deeply human; who work by an emotional logic that makes the reader think yes, this is a real person instead of this is a character in a story.

6) Is there a specific tone you’d like to set in your publication? What kind of voices grab you and keep you enthralled? Any examples?
Passionate. About whatever it is the characters have to say.

7) What is your policy for vulgarity, violence, and sexual content? Any taboos?
We’ll consider anything so long as it’s actually in service to telling an interesting story.

8) What kind of themes are you seeking most in submissions to this market? In general, what themes interest you?
We tend to prefer stories in which the world just isn’t that simple.

9) Overall, do you prefer downbeat or upbeat endings?
We prefer endings that are well-crafted and work best with the story the author’s trying to tell.

10) Any last advice for submitters to this market? Any critical dos or don’ts?
There is no magic button for selling a story to Ideomancer, and no kit to build an Ideomancer story. We’re a fairly eclectic magazine, and while there are some slight trends in what we choose to publish, the only strong and constant one is stories that do what they set out to do very, very well. The best way to get a feel for what we’d like, as stereotypical as it may sound, is to read a few issues and see how they strike you. That’s how you’ll know if the stories that grab us resemble the story that you have in your hand.

And if you’re in doubt? Just send it along. The worst thing we can say is “not this time.”

Good luck!

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For more scoops, go to marketscoops.blogspot.com.

D.L. Snell writes with Permuted Press. He edited Dr. Kim Paffenroth twice, John Dies at the End once, and provided a constructive critique to Joe McKinney on his next major novel after Dead City. You can shoot D.L. Snell in the head at www.exit66.net.

To reprint this article, please contact D.L. Snell.

Ink, Pulp, and Glue Are Harder To Move

Recently, Dorchester Publishing made the decision to make its titles available solely in digital and print-on-demand formats (read article here). Dorchester, a mass paperback publisher, operates one of my favorite imprints, Leisure Books, which puts out novels by guys like Brian Keene and Richard Laymon. So of course this change will affect me. But that’s not the point.

I love printed books as much as the next guy, the smell and the meat of them. But they’re right up there with couches on the list of things I’d rather not move. They’re heavy, they fill up way too many boxes, and because of varying sizes, they never stack right in alphabetical order (by author’s last name), so I always have to reorganize them after the move. Luckily, most people don’t move that often. But let’s not overlook the major disadvantage of printed books: cost.

Typically, ink, pulp and glue are heavier and more expensive than bytes on a server. At least the ink and pulp that I read is. So over time (a long, long period of time), an e-book reader might pay for itself. Maybe. Take into account, too, that printed books cost more for publishers. One reason Dorchester (Leisure) is digitizing and printing on demand is because their paperback sales dropped twenty-five percent last year. Think about it: publishers put up all of this money for traditional print runs with the hope that the book will at least recoup the cost of printing and the author’s advance. That’s a lot of money, especially to invest in first-time authors. And then people stop buying the product?! This is how publishers begin to build debt, usually to the author. No wonder publishers are starting to dread moving books as much as I do. Poor sales are bad for publishers, and therefore bad for authors--which, in turn, is bad for readers.

Honestly, I think the whole digital and POD model is built to put the cost of production on the reader. It's exactly as if publishers found a way to make us pay for printing. It's like their bailout.

But that's not really the point, either. Point is, the physical world is too heavy and dense. It takes a lot of power to move it. Much of the time, it takes a lot of money too. (Ever hired movers or rented a U-Haul? Ever paid for both?) Okay, so I'm stretching the metaphor. But maybe, just maybe, Dorchester is right to think that e-books make for a more lucrative business model. Maybe e-publishers will have more money to invest in marketing and in their authors, and still come out ahead. Maybe. And as a reader, I’d be willing to make the move to e-books--if someone can answer one burning question...

Which is more environmentally friendly? Printing books, or manufacturing, using, and maintaining servers and e-book readers? I’d really like to see a comprehensive study that takes into account everything from bleaching paper to recycling batteries.

If you know of such a report, or if you want to get all Neo-Luddite and smash someone’s Kindle, there’s this little space for comments down below. I welcome all rants.

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For more scoops, go to marketscoops.blogspot.com.

D.L. Snell writes with Permuted Press. He edited Dr. Kim Paffenroth twice, John Dies at the End once, and provided a constructive critique to Joe McKinney on his next major novel after Dead City. You can shoot D.L. Snell in the head at www.exit66.net.

To reprint this article, please contact D.L. Snell.

