Penumbra Submissions

I've been waiting for them to post the calls for next year. (It's got to be soon, right?!) The last few themes haven't really appealed to me, personally.

Good luck to everyone who's submitting!

Hey Austin (and all interested parties)
Penumbra has released next year's themes, which include things like "winter" "pain" "Isaac Asimov" "Egyptian Mythology" "Isolation" "hyperspeed" "aliens" and much more. Looks like some fun topics. The next after Family Traditions is "winter." I have a few things in mind already.
Good luck!

Just saw this. Thanks for the heads up, Preston! Looks like I've got some writing to do!

Sigh, still no word.

I hate it when a story seems to vanish like this. Did I upload it right? Am I still in the running, to the last level? Did they take a couple of days off and mine will end up with a plain rejection after all once they get back to it? Usually it ends up being the last.

I was right it was the third option--or something close to it. I don't know if they took any time off or if mine just was one of the last ones read.

But this line was included I don't recall it from the last time I entered but is it a normal line? The same type of thing as the "Send us another story" line other markets use, maybe?

"While I enjoyed your story, it did not make it through to the next round in the evaluation process."

So later today it goes to BCS

Tough luck LD.

I am a considerable distance ahead of the game now. My 'Family Traditions' has been submitted but I have 'Winter' and 'Egyptian Mythology' completed, so if anyone would care to exchange crits on those (or indeed exchange them for anything else) please PM me.

As immediately above, but also now including Villa Diodati. Hm, what's next? What do I do when I run out of titles for the year? Think for myself?

Okay, I finally finished my first draft for Family Traditions. At first, this was a hard topic for me, but I think I've put together something that might have a chance. Now to polish it up, and move on to...what's the next topic? Winter? I think I see Ishmael's track's in the snow. As usual, I'm playing catch-up.

I sent my Family Traditions in on Tuesday.

That's my first submission to something besides a contest.

I'll finish my winter entry today and move on to the next.

I too only see tracks in the snow.Lead on Ishmael.

I have actually found that it focuses the mind when I'm set a theme. 'You will write about this."

Then I need Rebecca to call for 'story in a day.'

Two challenges at once produces the pressure, without which it seems I do not work. Now it remains to be seen whether the resultant stories actually stand up to editorial examination. (I am assuming that they are being examined, although I'm still haunted by the fear that they have disappeared without trace into a SP*M folder. The last I heard from Penumbra was my last round Hitchcock edition rejection on 11 August, so my last two submissions are still out there.)

Martin's advice seems to be the best here. 'No news is no news.'

I have actually found that it focuses the mind when I'm set a theme. 'You will write about this."

Then I need Rebecca to call for 'story in a day.'

Two challenges at once produces the pressure, without which it seems I do not work. Now it remains to be seen whether the resultant stories actually stand up to editorial examination. (I am assuming that they are being examined, although I'm still haunted by the fear that they have disappeared without trace into a SP*M folder. The last I heard from Penumbra was my last round Hitchcock edition rejection on 11 August, so my last two submissions are still out there.)

Martin's advice seems to be the best here. 'No news is no news.'

I agree, Ishmael--themes present a wonderful writing challenge. A theme forces you to aim your story in a very specific direction. This has helped me to control my "un-themed" stories and keep them moving in the directions that I envision. Also, I have a theory (supported by no evidence whatsoever!) that themed magazines receive less submissions than magazines that are willing to consider any theme. Therefore, your chances of breaking in would be that much higher. Just a theory...
Penumbra usually responds pretty quickly after the theme deadline, so it looks like your Gaslight might be under serious consideration. Mine was speedily (though nicely) rejected. Good luck!

I'm in for Family Traditions. This is my 11th entry to Penumbra. I've made it close a few times. So...here's to surviving the Slush Pile and making it to the finish line. Let's make it an all-forumite issue!
Good luck to all the others in the running.

So. When do I query whether my Gaslight actually arrived? They do say they sometimes leave a decision until 4 weeks before publication, but this is really cutting it fine. How many times have I checked that I actually did send it in and did spell the address right? I still think the odds favour it's having got lost somewhere.

Seems no responses at all from Penumbra in a while...

I'm in for Family Traditions. This is my 11th entry to Penumbra. I've made it close a few times. So...here's to surviving the Slush Pile and making it to the finish line. Let's make it an all-forumite issue!
Good luck to all the others in the running.

How many formites are there sending in stories? Someone needs to count them to see-minus one. And how many stories do they usually put in an issue?

Has anyone sent their story twice to make sure it arrived at Penumbra?
I received a mail delivery notification so I'm not sure if it went through.
What happens if I send it again?

