Submissions: OPEN
Submission deadline for inaugural issue: Tuesday, March 31st, 2020, 11:59p.
Editorial decisions: Thursday, April 30th, 2020.
Publication of inaugural issue: Friday, June 12th, 2020.
WHETSTONE is an amateur, unpaid, free and open access digital magazine that seeks to discover, inspire, and publish emerging authors who are enthusiastic about the tradition of “pulp sword and sorcery.” Writers in this tradition include (but are not limited to) the following: Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner, and many more. “Pulp sword and sorcery” emphasizes active protagonists, supernatural menaces, and preindustrial (mostly ancient and medieval) settings. Some “pulp sword and sorcery” straddles the line between historical and fantasy fiction; at Whetstone, however, we prefer “secondary world settings,” other worlds liberated from the necessity of historical accuracy.
Length: We prefer short, compressed stories that are nevertheless complete and cohesive narratives (1500 to 2500 words). These limits are firm. No more, no less.
Style: We prefer “dialog light, action heavy” fiction that is unselfconsciously literary but nevertheless takes joy in an occasional old word that gives the breath of antiquity.
Publication, payment, and rights: Publication, payment, and rights: Issues will be published as .pdf files. If work is selected for publication in WHETSTONE, authors will be asked to provide, gratis, by contract, “First North American Serial Rights." In our opinion, this means that copyright is not transferred. All copyright stays with the writer; however, you have transferred "First North American Serial Rights." Some professional publications may ask for those BUT you are not legally permitted to provide those after publication in WHETSTONE. In other words, WHETSTONE is an amateur publication, meant for showcasing emerging talent for the consideration of professional markets (which is why we kept the word count so low). In essence: save your best work for paying markets!
About the editor: Jason Ray Carney is a lecturer in the Department of English of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. He is the co-editor of the academic journal The Dark Man: Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies and the area chair of the "Pulp Studies" section of the Popular Culture Association.
