The "Where can I send this story?" thread

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MumblingSage

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Inspired by the "Where might I send this story?" thread in Interstices. For stories that are unusual, cross-genre in an odd way, awkwardly lengthed, unclassifiable or difficult to sell for some other reason. Give a description, including length, likeliest genre, and possibly a rating in the event of sex, violence, or profanity, and we'll knock our heads together to try and come up with some place to send it.

I'll start with a 5000-word distopia. It's not your typical science-fiction, since it's strongly character focused and there's no technology that doesn't exist in the modern world. It's not dark, but it does have a strong focus on sexual issues (the protagonist is asexual, and has to deal with a culture where anything not heterosexual and promiscuous is looked upon as a freak or worse), so I guess it's an R rating or maybe a strong PG-13. Anybody know a place that might like it?
 

astonwest

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Have you checked ralan.com? That sounds like something that would fit in several of the 'zines I've seen listed there in the past. I haven't checked back in a while, so they may have all closed, but that would be my first place to start if I was in your shoes.
 

eqb

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I'll start with a 5000-word dystopia. It's not your typical science-fiction, since it's strongly character focused and there's no technology that doesn't exist in the modern world.

Strange Horizons. Postscripts. Subterranean. Clarkesworld. Interzone. These are all pro-paying markets that regularly publish stories like the one you describe. (Well, Interzone doesn't pay pro rates any longer, but they have a deservedly great reputation.) I bet there are lots more, but these are ones I thought of in less than a minute. Check Duotrope or Ralan's for more.
 

Alan Yee

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Strange Horizons. Postscripts. Subterranean. Clarkesworld. Interzone. These are all pro-paying markets that regularly publish stories like the one you describe. (Well, Interzone doesn't pay pro rates any longer, but they have a deservedly great reputation.) I bet there are lots more, but these are ones I thought of in less than a minute. Check Duotrope or Ralan's for more.

Does Subterranean accept unsolicited submissions? I've yet to find any submission guidelines for them, so I'm thinking that they're invitation-only.
 

eqb

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You need to query first with a brief description of the story. (At least, that's what I did.) Postscripts operates the same way.
 

Alan Yee

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You need to query first with a brief description of the story. (At least, that's what I did.) Postscripts operates the same way.

Thanks, Beth. I knew about Postscripts' policy because they have a listing on Ralan's (though they currently seem to be booked full and closed even to queries), but I'd been unclear about whether Subterranean accepted queries. I guess I can add Subterranean to my list.
 

waylander

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Black Static might be another possibility. If you send to Interzone it will get considered for Black Static too.
 

stormie

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Have you checked ralan.com? That sounds like something that would fit in several of the 'zines I've seen listed there in the past. I haven't checked back in a while, so they may have all closed, but that would be my first place to start if I was in your shoes.
Ralan.com is great. Updated frequently.
Duotrope.com too.
 

MumblingSage

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Ralan and Duotrope are both fine, as far as they go, but they don't capture the nuances of a market as well as the collected heads of dedicated readers and short-story sellers. That's what I've always liked about Absolute Write's "Where...?" threads. There're things that get missed when someone's using a database and doesn't know what to look for. Things like subgenres, position on explicit content, etc. I read samples of markets' fiction when I can, but I can't read everything and there are markets I haven't even heard of that might fit perfectly. And I doubt I'm the only one with that sort of problem.
 

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I have a mainstream story of under 11,000 words. Would suit women's or mainstream market. It's set in the UK, so British market would be ideal.

Duotrope is fantastic, but seems very American-centric. No UK markets come up at all when I search.

Suggestions? Or a similar British-based site similar to Duotrope? Paying markets only, please. Magazine or anthology.

Many thanks.
 

defyalllogic

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4,101 words - Science Fiction

Protagonist is a six-year-old girl who lives in a house run by AI in the far future. (things reshape to become whatever they need to be). two other children live in the house with her.

She has 4 sets of parents who spend time with her regularly.

The story goes through a day where she spends time with all of them.

In the end the children are put on display at a banquet and it is explained that they're the first fully human children to be born in a while and this organization is devoted to integrating them and reestablishing the nuclear family.

They are asked to choose their permanent parents who that want to go home with. They all choose the "mother" in the orphanage.

*it's kind of cute and relaxed
*twice the little girl says "shit"
*it's far future
*it's character oriented.

:Shrug:
 

mirandamiranda

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Sorry I can't offer any help on the stories above, but I have got one of my own:

2,500 word fantasy(?) inspired by selkies - creatures from mythology that can remove their seal skins to become human. The story however is character based and has only hints about the fantastical undercurrents - it ends on a somewhat ambiguous note and has no overt fantasy. Although the reader should be able to read in a magical theme without too much trouble (I hope!). [eta the story is actually about the self-discovery of a selkie like creature - but told through the pov of her lover/friend who never knows for sure what happens]

So far I have had an outright rejection from Realms of Fantasy (surprise) and a near-miss with Fantasy Magazine. I have been sending it to fantasy markets but am wondering if it is not quite 'fantasy' enough...

