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88<li><a class="nolink" href="#">Contacts &<br>Submissions</a>
89<ul>
90<li><a title="To send us e-mail" href="/contact.html" target="_blank">Contacts and Submissions</a></li>
91<li><a title="The rules of our road; a reference work" href="/submissions.html" target="_blank">Submissions Guidelines</a></li>
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142<div class="text">
143<h1>Contacting <i>Bewildering Stories</i></h1>
144
145<table class="index" align="center" cellspacing="8" style="text-align: left">
146<tr>
147<td colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-size: 96%">
148page index: anchor links</td></tr>
149
150<tr><td style="padding-right: 1em; border-right: solid 1px purple">
151<a href="#general">General E-Mail</a><br>
152<a href="#replies">Acknowledgements</a><br>
153<a href="#submissions">Submissions</a><br>
154<a href="#headers">Headers</a>
155</td>
156
157<td valign="top">
158<a href="#formats">Preferred file formats</a><br>
159<a href="#reviews">Reviews and Excerpts</a><br>
160<a href="#forwardings">Forwardings</a>
161</td></tr></table>
162
163<a name="general"></a>
164<h2>General E-Mail</h2>
165
166<p align="left">We welcome submissions. Here&#8217;s how to smooth their path. Just below, in this initial section, we give direct links to the appropriate editors.
167
168<ul type="circle" style="text-align: left;">
169<li><p><b style="color: purple">Please initiate correspondence</b> by sending to the Managing Editor. Direct correspondence with a Co
169ordinating Editor may ensue in due course.<b style="color: purple"> Flash Fiction or Poetry</b> may be sent initially to the appropriate Special Editor with a Cc copy to the Managing Editor. The e-mail addresses are listed in the table following this list.</p></li>
170
171<li><p><b style="color: purple">Please include the submission&#8217;s title in the e-mail subject line.</b> Generic or outdated subject lines may cause the submission to be lost.</p></li>
172
173<li><p>Please supply <b style="color: purple">a title and byline in each submission</b>. <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="#headers" target="_blank">Explanation here.</a></p></li>
174
175<li><p>Please include <b style="color: purple">a cover message</b> with the submission. We sometimes receive blank e-mails that contain only an attachment. They are assumed automatically to be simultaneous submissions. Please follow the directions under <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="#formats"><b style="color: purple">Preferred file formats</b></a>.</p></li> 
176
177<li><p>Correspondence concerning <b style="color: purple">the author&#8217;s bio page</b> or other interests should go directly to the Managing Editor.</p></li>
178
179<li><p><b style="color: purple">Enter the date of submission in your calendar.</b> We try to reply promptly, but mail applications sometimes misfile legitimate mail. <b style="color:red">Please inquire if you do not receive an acknowledgement within five days and a response within five weeks.</b></p></li> 
180</ul><br>
181
182<table class="index" cellspacing="6">
183<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center">
184<b><font color="red">The names and titles in blue and boldface are &#8220;mailto&#8221; links.</font></b>
185</td></tr>
186
187<tr><th valign="top">
188<h3>Simultaneous Submissions</h3>
189</th>
190
191<td>
192Submissions sent to more than one publication at the same time are special cases and should be directed to <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="mailto:donwebb&#64;rogers.com"><b>the Managing Editor</b></a>. <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="submissions.html#simultaneous" target="_blank">Please see the explanation here</a>.
193</td></tr>
194
195<tr><th>
196<h3>ESL and<br>
197Translations</h3>
198</th>
199
200<td>
201Manuscripts in English as a Second Language or translations from languages other than English should go to <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="mailto:donwebb&#64;rogers.com"><b>the Managing Editor</b></a>.
202</td></tr>
203
204<tr><th>
205<h3>Flash Fiction</h3>
206</th>
207
208<td>
209<a style="text-decoration: underline" href="mailto:charlie_c_cole&#64;yahoo.com"><b>Charles C. Cole</b></a> (<font color="purple">Flash Fiction Editor</font>) &#8212; &#8220;Flash fiction&#8221; is prose between <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="javascript:microprose()">500</a> and 1,000 words in length.
