Farrago's Wainscot and Tales from the Slushfiles #3

Tales from the Slushfiles #3: Keep ‘em Coming!

Given the ups and downs of markets lately—whether closing temporarily or closing altogether—the Old Man just wanted me to remind everyone that the basement is still open to submissions.  That’s mighty convenient and classy of him since he never does much more than open the door to the basement and heckles me about reading slush.  Recently, he said, “How goes the slush reading?”  I said, “They’re pretty good, but it’s hard reading them in bad lighting.”  He said something about building character in an assistant editor and candles.  I riposted about John Milton’s daughters as anamneses.  He grumbled.  I giggled and thought how clever I was and that I had won.  Then he slammed the basement door, and that blew out the candles. 

*sigh*

But I digress.  Here’s how the submissions front bodes for Farrago’s Wainscot.

 I’d say we average 2-3 subs spread out over a month along with lots of single-sub days per month.  All in all, we easily get between forty and fifty submissions in a given month, give or take.  You know.  Anyhow, folks keep sending, and I keep slushing. 

Here lately, the general quality of submissions continues to be average to above average.  It’s still not unusual to see well-turned stories that just aren’t Farrago’s Wainscot material but would work fine in, say, a more science fiction to fantasy geared market that’s *not* edging toward the weird or experimental.  And if it’s hard science fiction or traditional fantasy, just remember it’s not you, it’s us.  Go forth and find those markets; the Old Man and I would much rather see more contemporary settings. 

For the Newbies:

1.      When you don’t write, you don’t improve.  Period.  Keep at it.  That means keep sending us material, too.  You might not bat a thousand, but don’t give up.

2.      Guidelines good.  Reading them is better.  Reading the free content for fun and market research is best.  Fire still bad.

3.      We. Don’t. Publish. The. Pr0n.  “Weird” /= “kinky”; “wish-fulfillment”; “other”

4.      If there’s a 200+ word description of the story in the cover letter, chances are the story is nowhere near as great as the writer believes it to be.  That’s called trying too hard. 

For Any/All:

1.      As aforementioned, our transom still functions.  Toss over your best stories. 

2.      Come hang by reading: www.farragoswainscot.com/about.html

3.      Check out Farrago’s Productions: www.farragoproductions.com/about.html

4.      Also check out F.M.I.: farragosfmi.com/