Hi all,
I got a cool personal note from Matt Wallace (of the
Variant Frequencies podcast, and he's also had work on Pseudopod) about a new British magazine for which he's the fiction editor, called
Murky Depths.
They're looking for
dark speculative fiction up to 5,000 words. In his own words, which are a bit more persuasive IMO than the official guidelines:
About the 'zine: Our main focus is dark speculative fiction.
"Speculative" is not strictly defined as sci-fi, though there is a
lean in that direction. Conversely, "dark" can be darkly funny, darkly
disturbing, etc.. Straight horror will be considered strictly on
merit. The bottom line is, if it's dark and it's good, it's in.
Period. We're also looking for comic scripts, well-crafted stories
that will also translate into stunning and/or demented illustrated
works. If you need a sensibility barometer, think 30/40's pulp sci-fi,
vintage Heavy Metal magazine, and latter day stand-outs like The
Horror Show and Midnight Graffiti. That's what we're going for.
Ambitious bordering on deluded, no?
On a personal note, I don't feel we've acquired, or even seen, nearly
enough truly fucked up stories. If you've got something particularly
twisted, out there, perverted, I'd love to see it.
Sound like fun? And yes, they're a paying market. Guidelines at:
http://www.murkydepths.com