210</td></tr>
211
212<tr><th>
213<h3>Poetry</h3>
214</th>
215
216<td>
217<a style="text-decoration: underline" href="mailto:johnstocks1861&#64;gmail.com?cc=donwebb&#64;rogers.com"><b>John Stocks</b></a> (<font color="purple">Poetry Editor</font>) &#8212; &#8220;Poetry&#8221; is <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="javascript:micropoetry()">anything</a> in verse, or prose poetry, or lyrical essays.</td></tr>
218
219<tr><th>
220<h3>Longer Prose</h3>
221</th>
222
223<td>
224Fiction and non-fiction other than poetry and flash fiction should be sent to <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="mailto:donwebb&#64;rogers.com"><b>the Managing Editor</b></a>.
225</td></tr>
226
227<tr><th valign="top">
228<h3>Drama</h3>
229</th>
230<td> <b>Drama</b> is published by invitation only. Unsolicited submissions cannot be considered. 
231</td></tr>
232</table>
233
234<p><font color="red">Some older browsers may not understand the mailto links. If you have trouble with any of them, please follow the instructions under &#8220;<a style="text-decoration: underline" href="#mailto">Mailto Link</a>&#8221; at the bottom of this page.</font> If, for some odd reason, your e-mail returns a bounce notice, try one of the other editors.</p>
235
236<blockquote style="text-align: left">Please do <em>not</em> use the addresses bwstories&#64;bewilderingstories.com or donwebb&#64;allstream.net; they are defunct. Even if your message doesn&#8217;t bounce back to you as undeliverable, it will be lost.
237</blockquote>
238
239<p>We enjoy hearing from our readers and appreciate your helping us make our webzine even better. </p>
240
241<p>If you send us a letter of general interest, we may want to publish it. We&#8217;ll send you a message saying we&#8217;d like to include it in our Letters department unless you say otherwise. Of course we&#8217;ll edit out any routine personal or editorial matters.</p>
242
243<p>We will not publish or otherwise divulge your e-mail address, postal address or telephone number unless you explicitly ask us to. See also &#8220;<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="#forwardings">Forwardings</a>,&#8221; below.</p>
244
245<blockquote>Exception: Submissions often contain the author&#8217;s complete coordinates. That&#8217;s perfectly okay, but the Managing Editor will remove them from the file only in the final editing process. In the meantime, the file may circulate to three or more editors. Only the Managing Editor, the special editors, and the Coordinating Editors &#8212; who are listed on our <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="aboutus.html#editors" target="_blank">Info page</a> &#8212; are authorized to correspond with contributors.</blockquote>
246
247<a name="replies"></a>
248<h2>Acknowledgements and replies</h2>
249
250<p>We try to acknowledge all submissions. If you don&#8217;t receive an acknowledgement within three days, please inquire. If you don&#8217;t receive a reply to the query within three days, please contact one of the other editors; there may be an emergency.</p>
251
252<blockquote>Certain e-mail services may block e-mail from entire domains as a defense against spam. The mail may not even bounce; it may simply be deleted. We have been unable to reply to some contributors because their own or their providers&#8217; spam filters apparently prevented them from receiving even legitimate e-mail.</blockquote>
253
254<h2><a name="submissions"></a>Submissions</h2>
255
256<p><cite>Bewildering Stories</cite> has the simplest submissions guideline on the Internet: &#8220;Please send us something, we&#8217;ll be glad to consider it. If we have questions, we&#8217;ll ask.&#8221;
257
258<p>Our <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="/submissions.html" target="_blank">Submissions page</a> has important information in the header section. Otherwise it serves as a reference work. We frequently link to various parts of it in correspondence, as a time-saver. <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="/special/readers_checklist.html" target="_blank">The Review Readers&#8217; Checklist</a> summarizes succinctly and offers solutions to the 12 problems most frequently encoutered in submissions.</p>
259
260<h2><a name="headers"></a>Headers</h2>
261
262<p>We try to give all submissions at least two readings. In the process, manuscripts may circulate between as many as four editors. Every submission needs a title and byline; otherwise, we may lose track of who wrote what. For example:
263
264<ul type="none">
265<li>The Other World <font color="red">[Title]</font></li>
266<li>by Cyrano de Bergerac <font color="red">[Byline]</font></li>
267</ul>
268
269<a name="formats"></a>
270<h2>File Formats</h2>
271
272<p>Please send texts in the format easiest for you. If we have trouble opening a file, we&#8217;ll let you know.</p>
273
274<ul>
