Hi guys,
Lee Battersby here. Like Lee Collins, I survived the hallways of death and the hunter seeker drones and made it all the way to AR publication. A couple of things to pass on from my own experience: if the guidelines say 'Epic/classic fantasy" then that's *absolutely* what they mean-- the first Open Door month garnered 980+ submissions, and it's all too easy to reject something not quite right if there's another 979 still to read. However, that's still a pretty broad definition-- I can't speak for AR directly, but imho Moorcock's Elric books are still High Fantasy despite being set in a post-apocalyptic future (or past, take your pick, but I distinctly remmeber one story with tanks in it.... Ditto NK Jemisin's "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" and Gene Wolfe's 'Book of the New Sun' series, despite them all having SF-nal elements. what's more, it might just be that special spark of 'other' that sets your work apart from the other 970.