UPDATED DECEMBER 26, 2012: Submissions are CLOSED.
Anything received from this point on will be deleted unread. The emails accounts are inactive. I have several projects in the works, so please check back to see what is published and when the submission status may change.
Below are reams of submission information that I keep around for my own amusement. Please disregard, unless you’re really bored.
–Walter Conley
_____________________________________________________________________
disenthralled presents art, photography and literature that lie somewhere between contemporary Gothic and Noir. We prefer mood, atmosphere and personal interpretation to genre convention, but will consider anything you feel belongs. First-timers are strongly encouraged to submit.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Send one piece at a time.
Written Material: Aim for two pages or less. Something you could hand me on a sheet of paper. Flash. Poetry. Dialogue. Non-fiction. Experimental. No need for a cover, unless you’d like to include one. Paste your work into the body of an email. Prose should be left-justified, single-spaced, with a space between paragraphs. I do everything for this website in Tahoma 11; you don’t have to, but it makes things a little easier. Include your name beneath the title and a link to your website/blog and email address after the piece.
* * *
Like this:
Disenthralled
by Walter Conley
Disenthralled is an ezine I started in October of 2009 because (1) I came across the word disenthralled in a 19th Century Gothic short story and really liked it, and (2) I wanted to share the photography of Paul Dutra and work of writers I enjoyed with others.
pitchbrite@gmail.com
http://baag2009.blogspot.com
* * *
Art and Photography: Please query first, let us know what you have in mind. Provide a link to your work.
Other: We’re open to just about anything. In addition to the regular issues, we also produce specials that feature longer works by single authors, serials, poetry, etc. Don’t be afraid to ask.
Rights: You created it, you own it. All we’d like to do is publish it here and keep it in the archives. Reprints are okay. This journal exists strictly for exposure and the joy of collaborating. No one involved, in any capacity, receives financial reimbursement for material or services.
*A note on Simultaneous Submissions. You want to get your work out there for people to read. I understand that, being a writer myself. We only ask for one submission at a time and that you submit a piece you feel belongs here. And we invest time in striving to make each issue a cohesive, stand-alone experience. To have to remove work that has been accepted elsewhere would be unfair to the editors and other creators alike. If you have a valid reason for wanting to submit a specific work to another publication as well as to us, please write and let me know. disenthralled is a fluid enterprise. I’m perfectly willing to make arrangements with outside editors and will do my best to accomodate you. —Walter
WHERE TO SUBMIT:
Send what you have to disenthrallers@gmail.com. Put “sub” in the subject line. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can. If you don’t hear anything from us in a month, feel free to write a follow-up email to the same address.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS:
Regarding the submission process, disenthrallers@gmail.com.
Otherwise, you can reach Walter Conley at pitchbrite@gmail.com. Please put “disenthralled” in the subject line or it will most likely be deleted unread. Walter can also be found on twitter as pitchbrite.
Thank you for taking the time to read the guidelines. We look forward to hearing from you.
The Editors
4/1/2010
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
OLDER NOTES (for reference purposes only)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
I’m going to leave a few of the sub guidelines for Issue #6 up, because they always apply:
What I Don’t Want:
*People saying “Motherfucker” every ten seconds and shooting each other in the face. I’m sure there’s a Quentin Tarantino fanboy page around somewhere.
*Any attempt made to shock me, because:
(1) You can’t. The only person who has genuinely shocked me in the past two decades is Lynn Kinsey. If you’re Lynn Kinsey, what the hell, give it another shot. Otherwise, don’t bother.
and
(2) It’s not what I’m looking for.
*Pastiche or anything like it.
*Cold-blooded violence for its own sake. Didn’t Bruce Lee tell you, It must have emotional content? Well, didn’t he?
*Writing aimed at other writers. Tell me a story. Don’t try to impress me, because….(See “Any attempt made to shock me,” above.) That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun or groove in your own, natural style. It means what it says.
