Editor Interview: Schrodinger's Mouse

Fresh, unique sci fi

I enjoy most of the online giants like Clarkesworld and Strangehorizons. I also like the ambition and content of daily sites like Daily Science Fiction.

Well this is a question that I could spend all day answering. I read a lot from different genres so my favorite authors list is a varied one. I loved Angelology by Danielle Trussoni. I just finished Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard and I’m looking forward to Stephen King’s 11/22/63. I also love steam punk authors like Cherie Priest. And of course I love the classic authors of science fiction like Poe, H.G. Wells, and Jules Verne.

Well as I see it there seems to be a melding of fantasy and science fiction. The mouse focuses exclusively on science fiction trying to stay away from the fantasy genre. But really what sets us apart are the wonderfully crafted science fiction submitted by our authors. I am amazed by the truly wonderful submissions we receive from authors around the world.

Put some thought into the hook and story description when you are using the query form. This really is the first hurdle in the process. We use this information to decide whether or not the story is going to fit into the genres we are looking to publish. Next, try to avoid overly published topics. For example, it seems like robot and clone stories are popular and we get a ton of submissions about these topics. The form allows the author to really pitch the story as being different from the hundreds of already published stories on the same topic. Finally, the last bit of advice is to please be patient with us. We are a small upstart and there can be long delays from the time you submit the piece until you receive an answer. This is something I am working hard to remedy.

The ideal submission is one that has some pretty heavy science content. The story may have some ethical or philosophical themes but shouldn’t be too preachy. To me it doesn’t matter if you’ve published a hundred stories or you’ve never been published before. For example A Godel Eclipse in our latest issue was authored by Darrell Waters, a previously unpublished author. His background is in chemistry so that experience in science allowed him to craft a story that fit with our publication well. What is important is that the story is not cliché , instead it is original and thought provoking.

The genre of story queried often doesn’t fit the genres we are looking for. I have had a lot of horror and fantasy queries. Eventually I would like to create publications to fit these genres but right now we are looking for hard or mundane science fiction with ethical themes. The other important part of the submission process as I said earlier is that authors should put some time and thought into crafting the hook and description on the query form. These bits of information do more to dictate the fate of your query than almost anything else.

I love to see the publication credits of the authors that query us. I guess it is a bit of an ego boost to see award-winning authors from across the globe who want to publish their stories in my little publication (I'm star struck really) But in the grand scheme of things, previous publication credits won’t influence me too much in the decision to publish the story or not. Although I like to have a balance between new or unpublished authors and well-published authors, my interest in the story is the biggest deciding factor. We have been very fortunate to have a good mix of unpublished and well-published authors who have queried great stories.

I think what is most important is the plot. Even if a story is not well written and has some plot flaws, if the story is intriguing I will give it a shot. I have a wonderful editor who is willing to work with authors to improve their stories so that we can publish stories that perhaps others may overlook. That being said the only way I will abandon a story early is if it doesn’t fit the genre we are looking for or if I’m just not interested in the plot.

Basically I like to publish stories that I like to read. If the story fits that criteria it will go through a proof read to fix grammatical errors. Also, if the story needs some work with the mechanics or plot our editor will work with the author to help them improve the story. Perhaps this sets us apart from other publications and allows an unpublished or novice author with a good plot to produce a piece for publication.

Well, multi-tasking is key. Publishing is not my only profession, I also teach business and web design at two different colleges and I dabble in some freelance web design/SEO. At the moment I publish the magazine out of pocket and I’ve yet to make a profit. So although I would like to spend more time working to make the publication profitable I am too much of a micro manager to leave the submission process up to someone else.
As it works now I receive query forms and decide if the submission is something that sounds interesting to me. If it is I email the author to send the manuscript and then the story is sent to a reader to read through and give me a paragraph or two summary of the story. If it is something that piques my interest I will then read through the story in its entirety. For this I’ve found my Kindle to be indispensable and at any given time I have at least a dozen stories on it! After reading it if I am still interested the story is forwarded to Ann my editor and she works her magic with the author to get the story ready to publish.