Three Websites You Should Know that List Short Story Magazines

If you have trouble finding the right magazines to submit your science fiction short stories, if you're new to the submission process, or if you just want to a find a magazine for your reading pleasure, there are only three websites you should know, which are valuable resources:

• duotrope.com 
• ralan.com 
• sfwa.org 

The links above will either go to a page that lists magazines or to one where you can search for magazines.

If you just want to know the professional magazines or anthologies that publish science fiction short stories -- which meet Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America qualifications -- here are 21 markets from sfwa.org: (they are not all currently open to submissions, however):

• Analog Science Fiction and Fact (guidelines)
• Apex (guidelines)
• Asimov’s Science Fiction (guidelines)
• Bull Spec (guidelines)
• Cicada (guidelines)
• Clarkesworld Magazine (guidelines)
• Cosmos (guidelines)
• Cricket (guidelines)
• Dark Wisdom (guidelines)
• Flash Fiction Online (guidelines)
• Grantville Gazette (guidelines)
• Lightspeed Magazine (guidelines)
• The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (guidelines)
• Nature (guidelines)
• Odyssey (guidelines)
• Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show (guidelines)
• The Pedestal Magazine (guidelines)
• Redstone Science Fiction (guidelines)
• Strange Horizons (guidelines)
• Tor.com (guidelines)
• Writers of the Future Anthology (rules)

How the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks affected my writing

Scenes from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (From Wikipedia)

Sept. 11, 2001, the date of one of the most terrifying terrorist events in U.S. history, will resonate in our minds for decades to come. The sight of two planes crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, sending dust and debris among New York City streets, pierced our hearts with disbelief and sorrow on that day 10 years ago. Innocent people died that morning, including at the Pentagon and in the plane that fortunately didn’t reach the White House. It affected family, friends, U.S. citizens and others across the globe. It certainly was a mournful day affecting my life as well.

What I learned that day was to appreciate life more and not to put my goals on hold. The understanding that life can be taken away in the blink of an eye was much more prevalent that day, and I was determined to live my life at the fullest. I worked even harder on my science fiction book and continued to write -- to finish it. I eventually completed it a several years later despite a full load of college; unfortunately, I wrote it longhand, and it was more than 700 pages long. I considered it sufficient training for writing my second novel, so to this day, I've never typed it all up. Don't worry, I'll type and rewrite it some day -- and divide it into three books while I'm at it.

As for my second novel (or fourth depending on how you look at it), I typed it from the start (thank God). I'm more than halfway through writing it, and that story, too, likely will be divided into three books. Unfortunately, I haven't written on the novel in a year and haven't written anything significant in two. I lost that passion to finish what I started -- the passion I had for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Sure, I wrote short stories and blogs in my free time, but something was missing. My complete story was missing.

I'm hoping to rejuvenate that spark I had. I'm hoping to finish what I started. How did Sept. 11, 2001, affect you?

Reid Review: "The Armageddon Machine" by Simon Kewin

I recently navigated through my selection of unread books on my e-reader and picked out a random story to read. That book -- actually a novelette -- was The Armageddon Machine by Simon Kewin. The story is self-published, so I paid close attention to the first page to see if either 1) the author had no talent, which is why he self-published, or 2) he was someone with great talent using self-publishing as a tool to build readership and notoriety. I'm glad that he fell into the latter category.

Click image for e-book info.

In fact, I venture to say that this is the best ebook I've read in quite a while. The story grabbed my attention from the very first sentence, "Mackenzie watched the universe end." As I read on, I was whisked into a science fiction world that reminded me of Star God by Allen Wold: Sure, The Armageddon Machine may have needed more editing and may have had some unanswered questions, but it was good, nonetheless.

After reading the roughly 13,000-word story in one setting, I wondered why the story wasn't published by a traditional publisher. I gather that it is difficult to publish work at that length because it is too long for most magazines and too short to be a novel. Perhaps Kewin could expand the story into a novel. I think it would work well that way, would answer many questions and would give him more time to develop the characters.

Here's my honest review of the story (it has some spoilers, however):