Arkham Tales magazine

THE MARKET

• Zine: Arkham Tales 
• Editor(s): Nathan Shumate 
• Pay Rate: 1 cent per word 
• Response Time: As soon as we can get to it – honest!  (Usually about 3-4 weeks.) 
• Reading Period: Year round. 
• Description: A PDF magazine of weird fiction encompassing pulp adventure, weird horror (including Lovecraftian influence, obviously), the supernatural and the fantastic. 
• Submission Guidelines: http://arkhamtales.leucrotapress.com

THE SCOOP

1) What authors do you enjoy, and why does their writing captivate you?
It’s too predictable to say that I like Lovecraft, so I won’t.  (Wait, I just did.  Dammit.)  I really enjoy all kinds of writers, from Robert E. Howard to Raymond Carver to Orson Scott Card to Robert B. Parker, as long as they’re confident in their use of the language and the art of the storyteller.

2) What are your favorite genres? Which genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?
Personally, I enjoy all of the traditionally “male” genres: SF, horror, adventure, detective, suspense, etc.  As far as submissions go, everything should have that dark fantastic touch that defines them as “weird fiction,” but I would like to see more stories which successfully combine science fiction elements with that “weird” feeling.

3) What settings most intrigue you? Ordinary or exotic locales? Real or fantasy? Past, present, or future?
Any setting can be intriguing if it is imbued by the author’s voice with depth and connection to the story.  I don’t think I’ve ever rejected a story because of setting, but I’ve never accepted one because of story either.

4) Explain the type of pacing you enjoy, e.g. slow building to fast, fast throughout, etc.
Abraham Lincoln, when asked how long a man’s legs should be, said they should be long enough to reach the ground.  Pacing is like that; a story’s pacing should be consonant with the story it’s trying to tell.  I’ve rejected stories because they’ve tried to throw as much plot at the reader in the fewest number of words, and I’ve rejected stories because they took a simple idea worth a short-short and padded it far beyond its manageable length.  If a writer can convince me in the story that the pacing he chose is the best way to tell that story, I’ll go with it.

5) What types of characters appeal to you the most? Any examples?
I like to see a variety of characters.  Some stories are built almost entirely on the strength and novelty of the main character; others use a generic stand-in for the author (Lovecraft did this a lot) who remains almost featureless.  A rule of thumb: the less well-defined the character, the stronger the events around him need to be—a plain character in an unimpressive plot doesn’t work for anyone.

6) Is there a specific tone you'd like to set in your publication? What kind of voices grab you and keep you enthralled? Any examples?
“Weird” is a hard focus to explain. In general, it means that there has to be something to the stone both fantastic and slightly dark or alien, and this should be reflected in the tone or voice.  I’ll let you in on a secret: the author’s voice is the single most important factor to an acceptance at Arkham Tales.  If the story hasn’t convinced me within three pages or so that the author knows and loves the English language and uses it with enough confident to keep me reading, even though I don’t really know what the story is about yet, I’ll move on to something else.

With that said, there’s no single voice that can or should be the “house style” for our magazine.  We want variety; the unifying element is that the author’s voice should be strong and confident and evocative.  Look at that list of authors earlier; Robert E. Howard and Robert B. Parker are worlds apart in their writing style, but what they both have in common is a consistent and strong writer’s voice.

7) What is your policy for vulgarity, violence, and sexual content? Any taboos?
My main policy is, “Don’t try to shock me.”  I don’t look for splatterpunk; I find that kind of gonzo excess numbing and counterproductive.  Don’t try to “sexy up” your story with excess, because I’d much rather be unsettled than grossed out.

8) What kind of themes are you seeking most in submissions to this market? In general, what themes interest you?
Probably the closest thing to a common theme behind Arkham Tales is the one Lovecraft articulated, that realization of humanity’s infinitesimal place in the cosmos can be maddening in its overwhelming scope.  That said, I don’t want to turn the magazine into a nihilistic dirge-fest; voice and tone are a lot more important than a single theme.

9) Overall, do you prefer downbeat or upbeat endings?
I don’t have anything against upbeat endings as such, but I know as well as you do that authors often engineer them because the hero is expected to win, and thus the author cheats on the protagonist’s behalf.  On the other hand, too many downbeat endings try to involve a shock or twist that is obvious from the opening page.  The ending, happy or sad, grows out of the story that leads up to it; rather than an upbeat or downbeat ending, make sure you have the right ending.

10) Any last advice for submitters to this market? Any critical dos or don’ts?
I have a long list of pet peeves (I much prefer past tense to present, I can’t abide changing the viewpoint character in the middle of a scene, and I don’t want to wade through three opening pages that are stuffed with dull exposition and background), but here’s the primary point:  I want confident storytellers who know how to tell a story and why they told this particular story the way they told it.  You can have the greatest story idea and the best ending, but if the prose is clunky and uncertain, then your idea won’t show through your words and I’ll never get as far as reading your ending.

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For more scoops, go to marketscoops.blogspot.com.

D.L. Snell writes with Permuted Press. He edited Dr. Kim Paffenroth twice, John Dies at the End once, and provided a constructive critique to Joe McKinney on his next major novel after Dead City. You can shoot D.L. Snell in the head at www.exit66.net.

To reprint this article, please contact D.L. Snell.