Niteblade

Archive for the ‘Announcement’ Category

Every year it is my honor and my chore to nominate stories and poems from Niteblade for The Pushcart Prize. It is my honor because it is truly a privilege and a joy to recognise some of the awesome works included in Niteblade’s pages and to shine a spotlight on the writers and poets who have created them. It is my chore because it truly is an immensely difficult task to pick only six pieces from everything we’ve published over the year. As difficult a task as it is, I have done it and I am proud to announce our Pushcart nominations as chosen by myself, Rhonda Parrish.

Niteblade nominees, for works published in 2011:

“Running Empty in a Land of Decay” by Damien Walters Grintalis (March 2011)
“First Loves For the First Time” by Keith Kennedy (March 2011)
“Maribelle Remembers Ice” by Brenda Stokes Barron (September 2011)
“A New Life” by F.J. Bergmann (December 2011)
“Initiation” by Caitlin Walsh (December 2011)
“a stitch in time” by Catherine Edmunds (December 2011)

Congratulations to all our nominees. We wish you the very best of luck.

Back in May, Alexa Seidel agreed be a poetry editor for Niteblade. She and I have worked together on the June and September issues and it’s been painless and fun. Come 2012, however, Alexa is going to take over the poetry editor position. We wanted to do something to celebrate the transition, to look back at some of the awesome poems we’ve included in Niteblade, and include some brand new content too. With that in mind, we decided to do a special edition of Niteblade in December (just in time for Christmas! /sales pitch).

The December issue, tentatively entitled “Looking Back, Going Forward” will only include poetry. Some of those poems will be reprints from back issues of Niteblade, some will be brand spanking new. What’s more, in addition to offering a .pdf version we will also have a limited number of print copies available for sale.

Intriqued? Click here to learn how to submit to the special poetry edition, and keep an eye on this blog for more details as they become available.

I’ve got some good news. We recently increased our pay rates 🙂

Yay!

We are now paying $5/poem and $10/story.

Alexa blogged a little bit about this change at The Tiger in the Matchstick Box.

You should definitely check it out. The point, though, when you get down to it is we want to publish your stuff. We can only do that if you send it to us 🙂 More good news? We’re open to fiction year-round now, that and the new submishmash system makes it even easier for you to submit.

I’ve got some great news. Alexa Seidel, who has been reading slush for us for quite some time, has agreed to wear a new title. She will be joining me as a poetry editor for Niteblade.

Alexa blogged back in March about her slush reading expirience (here and other places). One comment from that blog post that stuck out to me was “I only ever see stories, so my poetry slush experience is still non existent”. I thought ‘Huh, well, another set of eyes on these poems would not be a bad thing.’ so I started sending her poetry slush as well. The results have been completely positive and I look forward to working with her to make the poetry section of Niteblade shine even more than it already does.

Please welcome her aboard by sending us all your fantastic poetry to read and fill our pages with 🙂

Exciting news for Niteblade authors who love podcasts. Jason Warden of ShadowCast Audio Anthology has generously offered to produce one Niteblade story a month as a podcast and share it with his audience. Beginning in March I will have the difficult task of choosing one story from a current, or archived Niteblade issue to be recorded as a podcast and shared with the ShadowCast Audio audience.

Niteblade writers get greater exposure for thier work. Win.

ShadowCast Audio gets high quality fantasy and horror stories to publish. Win.

Niteblade and ShadowCast audiences can enjoy an increased awareness of one another. Win.

It’s pretty much win all around 🙂

What’s more is that Niteblade is not the only magazine that will be providing ShadowCast with fantastic stories to record. House of Horror and SNM Magazine will also be teaming up with ShadowCast in this endevour.

To quote Jason:

On 02/18/11 Steven Marshall from SNM Horror Magazine gives us their Story of the Month from the January Jambalaya 2011 Issue 2.

On 03/04/11 S.E. Cox from House of Horror Magazine will give us their top selection from the new issue.

On 03/18/11 Rhonda Parrish from NiteBlade Magazine treats us with the best of an upcoming issue.

I’m really looking forward to this project and I hope you’ll take advantage of it as well by subscribing to Shadowcast Audio Anthology today on iTunes. I know I have.

Important notes for Niteblade authors:

• Participation in this project is strictly voluntary. If I choose one of your pieces to be used for this project I will contact you directly in order to get your permission. You are welcome to say ‘No, thank you’.
• Some amazing stories just aren’t appropriate to translate to audio format because of their format or length. I will not be choosing based solely on a ‘Best of…’ but also for what will work best as an audio podcast