CANADIAN sf MARKETS

Periodicals

Index:

Blackgate

Challenging Destiny

On Spec

Parsec

Transversions

Blackgate: EDITOR: John O'Neill.
GENRE: epic fantasy
FORMAT: magazine/website
Blackgate is a hybrid webzine/paper magazine. It will be published simultaneously on the web and in the form of a thick, 200-plus pages format magazine with colour covers.
FREQUENCY: print magazine =quarterly. BlackGate.com will be a bi-weekly webzine, publishing news, reviews, and interviews.
PAYMENT: magazine = 6 cents US a word for first North American serial rights and electronic/web rights. website will be non-paying at launch.
LENGTH: any length (longer works will be serialized) WANTS: Adventure-oriented, Epic fantasy; PG rating (more or less). "The magazine seems to be aimed squarely at the Terry Brookes/David Eddings type of reader, though as I understand it, John is open to all types of stories as long as they fit into the broad categories outlined above. That is, don't feel restricted to the pseudo-Celtic genre. To submit material or for more information, you can contact John O'Neill at john@blackgate.com. (SOURCE: Mark Shainblum, sf Canada listserve)
The (non-paying) website is also looking for nonfiction - book and game reviews, art columns, and so on.
Challenging Destiny: EDITORS: Dave & Bob Switzer
GENRE: sf&F (no poetry or horror)
FORMAT: Digest?
FREQUENCY: quarterly
LENGTH: 2000 to10000 words, but may consider shorter or longer works.
PAYMENT: 1 cent (Canadian) per word plus 2 copies of the magazine upon publication.
RESPONSE TIME: 1-4 weeks WANTS: "We're interested in stories where violence is rejected as a means for solving problems.We're also interested in stories with philosophical, political, or religious themes. We're not interested in stories where the good guys kill the bad guys and then live happily ever after. "
"We encourage first-time authors to send us their stories."
EMAIL: csp@golden.net (Do NOT accept email submissions of stories).
ADDRESS: Dave & Bob Switzer, Editors
Challenging Destiny
R.R. #6
St. Marys, Ontario
Canada N4X 1C8
NON-CANADIAN AUTHORS: Accepts foreign submissions. Note: If you're sending a SASE, do not send a stamp from your country. They are useless outside your country. Send an International Reply Coupon instead.
On Spec: EDITORS:
General Editor: Jena Snyder
Fiction Editors: Barry Hammond, Susan MacGregor, Derryl Murphy, Hazel Sangster, Jena Snyder, Diane L. Walton, and Peter Watts
Poetry Editor: Barry Hammond
FORMAT: Digest sized magazine
FREQUENCY: quarterly.
PAYMENT: On Spec buys first North American serial (magazine) rights to your work. We pay on acceptance. Minimum payment for fiction is $50 and maximum payment is $180. Pay rates are as follows and are in Canadian dollars:
Poems: 4-100 lines $20 plus one contributor's copy; Short-short stories (under 1000 words): $50 plus one contributor's copy; Fiction (6000 words max.): 1000-2999 words $100 plus 2 contributor's copies; 3000-4999 words $150 plus 2 contributor's copies; 5000-6000 words $180 plus 2 contributor's copies
LENGTH: short stories (max. 6000 words), short short stories (under 1000 words) or poetry (max. 100 lines)
WANTS: The On Spec editors are looking for original, unpublished speculative fiction and poetry -- fantasy, horror, ghost stories, fairy stories, magic realism, etc. Our mandate is to provide a market for the Canadian viewpoint, but we welcome submissions from writers everywhere, and have published authors from Canada, the U.S., Britain, New Zealand, South America, and more.
Please note: we no longer require submissions in competition format.
We do not read E-mailed or faxed submissions, and we do not buy stories or poetry that have appeared in print or on the Internet.
DEADLINES: Deadlines are February 28, May 31, August 31, and November 30.
Publication decisions are made four times annually, with response about 12 weeks after each deadline. Manuscripts that miss a deadline will be held for the next one; this may be up to 6 months. Please let us know if you do not wish a manuscript to be held over.
THEME ISSUES: We do one theme issue per year. The theme for 2001 is "World Beat."
COVER LETTER: * include your name, address, telephone number, email address, story title, accurate word count, and a brief (3-line) biography including your publishing background
* don't query or include a synopsis: let your story sell itself All submissions to On Spec should:
* be in standard submission format for Regular issue and Theme issue submissions OR
* be mailed to us (we don't read faxed or e-mailed submissions)
* be accompanied by a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope)
* be accompanied by a cover letter
* be printed on white paper in black ink
* be double-spaced
* be printed on one side of the page only
* be in a readable font (e.g. Times or Courier)
* have 1-inch margins all around
* be left-justified, with a "ragged right" margin
* have a header on each page with story title and page number
* be paper-clipped together, not stapled or bound
* be no more than 6,000 words for Regular or Theme issues OR
* be no more than 5,000 words for Contest submissions
REPLIES: * we do not reply via email.
* if you want your manuscript returned, include Self Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE) bearing sufficient Canadian postage for its return
* if your manuscript is disposable, mark "disposable" and include #10 SASE (or SAE and IRCs) for our reply
