Demonic Tome

“Forbidden Grand” came out at Demonic Tome today.  This is the magazine where my friend Dawn placed first in the contest, so woo hoo!  It’s kind of an endearing magazine to me, although I’ll give you fair warning about some of the content.  Of course it’ll be dark, but if I’m going to send you there, and if you aren’t clear on the words “demonic” and “tome”, I don’t want you to be shocked about rape and mutilation in some of the other stories.  There was a lot there that I had a hard time reading, but that’s because I’m not a darkness and despair girl.  Well, scratch that, yes I am.  But only a little darkness and despair, because quite frankly I see enough of the real thing every day as it is.  And I worked at my old job long enough that sadism doesn’t have any allure or shock value for me.  I find it mundanely tragic.  But anyway!

www.demonictome.com

Also, I realized last night that I need to be more professional in my cover letters.  No joke, I sent two shudderingly bad cover letters in the last few days.  One was where I told the reader that I had ran across him twice in a week on the net, and the other was when I said that I chose to submit that magazine because I liked his sweater in the picture.  I know, awful.  But sincere.  I found it interesting to stumble across somebody twice on the web because it’s such a big place, and I remembered this person by name and even the name of the story.  It’s like when you’re at a huge themepark and you keep running into the lady with the red shirt and sunglasses, and eventually there’s this fondness at seeing her.  The sweater, for whatever reason, made me nostalgic.  And this is me.  Humanity delights me, in all its forms.  I’m very much the kind of girl who tells a perfect stranger on the bus that I like his sweater, that it reminds me of a time long ago. 

 

Pieces out: 43

Goal: 40

5 Comments on “Demonic Tome”

  1. With a name like DEMONIC TOME I can see why the works it featured would be dark. I stopped submitting stories to magazines, books to publishers two years ago. The submission process with its long waiting times and impersonal rejection notes was just too dehumanizing. My site is now the sole venue for my work…and I’ve never been happier. I’ll leave the “slush pile” to others, right now I have a direct connection to readers and that’s all I need…

  2. I recommend that you DO compliment strangers. Nothing makes people more instantly willing to talk to you, especially if you always find a compliment you can mean. However (and watch for the tie in…wait for it, wait for it…)
    While such an activity seems completely harmless, there’s always a chance complimented strangers will kill you, rape your corpse, and then wind up telling the story in “Demonic Tome.”
    Message of the day: Be nice to but also beware of strangers!

  3. There’s nothing wrong with complimenting strangers. They’re people too! 🙂 Sometimes it worries me than my son is so open and friendly with strangers, but then I remind myself how much I hate that we can’t trust each other. We should be able to and my son’s congeniality reminds me to try.

  4. In response to Cliff Burns, I found that sort of treatment intolerable as well. It wasn’t just the fact that rejection frequently fronted me with its hurdles, but rather the relentless refusals were followed by nothing more than a simple note. If I were to be rejected I would want to know why, I mean that only makes sense.
    Personally, after getting nothing more than form letters I chocked it up as a game of “hard to get” and spent a lot of time trying to work my way into further publication, but it is a chore. The whole task, if it is how my perspective sees it, is nothing more than a disgraceful chore and shows how far some would go just for that mysterious letter of acceptance, or at least critique.
    Demonic Tome is the product of me wanting to pave another path for not just myself, but for other writers as well. I hate form letters, and I really hate rejecting without reason, and when the magazine began it didn’t have a lot of submissions to choose from. Even though the selection has increased, I still find it hard to just turn people down without a reason. I could go on forever on this, but I will stop myself right now.
    I just had to comment on what you stated.

  5. Thanks for that comment, Jesse. My favorite thing about Demonic Tome is that sense of personality. That’s why I say it’s endearing, which might not be a Big Manly Word, but it’s a wonderful word. DT is ran by real people, not robots, and you can tell. Robots rock, but not when they’re running magazines.

    On the other hand, I can understand the form letters, especially for older mags that are swamped with submissions. It would take forever to respond to each author personally, and that time could be better spent working on the magazine itself. As a writer, of course I want personalized, helpful rejections. I put a lot of work into my stories! But I can also see the other side.

    All said and done, this is a hard business. Pleasant, sure, but a bit grueling at times.

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