Editor Interview: Neon Dystopia / The L0WL1F3 Podcast

Cyberpunk fiction!

Oh man. I love The Dark, Old Gods of Appalachia, Pseudopod, Clarksworld, and Tor. And for dead publications, DAW and Vertigo put out such good stuff back in the day.

For me personally, a lot of horror. A lot of romance. Clive Barker. Ann Rice. Nancy A. Collins. Emily Brontë. But for cyberpunk, of course, Neal Stephenson and Gibson. And for a weird combo of all of these the Soviet writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky I think were some of the finest of writers. Stop reading this and go read Roadside Picnic.

That's a tough one. I don't ever want to put us above anyone else. Fiction, books, the writing of words; these are things that drive me. I'd say what sets us apart is that we believe, in a world full of bastards and AI, we believe that fiction is more than something to fill the hours. It can say something about the world and, maybe, make things a little bit better. If only for a moment.

Congrats for finishing that story, for one! Second, use all the words if you think you have to. Snuggle right up to that 5000 word limit if you feel the story needs that extra wiggle room. And third, always give it another read before send off.

So far they have all been ideal. The document opens and everything! No viruses to eat my SSD! You have your name, your blurb, your submission, and you either link to a google doc or attach a file that doesn't kill my computer. But for the story itself, the sky is the limit. We don't like constrains here, for this is The great Work. Show me what you made.

Honestly, I think our submitters do more right than wrong. I guess the one thing is, and this is more of failing on me than you, but I can't reply to everyone if you get rejected. Follow up if ya gotta, I don't mind, but don't get bent out of shape if I can't get back to you.

I honestly don't care about cover letters, but I'm not going to get bent out of shape if you send one. More often than not though, I don't read your previous achievements. I like to let the story stand on its own. Sometimes you get a guy who is published in so many things, but their story has nothing to it. Sometimes I get a real short story with a lot of heart written by a nobody and it sings. Or visa versa. Point is, I like going in blind, but I'm not going to stop you promoting your work. You should be damn proud of yourself for the things you've done!

More often than not I know whether we publishing something from the first few paragraphs, but I always read it through to the end on first viewing. Sometimes my certainty fades when I near the end, sometimes it only becomes stronger. Maybe the story just needs a tweak. But more often than not I'll know early on.

Rereads. Either from me or my cohorts. Maybe I like a piece and my second-banana doesn't. Maybe we disagree on a part. Maybe he reads it before I do. Just all about rereads to really get the flavor of it.

Just sweating in a pink room, drinking coffee in my underpants.
A lot of it is going through it, line-by-line, and seeing if it moves something in me. Yeah, all the parts needs to fit. Grammar, sentence structure, the story you are trying to tell. But I need to feel something. That's the point of writing, isn't it? Make the reader feel something. Good or bad. Fine art or pulps. I need to feel it.
Anything to stop thinking about these pink walls, my god.

It is very rare for us to really dev edit a piece, concerning the story. We have had to do it a few times to really make it sing, but more often than not I try to stick to the writers original vision. I want to really work with the writer till they give me the real story, if it is something we like.
When it concerns grammar, punctuation, not making my eyes bleed, it gets hit with the editing stick. Basic proofreading, with murderous intent. Maybe a comma isn't right. Maybe their English isn't American English, then I'll try to stick to their form of grammar. I can be forgiving if it is a style choice, but if you send out a piece make sure it has polish.

No, but maybe we should? I'd have to ask the writers if they would like that. If it helps a writers out in these difficult times I would in a heart beat, so long as the award organization aren't shitheads.

Patreon! Drop us a dollar at patreon.com/neondystopia if you would like to help us pay our writers!

Ya know, me and my cohorts agree, we are awful at marketing. I hate social media with a passion. But, we have a blusky (@realneondystopia.bsky.social?), and a discord with a lovely little community. We rely on word of mouth, so write on every bathroom stall you end up in that Neon Dystopia is fine and good. But we are not looking for a good time, only eyeballs and Patreon bucks.