* manuscripts sent from outside Canada should include Canadian stamps or International Reply Coupons (IRCs, available from most post offices)
Deadline: August 31, 2000
Follow same guidelines as for regular issue. Please see "Theme Issue 2001: World Beat" for details.
NONFICTION AND ARTWORK:
Non-fiction is commissioned only. All artwork is commissioned, but illustrators are encouraged to send samples of their work to On Spec: Attention Art Director Jane Starr. Please send SASE for complete art guidelines.
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
On Spec is published four times a year by the (nonprofit) Copper Pig Writers' Society. All prices include GST, shipping, and handling.
Canada:
1 year $18.00
2 years $32.00
3 years $44.00
Institutions: $25.00 per year
USA (in US dollars):
1 year $18.00
2 years $32.00
3 years $44.00
Institutions: $25.00 per year
Overseas (in US dollars):
1 year $25.00
2 years $44.00
3 years $60.00
Institutions: $30.00 per year
Send check or money order to ON SPEC, Box 4727, Edmonton, AB T6E 5G6. Make checks payable to ON SPEC. To pay by VISA, include your VISA number, expiry date, name as it is printed on the card, and your signature. You can also phone or fax your VISA information (card number, expiry date, and name as it appears on your credit card) to us at our new fax number: (780) 413-1538.
SAMPLE COPIES:
Sample copies (current issue) are $6, including postage and tax (U.S. and overseas: US $6.) Please make checks or money orders payable to ON SPEC or include your Visa information (card number, expiry date, and name as it appears on your credit card.)
onspec@earthling.net
http://www.icomm.ca/onspec/
(Source: On Spec web site, June 1, 2000.)
Parsec: EDITOR: Chris Krejlgaard GENRE: sf fiction and sf media non-fiction FORMAT: glossy full-size magazine FREQUENCY: quarterly. PAYMENT: Payment: Negotiated at acceptance. Payment is made within 60 days of when the issue is on newsstands. We also pay some expenses - this is negotiated if a query is accepted.
LENGTH: Fiction pieces should be between 3,500 and 7,500 words. Usual length for a feature story is 1,000-3,000 words. Secondary features are usually between 750-1,500 words.
News stories 500-800 words. WANTS: Parsec is a science fiction, fantasy and horror magazine. In all cases, writers should query first. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be acknowledged AND will only be read after all other manuscripts (from writers who follow the rules) have been reviewed. All queries (typed and double-space please) should be sent to: Chris Krejlgaard, managing editor, c/o Plaza 69 Post Office, 1935 Paris St., P.O. Box 21019, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 6G6
Queries: These should well-thought out and form an outline of what you want to deal with in the article. In the case of fiction pieces, it should provide a synopsis of what the story is about, as well as what techniques you used. E-mailed QUERIES are accepted . . .
DUE TO THE VOLUME OF SUBMISSIONS, UNSOLICITED STORIES SENT OVER EMAIL WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED....THEY WILL BE TRASHED.
Fiction: We are always in need of good quality science fiction and fantasy stories. Note the words "good quality." No high school creative writing projects, no stream of consciousness piece that you wrote contemplating the lines in your hand. We are eager to work with unpublished writers, but there is a distinct difference between unpublished and unpublishable.
Poetry: We don't purchase poetry or filler copy.
Non-Fiction: We are interested in interviews and stories regarding science fiction movies, television programs and books. We look for the interview or story that no one has gotten yet (or is likely to get). We will not arrange interviews for freelance writers (that is something we reserve for a handful of our regular contributors). Do not query unless you are certain that you have an interview with the person - we don't like to get our hopes up.
We are also interested in stories on new entertainment-related technology news:
Terms: We buy first rights and, in cases of fiction stories, reprint rights for our anthology (which carries an additional payment). Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please let us know if you have submitted the work to other publications at the same time we are considering it. We also ask that, if we publish your story, that it not appear anywhere else for a period of one year after we accept it.
ARTWORK: Artists should fax (705) 523-5276 or send copies of their work---Black and white please. We commission artists for specific fiction stories and do not use art as page fillers or as margins artwork deserves a better fate than to serve as "stuff between ads." Payment is negotiated on an individual basis.
(SOURCE: Parsec website, June 1, 2000.)
Tranversions: EDITOR: Fiction Editors: Marcel Gagne and Sally Tomasevic;
poetry Editor: Carolyn Clink
GENRE: science fiction, fantasy, and horror
FORMAT: Digest (more or less)
FREQUENCY: 2/yr
. PAYMENT: 2 cents per word (Canadian) for short stories, and 25 cents a line for poetry. Minimum payment for both is 10 dollars.
LENGTH: Maximum length is 10,000 words, 6000 or less preferred
WANTS: closed to submissions until further notice (bought up to 3 issues ahead)
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Books

