|
I actually had the layout finished last Thursday (6/4), but I was drawing a blank in regard to this editorial introduction. Any serious writer can tell you that the best writing occurs when you're feeling inspired. And the experienced writer can advise you that simply putting your nose to the grindstone and writing anything will at least get words on paper. Is there really
|
such a thing as "writer's block," or is it actually just a lack of motivation or the result of plain old fashioned procrastination? This time around I've been mulling over plenty of ideas--perhaps too many, and maybe that's the problem--my brain is racing too fast to make any coherent sense of all the miscellaneous ideas (maybe I should blog or twitter--bleck!). There are a lot of things I could go into, but how do I pull it all together in a tidy introduction? I guess I'm just going to have to pull on the waders and trudge through this morass to figure it out...
For the past few issues I've been inspired to lead off with details regarding the ongoing home front
(editorial continued in column to right)
|
FICTION |
|
 Feeding the Empire by Steve Honeywell. Steve is a former professional video game player with nearly three dozen video game books to his credit. He teaches several subjects at a small college in north central Illinois. In the last year, his work has been published in Mobius, AlienSkin Magazine, and Wild Violet. He watches a lot of movies and reviews them in his limited spare time at movieguysteve.blogspot.com. He is controlled by his wife of 17 years, two daughters, and nine pets.
"Sir, there are a few hundred Punjabi outside the gates seeking food." Nigel Finchley forced himself to stand at attention under the stern gaze of Dennis Manley Colston-Hewitt, secretary for the British Empire, Amritsar, India... (continued)
Where the Water Comes From by Erik D. Harshman. Erik lives in St. Louis, Missouri (where he was born and raised) and works as an English teacher, teaching grades 11 and 12. Currently, he is the author of four novels and eleven screenplays. His two novels (Humansville and Shades of Darkness) are available in bookstores worldwide. Currently, Erik holds a BA in Creative Writing from the College of Santa Fe and a Masters in Communication Arts from Webster University. Erik enjoys reading, traveling and going to concerts.
Greg and Dan sat quietly in their apartment; the basic, white-walled kitchen turning their silence into electricity, the electricity, in turn, setting everything in the room invisibly on fire... (continued)
The Gift by Mel Goldberg. Mel has taught literature and writing in California, Illinois, and Arizona. As a Fulbright Exchange Teacher, he taught at Stanground College in Cambridgeshire, England. He published a book of poetry and photography, The Cyclic Path, in 1990. In 2001, he published Sedona Poems for the Sedona, Arizona, centennial. His novel, Choices, appeared in 2003, and his stories and poetry appear regularly in print and online. Mel lives and travels in a motorhome and plans to move to Lake Chapala, Mexico.
Kevin and I had just left the drive-through with fresh coffee when we heard the car radio crackle. "Code 10-91. 1520 Pine Trail Road"... (continued)
Bessie's Tale by Lark Lucente. Over the years, Lark has taught English, drama, and creative writing and currently lives in rural Virginia. She now teaches part-time and hopes that her students won't wait as long as she did before sending out manuscripts for publication consideration. In the past two years, her fiction has appeared in Bewildering Tales, Toasted Cheese, and The New Works Review.
Emma paced behind the library circulation desk dreading what had once delighted her. Beautiful snow. Threatening snow. A sign that she would come... (continued)
|
Classroom of the Dead by Lawrence R. Dagstine. Lawrence has been writing dark, pulpy tales of SF, fantasy, and horror within the Small Press since 1996. (He also writes non-fiction). His short fiction and other works have graced many a paying, print, and online venue within the genre field. Over 350+ publication credits in almost thirteen years, but he still calls it his little side hobby. Sam’s Dot Publishing released his first story collection, Fresh Blood, in 2009. Considered by friends a die-hard scifi geek and horror fanatic, he comes from Brooklyn, New York, where he lives with his beautiful wife and son, dreaming the great writer’s dream... Lawrence was previously published in the Spring 2008 and Summer 2004 issues of Midnight Times. Visit his website at: lawrencedagstine.com.