Has anyone sent their story twice to make sure it arrived at Penumbra?
I received a mail delivery notification so I'm not sure if it went through.
What happens if I send it again?

No, but I always CC myself on my submissions. If it arrives back at me successfully, chances are good it arrived at its location. And it gives me a chance to doublecheck the market's email address for typos.

I started doing this because my submissions were getting lost. Sometimes, it WAS my fault due to using an old email address or one I entered wrong, but sometimes it was on the other end through no fault of my own.

Has anyone mentioned that all of 2014's themes are up?
(I didn't read every thread, sorry.)

I've got a super-hero one, assuming it doesn't get picked up by ASIM, where it's currently in the pool.

And I wonder about the Asimov one, if someone could simply write a tale about robots and the 3 laws. I suppose that would be honoring him...

D

And I wonder about the Asimov one, if someone could simply write a tale about robots and the 3 laws. I suppose that would be honoring him...

And you read my mind how?

I fear there may be a few of these!

And I wonder about the Asimov one, if someone could simply write a tale about robots and the 3 laws. I suppose that would be honoring him...

And you read my mind how?

I fear there may be a few of these!

Which is why you should do something different to stand out from the pack. Maybe base it on Foundation...

I queried Penumbra by email on Sunday. So far no response. I find it hard to escape the conclusion that my email address has accidentally been classified as spam. I can't see why they would do it deliberately in response to two consecutive stories making the final editorial round. However I am now stuck. I only have one email address. If there is anyone out there who knows that they are still in contact with Penumbra and wouldn't mind querying on my behalf, please PM me and I'll give you the details.

Who else is waiting on a reply from Penumbra? No rejections or acceptances recorded on Submission Grinder for a while now.

At least the cover of the November edition is now published, so it's apparent that my story wasn't selected. I have no idea why I should have been consigned to spam. Oddly enough I got no reply from Clarkesworld to my latest submission either. Perhaps I have been mysteriously translated into another dimension where no-one can contact me.

I have now created a new email address specifically for the purpose of attempting to reconnect with Penumbra. I shall let you know if anything happens.

My gaslight story was sent back from BCS. They said I didn't make it clear why my MC did what she did. And the prose wasn't the best--basically that is what they said meant.

I wonder if Penumbra-even with the standard statement about like the story-felt the same way about my story. before I send it out again I will do something about making the reason clearer--the prose is another matter.

Well, my family traditions story is out. I made it to the editor's desk, but didn't make the "next round." But it sure was a nice personal rejection, with a long (and funny) critique which ended with: "Great writing style, nice voice, original idea though--you kept me reading until the end, and that's a lot harder than you might think. Best of luck to you and I hope to see more of your work at Penumbra soon."
So yeah, they'll be seeing more of my work soon. I'm working on my winter story. I've got a good idea, an interesting character, a cool setting...I'm almost there!
Good luck to all who are still in on Family Traditions. And hopefully, Ishmael, you've gotten some news by now.

Well, my family traditions story is out. I made it to the editor's desk, but didn't make the "next round." But it sure was a nice personal rejection, with a long (and funny) critique which ended with: "Great writing style, nice voice, original idea though--you kept me reading until the end, and that's a lot harder than you might think. Best of luck to you and I hope to see more of your work at Penumbra soon."
So yeah, they'll be seeing more of my work soon. I'm working on my winter story. I've got a good idea, an interesting character, a cool setting...I'm almost there!
Good luck to all who are still in on Family Traditions. And hopefully, Ishmael, you've gotten some news by now.

Good, better than a lot, which means you should try again.

Just in case you had other ideas.

It's a while away but I think I decided which Asimov Isaac story to use, Actually one of a few he did with a certain MC. They are the stories that come to mind the most.

Got an email from Penumbra today saying my gaslight fantasy story didn't make it to the finals.

Crazy thing about that is I didn't submit one for that category, I submitted one for Family Tradition.

I sent a reply asking them to read my story again.

I'm hoping they haven't deleted it yet.

I doubt I'm going to be able to get anything polished together in time for the Winter deadline, but if I make it one of my October Madness stories, December 1 should be feasible for Egyptian Mythology. Now, what to write about...

I doubt I'm going to be able to get anything polished together in time for the Winter deadline, but if I make it one of my October Madness stories, December 1 should be feasible for Egyptian Mythology. Now, what to write about...

I'm planning to do a Winter story for October Madness, for what it's worth. Pushing deadlines seems to generally work well for me.

Form reject for me for Family Traditions. I think I'm going to target the Asimov call next (after writing a couple other stories) & let the word count spiral out of control.