The Big Adios Submission and Release Schedule

Just in case you missed it, here's a quick update on TBA.

The editors of The Big Adios would like to thank everyone for a successful submission cycle. Our first cycle concluded yesterday, April 14th. A lot of good stories that should fill our first two issues. We do apologize for delays in responding to submissions, but we don’t want to make any quick decisions and we will be reviewing the final stories over the next couple weeks with final decisions by May 1st.

You guys have made it hard to decide. Because this is our first magazine release, balancing production and standards we have decided to delay the release of issue 1 until September 8th, with the second issue falling in the first/second week of December. We want to make this just right for our readers and our contributors.

Thank you for your support and good luck to those eying final selections.

Adios Pardner

It’s time to say a big adios to The Big Adios, well, sort of. A little over a year since we started publishing online, the best short western fiction site on the web is breaking camp and heading off into the sunset. The last story will be published on the website next month. We were fortunate to host some damn fine stories from some very talented writers, unfortunately submission levels never really got out of second gear.

I’m not entirely sure why. It’s not as if there are a whole lot of other places putting out quality westerns. No doubt some of you are now nodding your heads in an, I told you so kind of way and saying how the western is deader than disco. I have made my views known on that subject before, both here and at the ZP BLOG. This isn’t the end of the road for the western or for The Big Adios.

Head Honcho, Ron Earl Phillips has taken the bull by the horns and in May 2014, in conjunction with Ron’s publishing company, One Eye Press, The Big Adios will begin a new life as a quarterly western magazine, featuring 10 thrilling short stories inspired by the Wild West and will be available in both digital and print formats. For all you writers out there, The Big Adios will now be a paying market.

We are accepting submissions through until April 14th to fill the slots for issues 1 and 2. If you are familiar the guidelines on the website then you already have a good idea of what we want, only this time we are looking for stories up to 5000 words, so you now have plenty of space to fully develop your characters and plots.   

I enjoy a good tale of blood, grit and bullets as much as the next guy. But see that box? Good. Now try to think outside it. I would love to read a story about the black cowboys of the Oklahoma Range, or the Asian-American soldiers who fought on both sides during the civil war, or the silver boom towns of Nevada or any one of a thousand other stories that are still waiting to be told. And remember, the American West still exists today; it’s the feel of the story that is important, not necessarily the time or even the place in which it is set.

Full details are available on the ONE EYE PRESS SUBMISSIONS page, so hop on over and as 80’s rock goddess, Pat Benatar once said: hit us with your best shot.

In the meantime please continue to stop by THE BIG ADIOS website; we have some really great stories scheduled to round things off over there.

 

Ten More Shots

The Big Adios is open for submissions. We are looking for western stories, both the traditional kind and the speculative or genre mashing variety. How about sending us something noir, with more grit than Rooster Cogburn, or maybe some western style sci-fi, or steampunk?  We are open to pushing the boundaries, just so long as the story is well told and relevant or strongly associated with the American West or themes common to the genre. 

The one thing we really don’t dig is western romance. We deal in lead, friend; not bodice-ripping yarns, so please don’t send them to us. That also goes for anything containing gratuitous rape or gay torture porn (yes, we have been sent that sort of stuff in the past).

We have some really great stories coming up over the next few weeks from the likes of: David Cousland, Robert Bailey and Chuck Regan. At the last count we only had ten slots remaining for 2013, so are you gonna do something or just stand there and bleed?

Hit us up at: The Big Adios

Bonus points are on offer if you can name both of the movies I just stole lines from.

Last Call For Alcohol

Time is running out to submit to the shiny new Out of the Gutter 8 Anthology. The doors close on 21^st November.  I’ll let Editor-in-chief, Matt tell you all about it...

Brace yourselves! OUT OF THE GUTTER is back with Out of the Gutter 8: 21st Century Digital Love, featuring contest winners, essays, and new tales of wretchedness and woe alongside 2012’s very best from The Flash Fiction Offensive and the Bareknuckles Pulp Department!

Contest: We will select two stories (one flash, another between 3,000 and 5,000 words) that hit the theme of modern digital love. What’s that mean? You tell us. Guns, girls, good intentions gone bad spring to our minds, but there's no limit on subject matter, setting, or style, as long as it's in the pulp tradition. Pure story, in other words. All submissions for the contest will also be automatically considered for inclusion in the anthology.

 Fiction Submissions: Open submissions for the anthology (i.e., not for the contest) can be your regular ol’ gutterish stories. We’re selecting some flash, some longer. Only requirement is to adhere to the strict quality standards of The Flash Fiction Offensive and Bareknuckles Pulp. Hit us hard, hit us raw.

Non-fiction Submissions: We're also looking for non-fiction and essays on the subject of modern technology and love. Anybody have thoughts on Internet porn? I mean, those few of you degenerates who've actually visited such sites. We've been too busy visiting the confessional (mostly to confess to how much Internet porn we watch). Gmail chats gone wrong? Girls (and boys) gone wild? The suckiness of Instragram? What have you got?

Best of 2012: You didn’t think we’d forget our loyal contributors, did you? FFO and BKP will select the top stories from 2012, based almost entirely on the number of hits that story has received. You want a book deal? Pimp your work! Rack up the hits! Any story published by either e-zine in 2012 is eligible. So forward that story of a meth-dealing dead hooker to grandma’s sewing group and get them to share!

There have been some fantastic bad-ass stories published this year and many are worthy of inclusion. If it was my job to choose (which thank god it’s not) these would be my top picks.

Flash Fiction Offensive:

McRib Therapy Alleviates Seasonal Depression by CS DeWildt

We all got problems, man. Some of us are misguided loners; some of us are dead in basements. Some of us are just giant red, chain-smoking clowns with a busted foot and bad attitude. Who are you to judge?

Bareknuckles Pulp:

Kin by Gareth Spark

Here’s some damn fine Brit Grit from this side of the pond. You can choose you’re friends, but not your family. Well this sure as hell ain’t the Walton’s.

There are also many, many other fine pieces worthy of your time; while you’re over there perhaps you could find it in your heart to humor this deluded pulp scribbler and check out my efforts as well.

The Legend of Johnny Kool by Chris Leek

A Redheaded Woman by Chris Leek