The room was huge. A cavernous, old turn-of-the-century affair, with twelve-foot-high ceilings and magnificent, large windows that looked out on absolutely nothing worth seeing... (continued)
Man-made in the Holy Sky by Mark Joseph Kiewlak. Mark's poetry and fiction has appeared in more than two dozen magazines, including AlienSkin, Black Petals, The Bitter Oleander, The Oracular Tree, Hardboiled, Cezanne's Carrot, The Rose & Thorn and Plots With Guns. He was privileged to have served as judge of the 2007 Wild Violet Fiction Contest. He has also written for DC Comics (Flash 80-Page Giant #2) and counts among his favorite authors Ray Bradbury, Robert B. Parker, J. M. DeMatteis, and Anne Rice.
I climbed the salt-drenched stony stairs. I held fast to the railing, to my sanity. All around they flew... (continued)
Dreamwalker by Antonin Dvorak. Tony lives in Buffalo, NY, where he is currently editing The Dead Letter, a novel in the paranormal thriller genre. More of his short stories, together with information on other upcoming projects, are available online at www.advorak.com.
Sometimes when darkness falls, it falls hard, and it's all we can do to keep from being crushed under its weight... (continued)
Trajectory by Mark C. Frankel. Mark has published three short stories prior to "Trajectory" and is presently working on a novel. Other works pending publication include a graphic novel, several stageplays and a children’s book. He is the married, proud father of a baby girl and owner of one happy-go-lucky beagle. Despite his best efforts, Mark eventually graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, possibly to the consternation of some of his professors. For more info, look him up on Facebook.
It begins with a bullet. Lying peacefully, nestled amongst cold steel. Unflinching and unremorseful for its task to come. Its abeyance is ending... (continued)
|
VIGNETTES |
|
On Deirdre's Side by Gerald Budinski. Gerald is a retired engineer who is now free to engage in his dream pastime: writing fiction. His short stories have been published in Eclectica, Quantum Muse, Paumanok Review, Writers’ Post Journal, and many other publications. Two works were nominated for Story South’s best on-line stories of 2005. He lives high on a hill in Western New York with his wife of forty years, in the home of a West Highland Terrier named Hildy.
It all started with a photograph. Not the entire picture--it was just the girl on the right that fascinated me... (continued)
Life's Blood by Mark Bastable. Mark has published two novels in the UK (Icebox and Mischief -- Hodder, 1999 and 2001 respectively), and he was a columnist for GQ (two years) and Esquire (three years). He appeared on the literary panel at the Backspace Writers’ Conference in New York in 2006 and 2007. He is currently working on a third novel and looking for an agent to represent him internationally. Agent or otherwise, you can contact Mark via mbastable@hotmail.com.
Lacroix ran a toothpick around one glinting incisor. "You really ought to give this some thought," he suggested... (continued)
|
John Anderson's Wife by Elizabeth Crocket. Elizabeth writes short fiction, non-fiction, poetry and haiku. She has been published both online and in print and has work in or forthcoming in Spotlight on Recovery Magazine, Ascent Aspirations, Roadrunner online journal, Shamrock online journal, RKVRY online journal, Word Riot, The Mastodon Dentist, Flashshot, Every Day Poetry and more. Elizabeth has a diploma in Addiction Education from McMaster University and certificates in Counselling Studies and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Enid had been lonely for as long as she could remember. She smiled, thinking of how lucky she was... (continued)
|
POETRY |
|
Time's Vandal by Mark Joseph Kiewlak. Mark's poetry and fiction has appeared in more than two dozen magazines. He was privileged to have served as judge of the 2007 Wild Violet Fiction Contest. He has also written for DC Comics (Flash 80-Page Giant #2) and counts among his favorite authors Ray Bradbury, Robert B. Parker, J. M. DeMatteis, and Anne Rice. "Time's Vandal" was first published in Black Petals #37 (fall 2006).
|
Melancholy 27 and Melancholy 44 by Stephen Muret. Stephen lives and writes in Raleigh, North Carolina. His work has appeared in Alienskin Magazine, Slow Trains Literary Journal and Jack Magazine. He has an essay forthcoming in Ducts.
|
|
 MIDNIGHT TIMES PUBLICATION INFO
If you are a new or beginning writer interested in an opportunity to get published, and you have written work with a "darkness" theme, I encourage you to take a look at the MT submission guidelines. Previous contributing authors and their works can be accessed from the Fiction & Poetry Archive or the Back Issues page. Future contributing authors, publication deadlines, and special themes for upcoming issues can be found on the Next Issue page.