What do you think? And thanks for this thread, I have been stuck on this for a while. I love Duotrope but cannot afford to just buy any publication that looks interesting on the off-chance they might be the right sort of place.
 

Polenth

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4,101 words - Science Fiction

*it's kind of cute and relaxed
*twice the little girl says "shit"
*it's far future
*it's character oriented.

Cute is a hard sell. The only market I've had that used 'cute' in a rejection in a positive way was Shimmer (or at least, I hope they were being positive...)

ASIM likes un-dark stories.

2,500 word fantasy(?) inspired by selkies

So far I have had an outright rejection from Realms of Fantasy (surprise) and a near-miss with Fantasy Magazine. I have been sending it to fantasy markets but am wondering if it is not quite 'fantasy' enough...

Have you tried Pedestal Magazine? They're a literary market who're open to genre submissions. Current submission period is taking any genre up to 4500 words (they run special theme issues a fair bit, so guidelines vary).
 

Izz

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Sorry I can't offer any help on the stories above, but I have got one of my own:

2,500 word fantasy(?) inspired by selkies - creatures from mythology that can remove their seal skins to become human. The story however is character based and has only hints about the fantastical undercurrents - it ends on a somewhat ambiguous note and has no overt fantasy. Although the reader should be able to read in a magical theme without too much trouble (I hope!). [eta the story is actually about the self-discovery of a selkie like creature - but told through the pov of her lover/friend who never knows for sure what happens]

So far I have had an outright rejection from Realms of Fantasy (surprise) and a near-miss with Fantasy Magazine. I have been sending it to fantasy markets but am wondering if it is not quite 'fantasy' enough...
Have you tried Strange Horizons? They're also free to read, so you could check out some of their stories to see if yours might be a fit.
 
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mirandamiranda

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Thanks for the tips, I checked out Pedestal and they looked good. Accept sim sub too so I might send the story along...

I too thought Strange Horizons might be a good fit, unfortunately they didn't... Sorry should have put that in initial message.

Thanks again! Always good to get the benefit of more experience.
 

Izz

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excuse me, but Pedestal don't want speculative fiction for their special issue until after October 28th.
They do accept spec fic all year around. It's just that the December issue is purely spec fic, and has guest editors. The warning in the sub guidelines is for anybody subbing especially for that issue not to do so until after Oct 28th.

Miranda, your story wouldn't qualify for the guest-edited issue anyhow, as the word limit is 1500.
 

Polenth

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excuse me, but Pedestal don't want speculative fiction for their special issue until after October 28th.

Pedestal accepts genre work all the time. You don't have to wait for the theme issues. Mirandamiranda's story is too long for the theme issue, and possibly not speculative enough, so the current submission period is the best bet for her.

(Obviously, if you have a shorter work intended for the special issue, you do have to wait).

ETA: Izz beat me by seconds! But I'll have my revenge...
 
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defyalllogic

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that's very vague.
have you narrowed down the genre?
have you gone on duotrope to find markets for (non)fiction?
is it serious or light?
is it about the aunt or the child?

all those things will help you and us narrow the market options.
 

Polenth

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a 1,300 word short about an aunt finding out her neice was molested?

Is this fiction, or is this the non-fiction piece you mentioned before? If it is fiction, literary magazines are a possible (www.duotrope.com has fiction and poetry listings).

If it's non-fiction... like I said before, don't try to sell it as fiction. Though fictional stories often have elements of real experiences, they're not the same as memoir or autobiographical pieces.

have you gone on duotrope to find markets for (non)fiction?

Duotrope has some magazines that take non-fiction too... but you can't search for them on that basis. I wouldn't use it for that unless you're writing an article directly related to a genre.
 

bsolah

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An 1,800 word vampire story that only tweaks the genre in a new direction. Its not highly original and mostly been rejected for that reason despite being well written. Am looking for a market mainly for exposure at least.
 

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I have a 2,700 word story about a man falling in love with a hermaphrodite on a distant space port, overcoming his micropenis complex in the process. A happy ending. I have no idea where to send it to.
 

defyalllogic

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I have a 2,700 word story about a man falling in love with a hermaphrodite on a distant space port, overcoming his micropenis complex in the process. A happy ending. I have no idea where to send it to.

expanded horizons? (FYI: they only pay $30 per story but it seems to be a respected market)
The Battered Suitcase (no pay)
Strange horizons is a pro market that wanted underrepresented groups/diversity: http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction.shtml
 
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