Wild Stacks

Submission Guidelines

Wild Stacks accepts submissions from anywhere in the world (or beyond) but they must be in English. We will be open to submissions in January and February 2011 for issue 2.

Type of fiction: All types of fantasy will be considered, from horror to heroic fiction, sword & sorcery, urban fantasy, steam-punk, supernatural, surreal, weird fiction, and noir crime.

No hard science fiction, erotica or stories designed to gross out. Avoid gratuitous sex, violence and over emphasis on expletives. We are not interested in zombies eating brains and doing little else, romantic vampires and werewolves, westerns (unless weird) and navel-gazing angst. We prefer stories with a beginning, middle and end. Be original -- and avoid the clichés.

Word Limit: Up to 5000 words (longer stories will be considered in exceptional circumstances)

Rights: We prefer original/unpublished work although reprint material will sometimes be considered. On original work we acquire first electronic rights (website and electronic downloads) for original fiction. Copyright remains with the author.

Our intention is to publish print editions of the best stories selected from the preceding year. Therefore we also claim one-off, non-exclusive rights for the print edition, should your manuscript be selected.

Payment: At the moment there is no payment for work published on the website. However, if your work is included in printed format we aim to offer a payment. The rate is yet to be decided but will be nominal.

Submitting your work: Use the form on the contacts page. Send your work as an attached RTF file. If you encounter any problems please contact alchemypress [at] gmail [dot] com

If you do not receive a confirmation email after submitting your manuscript contact the Alchemy Press at the above email address.

We do not accept multiple submissions -- one manuscript at a time. Wait until you hear from us before sending in another story. We try to respond within four weeks of submission and as quickly as possible after the deadline and reading period. Keep an eye on the Alchemy Press blog for submission dates.

General notes: Please take a few moments to read the following guidelines:

Elmore Leonard has written his Rules of Writing and these deserve careful reading.

Manuscripts must be professionally presented. Submit as rich text format (RTF) attachment (Word DOC files are also accceptable).

Include title, byline, your real name, email and approx word count on first page (a separate title page is not necessary). Include a brief biography and your web address.

No fancy formatting or fonts. Use Arial or a similar easy-to-read font, 12 point, double spaced (use different fonts sparingly [eg, quoted passages within your story])

25mm or 1" Margins

Remember, this is an on-line publication. Short paragraphs work best. Use tab indents for new paragraphs (no spaces between paragraphs)

Left justified text

One space between sentences

Use double quotation marks for speech

Use italics instead of underline/underscore

Section breaks: marked with * or ***

No headers/footers other than page numbers

Cover art by Jim Pitts