Index:

Quarry Press: PUBLISHER: Quarry Press IMPRINT/SERIES: Out of This World EDITOR: Edo van Belkom
GENRE: Literary criticism, some fiction
FORMAT: trade paper
FREQUENCY:
PAYMENT:
LENGTH: book length non-fiction, Aurora Collections
WANTS:
CURRENT LIST: Has five titles of potential interest to Canadian sf readers: Out of This World: Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy, (historical and critical essays edited by Andrea Paradis); Northern Dreamers, interviews with 22 Canadian sf writers by Edo van Belkom; Aurora Awards (anthology of winning stories); Northern Horror edited by Edo van Belkom; Trapdoor to Heaven timetravel/reincarnation novel by Lesley Choyce; and Death Drives a Semi horror stories by Edo van Belkom
TESSERACT BOOKS: PUBLISHER: Imprint of the Books Collective
IMPRINT/SERIES: Tesseract Books
EDITOR: Candas Jane Dorsey
GENRE: sf, tends towards the literary
FORMAT: trade paper and pocket book
FREQUENCY: random
PAYMENT: negotiated
LENGTH: novel, story collections
WANTS:
CURRENT LIST:
Tesseract anthologies, 1 to 8 (#9 in progress) plus Tesseract Q (Quebec sf in translation); The Plague Saint, by Rita Donovan The Slow Engines of Time, by �lisabeth Vonarburg Stealing Magic (collection), by Tanya Huf Blue Apes*, by Phyllis Gotlieb; The Children of Atwar*, Moonfall*, by Heather Spears; The Claus Effect, by David Nickle & Karl Schroeder; Dark Earth Dreams* by Candas Jane Dorsey & Roger Deegan; Distant Signals*, by Andrew Weiner; Dreams of an Unseen Planet*, by Teresa Plowright; Fires of the Kindred*, by Robin Skelton; Jackal Bird*, by Michael Barley; Machine Sex and other stories*, by Candas Jane Dorsey; The Ma�rlande Chronicles*, by �lisabeth Vonarburg; On Spec: The First Five Years, edited by On Spec; and others.
Thistledown Press: PUBLISHER: Thistledown Press
IMPRINT/SERIES: ?
EDITOR:
GENRE: Young adult fantasy
FORMAT: trade paper
FREQUENCY:
PAYMENT:
LENGTH: novels
WANTS:
CURRENT LIST:
Trifolium Books: PUBLISHER: Trifolium Books
IMPRINT/SERIES:
SERIES EDITOR: Julie E. Czerneda
GENRE: textbooks, children's sf (age 9 and up)
FORMAT: trade paper
FREQUENCY: ?
PAYMENT: ?
LENGTH: short stories
WANTS: May be by invitation only
CURRENT LIST: five titles of interest to sf readers: No Limits: Developing Scientific Literacy Using Science Fiction; and it's companion anthology Packing Fraction and Other Tales of Science & Imagination; and three anthologies for children age 9 and up: Stardust, Explorer and Orbiter all edited by Julie E. Czerneda.
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This page last updated: June 1, 2000