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Editor Interview: Flashshot

This interview is provided for archival purposes. The listing is not currently active.

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: Genre micro-fiction

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: Black Gate, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Asimov's,

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: For flash fiction: O. Henry, Saki, Guy de Maupassant, James Thurber, Fredric Brown, Cyril Kornbluth, H. G. Wells, Minute Mysteries

Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?

A: I think it is the genre scope. I'm not interested in observations on daily life so much as the possibilities of exploring genre situations. I'll take a robot, a ghost, a time machine, an alien, over any story about your dog, your car or job (unless of course your dog, car or job turn into a monster and eat people.)

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: Do not send stories about the following unless they are brilliantly original: serial killers, spouses who try to murder each other, Halloween costumes that turn out to be real monsters. Seen them done sooooooo many times. Blah.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: The ideal sub has a title with a by-line, 100 words or less of story, a 50 word bio at the end. Attached to the email is your photo and your latest book cover you want to promote. And it is sent to proper address.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: No byline, no bio, no genre.

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: 50 word bio is enough.

Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?

A: All of it. They are only 100 words or less.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: I edit all stories for grammar, spelling, etc. Sometimes I correct factual errors with the author's approval. I will reject stories, give advice and re-evaluate them too. Sometimes the story is almost working but I'm not going to re-write stories for writers.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: I have a day job so I usually save up all the stories for about a month then read them all on a weekend, create a schedule and every day publish one new story. Writers should be patient about hearing from me. If you sub on the day after I've created a new schedule you'll be waiting 30 days.

Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?

A: Very important. I recently dropped the email version of FLASHSHOT because of all the fuss with spam filters. Going to an online set-up allows writers better promo opportunities too. The result has been bigger name writers sending me stories.