Fuzzy, when it comes to being clueless and out of the loop, if I'm not in a class by myself, it sure don't take long to call the roll. That said, in the last few weeks, I've heard nothing about a new contest. That includes any scuttlebutt on the 'Mod Forum'. Maggie and others have indicated that another contest might be a possibility somehow, someday but, to the best of my limited knowledge, there have been no ongoing discussions.

BTW, hope you got that kettle of hot water you asked for last year. ;)

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Gypsy is preaching my sermon for me. That is to say, we agree. That said, readers here at Story Space seem to follow the 'shorter is better' line when it comes to the stories they read, vote and leave a comment on. IMO, if a story comes in at over 3-4K, it better have a killer hook of an opening (he says, subtly pimping his 'How to be a Happy Hooker' SS thread). ;)

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In an act of mind-boggling authorial hubris, I've posted a short 'Musing' wwith the title, "How To Be a Happy Hooker".

https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/musings/how-to-be-a-happy-hooker-musings-on.aspx

It's a rumination on 'hooking' the reader's interest in a story's opening lines, honest.

We've had threads before about favorite opening lines, but that was long ago. Feel free to share any thoughts on the subject along with your favorite opening liness. Here's the link one more time:

https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/musings/how-to-be-a-happy-hooker-musings-on.aspx

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I agree with Hayley. Meredith, your suggestion is a good one. I'll mention it in the Mod Forum but a PM to Maggie wouldn't hurt.

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Larry, thanks for the inadvertent info dump on the ID of 'Henriettta'. Cyn, imo, that's a fine handle, or alias, as the case may be. ;)

Good coffee, Larry.

You two play nice or at least be sanitary.

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Getting any short story published is tough.
Getting a non-literary (genre) story published, especially by a journal that actually pays, is a real challenge -- but not an impossibility, honest.

What follows are eight journals that publish genre short stories. Who knows, their next acceptance might be from a Stories Space author.

* Historical and Western

The Copperfield Review

The Copperfield Review is a literary journal for writers of historical fiction. They pay all their authors.

Historic Heroines

Historic Heroines is a publication focused on historical tales of female empowerment. They publish stories about fictional or real women experiencing real-life historical events. They are a paying market.

The Western Online

The Western Online is a magazine devoted to everything Old West. They’re looking for historical western fiction of 5,000 words and under, though guidelines note their sweet spot is around 3,000 words. They offer token payment.

Cowboy Jamboree

They publish short fiction and flash fiction in the western genre, though not traditional western – they describe themselves as a “Grit-lit magazine focused on the rural working class and revisionist western writing.”


* Mystery & Sci-Fi


Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

They publish every kind of mystery short story: the psychological suspense tale, the deductive puzzle, the private eye case – the gamut of crime and detection, from the realistic to the more imaginative.

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
This paying and competitive magazine publishes short stories and novellas in the mystery genre.

Asimov’s Science Fiction

Stories in Asimov’s have won many Hugo and Nebula awards. They pay well.

Analog

This is a respected science fiction journal that publishes everything from short stories to novellas. They pay well.


note: Excerpted from the free, online newsletter of, Authors Publish Magazine (highly recommended)

Larry, with the boss man gone south for a few days in the sun, do customers need to brew their own java? Not complaining, you understand, but cleaning up afterward might be a challenge. ;)

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Larry: seems 'The Case of the Missing Badge' will need to be posted in Micro Fiction. ;)

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I'm about halfway through 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' by Eric Idel of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus, fame. It's sorta his version of a memoir/autobio and is LOL funny in many places. Idel is the 'reader' on the audio version which is, therefore, highly recommended.

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Note to SS readers: It is an old adage of the writing trade that the early work of most writer’s tends to be somewhat autobiographical. If some of yours falls into that category and you feel it might be publishable as, ‘memoir’, read on.

X x x

Seven Publishers That Accept Memoir Submissions (No Agent Required)
Written by Emily Harstone
For ‘Authors Publish’ free, online newsletter

Memoir publishers that don’t require an agent to submit are few and far between. However, there are still options out there. Some are old and respected, others are new and still figuring things out.
Not all the publishers on this list are currently open to submissions, but most are.

City Lights Books
City Lights Books is based out of San Francisco and is indeed part of the famous bookstore there. City Lights Books was started by the famous poet and writer Lawrence Ferlinghetti. They are most often linked to the beat poetry movement. They have published New York Times best selling books, and have been a publisher for over 60 years. They publish about a dozen books each year, including a number of memoirs.

Persea Books
Persea Books is an independent book publisher based out of New York that was established in the 1970s. Since then they have gained a reputation for publishing thoughtful books in a variety of literary genres, including memoir.

Soft Skull Press
Soft Skull Press is a small respected publisher of fiction and nonfiction. They are only open to unagented submissions of nonfiction work. The nonfiction they publish includes history, memoir, literary biography, religion and philosophy, and natural history. Soft Skull Press was recently purchased by Catapult/Black Balloon.

Chicago Review Press
Chicago Review Press was founded over 40 years ago. They are an established independent publisher of literary fiction and non-fiction. They were founded by Curt Matthews and his wife, Linda Matthews. Curt was the former editor of the literary journal the Chicago Review. Their imprint Academy Chicago publishes memoirs and is open to unsolicited submissions.

