LETTERS to the SLUSH PILE #20

Dear --------,

You're got some great story-telling technique, but every now and then, you stop me right in my reading tracks. Please don't write like a girl.

I say this very tongue in 'chick', because I'm a girl (okay, a woman), too. You've got this great cyber story going on, with lots of action, and then you throw in a descriptive line like this: "Her hair was the colour of Chardonnay."

Now this might work if your story had some context to it concerning wine (as in wine punk - now there's a fresh idea), but on it's own, it reads like a romance-writer's cliché. There were other small faux-pas like this in your piece (as in describing a guy as 'a tall, broad-shouldered brunette' - brunette has a feminine cast to it - dark-haired would have been better.) These little mistakes aren't enough to make me reject your story (because they are easy to fix), but I just thought you should know. Maybe these wouldn't bother another editor, but they bugged me. Every word in your work needs to reflect your chosen genre, your tone, and a consistent style.

You're doing some good work. This picky little hint will make your stories even better.

All the best, Susan.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - ON SPEC'S 'PUNK' THEME ISSUE

Cover Artist, Chuck Bazaar

WHEN DIANE WALTON AND I WERE INTERVIEWED about On Spec's up and coming 25 Year Anthology through Tyche Books (soon to be released), I mentioned that I would like to do another theme issue, possibly on Steampunk. Later, when we talked about it over e-mail, Diane suggested we not limit ourselves, that we do a theme issue on all things 'punk'. I had been thinking along those same lines. So here, on Suzenyms, I'm happy to give you all a first Call for Submissions for On Spec's new Punk Theme issue!

STEAMPUNK, CYBERPUNK, BIOPUNK, and many other types of ‘punk’ derivatives have become popular sub-genres of speculative fiction. What classifies them as ‘punk’ are a number of literary devices that include:

1). Setting: specific technologies associated with particular ‘ages’, ‘societies’ and/or time frames (both the past or future) - eg. the Victorian Age often defines Steampunk (but not always). Nanotech experiments of the future may define Biopunk, (but again, not always).

2). Tone: a sense of novelty, or being on the cutting edge of that particular technology, within its time frame.

3). Style: language and/or a narrative style specific to that particular technology, reflective of the time, and/or writers of that time.

4). Characterization: wide open. Characters can reflect their time and the concerns of their place in that time, or be transplants from another time and/or genre. 

Sub-genres include, but are not limited to: Atompunk, Biopunk, Clockpunk, Cyberpunk, Decopunk, Dieselpunk, Dreampunk, Mythpunk, Nanopunk, Steampunk, Stonepunk, and others. For further definitions, this Wikipedia link on Cyberpunk Derivatives may prove helpful.  

AS OF SEPTEMBER 1^st to OCTOBER 15^th , 2014, WE ARE SEEKING THE BEST OF WHAT EACH ‘PUNK’ SUB-GENRE HAS TO OFFER . We will be looking for top stories that represent their particular punk sub-genre. Furthermore, we are looking not only for the best, but what is new, what hasn’t been ‘punked’ before. Originality is the name of the game. If you have a piece that explores the themes and technology of a new era and/or society, we want to see it. Chuck Wendig on his blog Terrible Minds offers us a very tongue-in-cheek view. (If you can pull off humour, why not?) We’re happy to consider everything 'punk', from the serious to the ridiculous. Surprise, delight, and amaze us!

Word maximum: 6,000 words. Please accompany your submission with ‘PUNK THEME ISSUE’ in the subject line. Estimated publishing/issue date: Spring, 2015. We will be posting about this on On Spec’s new and updated website shortly. Check out the website for full submission guidelines. And finally, please hold off on sending us your manuscripts until the submission window. (Anything sent to us before September 1^st will be deleted.)  Even we editors need a summer break!

We are excited about this new theme issue. (Personally, I can't wait to see what you send us!)

- Susan.