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Taking Submissions: The Gallery of Curiosities

June 30, 2018

Deadline: June 30th, 2018
Payment: 3 cents per word for original work, 1 cent for reprints.
Note: Reprints Allowed

Short version:

-We buy original (3cents/word) and reprint (penny/word) short stories

-Length up to 7500 words.

-Anonymize your manuscript before sending it via email as a doc, docx, or rtf.

-If accepted, your story will be published in ebook and print-on-demand formats.

-If accepted, we will try to produce your story on a podcast, but this does not always pan out. It’s complicated. The way is fraught with bear traps and wolves.

Long version:

Curiosities is a paying speculative fiction anthology podcast and magazine. What makes us different from other SF/F/H markets is that most of our stories have some sort of anachropunkish retro-vintage element, and the handful of others that don’t were the ones that grabbed us by the throat and demanded to be bought. Clear as mud? Good. About 2/3 of submissions are rejected for “Bad Fit.”

What we’re looking for:
As an audio venue, we want stories that entertain. We want to be taken on an adventure in a time that never was, be it steampunk, gaslamp, weird tales, dreadpunk, vintage horror, mad science, fantastic cities (please!), monsters, impossible machines, clockworks, alt-history adventures, surprises, weird westerns, and things that shouldn’t work.

What we don’t want:
Serialized novels. Novel excerpts. Stories longer than 7500 words. Fan fiction. Sherlockians. Vulgar language used as punctuation. Cutters. Horror stories that spend most of the word count telling us all the mundane little details of the contemporary protag’s lifestyle before getting to it. JFK theories. Anything that has been on a podcast within the past 18 months.

What’s a hard sell:
Slipstream. Excessive splatter. Horror based in domestic violence or sexual perversion. Stories that take place in outer space. Anything set after the 1950’s.

Payment:
3 cents a word USD for original fiction and a penny a word for reprints, with a minimum of $10 USD for stories less than 1000 words.

How do I submit?
Send your story in an email or email attachment to [email protected] with SUBMISSION: Your Story Title in the subject line, because that is how I search for things. Always send a new story after a rejection with a new subject line. Continuing a thread is a good way to get the next one lost.

Manuscripts will be sent as docx or rtf attachments that are formatted without headers. To protect your privacy, put your personal details in the cover letter, not the manuscript. Make sure all commentary has been removed from your manuscript, as it will (surprise!) persist when I convert it into a Google Document file, which is the format in which we read.

We think long cover letters are unnecessary for this format. We are amused by haiku, and will reciprocate. If the story is a reprint, tell where it has been.

You’ll get a quick reply to let you know it did not get lost, then any identifying information will be stripped from your manuscript before it is logged and sent on to the readers. If you do not get a rejection within a week, then your story made it to the consideration table.

How do I get paid?
PayPal or SL Lindens.

What about Rights?
We are purchasing non-exclusive audio, print and archiving rights to your short story. You retain all other rights. The podcasts will be archived online for perpetual download under a Creative Commons 4.0 International Attribution NonCommercial No-Derivs license.

Are you going to publish a print magazine or post my story for online reading?
Stories will be collected into a thrice-annual zine which will be available in retail print-on-demand and ebook formats. You will get representative contributor copies of the edition that contains your story. We will not be posting the text of your story where it could be freely available online.

How long will it take to get my story to air?
The turnaround is slow. Not all stories will be broadcast. If we don’t make it happen within 24 months, our rights expire.

Is there a contract?
Yes.

What about simultaneous submissions?
Yes, but do tell us if you sold it somewhere that would not want us to produce it after they bought it so we don’t waste our time.

My story has already been published. Can I still submit it?
Yes, as long as you are not violating any terms of your previous contract. We do want to know if it is a reprint, and where it has been. Say so in your cover letter.

You rejected my story. Can I submit another one?
Absolutely! We rejected your story, not you. Be persistent!

You rejected my story. Can I work on it some more and resubmit it?
Only if we said that we would read it again in the rejection letter.

I have more questions!
[email protected]

Via: The Gallery of Curiosities.

Details

Date:
June 30, 2018