Saturday 15 November 2008

Criminally Good Magazines

Okay, crime fiction magazines, e-zines, web-zines, whatever. It turns out there’s more than a handful of them out there. After a previous post in which I yapped about a lack of venues for crime fiction short stories, constant reader, Colman Keane, emailed me to subtly hint I should dry my eyes, and to point me in the direction of some of his favourite websites. He’s a good lad. Spurred on by this generous time donation, I web-hunted a little more and found an additional few of them myself.

So, I’ve decided to gather the links and collect them all in a wee sidebar. Look to the right and scroll down a little. When I’ve finished the first draft of the current novel-in-progress, I’m going on a short story kick with an aim to go guerrilla on this scene. All out proliferation! Watch me fail miserably with interest, indifference or sadistic pleasure, why don’t you?

And in the meantime, why not check the sites out? If you’re a reader, spend a little time reading. If you’re a writer, check out the up-and-coming competition. Some of these markets pay and some don’t. They all publish crime fiction in some shape or form. I’m not advising writers to give their work away for free, nor am I advising against it. Your work, your call. But feel free to comment on the paying vs. non-paying market if you feel strongly either way. I’m not particularly passionate on the topic, but I prefer to send my short stuff to paying markets.

If you know of any other magazines that I haven’t mentioned, drop me a comment or an email and I’ll add them to the little bunch. Alternatively, if any of the links are dead or the 'zines are dying, I want to hear about that too.

4 comments:

Stuart Neville said...

I believe my good blogging friend Josephine Damian has a story in the very issue of Out of the Gutter pictured here, and another has just sold a story to BigPulp.com. As time moves on, I think t'internet will become the natural home of short fiction.

Gerard Brennan said...

Stuart - Well done to Josephine and your unnamed buddy, and thanks for pointing out another venue. It's been added to the list.

I'd say you're onto something with that t'internet theory. But for me, there's just something about seeing your work in a more tangible form. I love print, and though I still get a kick out of selling a short to a webzine, there's just an extra wee spring in my step when a sale promises a contributor copy, y'know?

Cheers

gb

John McFetridge said...

Here's a couple more. Geoff at Eastern Standard Crime is starting up a website he's calling CROOKED:

http://easternstandardcrime.blogspot.com/

and there's also: http://a-twist-of-noir.blogspot.com/

As for the question of pay vs. no pay, well we'd all like pay, wouldn't we, but it doesn't seem to be on offer very much these days. Especially of there's lots of sex and swearing. Even if it's only in the stories.

I've given a couple of short stories to e-zines and a bunch of flash fiction. I like writing the flash and there's no real paying market for it - someday I'll collect it all in a book or, I'm thinking about adding a bunch of flash fictions to the paperback editions of my novels. Like 'bonus tracks' on a CD.

Other than the exposure that websites give for fiction I also think there's some real value in the community that they're helping to build. I've met people online because of blogs like this one and I've also met people because they edit fictions websites and because they've published fiction I like on some of the sites. I like to participate in the community.

Bryon Quartermous used to call it 'publishing karma' when he was editing the very fine Demolition Magazine. He gave up Demolition about a month ago, but sure enough others started up.

Gerard Brennan said...

John - Publishing karma... what a lovely phrase. I'll be using that every time somebody questions my choice of venue. And it will be questioned. One small press publisher I know (but I'll not name), is very vocal on the subject. Reckons that by giving away work for free you're hurting all writers who are trying to scrape a living selling their work. I think that's a pretty hardcore line of thought, and I don't subscribe to it myself, but that's one belief.

I like yours though (especially the sex and swearing quip -- nice). And since I've started this blog, I've been so impressed by the great community spirit I've experienced from the crime fiction readers, writers and bloggers I've been in touch with and in some cases met in person. Seems wholly reasonable to contribute in any way you can...

Good food for thought, Mr McFetridge. Thanks.

gb

PS love the bonus tracks idea.