Glimmer Train Press

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Cassie88

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I received an email the other day from Glimmer Train Press. Fiction Contest is now open... May 1st....Check out their site for more details. Has anybody ever submitted to them?
Cassie
 

arrowqueen

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From what I've heard, they have a very good reputation.
 

Maryn

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They 'put out a good rag,' meaning that the quality of their fiction (and contest winning stories) is generally first-rate. It's a highly competitive market--but if you win or they buy from you, you've got bragging rights.

Me, I've got rejections from them.

Maryn
 

BlueTexas

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Got my first rejection from this this afternoon. Pretty timely-3 weeks?
 

brokenfingers

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Glimmer Train is one of those on my To-Do list.

Still not there yet.....
 

RMM

submitted something to them recently. really long shot, of course, but you never know.
 

whistlin_smithy

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stormie said:
Yes, but not to their contest. Really nice rejection letters!
Yes from me too. And yes, a really nice rejection letter. CRICKET magazine also has a nice rejection letter with a very nice hand written note, Zoetrope also sends out nice rejection letters but kind of a weird format, oh yeah, and Guideposts has a very courteous...Oh wait. You just wanted to know about Glimmer Train, didn't you. Sorry. Some of us like to collect rejection letters and can point you to all the best ones if you are interested in becoming a genuine rejection letter collector.

Good luck with your collection,
whistlin_smithy
 

lauram

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I used to keep my rejection letters, but then got tired of having a three ring binder for them. I'm sure that I still have some sitting in my room somewhere.

I thought that I had submitted to Glimmer Train in the past, but I think I would've remembered a nice rejection letter. :)

I need to look them up again. Maybe I'll start my rejection collection anew with a nice rejection from Glimmer Train...
 

billyf027

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Someone once said that the two sisters that own or edit(or both) the magazine write all the stories under different names thus rejecting everyone else.
I thought no way but then you never know, maybe they write most of them.
I have read some stories in their publication I thought were poor but thats just my thoughts.
 
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Jamesaritchie

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billyf027 said:
Someone once said that the two sisters that own or edit(or both) the magazine write all the stories under different names thus rejecting everyone else.
I thought no way but then you never know, maybe they write most of them.
I have read some stories in their publication I thought were poor but thats just my thoughts.

That's probably the strangest thing I've ever heard, and it would be a huge surprise to all the writers I know who have been published by Glimmer Train. Especially all the famous writers published by Glimmer Train.

No, the sisters do not write any of the stories under pseudonyms. Not only would this be silly and self-defeating, it would be far too easy to check. For that matter, all the writers who have appeared in Glimmer Train are not only real, you can easily check on almost all of them.

I suspect whoever came up with this notion was simply a person who couldn't write well enough to make the cut.
 

Kate Thornton

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I have never known anyone who was accepted by Glimmer Train. I have been writing for a long time & know a lot of writers well enough to have asked about Glimmer Train. I submitted to them several years ago (well, ten, time flies) so I too belong to the "Wreck".

That said, they really *do* publish stories by real people sometimes - 'Telemetry' by Matt Bondurant was in the Sept 2005 issue. He's a real person!

They have very strict acceptance standards and do not smile on genre fiction. They are strictly a lit mag from what I can tell by reading the issues. I think if I had a very high quality lit story, I would first shop it to The New Yorker or Atlantic, though, then to Glimmer Train - just my opinion, and since I write genre, it's not likely that I will have anything for any of those venues!

The two ladies who own the magazine, Susan Burmeister-Brown and Linda Swanson-Davies, began the venture in 1990 and are indeed sisters. They do not write the stories themselves - you can google their authors for info. But they do have a very specific (dare I say narrow?) idea of what they want. Literary fiction is not always everyone's cup of tea.

They get a lot of submissions - and I think one or two or ten rejections shouldn't stop anyone from submitting - their response time is good, the pay is good, and who knows? You might get in!
 

Jamesaritchie

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Kate Thornton said:
I have never known anyone who was accepted by Glimmer Train. I have been writing for a long time & know a lot of writers well enough to have asked about Glimmer Train. I submitted to them several years ago (well, ten, time flies) so I too belong to the "Wreck".

That said, they really *do* publish stories by real people sometimes - 'Telemetry' by Matt Bondurant was in the Sept 2005 issue. He's a real person!

They have very strict acceptance standards and do not smile on genre fiction. They are strictly a lit mag from what I can tell by reading the issues. I think if I had a very high quality lit story, I would first shop it to The New Yorker or Atlantic, though, then to Glimmer Train - just my opinion, and since I write genre, it's not likely that I will have anything for any of those venues!

The two ladies who own the magazine, Susan Burmeister-Brown and Linda Swanson-Davies, began the venture in 1990 and are indeed sisters. They do not write the stories themselves - you can google their authors for info. But they do have a very specific (dare I say narrow?) idea of what they want. Literary fiction is not always everyone's cup of tea.

They get a lot of submissions - and I think one or two or ten rejections shouldn't stop anyone from submitting - their response time is good, the pay is good, and who knows? You might get in!

They do want only literary fiction, but from what I've been told, it's unbelievable how many writers submit genre fiction. Definitely not a way to get accepted.
 

PeeDee

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Jamesaritchie said:
They do want only literary fiction, but from what I've been told, it's unbelievable how many writers submit genre fiction. Definitely not a way to get accepted.

Which is really a tragedy, because I adore GlimmerTrain, but I veer into genre too often to think they would be interested in me.
 

clintl

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Jamesaritchie said:
They do want only literary fiction, but from what I've been told, it's unbelievable how many writers submit genre fiction. Definitely not a way to get accepted.
The listing in Ralan's market list might be to blame for that:

http://www.ralan.com/

GLIMMER TRAIN STORIES - quarterly print; LITERARY genre work considered (from the horses' mouth) (fic). Pay: $700/story. Words: <12k. RT: 12 weeks. Reprints: No. E-subs: online form only. Linda Burmeister Davies & Susan Burmeister-Brown, Editors (Q).
Reading Periods: Jan, Apr, Jul, & Oct (Monday postmark OK for Sunday deadline)
 

Jamesaritchie

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Ralan

clintl said:
The listing in Ralan's market list might be to blame for that:

http://www.ralan.com/

I suspect the Ralan listing does give many writers the wrong idea about what Glimmer Train wants. Don't we all believe our writing is good enough to be called "literary."
 
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