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Taking Submissions: Planet Scumm Issue 2

June 15, 2017

Deadline: June 15th, 2017
Payment: Royalty Split

Spark and Fizz Books is accepting submissions for its second issue of quarterly science and speculative fiction magazine, Planet Scumm. We’ll be accepting submissions April 23 to June 15.

Issue 002 will be released October 2017. Our benevolent overlord Scummy will be especially kind towards spooky submissions hitting his space-desk this cycle. However, horror elements are not required. All submissions must still conform to the guidelines below (we’re looking at you, zombie fiction).

What We’re Looking For

Previously unpublished short fiction that doesn’t lean heavily on genre tropes. Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, sci-fi that melts in your mouth-brain not your hand-brain. Speculative fiction, weird fiction, slipstream, glitterlit, analogpunk. Basically anything that pleases Scummy, our megaphone-toting slime buddy.

How to Submit

Include submissions as an .RTF or .DOC attachment sent to [email protected] along with a brief cover letter in the email body. Stories, or collections of flash fiction, should be 1000-7500 words in length, and submitted in standard manuscript format. Use the subject line “Planet Scumm Submission” followed by your story title.

Submit only one short story or flash collection. We will not accept multiple submissions from the same author in one reading period.

Simultaneous submissions are okay, as long as you promptly withdraw a story accepted elsewhere. Submissions that are too long or short will be rejected immediately, as will those that are incorrectly formatted. In addition, submissions covering the topics below aren’t likely to play well with our slush readers.

The No-No List

  • Zombies, vampires, werewolves, pirates, ninjas
  • Cthuloid/Mythos tales
  • Straight horror without a clear speculative element
  • Erotica
  • Fan fiction
  • Sword-and-spell fantasy
  • Steampunk
  • Anthropomorphic animals
  • Stories that end with “It was all a dream” or “Turns out they were in a simulation”

Use With Caution

  • Time travel
  • Political allegory
  • Satire/Comedy
  • Lasers (pew-pew handheld ones, and big blue planet-killers)
  • FTL travel

Schedule, Rights and Payment

Issue 002 will be released October 2017 as an e-book with a limited print run. Most accepted stories will also be published on our website. For accepted stories, we’re asking for first world English print and electronic publishing rights for six months and non-exclusive rights thereafter.

Half the profits from the issue will be re-invested in the magazine, the other half will be split among all contributors.

Authors will receive their first payment within 6 months of their issue’s release date, and an annual residuals check. Contributors will also receive a free digital copy of the issue.

Production Costs

The finances are structured such that contributors succeed proportionally as we succeed. We hope authors who can’t afford to submit a story with such an uncertain remuneration model will give us another look a few issues down the road, or whenever we can confidently offer a meaningful minimum payment.

We will not exceed a $200 budget for Issue 002. That money comes from us and goes to:

  • An initial print run to sell on consignment in stores local to the editors (that’s Boston, Portland and NYC) and via our website
  • Flyers and promotional materials to get the word out
  • One quarter of our modest yearly hosting costs

Via: Planet Scumm.

Details

Date:
June 15, 2017