Fantastic Stories returns

I wonder if they are looking for stories???

"he asks anyone who thinks they may be due money to contact him at warrenlapine at yahoo dot com"

HAhahahahahahhahahaaaaa.

And what is "magic realism" anyway? I keep hearing that term. Magic doesn't exist - how can anything with magic be "realistic"? Is it just another word for urban fantasy?

No, magical realism is an artsy fartsy term. Urban fantasy is a genre.

What does the artsy fartsy term mean, then?

"Magical Realism" is a subset of LitFic in which an otherwise realistic setting is blended with a magical element, but the story itself does not fall into the confines of the scifi/fantasy/horror genres.

For some reason, magical realism is particularly popular in Latin American literature. Salmon Rushdie's work also falls into this category at times.

They open to submissions on April 15. He also has a livejournal blog, which you can check for announcements.

You might want to check the whole story behind Mr. Lapine's disappearance and reappearance before you send anything out to him. I know I won't be sending him anything.

As for magic realism: I am not sure why some writers feel the need to denigrate the genres they are not familiar with. It is often quite upsetting to those of us who write these genres. Just as many SFF writers would not be too happy to hear that SFF is lowbrow (a sentiment sometimes expressed by literary folks), I am not too thrilled to read that magic realism is "artsy-fartsy". Please, can't we just respect each other, even if we're not writing the same genre?

Fine journals in this field publish magic realism, including Fantasy Magazine and GUD.

It doesn't upset me to hear fantasy called "lowbrow" any more than it upsets me to hear leopards called stripy.

My beef with urban fantasy, magical realism, etc. etc. is that they seem to be replacing traditional fantasy in the short market, which leaves those of us who write traditional fantasy and have no interest in the other kind absolutely nowhere to break in.

Gray Rose said:

I am not too thrilled to read that magic realism is "artsy-fartsy".

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Don't take it so hard. Anyone who actually knows about magic realism knows it isn't artsy-fartsy. It's only natural that in a forum with a membership a wide-ranging as this some people either won't know much about magic realism or won't take it seriously.

Personally, some of the best stories I've read have been magic realism. That is, of course, a matter of personal taste.

Cheers,
Rob

sirensix said:

It doesn't upset me to hear fantasy called "lowbrow" any more than it upsets me to hear leopards called stripy.

My beef with urban fantasy, magical realism, etc. etc. is that they seem to be replacing traditional fantasy in the short market, which leaves those of us who write traditional fantasy and have no interest in the other kind absolutely nowhere to break in.

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Really? There are markets that take traditional fantasy, starting with pro-paying ones like F&SF, SH and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, fine semi-pro places like Abyss and Apex, the Norilana Press anthologies, to name but a few. Places like Fantasy Magazine and GUD do not limit themselves to magic realism, though they do buy it.

There are at least two pro-paying markets that *only* take secondary world fantasy (Sword and Sorceress, and BCS), while there are none that I know of that only want magic realism.

There are not a lot of good short markets, period, and it is hard to sell anything, especially if you are new. But I do not believe in "nowhere to break into". Anyone can break into print, though it is often a lengthy and painful process. I did it with a really bizarre and in many eyes unmarketable SF novelette.

I am sure Mr. Lapine is not averse to traditional fantasy.

Gray Rose said:

There are at least two pro-paying markets that *only* take secondary world fantasy (Sword and Sorceress, and BCS), while there are none that I know of that only want magic realism.

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Is Sword and Sorceress still in existence? I wasn't able to find anything on any upcoming editions. Can someone point me to some recent info on this?

I hadn't heard of BCS before. Thanks for the tip!

Sirensix, there are many places online where you can find new markets. Check out duotrope.com and ralan.com, especially for new anthology markets.

I also strongly recommend networking. Speculations is, alas, defunct, but its members migrated to livejournal. I recommend you check out the ra_log community to see where the new and upcoming writers send their stuff, how long it takes to hear back, etc.
http://community.livejournal.com/ra_log/
Many of us are new writers who broke into print recently (and in some cases, not yet). It is a supportive and informative community .

Sword and Sorceress is still going strong. It is now published by Norilana Press. You can check out the publisher's blog here, to read about this antho and other up and coming anthologies. Norilana has several, including Clockwork Phoenix and Lace and Blade that pay semi-pro and are absolutely terrific. Clockwork Phoenix especially won many awards this year.
http://norilanabooks.livejournal.com/

As for S&S specifically, look here:
http://mzbworks.home.att.net/

S&S 23 had a reading period in March and April of 2008. While I haven't yet heard about S&S24, I suspect they might announce soon. They were rather abrupt with their announcement last year and received an overwhelming amount of submissions.

Good luck!

Fantastic!


What? Someone had to say it.

Gray Rose said:

You might want to check the whole story behind Mr. Lapine's disappearance and reappearance before you send anything out to him. I know I won't be sending him anything.

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This is sound advice.