Filles Vertes
Filles Vertes Publishing was founded in 2016. It is a new publisher with only a few books under their belt and a few forthcoming books as well. They have print and electronic versions of all their books. They accept submissions of middle grade readers, young adult books, adult fiction, and adult fiction in all genres, which is a broad spectrum to publish. They have previously published a historical thriller/mystery, a memoir about life at sea, and a mystery book set in the Pacific Northwest.

Polis Books
Polis Books is an independent publisher of fiction and non-fiction. Polis Books was founded in 2013. Their focus is on publishing new voices. They are a technologically driven company. They publish print and digital books. They are currently seeking memoirs.

Square One Publishers
Square One Publishers focuses on publishing adult nonfiction books. They are looking for books by authors that are experts in their field. Their books are focused on meeting the needs of niche audiences. They are not a publisher of bestsellers, they have a specific market/markets and they cater to them. The memoirs they publish are generally a little different so please review their catalog first.

For the benefit of any unsuspecting reader, let me state now that this is NOT an article about how one might become a contented courtesan or smiling strumpet. Nope, not even a titillated trollop. Sorry about any confusion, honest. Truth be told, this assault on good taste and English letters is concerned with the fine art of creating attention grabbing hooks in the opening lines of your...

Added 18 Dec 2018 | Category Musings | Votes 11 | Avg Score 5 | Views 261 | 7 Comments

Now and Forever: a love story The dream was back--so were the eyes. They hovered in an angry sky just above the horizon, seeing everything but focusing on nothing. Amy knew those eyes—knew a time when they’d been filled with happiness and a love of life. But that had been before her brother came back from Vietnam. Young, naked, and skinny, she stood alone and vulnerable on a hill surrounded...

Added 14 Aug 2018 | Category Romance | Votes 8 | Avg Score 5 | Views 200 | 5 Comments

How’s by you, Grady Lee? Funniest thing happened yesterday. This nice lady from the Veterans Administration stopped by and said what I really needed, I mean with my having gone from hard of seeing to being blinder than any known bat, was one of those so-called smart Apple iPhones. I told her I knew a bit about the thing, how you made gestures to work it, and let her know I'd been...

Added 04 Aug 2018 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 14 | Avg Score 5 | Views 308 | 12 Comments

On a hot Friday afternoon in the summer of 1970, a young nursing student left work at the VA hospital, and hurried out to the nearby bus stop on First Avenue. The usual stop-and-go Friday traffic appeared to be stuck on stop. From the open windows of a gypsy cab came the sound of an all-news station. “In other national news, a Defense Department spokesman said 18,000 of the 31,000 US...

Added 28 Feb 2018 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 12 | Avg Score 5 | Views 489 | 10 Comments

   The official plan, as carefully explained to all parental units, had called for Amy and Libby to share a motel room. The guys would stay with Mark’s roommate who was supposed to be in summer school. In reality, Mark’s roommate had just flunked out. And no one questioned that Bob and Libby would have the motel room to themselves. Once they were dropped off, Mark and Amy headed for...

Added 01 Nov 2017 | Category General | Votes 2 | Avg Score 5 | Views 679 | 2 Comments

  Alexandria, a small, nondescript city on the Red River in central Louisiana, is the symbolic checkpoint separating the state’s French, Catholic south from its Scots-Irish, Protestant north. In the pre-interstate days, a two-lane highway weaved its way south from town toward Baton Rouge. A picturesque, tree-lined bayou flanked one side of the road. On the other side were pastures and a...

Added 18 Oct 2017 | Category General | Votes 3 | Avg Score 5 | Views 449 | 4 Comments

 The phone wouldn't stop ringing. Amy, sitting at the table on the other side of the kitchen, eating a bologna-on-white-with-mayonnaise sandwich and heading into what she sensed would be one of the   steamier parts of,"The Carpetbaggers," tried to ignore the noise, though she couldn’t help wondering what had happened to her sister who always tried to beat everyone else to the phone. Jan...

Added 09 Oct 2017 | Category General | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 487 | 5 Comments

Delmar Bullock wasn’t impressed, not one little bit. The three young farts standing just inside the door to his storage shed didn’t seem good for much, most of all a Klan job. At first, they tried to act cocky like this was no big deal. But none of  ‘em said a word after seeing the cross he put together that afternoon. He wondered why Jack Boudreaux, who always worried about security...

Added 25 Sep 2017 | Category General | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 428 | 5 Comments

  “Hey, good lookin’, what ya got cookin’ tonight?” At the sound of Darrell Ray’s cocky, teasing voice, Bebe gave him an unhurried glance. Then she took her time putting away an unread folder, turning off the fluorescent desk light and covering the typewriter. When everything was in order, she leaned back and met his gaze. It was way past the lumberyard’s two o’clock Saturday closing time....

Added 18 Sep 2017 | Category Drama | Votes 4 | Avg Score 5 | Views 356 | 5 Comments

  Dancing to Ray Charles: Ch 07, S8ummer Inactivities   “I guess it’s about time we had that little talk.” Jake Cahill stood in the doorway to the crowded laundry room, watching his son pull clothes from the dryer. “Oh, I already know all about that stuff,” said Mark. “The stork brings the babies and leaves them under a cabbage leaf.” “So that’s how it’s done. And all this time I...

Added 07 Sep 2017 | Category General | Votes 3 | Avg Score 5 | Views 363 | 4 Comments