Steampunk Cthulhu antho

THE MARKET

• Antho: Steampunk Cthulhu
• Editor(s): Brian M. Sammons & Glynn Owen Barrass
• Pay Rate: 3¢ / word + 3 contributor copies
• Response Time: variable 
• Reading Period: now until July 31
• Description: The age of steam meets the age of Cthulhu, in a past where technology unbound warps Victorian Britain and the world at large into a dark Steampunk reality.
• Submission Guidelines: www.freewebs.com/batglynn/

NOTE: 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?

GB: Gawd there are so many… let’s see now! Two favourites: Raymond Chandler, because of his attention to detail and the rawness of his prose, and of course, H.P. Lovecraft, so rich with imagination and darkness, I couldn’t imagine a world without his sinister vision.

BMS: Lovecraft, for his original vision of horror. Stephen King for being the first author of adult books I ever read and introducing me to the joys of reading. Robert Bloch and Joe R. Lansdale for doing both bleak horror and black comedy so well. Richard Matheson for being the most consistently good and enjoyable over such a long career. And I can’t forget Robert E. Howard for his manly badassery. 


2) What are your favorite genres? Which genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?

GB: My genres, cyberpunk, and horror, for the most part. For this book, with immense clues in the title, we want to see the Cthulhu Mythos mixed with Steampunk, and are quite happy to see elements of fantasy, sci-fi, and even comedy within the subs.

BMS: Horror first and foremost, with various flavours of sci-fi and the occasional sword and sorcery fantasy, as long as it’s not too cute and fluffy. As for what I’d like to see for this book, a real blend of Lovecraftian nihilistic and inescapable horror with the often “future is bright” feel of steampunk. Also, I’d like to see some tales outside of the Victorian Britain setting.

3) What settings most intrigue you? Ordinary or exotic locales? Real or fantasy? Past, present, or future?
GB: I very much like alternate reality settings, whether it be past, present or future. Imagination can really soar when the world and reality have no boundaries.

BMS: I go through cycles. I’ll be into historical fiction for a while and then switch to something futuristic. However I always return to stories set in the modern world where reality clashes with the horrific or fantastic. 


4) Explain the type of pacing you enjoy, e.g. slow building to fast, fast throughout, etc.
GB: Any really, though it is good sometimes to read something slow paced, that suddenly goes ‘boom’ at a mile a minute near the end.

BMS: While arguments can be made for any type of story, the majority of short stories I really like are fast paced. I like the sense of action they impart. Conversely when it comes to novels or horror movies, I prefer creeping dread. Yeah that’s weird, I know.

5) What types of characters appeal to you the most? Any examples?

GB: Those that feel helpless against an overpowering Evil/Government/Religion, but fight back nonetheless. Doomed protagonists also read very well in a story.

BMS: I always like strong capable characters that nonetheless come up against things they just can’t overcome. It’s the whole feeling of yeah, you might be a bad ass (in whatever field) but compared to this you’re still nothing.

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?

GB: Dark for the most part, dystopian too. Steampunk tales in a grimy, polluted world with nothing shiny but the glint in the antagonist’s eye.

BMS: I’d be happy to run the gambit. From a few (but only a few) silly, humorous tales to the darkest, most feel bad stories imaginable, and everything in between. As long as it’s 100% steampunk and 100% Lovecraftian (or would that be 50% of both?) I’ll be happy.

7) What is your policy for vulgarity, violence, and sexual content? Any taboos?

GB: Swears are okay, as long as they are part of the story, but I don’t see our protagonists lowering themselves to such vulgarities. Violence, no problem where it is a necessary part of the story and not gratuitous. And sex… nothing X-Rated.

BMS: I’m fine with vulgarity; it’s a form of expression I’m fairly familiar with, as long as it’s warranted. Violence, I like violent horror. While not essential to tell a good story, I grew up in the 1980s reading plenty of splatterpunk. Sex, as long as it’s not just tossed in to be titillating and nothing more, I’m fine with it. As for taboos, for me it would be the victimization and sexualisation of children. No one wants to read that, and if you do, then this is not the book for you.

8) What kind of themes are you seeking most in submissions to this market? In general, what themes interest you?

GB: Again, darkness in the Steampunk world, sinister conspiracies and things beyond comprehension breaking through into our reality.

BMS: Technology mixed with black magic or just going too far. Famous characters (fictional or real) from the era would be a good addition, as long as there’s a solid reason for them to be in the story. Perhaps pulpy adventure mixed with the darkest horror. 


9) Overall, do you prefer downbeat or upbeat endings?

GB: Either, and if it’s downbeat for the heroes and upbeat for the bad guys, that’s fine! The protagonist discovering the hopelessness of the human condition in the face of the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos would be a good (but not totally necessary) ending to a Steampunk Cthulhu tale.

BMS: Either, but if I had to lean one way or the other, I’d lean toward downbeat. Not only does it feel more Lovecraftian to me, but I think too many of today’s horror stories have happy endings.

10) Any last advice for submitters to this market? Any critical do's or do not's?

GB: DO NOT pay lip service to the Mythos, as in throwing in a few names here and there just to make something Cthulhu Mythos when it’s not. We want the stories rich with the elements of both genres, blended seamlessly.

BMS: Let me stress that again, DO NOT play lip service to the Lovecraftian element. I’ve recently put together a number of Lovecraftian anthologies and you’d be surprised how many authors think that namedropping Cthulhu or the Necronomicon is sufficient. Well it’s not. The same should be said about the steampunk genre. If you’re not completely comfortable with one side of this genre blending experiment or the other, it will show. 

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For more scoops, go to www.dlsnell.com.

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

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.