© All contributing authors retain full copyright ownership over their work.
GUIDELINES | NEXT ISSUE | BACK ISSUES | ARCHIVE | INTERVIEWS | EDITOR
|
|
|
Jay Manning is Webhead
EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION CONTINUED FROM LEFT
ordeal. This has been to provide readers with an idea of why things with MT keep running further and further behind. Are you wondering about your manuscript submission? I certainly can't blame you--especially if you submitted it more than a month ago. Here are the specifics: I'm currently reading manuscripts submitted in October 2008... ahem... Keep in mind that it is June 8 as I write this, so if you're reading this editorial introduction several weeks (or months) from now, presumably I'm actually further down the road than this.
There are currently 110 unread messages in my email inbox with manuscripts attached. This figures out to around twelve manuscript submissions per month, which is an average of more than one every three days. This is a pace that has been ongoing since late 2004. It fluctuates from month to month, but over the past five years it has remained very consistent.
Keeping up with that pace was challenging, but not impossible--until the whole thing with the housing shuffle abruptly took over my life in January of 2008. One phone call and I go from figuring Kelly and I will be in the same house for at least the next ten years, to being faced with having to sell that house as quickly as possible so we could move. The old house was a nice place, but it definitely needed some improvements to get it ready to show. Then came the move to the new house and all the improvements (painting, flooring, etc.), which is still ongoing...
Despite taking a break from the home improvement projects and making it my top mission to get caught up on MT (as I alluded to in the editorial explanation for why there isn't a spring issue this year), getting caught up on reading manuscripts and getting the Summer 2009 issue published has been a tall order. But, I am making progress.
I very much appreciate everyone who has been patient and not bombarded me with queries. I'm sure a percentage of you have just given up on hearing from me. There have only been a few submission withdrawals, which, honestly, I don't have a problem with that if you want to move on--I completely understand. On the other hand, it seems like those of you who are submitting the highest quality work are the most patient and willing to wait it out. I really appreciate that. The only thing I can say in my defense is that I do read everything that is submitted to MT, and I honestly wish I had more time to reply with detailed comments for many of the stories that I like (and even some of the ones I don't like), but I am forced to decline because I can't publish everything.
Which is what it all really comes down to--I'm publishing four issues per year with approximately 8-12 stories per issue and some poetry and vignettes. It would be easy to select twice as much quality work than that, but I have to draw the publication line somewhere in order to keep it at a manageable level for each issue. As it is, the preparation time that is required for preparing each issue with the traditional acceptance specifications is not huge, but it is a substantial investment. I estimate I put in approximately 20-30 hours to fully prepare each issue of MT. This accounts for everything--from initially reading a story, to replies, to creating the new layout, to writing these silly editorial introductions. ;-) Again, this isn't a huge amount of time; however, time has been at an absolute premium for the past 18 months. Trying to manage work, my personal life, the home improvement projects, and everything else that has to be done on a day-to-day basis in order to survive has really pushed me to the limitation of what I can physically and mentally do. I'm not a wizard--I can't warp time or assign all my responsibilities to golems.
And so it is an unfortunate reality that the commitments I have been required to attend to for the past year finally caught up with me. Being unable to read manuscripts in a timely fashion for weeks at a time put me so far behind that I finally ran out of peviously read material from which to select work for MT. There for a brief period, when I realized it was simply going to be impossible to publish the Spring 2009 issue, I even thought about retiring MT. But I banished that thought just as quickly, and realized I was just going to have to bite the bullet and get my ass in gear. And, so far, I honestly have been making a tremendous amount of progress with getting caught up.
As I go to press with this Summer 2009 issue three weeks ahead of what would be the normal summer issue publication date (i.e. July 1), I can assure you that eventually I will eliminate the backlog of unread manuscript submissions. I have made it my highest priority--right after getting the master bathroom refinished. Yes--sorry--my wife is insisting on that. But, listed immediately following the master bathroom, Midnight Times is next on my list of top priorities! I guarantee it! If you are waiting patiently for a response to your manuscript submission, please hang in there and give me some leeway this summer, and you will soon be hearing from me. You have my promise... -- JFM 6/8/09.
|
|
