» Missive #3 | Flashes of Speculation

We have received many excellent submissions since Flashes of Speculation went live a few weeks ago. A handful of horror stories, however, have really toed the line of actually being speculative fiction and so have only just barely made it through. As a result the submission guidelines for horror stories have been revised slightly, specifically:

For the purposes of this site, horror fiction submissions must contain some element of science fiction, fantasy, magic, or the supernatural in order to be accepted.

This will hopefully push future horror submissions to fit much more clearly under speculative fiction in general and horror fiction in particular as well as focusing those types of submissions more toward the type of horror we are looking for at FoS.

Perhaps the definition of horror we were looking for should have been more clearly delineated at the outset. Consider this a refinement aimed at drawing out a specific cross-section of the horror genre.

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that’s a helpful tweak. sometimes I’m still confused about the differences between horror and thriller or suspense.

1 hana August 24, 2006 4:08 pm

Yeah, I’ve discovered very quickly that it’s a very fine line. In the last 10 days, I’ve had three or four stories submitted that I really had to think about before allowing. I even did a little bit of research on the exact meaning of horror, and I’m still not sure that it’s a completely clear delineation. But then again, that’s the nature of the writing world we live in – genre boundaries tend to be a bit blurry. So, hopefully the definition tweak will make it easier for everyone, and then I won’t have to feel so bad when I turn a story away that doesn’t seem to quite fit.

Thanks for the encouraging word, Hana. I was hoping that would be helpful.

2 Jim August 24, 2006 4:18 pm

Good clarification, Jim. Thanks.

3 Chris August 24, 2006 10:39 pm

I’m really hoping for some dark horror. Some of the things I’ve read I wouldn’t normally consider horror even if they were entertaining. I’m hoping this site develops into a much more Scifi/horror/fantasy clearinghouse.

Regardless I’ll still keep reading and assuming I get some time I might even submit a few stories.

4 Billy Cea August 27, 2006 11:10 pm

That’s my hope, as well, Billy, as that has been my intent right from the beginning. That’s the biggest reason why I tweaked the definition because so many of the recent stories I’ve been receiving have been so borderline horror while still technically fitting the broad definition of horror.

And I would love to have you submit some stories. I’ve loved your work over at Flashing in the Gutters.

5 Jim August 28, 2006 5:27 am

Flashes of Speculation

Missive #3

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