We’re looking for fantastic fantasy, super-duper science fiction,  Wonderfulliy Wierd, and Macabre.

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Think classic outer-worldly.  Think swashbuckling adventure.  Think stuff that would give Lovecraft the shivers.  Mad professors, demons of the dark, heroes, monsters, giant robots…  We could could go all day.  You get the idea.

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New, unpublished writers are welcome!

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Think you’ve got the chops?  Here are the rules:

Under 18?

No problem.

Just send a note from your teacher or guardian with your submission, telling us it’s ok for you to write for us.

No gratuitous sex or excessive profanity.  No nasty sex of any kind unless it’s inherent to the story, and not glorified.  Some gore is ok, but hate speech, or material we might find offensive is not.

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We pay a flat rate of $25 AU per original piece of fiction.  That’s low right now, but Rufo’s Dog is still a pup.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to pay more soon.  The best way for that to happen is for you to you tell all your friends to buy a copy and or subscribe, then we’ll have more moolah to throw at the next issue.

We pay a flat rate of $100 AU for any original artwork that makes the cover, and $50 AU that makes the middle pages.

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For contributors with an Australian bank account, payments made via bank transfer are possible.  For international contributors, we prefer to pay via PayPal.

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Rufo’s Dog will also pay for one annual subscription, (4 issues,), normally valued at $9.99 AU, for each contributer we publish.

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We reserve only first rights for print and electronic publication of fiction,  Once your work is published in Rufo’s Dog online, or in print, it’s yours.

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We reserve all rights for print and electronic publication of artwork, including the right to republish in future editions.

Preferred word count is 2000-8,000.  Maximum word count is 10,000.  Longer submissions might be scrapped without examination.

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Text should be Times New Roman, font size 12, double spaced, aligned left.  Margins must be at least 1.5 inches wide.

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If you’re unsure about formatting, check out the William Shunn format.

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Strictly doc, docx, or rtf files only.  Other formats like pdf, odt etc., will be scrapped without examination.

All fiction must be edited and complete.

No wips.  No reviews.  No poetry.  No fan-fic.

No reprints.

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We accept artwork only if submitted by the original artist who owns the copryright.

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Yes, we accept simultaneous submissions, but tell us if your work gets accepted elsewhere.

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Yes, we accept multiple submissions, but only one per genre.

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Serials will be considered up to 10,000 words, and they must have a clear outline of the background if any, and stories to follow.

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No copyrighted material (eg., Batman).

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No bitching about why we didn’t select your piece.

All submissions not automatically rejected will usually receive a reply within about a week.  Everyone at Rufo’s Dog has a day job, so they tend to read submissions on the weekends.  Please be patient.

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English only.  English UK or US is fine, as long as it’s consistent.

Don’t send your life story.  The deets we need are:

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• Name, age, etc in a 200 max word bio.

• If you are a school student, where do you go to school and what year are you in?

• Have you won any awards?  If so, what, when?

• Social media links & website if any.*

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NOTE: If you’re a new writer and don’t have much to tell, don’t worry!  We all have to start somewhere.

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*We do our research.  If we find you have a blog, site, or profile that is particularly offensive, (eg hate speech,), WE WILL NOT PUBLISH YOU. You can be as controversial as you like, but there’s a line, and we all know where it is.  The Submissions Spook will put you on the “Naughty” list, and once you’re on it, you will not be considered again.

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Writers.  We have no set themes, though we do have set genres.  They are fantasy,  science fiction, and Macabre.  Mix and match at your own peril.  Anything that doesn’t really fit any of the first three, may be labelled either Spec Slush, and scrapped, or Wonderfulliy Wierd, our fourth genre, which is really just a meaningless superlative.

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Also, all writers are reminded Rufo’s Dog is meant to be a fun read, even the spooky stuff.  Dark, depressing material will probably earn you a depressing response.  Dystopia might be hotter than sparkly vampires right now, but it’s not really that fun.

Send your submission attached to your email to The Submissions Spook at [email protected] with your bio and other deets mentioned above in the email.  MAKE SURE TO MENTION THE GENRE OF YOUR SUBMISSION.  If he likes what he sees, he’ll pass it on to The Editor Aliens and they will contact you.

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Artists.  Check the Submissions Windows section below for the theme we want for our cover.  It will be either, fantasy, Macabre. Wonderfulliy Wierd, or science fiction.  We will accept artwork outside the themes required for the coming cover issue, however these will only make it into the middle pages.

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Portait orientation works best for us.

Send your submission as a jpeg (max 1 meg) attached to your email to The Submissions Spook at [email protected] with your bio and other deets mentioned above in the email.  If he likes what he sees, he’ll ask for a high res copy.

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Submissions received outside the windows stated below might be scrapped without examination.

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The Submissions Spook has a soft spot for young emerging writers.  If you’re under 18 (we’ll require a jpeg of some form of photo id to prove that,), and we select your piece for submission, he’ll have Scraps interview you.  The interview will appear in the following issue, and also on Scraps’ blog.

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Sumbmissions Windows

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Now till October 31, 2019 for January 2020 issue.  Cover Theme: fantasy

January 1 – 31, 2020 for April 2020 issue.  Cover Theme: Macabre

April 1 – 30, 2020 for July 2020 issue.  Cover Theme: science fiction

July 1 – 31, 2020 for October 2020 issue.  Cover Theme: Wonderfully Weird

October 1 – 31, 2020 for January 2021 Issue.  Cover Theme: Fantasy

January 1 – 31, 2021 for April 2021 Issue.  Cover Theme: Macabre

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Artists and Writers are encouraged to take a look at our sample contract which can be found on our Legal Stuff page.