Editor Interview: Third Flatiron Anthologies

Themed SFF e-anthologies

Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog, Asimov's, Daily Science Fiction, Lightspeed

Julian May, Roger Zelazny, Elizabeth Hand, Connie Willis, Dan Simmons,Kurt Vonnegut,David Brin,Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, James Tiptree Jr.

I think the "value" that we add is our knowledge of the science fiction and fantasy genre and ability to spot writing talent and new ideas. Our themed
anthologies offer variety for readers of all tastes, although we lean toward stories that have something instructive to tell us as human beings.
We have considerable editorial experience and present and market our anthologies in a professional manner.

Please read our submission guidelines. If you have a question about whether a story would be suitable for the upcoming anthology, feel free to contact us on our website, thirdflatiron.com

First of all, it should be a short story, in the speculative fiction genre. We are a new startup and are on a limited budget, so we
only buy short stories in the range of 1500 to 3000 words. This can be a tricky requirement, since not all stories want to be
that short. We also accept a few "flash" fiction pieces, and we prefer
those to be humor. Some horror can add spice, as long as it fits the theme and is not too grisly.

We have mentioned that we like "anthropological" stories, but we want to stress that they must have a speculative fiction component. So no plain folk tales,
fan fic, or straight retellings of mythology. . . We'd like you to invent your own fairy tales.

We want to read new writers as well as established writers, so our Readers probably won't see the
cover letter or bio. But the editor appreciates a brief bio when it comes to the final cut.

We read them all the way through, even though we may know quickly that it won't be suitable. We generally try to respond with
a sentence or two with what we liked or didn't like, etc.

We generally do a first pass in which we select stories that would fit the theme of the anthology We then consider them as a set, whether they would
provided needed variety, fit a need for more SF or fantasy, are beautifully written, and so forth. Ideally, the complete collection will be a fun reading experience.

We generally wait until two weeks before the final writer deadline to read. We use Google Drive to publish submissions and a submission spreadsheet for our Readers. When I read, I turn on some classical, get some coffee, print out the stories, and dive in. We appreciate writers who use Standard Manuscript Format, because there's room to write comments. After the writer deadline, we read the final submissions and hold a meeting to argue for our favorite submissions.
If there is a "favorite" story I haven't read, I read that and decide if it will make the final cut. Finally, I do a word count to see if I can meet the projected budget.