Editor Interview: Theme of Absence

Speculative short stories

Electric Spec, Mad Scientist Journal, and Story Shack Magazine always have fun free short stories to read online. I also enjoy trolling through some of the various Creepy Pasta sites out there.

I like to read a wide range of fiction. I grew up reading Stephen King, so I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for him. I also enjoy horror by Clive Barker and Whitley Strieber. Other authors you might catch me reading are John Green, Jack L. Chalker, Harry Turtledove, and Weis/Hickman.

We're a token paying site that exclusively publishes genre flash fiction and short stories. We also invite our authors to participate in interviews on the site to accompany their work here as well as promote other projects they'd like to share.

Even though the stories we publish are short, make sure they are still stories. In other words, the story needs to have a beginning, middle, and end. Even if the end of the story is ambiguous, or implied, it still needs to exist in some sense. Slice of life stories that read more like a scene in the middle of a larger work are less likely to get accepted.

I like to see the title and word count in the subject of the email. I'm strict about the 1000 word limit for flash and 3000 for short stories, so if I see the word count in the subject line, it tells me that the writer read the guidelines. As for content, I like a first sentence that makes me say, "Whoa, where is this going?"

Most people are pretty good at reading the guidelines. I'll occasionally see a submission for a previously published piece. I'm not currently accepting reprints, so that's something I check for on every submission.

I like to see a quick "Hello," but I don't need any type of synopsis or summary in a cover letter. The stories are short enough that I don't need to know what they're about before I read them. As far as publishing credits, I'm always curious about the writers who submit to us, so I usually check out their website whether I accept the story or not. Previous publications don't affect my decision to accept or reject a story.

I do read every story from beginning to end. I try not to decide if I will accept a story or not until I finish it, but I will admit that I usually have a pretty good idea of what that decision will be during first hundred words or so. You can tell so much about a writer's style in that opening paragraph. There have been a couple of times I expected to reject the story, but then loved the ending enough to accept the piece and work with the writer for a revision.

None, really. Sometimes I'll hold on to a piece a little longer and think about whether or not it will fit with the site, but the decision to accept or reject is mine alone at this point.

I spend around three hours a day on writing. That includes my own writing and blogging, as well as Theme of Absence. I get 5-10 submissions per week, so I read one each day and usually say "yes" or "no" right away. I'll occasionally ask for a rewrite or put something aside for a few days and think about it before answering.