- An exhibition on ancient Balkan civilizations in the Danube Valley has opened (New York Times article). Very interesting, and certainly massive story-juice.
- In the Guardian, Patrick Stewart talks about the domestic abuse of his childhood and its effect. Serious, troubling, interesting.
- The Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition has extended its deadline. Gee, you think maybe, just maybe, people are getting the idea that money flows TO the writer? Yeah, they're giving out about $7500 in prizes but I'd think a big, rich outfit like Writer's Digest could forgo a $15 entry fee per story in order to get the publicity of the contest and even the rights to do an (hopefully well-selling) anthology of the winners? I dunno, maybe I'm wrong on this.
- Speaking of places to submit your stories that *don't* charge an entry fee, here's a bunch I've found recently now that I'm getting the submission engine ramped back up:
RetroSpec wants speculative shorts set in the 20s to 80s. [Alas, their word limit is 2K so I can't send them either "The Dybbuk's Moll" (too long) or "The Spirit Turk" (too far in past) or "The All-Questioning Eye" (waaay too far in the past).]
Aether Age Anthology wants stories set in a massive, detailed, shared world. I haven't read all the details but you can read the Writer's Guideline and see what you think.
Residential Aliens wants quality spec fic with a spiritual background. [I have a few of those that could work.]
Εννέα (Nine, a Greek magazine) wants just science fiction stories, and is happy to take reprints.
dr_phil_physics has sold a couple things to them. Looks like fun!Morrigan Books E-Zine likes dark fantasy and horror, up to 3K words, and has published many big names. Intriguing.
Futurismic wants stories that fit their guidelines and outlook, so give them a look over and see if something fits. Even if you're not submitting fiction, they have very interesting articles, and also have a giant list of "Fiction Online" and publish a regular post on "Free Fiction." Totally worth checking out and bookmarking, for all those reasons.
ETA: Fixed the name of Εννέα (Nine) - thanks to Dr Phil!