275<li><b>Plain text</b> in the body of an e-mail message. This is most practical for works shorter than 1,000 words. You can specify special formatting in a note at the top.</li>
276
277<li><p><b>Attachments</b>: 
278<ul>
279<li><b>Word.doc</b> and <b>Word.docx</b> are commonly used.</li>
280<li><b>RTF</b> (Rich Text Format) is also available in most word processors.</li>
281</ul></li>
282</ul>
283
284<p><b><font color="red">Please <em>
284do not</em> use</font></b>:
285
286<ul type="circle" style="text-align: left">
287<li><font color="red">Download links</font>. They often don&#8216;t work, and BwS does not trust their security. When they do work, the resulting webarchives are too hard to work with.</li>
288<li><font color="red">Word.xml</font></li>
289<li><font color="red">WordPerfect RTF</font>. WordPerfect garbles RTF files. We can read plaintext WordPerfect files only in NeoOffice.</li>
290<li><font color="red">Open Office</font> (.odt), for the same reasons as WordPerfect.</li>
291<li><font color="red">PDF</font> files. Adobe Acrobat has its uses, but it makes submissions very hard to work with.</li>
292<li><font color="red">.txt</font> files. Not all readers have Text-Edit and may not be able to open the file. Also, the paragraphing, punctuation and even spelling may be lost.</li>
293<li><font color="red">Zipped</font> files were useful in bygone times for contributors who had only slow, dial-up connections. Today, they are commonly used by criminals to send malware, especially Trojan Horses. E-mail hacks occur frequently; we can&#8217;t assume that compressed files actually come from the putative sender. Sorry, files that are zipped or compressed in any format will be deleted unopened.</li>
294</ul>
295
296<p align="center"><b>Summary</b></p>
297
298<table align="center" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; border-color: purple; padding: 1em">
299<tr>
300<th style="text-align: left; padding-left: 3em">Yes</th>
301<th>No</th>
302</tr>
303
304<tr valign="top">
305<td style="padding-right: 2em">
306Plain text in e-mail<br>
307Macintosh &#8212; in RTF<br>
308Word.doc or .docx<br>
309RTF in most word processors
310</td>
311
312<td>
313Adobe Acrobat Reader<br>
314Compressed files<br>
315Download links<br>
316Open Office<br>
317.txt<br>
318Word.xml<br>
319WordPerfect RTF
320</td></tr></table>
321
322<p>However, if you&#8217;ve sent a submission without having seen these guidelines, please don&#8217;t worry about it; we&#8217;ll be glad to hear from you, and we can talk about any transmission problems.</p>
323
324<a name="reviews"></a>
325<h2>Reviews and Excerpts</h2>
326
327<p>Please see our Submissions page at <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="submissions.html#reviews" target="_blank">Reviews and Interviews</a>.</p>
328
329<p>We will probably accept reviews from veteran contributors to <cite>Bewildering Stories</cite>. The authors may review anything they wish except their own works.</p>
330
331<p>We offer a special opportunity to our veteran contributors: excerpts. They are free advertising for works in print. Complete information is available on our <a style="text-decoration: underline" href="submissions.html#excerpts" target="_blank">Submissions page</a> and under the related links.</p>
332
333<a name="forwardings"></a>
334<h2>Forwardings</h2>
335
336<p>The Managing Editor will forward mail on request, within limits. A request to forward any message also constitutes a request to include the sender&#8217;s e-mail address.</p>
337
338<p>We often receive &#8220;fan mail&#8221; or other requests to contact our authors. We forward the mail to the author&#8217;s last recorded address and encourage the author to reply directly to the sender. If the forwarding bounces, we&#8217;ll let you know.</p>
339
340<p><b style="color: red">Caution</b>: The Managing Editor will forward mail in one direction only: to the author. If the author chooses not to reply, the sender has the right to complain but will probably be told only that pursuing contact may be hopeless.</p>
341
342<p>A request to forward a message must say for whom the message is intended, otherwise it may be disregarded. Do we get such messages? Honestly, you&#8217;d be amazed...</p>
343
344<a name="mailto"></a>
345<h2>Mailto Link</h2>
346
347<p>Some older Net browsers don&#8217;t understand the &#8220;mailto&#8221; link. If you have trouble with it, do the following:</p>
348
349<ol>
350<li>Copy this e-address: donwebb&#64;rogers.com</li>
351<li>Open a new e-mail message.</li>
352<li>Paste the address into the &#8220;To:&#8221; line. Proceed normally.</li>
353</ol>
354
355<p>The message will go to the Managing Editor.</p>
356
357<p align="right"><a href="#top">Return to top</a></p>
358
359<p align="right">
359Copyright &copy; 2004-present by <cite>Bewildering Stories</cite></p>
360
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