Sorry about the Quickie

The real world (as in actual life, not the insipid MTV show) has kept us off-balance this week, so it’ll be a few days before we throw up a proper post outlining the opening of our second novella contest. However, we promised you it would open on February 1st, so here you go. Word limit is 15-25k, one winner only, contest closes around midnight on March 31st. More to come in the next few days.

Snoophulhu Wants You to Submit

Design created by Anna-Maria Jung

We know you’re enjoying the January Issue and telling all your friends to read it, but Snoophulhu is here to remind you that you should also be writing. We’ve got a novella contest we’ll be formally announcing in a couple weeks, but also two special issues that are already open for submissions.

The first, Write Lovecraft Like Neil Gaiman, has had an, um, lackluster response so far, but that’s OK. We said we didn’t want trunk stories, so we’re sure the dearth of submissions is only due to you carefully crafting something truly delicious from colors that don’t exist. You’ve got till May 1st after all, but we will read something now if you’re so inclined. Just to reiterate, we’re looking for mash-ups of one literary form or genre with Lovecraft to create something wholly new and awesome (ala Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald.”) Not that we’re desperate, but we might even read something that’s more like Lovecraft writing like Neil Gaiman, if that gets you going. (Hat tip to Teefury for the Snoophulhu image.)

We’ve had a slightly better response to our other special issue, devoted to speculative-themed poetry. That one’s being headed up by a our new Associate Editor, Laura Garrison, and you can go here to read the guidelines she’s drawn up. We’ve already accepted some cool stuff, but, well, poems are short and it takes a lot to fill an issue. So keep ’em coming.

Alright. Have a good weekend. Happy writing.

The World Didn’t End – Let’s Read!

There are a few ways to introduce the January Issue. On the one hand, there’s a broad theme of resilience in the face of loss in these stories, of choices made early in life echoing down through the years, of people striving to build and retain connections.

Or, we could go with the old friends-new friends motif. We welcome Christopher Lettera, Dana Chamblee Carpenter, and Randall Martoccia to our pages for the first time, where they join returning favorites, K. Marvin Bruce and the indomitable Ryan Werner.

Ultimately, we decided simple and obvious is best: We fucking survived the Mayan Apocalypse. Let’s read some good shit.

The January Issue of Jersey Devil Press is at your disposal.