WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

www.mystericale.com

Mysterical-E is an online literary magazine featuring mystery stories [PLEASE SEE MORE COMPLETE DEFINITION IN NEXT PARAGRAPH], including serials and book excerpts; as well as interviews, reviews, and articles. Mysterical-E is dedicated to presenting quality material and to giving a forum to talent old and new.

FICTION:
The field of mystery has undergone a change in recent years. There is a new definition being established. According to a recent (December 2004) MWA letter "Now it is time to recognize that the field has broadened and diversified since its inception. We are all over the map - from darkest noir to softest cozy; from-just-the-facts-ma'am to fantasy and science fiction; from historical romance to futuristic techno-thriller." So this is our mission as well. We are also looking for related non-fiction, interviews, reviews. The newly defined mystery story is our first priority. All kinds - softboiled, hardboiled, not boiled at all; the traditional P.I. as well as the unorthodox finders, amateur sleuths, police detectives, and others; and we seek tales with a supernatural or speculative fiction touch. We're wide open. We are also looking for unique approaches to the field. Plot is better than no plot. Fully realized, living breathing characters are required. In all cases -- but especially in period pieces or in stories which require expertise in some field or other -- DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

As we've said, there's room in Mystery for cross genre material -- speculative fiction, horror, fantasy. Who says a werewolf can't be a P.I.? Or, something completely different. Stretch your imagination, send us something startlingly good.

Since its founding, Mysteical-E has also been interested in the "mysterious" in general -- so your stories, articles, and ideas in this vein are welcome.

Not sure if a story you've written fits? -- Send it or send a query. joede@mystericale.com

Reprints -- with proper permissions and citations -- will be considered for our Reprints section.

INTERVIEWS:
Chats with people in the Mystery business -- authors, agents, publishers, convention organizers -- the entire range. A simple Q&A format will suffice but a good, solid profile type of interview is appreciated. Query with ideas to joede@mystericale.com

ARTICLES:
We are looking for articles dealing with aspects of the mystery, character studies and analyses, retrospective reviews of the works/styles/characters of great names in Mystery, news of what's going on in the field, spotlights on publishers and markets, be creative, come up with ideas and ask. Query with ideas to joede@mystericale.com

REVIEWS:
Books, movies, websites, etc. -- as long as it's a mystery or something mysterious, we're interested.
Queries to: joede@mystericale.com

OTHER:
You have an idea? We want to hear about it. Maybe it will pan out, maybe not. You won't know unless you ask. Query with ideas to joede@mystericale.com

 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

submissions@mystericale.com

Please note: READ these guidelines and follow them, or we will return your submission to you without reading or considering it. This is for your protection as well as ours.

Guidelines sometimes change. Please refer to them each time you submit a piece of work.

Writers are invited to submit quality work, which will be featured on the website for the life of an issue (right now that means about three months) as well as in our Archives. Being featured in Mysterical E means you're a published writer and as such have rights to your work. We ask first-time electronic rights and archival rights (think of it as back issues in a library and doesn't mean you can't submit the story elsewhere); all other rights revert to the author.

We welcome submissions from anywhere in the world.

Payment
Right now Mysterical E is not a paying market. But as we explore this aspect, we hope to find ways of paying our contributors.

Length
Stories - up to 10,000 words (we will make exceptions for longer pieces if they catch our eye)

Serials -- we are doing serials. Query with your idea or send the whole story.

Book excerpts - either from forthcoming books with FIRM publications dates OR books published within the past twelve to fifteen months; Keep excerpts to around 5000 to 8000 wds.
Excerpts should give a taste of the book from which they're drawn.

Interviews, reviews, articles from 500-2000 words (longer if the subject merits such coverage).

More Submissions Information:

Multiple submissions are acceptable.

Simultaneous submissions are not being accepted at this time. We try to respond quickly enough for you to send the piece out again should it be rejected. We understand the necessity for a quick turnaround time.

Reprints are being accepted - query first.

Submissions should be sent via e-mail to submissions@mystericale.com
Put the word SUBMISSION - Title of Your Story in the subject line
Queries should be sent to joede@mystericale.com

Send ONLY MSWord attachments. And please follow this style format:
Single space your story/article/etc. THEN double space Between paragraphs (even one line graphs) and double space between lines of dialogue.

Do not indent at the beginning of paragraphs.

Use: Times New Roman (only) 12 point

Then:

At the top of your submission please include the following:
Your Name
Your Street Address
Your Telephone number(s)
Your e-mail address
(stipulate whether or not you want your e-mail address listed with your by-line. If we receive no information from you regarding this we will consider that you wish to have your e-mail address listed with your article and may do so)
The name you wish us to use on the piece if it is accepted.
List category: story, interview, article, review, other
Title of your story
Word Count

At the end of your piece please write END

After that please append a SHORT (75-100 word) bio

 

Please check your manuscript for errors in spelling (don't rely on SpellCheck);
fix any grammar or punctuation errors.

Mystericale E

 

Response time should be 4 weeks or less. If you do not hear from us within 5 weeks, please send an e-mail to be certain your submission has actually been received.

Since we are looking for quality, we will probably ask authors of promising pieces for revisions based on a critique we send. Each piece is eligible for two (2) resubmissions after revisions suggested by us. After this, if your piece is still unacceptable, we have the right to reject it.

Please Note
The editors reserve the right to reject any submission.

If your work is rejected, we are not rejecting you personally - there are lots of reasons a piece might not be right at the time it is received. Submit another piece - perhaps the next story will be the one that we accept.