Saturday, September 27, 2008

Fiction Length Guidelines

It just occurred to me that I never gave any word limits for short stories. Although I've only received one story so far that I considered a bit too long, it seems like good form to give some basic guidelines in this regard. So, OK, there's no minimum length, and short-shorts or flash fiction is fine. As for maximum, I'd say 10,000.

I don't have any limits for nonfiction, since I'll be honest; like art, the nonfiction category has been more challenging to fill, and quality and fresh subject matter is really the only criteria.

And while I'm on my soapbox here, the art category for the Spring debut issue is still open, and all categories are open for the Summer 2009 issue.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Debut issue full, except for artwork.

Melusine Update:
As indicated above, the debut issue is now full... except for one or two spots for artwork, particularly full-color artwork. So far we haven't received any photography, B&W or color, so we'd be especially interested in looking at some of that.

From this date on, all poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and queries for reviews will be considered for the second issue, slated for June 2009. But don't worry that, if you send stuff anytime soon, it will necessarily go into a black hole (I say "necessarily" because it could take me the whole 6 months to respond, but if your work really blows me away, I may respond much sooner.)

Which is not to say that if you've submitted stuff already and haven't heard back yet, that we don't want to publish your stuff. I have a handful of things I agonized about when making the final cut for the Spring issue that I may be holding for summer, in some cases just because it seemed to have more of a summer theme, and, if that's the case, I'll get back to you in a reasonable amount of time.

And, thesis deadlines notwithstanding, I will be getting back to everyone over the next few months, in the order that the submissions were received. And I want to take this moment to thank everyone who has supported this new venture with their submissions, and offer my assurance that, even if your work wasn't accepted on this go-round, that you're very welcome to submit again in the future!

Just one more note: I've started thinking seriously about a print "best of" annual issue, the first one being the Spring 2010 issue. More details on that later. One thing at a time, right?