openfile: atomjack-guidelines

filefound.

opening.....

Submission Guidelines: Atomjack is a quarterly, (soon tob e weekly) speculative fiction magazine that peddles science fiction and science fantasy.

Turn-ons (things to get you in the door):

Read an issue.  Really, this says it all.  It'll take you an hour or two tops, and you'll have a much better idea of the things most likely to be published.

Hard science fiction - real science and/or scientific principles, and stories chiefly concerned with them.

Soft science fiction - like the "soft sciences." Sociological, psychological, archeological, anthropological, etc, and is usually character oriented.

Science fantasy - Science fiction with elements of fantasy in them, or (to a lesser degree) fantasy with science fiction elements. This includes stories involving deities, traveling to Hell via science (also known as the Doom scenario), and the like.

Speculative fiction - fiction that just wonders "what if?" alternate history, time travel, horror, superheroes, steam-punk, apocalyptic, etc. if you don't know where it goes, it probably goes here. Note: Fantasy is speculative fiction, but Atomjack does not currently publish fantasy.

• Alternate Future - the branch of fiction that looks to the future, although our past is no longer the same. What would the year 2200 be like if the Aztecs had slaughtered the Conquistadors? How would FTL space travel be affected if the Nazis had won the war? What would first contact be like if the British Empire had successfully conquered the entire known world? You can tell these kinds of stories, giving the alternate history details very subtly--as shown in Issue 4's story "The Last Arabian Prince."
  

Humor - funny + science fiction + blender.

Feminist science fiction - science fiction + the "v" word.

Surreal science fiction - trippy, dark, unexplained, or headache-inducing science fiction.

Artwork - typical and atypical science fiction artwork. We're talking robots and damsels in distress, aliens and alien landscapes, lasers and phasers, computers--basically anything off a Del Rey paperback cover. But we like the strange stuff too. Feel free to submit comic strips or comic pages.

Articles - book reviews (of lesser known works), movie reviews (of lesser known or foreign movies), science fiction essays, and reviews of science fiction music (trust me, it's out there, and it's good.)

Poetry - Poetry is a hard sell to Atomjack, but recently I have seen some astouding poetry that gives me hope for the genre. See Human Remains by Bruce Boston and Xenotheology I, II by F. J. Bergmann for good examples.

A cover letter - This shows me that you're a person, not a machine doing a smear campaign. When I receive a submission without any information in the actual email itself, I feel like you're a robot. That's bad ... unless you're actually a robot, which is probably unlikely.

Be a robot - I love robots. You prove to me you're a robot, and I'll probably publish your work. Probably.

Turn-offs: (things we probably won't publish)

Poorly written, punctuated, spelled or edited manuscripts-- polish it until you can see your reflection in it.

Fan fiction - unless you're one of my fans.

Bad science - there is nothing worse than bad or silly science, in any medium.

Clichés that don't know they're clichés - being postmodern (literary buzz word!) or deconstructionist (TWO literary buzz words!) is fine, however.

Sword-&-Sorcery - this fiction has its place (on my bookshelf), but its place is not Atomjack.

Horror that has no science fiction elements - your werewolf should have a genetic abnormality, not a magical pendant.

Navel-gazing - 'nuff said.

Romantic or erotic science fiction - again, this has its place (on the Rev. Brian Worley's bookshelves.)

Children's stories

Serialized science fiction - this is not the 1930s, and I am not John W. Campbell.

Tips for better stories:  

• Having a story set on or near Earth, with the surprise ending being "oh, it's Earth," is not an original one, nor a particularly good one.  When I was in 6th grade, I read "Nightmare Camp" by R.L. Stine, and the ending was not particularly effective there either.  Please DO NOT send me a story where there's a twist ending and it's Earth unless you're Pierre Boulle. What do you mean you don't know who he is? Cabbie, take us to Wikipedia! And step on it!
  
  
• Cold fusion is a science fiction cliche and a scientific impossibility. Trust in Einstein; he knows of what he speaks. Use with caution.

To submit a story or article, it should be between one word and seven thousand words. Longer (or shorter, if you can figure out a way to do it) pieces will be considered as time and patience allows.

All fiction or articles should be sent as an Openoffice.org (.odt), MS Word (.doc), or Text file, and should be attached to the email or included in the body. (Openoffice.org documents are preferred.) Please include the word "submission" somewhere in your subject line.

Include your name and mailing address, or we have nowhere to send the money (and it will be spent on vegetarian chilidogs instead.)

We purchase first electronic rights (second in case of reprints), and archive all works on the site unless an author specifically requests otherwise (in which case, we take your first born--strictly for archiving purposes, I assure you).

Payment: We pay $20.00 for accepted submissions, paid upon publication. Solicited stories will be negotiated on an individual basis. All payments made as of February 2009 will be Paypal ONLY. Please consider this when submitting stories.

Response time for queries is usually a week or less, but response times for submissions can be as many as three months.

Submit stories to atomjackmagazine (@) yahoo (.) com. (Sorry for not linking directly, but the spammers are KILLING ME!)

"Oh shit. There goes the planet."
Spaceballs

closing.....

______

______