Just up, Issue 7 formatted to be read on your various and sundry electronic reading devices, or even to print up as a keepsake.
Today, we fearfully open submissions for The Journal of Unlikely Story Acceptances. We want to see your worst work. Flash fiction only, because we hope to see stories so bad that we couldn’t possibly read more than a thousand words of them without removing our eyeballs.
Submissions open for a scant 15 days.
More details (and some rules) at http://www.unlikely-story.com/fiction-submissions/
Just for fun, we want to play a game. There are no winners. There are no losers. There are no prizes. Just a prompt.
If there is enough interest, we’ll do more of these in the future.
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It’s November 25th; Mercator’s Night is just a week away.
For good or ill, Mercator’s Night (Mercatorsnacht, Merca Utsav, Merročki Noć, Mrec-tamash, etc.) is arguably the most widely — and diversely — observed holiday in the world. Whether as a joyful celebration or a mournful commemoration, Mercator’s Night impacts us all.
Tell us how your family observes Mercator’s Night. What rituals are performed? What foods are served? Are these local customs, or national, or is your’s an immigrant family, still observing Mercator’s Night as it’s done in the old country? Or has your family developed its own customs and rituals?
What does Mercator’s Night mean to you, personally?
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Set your response in any world, any country, any time, using any narrator and any family (including any definition of family you like). Make the meaning of this fictitious holiday anything you want (you CAN use real world elements and references, but you don’t need to), just make it robust enough, detailed enough, and imaginative enough that we believe in it (or believe that a world could exist in which it is true).
Post your response on your blog, with a link back to this page. Then reply to this post with a link to your entry, preferably by Mercator’s Night (December 2nd).
Your humble editors have been interviewed in Black Gate. Interested in what goes on behind the scenes, in how we work and what we like? Well, now you can find out:
http://www.blackgate.com/2013/11/11/unlikely-story-bg-interviews-the-editors/
It is with a sense of sorrow and relief that we bring submissions for The Journal of Unlikely Cryptography (Issue 8) to a close. Have something that just didn’t quite get done in time? Worry not, we’ll be doing another cryptography issue next year. In the meantime, we have our work cut out for us, reading all the submissions, and pulling together Issue 7, which we expect to publish mid-November.
In the meantime, we are now open for submissions for The Journal of Unlikely Cartography! We’re looking for stories involving maps, mapping, and cartography of all sorts. Submissions open(ed) November 1st and run through February 1st. Take a look at our submissions guidelines for full details.
But wait! There’s more!
We’re also announcing the highly unlikely Journal of Unlikely Story Acceptances, which will be published on April Fools Day (April 1st, 2014). This 3-story mini-issue will feature the very worst stories that professional writers can bear to submit to us. Details, again, are in the submission guidelines. Please read the guidelines carefully, because there are a few special conditions on this issue.
Clowns: The Unlikely Coulrophobia Remix is hot off the presses! So get your hot, pressed clowns today! Or if you prefer your clowns cold-pressed, never fear. A clown is nothing if not adaptable.
22 tales to horrify and delight, by authors Derek Manuel, T. Jane Berry, J.H. Pell, Jeff Wolf, Kristen Roupenian, Carolyn M. Yoachim, Mari Ness, Evan Dicken, Carlie St. George, Line Henriksen, Virginia M. Mohlere, Dayle A. Dermatis, Jason Arias, Joe Nazarre, Karlo Yeager-Rodruigez, Sara K. McNeilly, Chris Kuriata, Cassandra Khaw, Cate Gardner, Charles Payseur, Chillbear Latrigue, and Holly Schofield, with an introduction by Robin Blyn and illustrations by Bryan Prindiville.
Unlikely Story