What I Do Want:
I’m after your contemporary take on Gothic, Noir or the shadowland in-between.
Follow the general guidelines. A page or two, in the body of an email, to disenthralled2009@yahoo.com. Format it as it appears in the journal. Put “sub” in the subject line. Give me your blog or website address after the piece.
Move me.
Walter Conley
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
NOTES/Updated December 2009
When I suggest that you read the journal, what I mean is, read the journal. This is not a genre publication (although special issues may very well be limited to one genre). Nor is it, however, a free-for-all. There is a certain cast to the material I have selected. I’m not against genre material–I enjoy writing it, myself–but, for the regular issues, there has to be more to it than formula.
Please do not send material outside of the submission window, unless I request it or you query first. Imagine finding this in a cover letter, “I don’t care to read your guidelines, whoever you are, but here’s some work of my own that I’d like you to publish….”
To make each issue more cohesive, I will now be taking subs for the next few issues/specials, rather than the next month’s issue. Specials will present longer works of fiction, artistic or photographic albums, collections of smaller works by a single author, etc. I’ll post them, when I do, on the first of the month.
Stories about laundromats are almost guaranteed publication.
Check the notes at the end of each issue. I may include last-minute information there prior to posting it here on the Guidelines page.
____________________________________
LITERATURE
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Submit work in the body of an email. The address is below. Double-check the format. Make sure your silences are where they belong. Keep it short. Could you hand me a single sheet of paper with your submission on it? Good. If it’s a little longer than that, I’ll still read it, but don’t get carried away. I’ll take chances on style and subject matter. I won’t publish anything that makes me want to hit you with a bat. I write horror. I often write about pain and death and urges I wish I didn’t have. That kind of thing is okay. Along those lines, profanity and graphic description are acceptable, as long as they’re necessary to convey what you’re thinking.
POETRY
Any style you want. Rhyme. Don’t rhyme. Sing to me on paper. Make up words. Use a conventional format. Break lines all over the page like miniature pretzel-sticks; not because you hate pretzel-sticks, but because you’re that worked-up. Send me 1 (one) poem you think I’d like. Not 3-5. Plenty of other people, with more time than I have, are looking for 3-5. I’ve heard rumors that some are even looking for 5-7….
FICTION
Short. Flash. Smudge. Blink. Sketch. Vignette. Scrap of dialogue. Two-hundred words with the scope of a novel. For disenthralled, I want concise, but don’t amputate for the sake of a lower wordcount. Send 1 (one) piece at a time.
Specials are different. Please see NOTES above for more details.
OTHER
Whatever you’ve got. Follow the general guidelines. Send it.
ART/PHOTOGRAPHY
I am time- and tech-limited here, so write me an email and give me a link. Maybe we can put you on an upcoming title page or set-up something for you inside.
RIGHTS
I want the right to publish your work here and archive it. That’s all. This site is non-paying. Strictly for exposure. Anything else, we can hash out. Simultaneous okay. Reprints okay (give me a link and quick note on where it’s been).
TIMEFRAME/DEADLINE
You have one week from the appearance of each issue to submit for the next few issues/specials. I’m trying to keep response and publication delay to a minimum. Regular issues are published on the fifteenth (15) of the month, Specials on the first (1). Get your submission to me between the fifteenth (15) and twenty-second (22). I will do my best to reply as soon as the reading period has ended.
BIOS
None for the regular issues, although I would like to provide a link (or more) in the Contributor’s Online section to your blog/website/archive. Specials will contain as much of a bio as you care to provide.
SUBMIT
Send your work in the body of an email to disenthralled2009@yahoo.com. Put “sub” in the subject line. No official bios, but, if you give me a brief one in your email, I might work some of it into the editor’s note. Include a link to your website or blog. Let me know if it’ll be your first publication. Make sure you write your name on the actual submission as you’d like it to appear.
Thanks,
Walter Conley
Creator and Editor of disenthralled
disenthralled 