Flashing Swords ish 12...?

[TRtheJ]

Things've been rather quiet here lately.

My e-mail a'la Flashing Swords has been rather quiet as well.

So I am probably going about this the wrong way, but... Since the transfer are things still moving ahead for Flashing Swords? Stories beingsubmitted? Ish 12 in preparation?

The Outcast

[MikeBrendan]

Hunh... I thought we updated that page saying we were open for submissions again... well I better beat the webmeister.

Regardless we've changed some of the submission guidelines. However, regardless I've got plenty of material to work with, and I'm plugging away at it as we speak. So issue 12 is well on its way.

Still, I'm looking for recommendations for book reviews, so if anyone has any, speak up. I'm looking for S&S novels primarily.

[Hawkinslad]

Just a heads up: Duotrope still lists Flashing Swords as temporarily closed to submissions.

Nicholas Ian Hawkins

Forthcoming
'Knowledge and Dust,' in Magic & Mechanica, from Ricasso Press

Published
'What Heroes Leave Behind,' in Return of the Sword, Rogue Blades Entertainment
'The Weald Maiden's Will,' in Every Day Fiction, March 5, 2008
'Relativity,' in FLASHSHOT, September 28, 2007


Visit my website, Trampler of Beautiful Phrases, at nihawkins.wordpress.com

[wicked]

So does Ralan's.

Have the guidelines been updated? I see the pay rate for poetry prominently displayed, but not the pay for short fiction.

I do horrible things to punctuation.

"careful what you wish
you may regret it
careful what you wish
you just might get it"
Metallica~King Nothing

[cussedness]

We are not open for subs per se yet. We are selectively open to the folks from SF Reader and by invitation at this point. I don't want to open the flood gates with Ralans and Duotrope yet. Members of SF Reader are free to sub to us.

Janrae Frank
I have no skeletons in my closet, they are all hanging from the yardarm.

Once there were three brothers, Brandrahoon the vampire, Isranon called the Dawnhand, speaker to spirits, and Waejonan the Accursed, first of sa?necari. Isranon defied his brothers and was destroyed, his descendants forced into the darkness.

The Shadowed Princes
www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook64690.htm?cache
website
www.janraefrank.com
[url]http://www.daverana.com[/url

[Bill Ward]

A quick question -- how far booked ahead are you? Roughly speaking, if you bought a story today, when could the author expect it to appear?

billwardwriter.com</font>

[cussedness]

We have enough that we could fill all the volumes for the next year with material that was already purchased by CW. However, what we want to do is start getting a few subs, include some recent purchases and new purchases into the mix for each issue, until it begins to reflect our own vision. For the time being, you should check the website for both what we are buying. We don't yet have enough slushers to completely open the floodgates at Ralan and Duotrope. With Ralans and Duotrope, it is possible to get up to 300 subs a week and that is more than we are prepared to deal with at this point. I don't mind people reposting that we are open for subs on their blogs and such.

Janrae Frank
I have no skeletons in my closet, they are all hanging from the yardarm.

Once there were three brothers, Brandrahoon the vampire, Isranon called the Dawnhand, speaker to spirits, and Waejonan the Accursed, first of sa?necari. Isranon defied his brothers and was destroyed, his descendants forced into the darkness.

Serpent's Quest (Volume one of Lycan Blood)
stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=639663
website
www.janraefrank.com
[url]http://www.daverana.com[/url

[crystalwizard]

>With Ralans and Duotrope, it is possible to get up to 300 subs a week

It's worth noting that everything I published last year, and all the unpublished paid content I turned over to Janrae, I got in just the time that I was open from Nov. to March. Ralan's and Duotrope are very effective spots.

This year, with AT, within 3 days of posting that I accept poetry, I had enough for the print issues for this year, quite a bit for the online content and 4 full books.

New content added on a regular basis.

Visit Abandoned Towers at
http://cyberwizardproductions.com/AbandonedTowers
and click on Reading Room on the left menu.

[cussedness]

At this point, Mike has only three slushers and we need more than that before renewing the entries at Ralan's and Duotrope. I learned the hard way with my anthologies by trying to do them with too few slushers.

