Email submissions to departuremirror@gmail.com.
Contact: Arthur Robert Tracy IV, editor-in-chief
| Before submitting to Departure Mirror
The Market List recommends you verify the market is active and accepting submissions before sending your manuscript via regular mail. You may verify a market status by either visiting their website, calling their listed phone number, or confirming via regular mail that the market is still active before sending them your work. To be sure your submission is appropriate for this market, we recommend you familiarize yourself with Departure Mirror by reading a sample issue before submitting. |
If you have recently submitted to Departure Mirror, please submit a comment below.
I’m told that my original guidelines were long and rambling, so here’s the short version: Transport me to another world while reflecting on this one (or, as we say, make your story a “departure” and a “mirror”).
I like stories that tap into the current cultural zeitgeist. I do not shy away from “issue” stories, but I’m not fond of anything that is overtly didactic.
I firmly believe that all humans are inherently created equal and have equal (if differently distributed) potential. I do not like stories that preach otherwise or depend on other assumptions. I’m generally not fond of “chosen one” stories for that reason. Treat members of oppressed minorities with the same respect you give members of the dominant group(s), please.
Every editor says, “Read the magazine.” Yes, please read Departure Mirror Quarterly before submitting. But remember that every story that is published enters into conversation with every other story being published, so it’s important to read not only this magazine but also the other pro-rate SF/F magazines. n.b. that you are not truly “in conversation” if you’re just repeating what others have said. Feel free to riff on the same themes and ideas and/or to take the conversation somewhere else, but stories that are just like something that I just published are a hard sell.
Each issue is planned out at 20,000 words. Longer stories need to fit in the format without feeling like they dominate. Shorter pieces need to work well with the longer ones. Since you cannot know what else I have acquired or am considering, don’t be alarmed by a rejection that says your work is not right for us at this time. I’ve rejected a good many stories that were otherwise perfect “departure mirrors.” I reject a lot of stories I’ve loved as not right for us. Rejections aren’t personal.
Market Type: Magazine, Professional Market
Email: departuremirror@gmail.com
Accepts: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Web Address: departuremirror.com
Click here for complete guidelines
