Notes
We have closed submissions for the 2010 year.
Please note we archive all published issues.
Although these are our current payrates, we hope in the future to raise them; please check back from time to time, or better yet, subscribe to our notification list. Please note we do accept simultaneous submissions, but we request to be informed immediately if they are accepted elsewhere. As a courtesy to our staff, we also request single submissions, no more than one per week.
RE has many articles on improving your chances of publication, notably the Don’t list, Confessions of a Slush Monkey, Letter from the Editors: On Being a Better Author (And Submitting Well), and How to Sell a Story. They are all highly recommended.
Fiction
We Accept
science fiction, fantasy, horror, erotica, adventure stories, westerns, magical realism, myths, fables, and faery tales.
All work must be original and previously unpublished. The stories we accept typically run between 500 and 10,000 words. Un-agented and unsolicited manuscripts welcome. We are very open to new or unpublished authors. We will consider stories with illustrations (including comics or manga) as long as you send us a text-only query first. We publish up to 10 new stories a month. Due to legal concerns, we can only accept work by authors who are 18 or older.
We Do Not Accept
mainstream or literary fiction, true stories (including ghost sightings and war stories), work which is highly derivative (Tolkien-esque elves, Anne Rice-style vampires), plays, novels, poems, prose poems, short shorts, flash fiction, non-narrative artwork, pornography, or works that are unnecessarily vulgar, bigoted, or violent. No reprints.
Payment
Upon publication, we pay a $15 honorarium for first electronic publishing rights and the right to archive your story. We award a $50 bonus to our favorite story or essay each month, which we “feature” as the first and most visible title listed on our website. (This is the online equivalent of a cover story.) The author retains all print rights and anthology rights.
We do not announce our decision on the recipient of the $50 “feature” bonus until shortly before publication, and the winner is selected from pieces we have already chosen to publish. Please do not send us stories on condition that we “feature” you; our feature choice is non-negotiable.
Formatting Your Submission
- Send your submission in the body of an e-mail. We do not accept attachments or hard copies.
- Include your name, the story’s title, the story’s genre, and the story’s length at the beginning of the e-mail. No summary.
- Use standard online formatting. Do not use manuscript format. Your document should be single spaced, with a blank line between paragraphs. Paragraphs should not be indented. Periods should be followed by a single (not double) space. (Look at any of our published stories or articles for an example of proper online formatting.)
- Follow your story with a short bio (50-100 words). You are welcome to link to other published work, or to a personal webpage.
Send fiction submissions to: fictionsubmissions@reflectionsedge.com
NONFICTION
We Accept
In addition to our fiction, we publish up to six nonfiction essays a month. These essays must be about an aspect of genre fiction. Essays can analyze current or historic publishing trends or individual works, discuss history, science, culture, or any genre-relevant area of expertise, or interview an established genre fiction author. Due to legal concerns, we can only accept work by authors who are 18 or older.
Topics of Interest
If you already have an idea – one that you want to write about, or one you want to see someone else write about – we want to hear from you. However, the following are topics that particularly interest us now:
Fantasy
- Historical warfare, any period
- Detailed descriptions of a fighting style or martial art
- Perspectives on magic and/or religious traditions
Science Fiction
- Current trends or new research in any area of science, technology, or politics
- The influences of important historical events or periods, and how the world might be different if they hadn’t happened
- Quirky or unusual science facts – weird physics, bizarre biological adaptations, etc.
Erotica
- How to write convincing romantic relationships
- Details on non-mainstream niche markets or sexual subcultures
Western/Adventure Stories
- Survival in harsh climates or unusual situations
- Non-European or non-mainstream social structures and legal systems
General Information
- Slang, dialect, etc; any specialty
- Profiles of various countries and subcultures, preferably by someone with firsthand experience
- Overviews of any historical period, with a focus on day-to-day life, common occupations, race relations, and gender roles.
- Information on the development or evolution of a technology – guns, horses, poison, government, clothing, etc.
Writing
- Interviews with or profiles of established genre authors
- Common grammar mistakes and how to avoid them
- Analyses of current genre publishing trends
Opinion
- Analyses of current or past works of genre fiction, their relevance or irrelevance, and what they meant or mean for their time
- Personal accounts of your experience as a genre reader or writer, particularly those that shed light on the subculture, or on what makes us keep reading
- Your view of what a genre’s fiction gets wrong—or gets right
- Examinations of the ways different genres interact—where they overlap, how they are different, and whether the differences are an issue of theme or of set dressing
We Do Not Accept
Personal accounts of how difficult it is to be a struggling writer, lists of inspirational quotes, press releases, angry diatribes, or essays in which facts are inaccurate or unsubstantiated. No reprints.
Payment
Upon publication, we pay a $15 honorarium for first electronic publishing rights and the right to archive your story. We award a $50 bonus to our favorite story or essay each month, which we “feature” as the first and most visible title listed on our website. (This is the online equivalent of a cover story.) The author retains all print rights and anthology rights.
We do not announce our decision on the recipient of the $50 “feature” bonus until shortly before publication, and the winner is selected from pieces we have already chosen to publish. Please do not send us stories on condition that we “feature” you; our feature choice is non-negotiable.
Formatting Your Submission
You may send a completed essay or a query with your name, a resume and/or writing sample, and a brief explanation of your proposed topic and what you want to say about it. For other formatting questions, please refer to the guidelines in the fiction submissions, above.
Send nonfiction submissions to: nonfiction@reflectionsedge.com, cc:ing editor@reflectionsedge.com.
Response
We try to respond to all submissions within thirty days, usually under one week. Currently all submissions received more than 30 days ago have received a response. If you have not received a reply within one month, e-mail editor@reflectionsedge.com.