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Posted By : crystalwizard - 2/10/2008 12:24 AM
Flashing Swords is in need of several first readers.

If you are interested, send me a PM on this board.

Posted By : Dan Nelson - 2/10/2008 8:57 PM
What is a first-reader?


Dan Nelson
King of Nothing and Emperor of Emptiness


Posted By : Bill Ward - 2/10/2008 9:17 PM
Dan Nelson said...
What is a first-reader?


Someone who winnows the chaff from the slush pile. Basically the first person to read a submission, that passes any competent stories upward while rejecting inappropriate or horrible stories.

I'm sure CW can better explain exactly what duties she'd need done once people get in touch with her privately.


billwardwriter.com


Posted By : darkbow - 2/10/2008 9:37 PM
I'm one of cw's first readers, and here's my basic process:

I get a story, unfortunately it sits for at least a couple of weeks before I can get to it (sometimes longer, sometimes less, because I have other stories to read, a job(s), life, etc., etc.), then I read it beginning to end. Then I e-mail cw my opinion of the story, usually with suggestions on how I think the story could be improved.

Very, very rarely have I run across a "horrible" story. In fact, I'd say I run across more great stories than really bad ones, though most usually fall inbetween somewhere.


www.tyjohnston.blogspot.com

"Hot Off the Press" Ray Gun Revival #25, 2007.

"Deep in the Land of the Ice and Snow" upcoming in the Flashing Swords anthology, "The Return of the Sword: A New Age of Heroic Adventure."


Posted By : crystalwizard - 2/10/2008 11:17 PM
>I'm sure CW can better explain exactly what duties she'd need done once people get in touch with her privately.

:) Yep. Got a nice, long email ready to send to people that are serious about the job.


Never meddle in the affairs of a wizard unless you are soggy and hard to light!



Managing Editor of Flashing Swords


Visit my art gallery on art wanted
All my books in print


Posted By : Jaqhama - 2/11/2008 10:27 AM

Funny you should ask for readers...Lin and I are currently reviewing stories for DK over at the Pulp and Dagger webzine.

P&D slowed down a bit after his brother Blair's passing some time ago. But Lin and I convinced DK to keep publishing pulp fiction.

So we're helping him out reviewing submissions at the moment.

I have to question if some writers don't know that their computers have spell-checkers?

We're not sending the good stories back asking for re-writes or spell checks..we're just correcting the errors ourselves.

Hopefully P&D will get a new lease of life in a month or so.

Then I'll probably post up here asking for some more stories...but we have to get thru the stories we've got at the moment.

Cheers: Jaq.

 

 


You can read some of my stories here:
Skulkers. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. RAT's. La Carcajou. Jet Bike Boogie...at www.pulpanddagger.com
Swamp Story. Down South. Florida Haze.Wild Justice...
at www.bikernet.com (Plus many of my motorcycle related articles.)
The Covert OP. Chick Prick...at www.milstory.com


Posted By : Bill Ward - 2/11/2008 2:07 PM
Jaqhama said...

I have to question if some writers don't know that their computers have spell-checkers?


Oh, I'm sure some don't.


Any prospective writers out there that think they might even be remotely interested in doing something like this shouldn't hesitate, by the way, as reading through slush and learning to analyze stories in a more commercial setting than what you get in a critique group is an invaluable experience. And not a lot of small presses just open their gates to interested strangers--so this is a good opportunity.


billwardwriter.com


Posted By : crystalwizard - 2/11/2008 8:43 PM
Incidently, my readers read for content, not grammar, spelling or punctuation.

As Bill can tell you, I do line edits and we deal with all of that then ;)


Never meddle in the affairs of a wizard unless you are soggy and hard to light!



Managing Editor of Flashing Swords


Visit my art gallery on art wanted
All my books in print


Posted By : darkbow - 2/11/2008 11:29 PM
The only time I point out grammar, spelling and punctuation troubles to cw is if I see a lot of it in a story. Or, if there's a particularly bad one, then I might point it out.


www.tyjohnston.blogspot.com

"Hot Off the Press" Ray Gun Revival #25, 2007.

"Deep in the Land of the Ice and Snow" upcoming in the Flashing Swords anthology, "The Return of the Sword: A New Age of Heroic Adventure."


Posted By : Bill Ward - 2/12/2008 1:57 AM
crystalwizard said...

As Bill can tell you, I do line edits and we deal with all of that then ;)


CW most definitely does the line edits. :p


billwardwriter.com