Cemetery Dance magazine to re-open to submissions later this year

[JJ123]

Thanks, C.W., for your encouragement. I'll tell you, since this is going to be an e-submission system, there is a good chance I will try Cemetery Dance again. Many years ago, I submitted several stories to the magazine, but the wait became so long that I stopped doing it (not the magazine's fault, certainly, just the nature of the beast). If it was a postal process this time around, I can pretty much say I wouldn't give it a go. But we'll see what happens. You are correct in your philosophy about submitting, by the way. I just sometimes feel that other markets might be more efficient to try. But I do have a few stories that I like, so perhaps one of them could become a Cemetery Dace submission. Thanks again.

[JJ123]

Martin,

I enjoy discovering new writers as well. I can't remember if Cemetery Dance has done this before, but they should consider doing an issue with all new writers.

I assume a lot of readers are like yourself, in that they are not necessarily writers reading the market for purposes of submitting. It works best that way, I think.

[Brian James Freeman]

You said something interesting in your post: you said that the magazine doesn't necessarily make financial sense to publish at this point. I'm taking that to mean it is a loss leader for the rest of the Cemetery Dance venture.

Richard grew up on horror magazines like The Twilight Zone and The Horror Show and dozens of others, and we think it's important to keep that tradition alive. So even though the magazine just breaks even, we keep on plugging away because it's fun and we love it and we hope our readers are still getting a kick out of it.

I'll tell you, I would love to see a series of Creepshow-like horror anthologies under the Cemetery Dance banner, that would be a lot of fun. Or, imagine a Cemetery Dance film done like that Trick 'r Treat film from a few years back -- Halloween would never be the same again (and that would be for the better).

I definitely love this idea and it's something we've kicked around before. There are a lot of costs that go into doing something like that right, but when you do it right, the results can be outstanding!

Richard started a production studio called Chesapeake Films with Johnathon Schaech, who also grew up in the Edgewood, Maryland, area. It's separate from Cemetery Dance, though. They're doing some fun stuff.

Brian

[Brian James Freeman]

I assume a lot of readers are like yourself, in that they are not necessarily writers reading the market for purposes of submitting. It works best that way, I think.

Given a lot of submissions we see, I can promise you that most of the authors who submit stories have never read a single issue of the magazine.

Brian

[Lucian Poll]

I finished a second draft of a story (it's now in the hands of Quality Control) with this upcoming submission window in mind, only to then re-check the guidelines and find I'm 2000 words over budget! Gah! I can't tempt you into bumping up the maximum word count to around 7000 could I? Go on, just this once? For me?

Oh well, not to worry. I'd better get this other idea down on paper toot sweet!

[Xiabei]

I've got a huge stack of "Twilight Zone" magazines in my nightstand, and to me the only thing that comes close is CD. I hope it keeps going for a long, long time.

And I admit, aside from the "big" names who have stories in it, I don't know who most of the other writers are. Discovery is fun. Just imagine seeing your name in there, or mine!

edit: hmm, not open now?

[Brian James Freeman]

I finished a second draft of a story (it's now in the hands of Quality Control) with this upcoming submission window in mind, only to then re-check the guidelines and find I'm 2000 words over budget! Gah! I can't tempt you into bumping up the maximum word count to around 7000 could I? Go on, just this once? For me?

Oh well, not to worry. I'd better get this other idea down on paper toot sweet!

I always say this: "If the story is awesome, word count is just a suggestion."

The corollary to that is, "Editors set guidelines for a reason, and if you're going to go against those guidelines, you'd better be really sure of what you're doing."



Brian

[Randy D. Rubin]

I know I'm looking forward to getting something totally awesome into this magazine if it kills me! I can't wait for the window to open... that first cool breeze of anticipation and night air... the invitation to enter... the lure, the seduction... then, without warning, BAM! The story attacks you... it grabs at your throat, holding you immobile, helpless, wanting to scream, 'Stop, stop scaring me' but the story never stops bombarding you with horrors and constricting twists and tightening turns... and before you know it... you've made it into Cemetery Dance Magazine and you're so happy the tears just flow from your eyes. You can't stop it; you don't WANT to stop it. You can go to your worm infested grave a true believer in miracles.

[Lucian Poll]

Thanks for the clarification, Brian. It's much appreciated. I'm very happy with the way my story has turned out, but this one falls squarely under dark mystery. (Hence the word count, as there's a fair amount going on.) I get the feeling I'm pushing my luck a little too far, but it's got to be worth a shot.

(That said, I'll still work on that other idea, NaNo permitting!)

Randy, I'm sold! After that passage I look forward to seeing your work in CD!

[Randy D. Rubin]

Thank you Lucian, I hope to make the grade. You have an awesome name, by the by; is it a pen name? It sounds like a character name from a murder mystery, like, "Allow me introduce Detective Inspector Lucian Poll from Scotland Yard." It's so perfectly character-worthy, I may use it in one of my 'little darlings'. I have a character I'm developing who is a psychotic anesthesiologist and your name (Dr. Lucian Poll) would be perfect. May I use it?

[Lucian Poll]

Hi Randy. Yeah, Lucian Poll is a pen name, being an anagram of my real name. It's a persona I'm trying to build up for my less-than-savoury story ideas (including one I've self-pubbed on Amazon - sorry, small plug), and for something I'm hoping to bring out next September. It's very early days, though.

There's a funny, if indirect, story behind Lucian Poll, though. There was a chat show programme here in the UK years ago hosted by a guy called Graham Norton, and for one of his guests he went to the Internet Anagram Server and punched in said guest's name. Lo and behold a particularly rude anagram appeared on the screen. Being so heartily entertained (and being so obvious) I thought I'd punch my name into the website. Up came something like "Ulcian Poll", and the rest was history. I'd always felt it would make a cool nom de plume, and when I started getting back into the horror groove it seemed a natural fit for any stories I'd conjure up.

Oh, and who was Mr Norton's guest, you ask? Why none other than former French international football star David Ginola.

(Ahem!)

As for using my pen name for a character, I guess I don't see the harm. It's quite an unusual request! Flattering, though! It'd be funny to see Dr Lucian Poll putting people to sleep in one story in Cemetery Dance only for him to pop up writing the very next story! It's be meta-fiction gone mad, but very, very cool! (Come on, Brian, you know it makes sense!)

[Randy D. Rubin]

Thank you again Dr Poll for allowing me to use the name in one of my stories.

[Lucian Poll]

Seems this thread hasn't been updated with the news. The Cemetery Dance magazine is now open for submissions! Link: https://cemeterydance.submittable.co...t?details=true

I've just sent off my story, 'Flood Warning', which somehow hit 5,000 words exactly (including title and author)! Has anyone else here submitted?

(Apologies in advance for stealing any admin's thunder!)

[MrRoland]

Lucian,

I just submitted my story, "Family Heirloom". I have my fingers crossed, my 4 leaf clover and my lucky underwear on. Like they say, they won't help but they couldn't hurt.

Unless the underwear is too tight, I suppose.

[Lucian Poll]

Nice! In readiness for this submissions window I bought 421 rabbits feet off of eBay. Must have been one hell of a rabbit.