Editor Interview: Three-Lobed Burning Eye Magazine

Stories monsters read.

Apex Magazine, Black Static, Clarkesworld, Clockwork Phoenix anthologiess, Electric Velocipede, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Night Shade Books, Prairie Schooner, Pseudopod, Pyr Books, Shimmer, Shock Totem, Tin House, Vestal Review, Weird Tales, anything antho edited by Ellen Datlow

Margaret Atwood, Ian M. Banks, Laird Barron, Clive Barker, Donald Bartheleme, Alfred Bester, Jorge Luis Borges, Ray Bradbury, Jonathan Carroll, Gemma Files, Charles de Lint, Roald Dahl, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, Joe Haldeman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert E. Howard, Ursula K. Le Guin, Caitlin R Kiernan, Joe R Lansdale, Kelly Link, H.P. Lovecraft, Kurt Vonnegut, Andrew Vachss, Gene Wolfe

Three-lobed seeks stories that do not fit neatly into any genre category. Terms for this might be: speculative fiction, magical realism, slipstream, cross-genre, mulatto, pariah. We aren't afraid of a literary non-fantastic piece, as long as it's a good story.

Read more than two issues of our magazine. Write and submit something better.

A story that makes me gasp or hold my breath, shows me something new and/or unexpected.

With our online form, someone occasionally forgets to include their email address.

Cover letters should be brief and professional. No spoilers. Ever. We're serious. We only want to know a few previous publications, and if anything in your training relates to the writing of the story. This information is considered only after the fact. The story is read and measured how it stands alone.

Quality writing often shows within the first few paragraphs, if not before. We read at least the first few pages, and if the story hasn't evolved by then, we're done.

A story may be good and publishable, but some consideration is given to the balance of the current and past issues -- have we published anything like it. We occasionally ask for rewrites or a title change, but only if time allows.

My pitbull stares at me with eyes asking, "Are you STILL on the computer?" and eventually settles to the floor, snoring. And I read submissions into the night.