Janrae Frank
I have no skeletons in my closet, they are all hanging from the yardarm.

Once there were three brothers, Brandrahoon the vampire, Isranon called the Dawnhand, speaker to spirits, and Waejonan the Accursed, first of sa?necari. Isranon defied his brothers and was destroyed, his descendants forced into the darkness.

Serpent's Quest (Volume one of Lycan Blood)
stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=639663
website
www.janraefrank.com
[url]http://www.daverana.com[/url

[Bill Ward]

I'm really stunned that you found that much worth buying CW, I'm surprised there's that much good S&S out there, but it's good to know that there is.

Janrae, have you considered an e-antho for the stuff that doesn't fit your vision for flashing swords? I'll admit to not liking the idea of seeing contemporary pieces, or non action/adventure pieces in FS, and my gut feeling is that stories like that (assuming there are any, I don't know) will not establish the kind of brand recognition and loyalty that a specialty 'zine needs to build its audience.

billwardwriter.com</font>

[cussedness]

What I want is pieces that are very, very action oriented and have a lot of tension. Ultimately I don't want conventional fantasy, but a return to the flavor of the genre in its early years. A piece set in just about every period can have that kind of action and tension, but I would rather try for a return to the spirit of the genre as it was in its early days. I think what has gone wrong with fantasy is that they began striving to become literary and lost the spirit of adventure. I like fiction that grabs the reader by the throat and drags them into the story.

Janrae Frank
I have no skeletons in my closet, they are all hanging from the yardarm.

Once there were three brothers, Brandrahoon the vampire, Isranon called the Dawnhand, speaker to spirits, and Waejonan the Accursed, first of sa?necari. Isranon defied his brothers and was destroyed, his descendants forced into the darkness.

Serpent's Quest (Volume one of Lycan Blood)
stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=639663
website
www.janraefrank.com
[url]http://www.daverana.com[/url

[Bill Ward]

Sounds good to me.

And to clarify what I wrote above, I'm talking about an antho of some of the stories you inherited, not opening submissions to a bunch of stuff you aren't really interested in.

billwardwriter.com</font>

[gwthomas21]

And to me. Let's crank it up.

GW

G. W. Thomas has appeared in over 400 different books, magazines, podcasts and ezines including Writer's Digest, The Armchair Detective and Black October Magazine. His website is www.gwthomas.org

[Seth]

So any updates or teasers on FS 12 yet?

[Jordan Lapp]

I had a story original scheduled for the November ish, but I haven't heard anything about it for months. I know CW had lined up some cover art for it? I'd like to start publicizing this on my blog and on the EDF forums, etc. Is there any word on it?

Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor
Every Day Fiction

[crystalwizard]

Mike had another thread he was responding to. The last I heard they were going to try to hit the Nov. 1 deadline as I had originally scheduled.

You might try emailing him as he doesn't tend to watch this forum very well.

New content added on a regular basis.

Visit Abandoned Towers at
http://cyberwizardproductions.com/AbandonedTowers

[cussedness]

Bill, I think that collecting the stuff that does not fit my current vision into a special edition might help make space for things that do fit my idea of good sword and sorcery.

S&S should be intense, direct, and visceral. Mike and I are not upset by a little profanity. Conan was profane. We are also not adverse to alternative lifestyles.

Janrae Frank
I have no skeletons in my closet, they are all hanging from the yardarm.

Once there were three brothers, Brandrahoon the vampire, Isranon called the Dawnhand, speaker to spirits, and Waejonan the Accursed, first of sa?necari. Isranon defied his brothers and was destroyed, his descendants forced into the darkness.

Serpent's Quest (Volume one of Lycan Blood)
stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=639663
website
www.janraefrank.com
[url]http://www.daverana.com[/url

[ennubi]

i'd be really happy to see my story come out anywhere, really, though i'm a little sad to hear we're the runner-up committee.

hopefully if you want any more work/revisions on them you'll us know?

ennubi

[50 Foot Ant]

Working. Right now InDesign is open, and artwork is being worked on.

Cuss ordered me to pull out all the stops, and rebuild the layout from the ground up.

First issue is going to take till end of December, but there is a lot of template manufacturing, automation and scripts to set up, and all in all, quite a bit on my end to do.

