Guidelines    updated (slightly) 03/08/08

   Starting soonish, the fiction of Susurrus will also be available as an podcast (mp3 downloads), for those that like their fiction portable. Probably an RSS feed. Details will be announced here. The full issues, complete with artwork, interviews, and reviews will be available online (on this site).

   We are now a quarterly publication. We have raisee our payrates and we publish more stories per issue.

    Susurrus is a highly experimental venue for fiction that deals with the human condition in speculative situations. We  accept fiction and artwork submissions to be considered for publication. We purchase first electronic rights (second in the case of reprints), and archive all works on the site unless an author specifically requests otherwise. Our response time is now about three months.

Fiction

     We really like this new word that we've learned: Slipstream. This is a word that describes one of the things we most like to publish. We publish very few stories about traditional insanity, i.e., asylums, people talking to psychiatrists, stories that turn out to have taken places in someone's imagination, etc. If your story is like this, it must be very excellent to be considered.

     Surreal, experimental, low fantasy, humor (we'd like more of this), horror, SF, magical realism, and literary fiction are all considered -- but you stand the best chance of being published if your story is more than one of these. Fiction should be well written and well edited pieces from 1 word to 5,000 words, and should be sent as .doc, .rtf, .txt, .odt., or pasted to the body of the e-mail. Multiple subs: no more than 3 stories to a maximum combined word count of 5,000 words. Include your name and mailing address. Send fiction submissions to editor Rev Brian Worley and assistant editor James Maddox: editor@susurrusmagazine.com

Poetry

     We publish poetry very occasionally (two or three poems a year). Humor or a strong narrative help. Send no more than 5 poems at a time. Send submissions to editor@susurrusmagazine.com

Artwork

     We have a strange way of dealing with art submissions. Most of our artwork is solicited, but we accept submissions that will be "archived" in our inbox. We will contact you whenever we find a piece that suits a particular issue. Because we continually change the layout, etc, of our issues, we just keep your work in an ongoing pool of artwork for consideration. If we like enough of it, we may ask you to be a "feature artist".

     Artwork should also be strange or surreal. We prefer recognizable subject matter, and we tend to like figurative artwork. See the artwork of Margot Quan Knight and Nicholas Di Genova for an idea of what we like. Also, look at the art in the magazine.

     Send submissions as jpegs, or send us a link to your website, and please put "ART" or something like that somewhere in the subject line. Include your name and mailing address. Sent art submissions to: editor@susurrusmagazine.com

Reviews

     If you'd like us to review your novel, story collection, magazine, or fiction website, send us a query with a brief bio and synopsis. We do not review self-published or vanity-published works. We will also consider reviews written by third parties, please submit the full review for consideration.

Other

     We consider articles of interest, interviews, and random miscellany. Articles, reviews, and interviews must do one or both of the following:

1) Be of interest to a reader or writer of small press fiction or electronic fiction.

OR

2) Be written in a way that is consistent with what we publish. That is, be experimental, strange, incomprehensible, obscure, esoteric, ergodic, etc.

Submit or query if you're not sure: editor@susurrusmagazine.com

Payment

     Our rates have raised to a flat US$10.00 payment per story/poem per issue, paid on publication. Feature artists are paid a flat $10.00 payment.

We welcome your submissions, questions, comments, or suggestions.

      Email:  editor@susurrusmagazine.com

Reading List

In no particular order, that is not comprehensive, but is everything  I could think of (with the brief aid of my bookcase).

A Spot of Bother, Kurt Vonnegut, Kelly Link,Franz Kafka, Anthony Burgess, American Psycho, House of Leaves, Carlton Mellick III, Christopher Moore, Ray Bradbury, Catch 22, Borges, J. Vasquez, Chuck Palahnuik, Richard Matheson, Neil Gaiman, Richard Brautigan, Italo Calvino, Terry Pratchett, Nick Sagan,  Haruki Muirakami.

See also, Links, and, read our magazine.

main