A busy day today.

Tangent Online – which has published reviews of short genre fiction for 14 years – is “closing shop permanently March 1, 2009, unless someone steps forward to host the site.” This notice was given on a SFF newsgroup.

The website itself says they are on sabbatical “while we give the site a new look”. This was posted September 2007.

So, is anyone interested in hosting Tangent Online?

Saw this on Locus, and had to check for myself. I couldn’t find the announcement, so I went to MM’s newsgroup, and found out you can’t see the announcement unless you have Internet Explorer. I use Firefox or Netscape. However, because people couldn’t see it, the announcement was posted in the newsgroup. Here it is:

Dear Fans,

I am sorry to say that due to major distribution problems Meisha Merlin Publishing,
Inc. will be closing their doors in May 2007. Both Kevin and I along with the
entire staff here at Meisha Merlin want to thank all our fans, customers, authors,
& artist for your support over the past eleven years. We are sorry to have to
do this, but events beyond our control have forced us to make this decision.

ATTN: For those of you who have purchased The Virginia Edition. The Robert A.
& Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust has worked out an agreement to continue publishing
The Virginia Edition. You can expect a letter from them within the very near
future & volume seven will be arriving to you in late May or early June.

Laura J. Underwood

This is very sad news, indeed. One thing we don’t need is to lose such a major publishing force in genre fiction. I’d like to wish all staff and supporters of the company the best of luck in their future.

For those with Internet Explorer, or anyone who just wants to see the site and not necessarily the announcement, here is the Meisha Merlin website.

Now, I’ve been on hiatus for a few months. Rather than try to catch up on everything I’ve missed, I’m just going to give April’s news to date, over the next few days. Most of today’s information came from or through Ralan.com. Thanks, Ralan!

I do not guarantee ANYTHING

New Markets:

Drollerie Press is looking for “fiction works of all lengths that examine fairytales in unique and unusual ways. We are also interested in re-tellings of, or stories using characters from, Native American myth and legend.” Guidelines

Cat Tales: Fantastic Feline Fiction is a new anthology series being put out by Wildside Press, publishing “fantasy and suspense stories of 500-5,000 words involving cats.” Guidelines can be found at Ralan.com and Wildside Press.

Staffs & Starships Magazine is a PDF magazine of “literary quality speculative fiction”. Guidelines.

Tower of Light Fantasy, a new online magazine, is looking for “almost any kind of fantasy especially stories that blend genres, such as dark fantasy, science fantasy, and superhero fantasy.” Guidelines.

Blazing! Adventures Magazine will open to submissions on August 20, 2007, and will close again on September 20. “I’m bringing back the good ol’ style of writing that was made popular by the Pulp.” Guidelines

Hayseed Novellas will publish novellas in most styles and genres. “We want rich characters, interesting plots, and a developed voice. Unlike some small publishers, we don’t think commercial is a bad word.” Guidelines

Goblin Reader is currently accepting “Science Fiction (Cyber Punk ), Horror, Anything strange and unusual that is not in the mainstream.” Guidelines

Market Updates:

Backroom Publications says “Beginning in April, we will be reading submissions of novella and collections of fiction and poetry up to 50,000 words.” Guidelines

Withersin is open to submissions until September 1, 2007. Guidelines

Due to increased popularity, Aberrant Dreams has taken on a number of new editors. For a list of the new editors, check their news blog. Guidelines

Trabuco Road is open to submissions until May 3, 2007. Note that response time is now 6 weeks, and they now pay 5 cents per word. Guidelines

Interzone will be open to e-mail submissions during the months of May and November, 2007. Guidelines

As Hub is becoming a free e-zine, author payment rates have declined. Guidelines

Ralan’s says that Atomjack is going quarterly, but is doubling its pay rate to $10 per story. This isn’t reflected in Atomjack’s guidelines yet, though.

Afterburn has a new owner/editor, but somewhere along the way all previous submissions got lost. If you’ve got a sub in there, please resubmit. Guidelines

Electric Velocipede is open to all submissions, and has a new URL: electricvelocipede.com

Flytrap is open to submissions until May 31, 2007. Guidelines

Closed Markets:

Shadowed Realms is closed to submissions, and the next issue will be their last. Read the announcement on the Shadowed Realms Readers Forum.

Walking Bones is gone.

Hub is closed to fiction, except flash fiction between 800 and 1500 words. Guidelines

Rogue Worlds is closed to submissions until August 15, 2007. Guidelines

SpecFicWorld.com’s Featured Fiction is closed to submissions until January, 2008. SpecFicWorld’s Guidelines

Dark Energy SF is not accepting any submissions until September 1, 2007. Dark Energy SF website

Dated Markets (Anthologies, Contests, Special and Themed Issues):

Ticonderoga Press is looking for speculative “which focus on the migrant experience, both from the experience of the migrant and resident, stories of forced refugees and voluntary migrants” for an anthology entitled Belong/A Place Called Home. There will be two volumes: one containing stories by Australian authors, and the other by international writers. Deadline: September 1, 2007. Guidelines

News:

AnotherRealm is having a run of bad luck. Earlier this month, the website “was hacked by some not so nice people.” Now, as they rebuild their site, they are being sued by a certain unpopular agent, because they ‘mirror’ the Preditors & Editors site, and P&E says this agent is ‘Not recommended’, among other things. You can get more info at AnotherRealm’s website.