It's here! INACCURATE REALITIES issue #1: FEAR

FEAR is here! In this first issue of Inaccurate Realities, a journal of YA speculative fiction, you'll find five stories related to the theme of fear, including "The Usual," a story about a 16-year-old girl named Callie who has grown up in a society where, about fifty years ago, someone invented the perfect haircut, and now everyone except people with deformities and anti-conformists get nothing except The Usual Haircut. But Callie has lost a bet and must ask for something different. It's a story about social norms, how people enforce them, and fear of people who break them.

PLUS the issue includes interviews with authors Gretchen McNeil (3:59, Ten), Kendare Blake (Anna Dressed in Blood, Antigoddess) and Katie Alender (Bad Girls Don’t Die, Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer) and reviews of A Midsummer Night’s Scream by R. L. Stine, Asylum by Madeleine Roux and Unbreakable by Kami Garcia.


A print copy of this issue can be yours for $7.50. An electronic version for your e-reader or in PDF format is only $3.50. Click here to find the purchase links on the Inaccurate Realities website. And tell your YA-loving friends!

FEAR is coming!

Release date: Oct. 22, 2013

Digging deep & putting it out there

Last week a few things happened that got me thinking about the extent to which I do (or don't) dig deep and put real emotion into my writing.

1) One of my writer friends, Elizabeth Gibson, tweeted me, lamenting that some of her writing seems emotionless when she reads it.

Although I've never had this exact thought about my own writing, I think I get it. (Actually, for the last year and half I've felt pretty excited when I write something light-hearted and fun that I can read aloud without crying. It's happening less and less.) It's a fine line to walk. I mean, maybe you don't want to cut your heart out and pass it around on a platter, but you do want to give readers something to relate to, right? Something to connect to?

2) A mere day later, I came across this blog post by Tiffany Lawson Inman about putting emotions into your writing.

Market research: Inaccurate Realities & Writing prompt 10

Fair warning: today's post covers a lot of ground. Not only did I go hunting for another literary magazine to review, but I chose one with an upcoming themed submission deadline to inspire this week's writing prompt. And finally, there's also a ROW80 update. I've used bold headings so you can skip ahead to whatever interests you most.

Market research
Inaccurate Realities

• Brand-spanking-new online and print quarterly publication. First issue scheduled to be released October 2013.
• Paying market - currently offering token payment of $15-25 per story.
• Specialize in short (2K-5K words) speculative fiction stories for young adults.
• Submission guidelines don't say whether they accept previously published work, but I tracked them down on Twitter & they said they do accept it so long as the rights have reverted back to the author. Simultaneous subs okay. Only one sub per issue, but can sub to more than one issue at a time.
• Submissions accepted via email only, and only in the body of the email (no attachments).
• If accepted, they get worldwide first print & electronic English-language rights and exclusive rights for one year.