Submissions are closed (as of midnight, May 15, 2009). Thanks once again to everyone for getting involved! Here are our guidelines:
Style:
Readily comprehensible prose.
Subject Matter:
Beyond, of course, "well-written, fucked up stuff," here are the details:
The lynchpin of OOTG is crime fiction or, as we are more broadly defining it, pulp fiction, but please note: If you have a piece featuring
*A serial killer
*A private detective
*A hitman
*A group carrying out a heist on a bank or store
We would definitely like to see it, but chances are slimmer that we will be able to use it because competition is stiff when you confine yourself to these plot premises. However, if you can write in these areas and make it new and realistic, with nuanced and believable characters and a gripping, unexpected progression of events, you're practically guaranteed acceptance.
But please don't forget that the description "crime fiction" can encompass a million different story concepts. And bear in mind the phrase "out of the gutter." The subject matter should tend toward real people with real problems.
The other subject matter distinction is "degenerate literature." What does this mean? Well, it means, in a word, attitude. The crime can be as minor as getting puking drunk or shoplifting or mocking the handicapped. The offense in this instance is more subtle and takes place on a moral and intellectual plane, but it can be just as fascinating and intense as a story with a body count into the dozens.
Also: Do you write nonfiction? Have you got a piece that's a big FUCK YOU to conventional society, conventional publishing, or any of the prevalent, asinine attitudes in America and/or the world? Is it fast-paced, cutting, hilarious and intelligent? We'd like to see it.
The bottom line, as it was put in the original OOTG guidelines, is that if you have fun with it, if you write a piece that thrills and stimulates--and even offends--your own sensibilities, chances are it will have the same effect on a reader.
Length:
8,000 words or less.
Payment:
The honor of being featured next to other talented, determined, brilliant and anarchic writers in an independent, grassroots project that is fighting for survival in the cold shadow of the grotesque, heartless, mindless, absurdly over-financed, cynical, hateful, soul-destroying corporate media machine that looks at the populace as nothing more than a collection of caged, filthy rats responding to calculated stimuli--and one contributor's copy.
Deadline:
Submissions will be open until May 15.
Acceptances:
If we would like to use your work, we will get in touch with you as soon as possible. Otherwise, within two weeks following the close of submissions, we will post the list of contributors. If your name is not on the list we were unable to use your story. Todd Robinson said it best: We don't reject, we only accept. If we didn't select your story, don't be discouraged. There are many reasons why we find ourselves passing up pieces of writing.
Format:
Send submissions as a Microsoft Word attachment and make it look like this (click to enlarge):
Legalities:
We don't want any rights to your work except the right to publish it in this collection (and possibly in a future anthology) and the courtesy from you not to publish it on the Internet at the same time. Stories may be tweaked (the very, very minimum that is practical) to clean text and enhance reader enjoyment.
Where:
Pay close attention now ... Send your submission between 1,000 and 3,000 words here, where it will be reviewed by issue 6's 10-minute read editor, Hana K. Lee.
Send anything under 1,000 words or over 3,000 words here, where it will be reviewed by the rest of us yahoos.
Make sure the word "submission" is somewhere in the subject field so we can glance at it and know what it is.