In case you are wondering, I'm putting quite a few hours a day into the layout, and the Art Director is slushing through the artwork as we speak.

If you listen closely, you can hear both of us swearing in the gentle whisper of December snow.

IF Wildturkey.obj == TRUE
THEN Happy.obj ++1
ELSE Happy.obj -- 1
IF Women.obj == TRUE
Then Happy.obj ++1
ELSE Happy.obj -- 1
END CODE

[50 Foot Ant]

Oh, yeah, and...



Talk to the jaws, baby!


(and no, he's not magazine artwork, he's kind of a mascot and my personal pet. I call him 'Fred', and he carries my beer)

IF Wildturkey.obj == TRUE
THEN Happy.obj ++1
ELSE Happy.obj -- 1
IF Women.obj == TRUE
Then Happy.obj ++1
ELSE Happy.obj -- 1
END CODE

[crystalwizard]

Hi Fred,

See if you can't keep that slacking ant in line, would you? And tell him to go post a hello in the introduce yourself forum.

New content added on a regular basis.

Visit Abandoned Towers at
http://cyberwizardproductions.com/AbandonedTowers

[Jordan Lapp]

Any word on this? I'd love to get started promoting the magazine on my blog, and some of the forums I frequent.

Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor, Every Day Fiction
First Place Winner, Writers of the Future Q3 2008
Visit my blog, Without Really Trying

[Malachi]

We are currently working like... well comically enough like ants on a mountain of things trying to get issue 12 wrapped. I've been taking a temporary hiatus from the Art Director hat to dive face-first into the massive problems of cover & interior artist contracts (which I need to write from scratch), art submissions guidelines (which I need to write from scratch), advertisement pricing schemes (which I no longer have to write from scratch all by myself, yay!), and delving into areas other than the small press for ad purposes to try to widen the magazine's audience. I'm hoping like crazy we'll get issue 12 out this month, because if not it's going to really kink scheduling.

So, the best answer at the moment is... we're working on it like mad.

Yes, I have gone back to my original nickname.

Art Director: Daverana Enterprises & Flashing Swords Magazine
artdirector@davarana.com

[50 Foot Ant]

Barring any major problems with the current layout, the magazine might very well be out of layout. There were some internal problems, and a few things that took priority over the magazine for a little while, but it looks like everything is right back to what it was.

BUT, I barely got the interior of the magazine in before CoB on Friday, so I don't know if cussedness has looked over it or not.

It's sitting at 144 pages, and because I inherently mistrust full automation, once the PDF is generated, I go through it line by line, printed out, usually with a ruler, checking everything to make sure that not only did the text properly export, but that the images are correct, line placement is OK, kerning is exactly how it should be, and that the fonts were embedded correctly (that I check on a blank machine, with only a handful of fonts loaded on) into the document and that the pictures were embedded into the document at the correct dpi, as well as my notes and my workspace stuff didn't accidently get put into the document. (I once had used the text-box off in the whitespace of the workspace to write down my list of things to do, and had it generate in the PDF somehow)

Cuss, my boss, has insisted that every page has to be correctly rendered by InDesign, and that certain formats and procedures by followed for the magazine and all other products I work on.

When I handed it off on Friday (or was it Saturday morning, I don't remember...) I had finished a line by line check of each page.

Hopefully I understood what Cuss wanted and she's happy with the product, and those of you with stories in the magazine are happy with the treatment they received.

IF Wildturkey.obj == TRUE
THEN Happy.obj ++4
fcall getbooze.lib
ELSE Happy.obj -- 2
IF Women.obj == TRUE
Then Happy.obj ++10
ELSE Happy.obj -- 2
fcall getwoman.lib
IF firearm.obj == TRUE
Then Happy.obj ++ 2
ELSE Happy.obj --1
END CODE

[crystalwizard]

50 Foot Ant said...

Cuss, my boss, has insisted that every page has to be correctly rendered by InDesign, and that certain formats and procedures by followed for the magazine and all other products I work on.

Should be laying it out in InDesign and exporting to pdf from InDesign. I hope you're not laying it out in Word, then doing all the work you mentioned and then trying to do something in InDesign?