posted
Anyone know a good place where I can sell a mystery happening in a fantasy world? It has already been bounced twice because I hadn't managed to find out the unspoken rule of the magazines: "we're open to any kind of speculative fiction save for mysteries set in a fantasy world" (honest, this was actually written on one of my rejection letters, although not in the guidelines of the mag, which would have saved me a stamp). (edited to make the UBB code tags work)
[This message has been edited by Silver3 (edited October 06, 2005).]
posted
I believe that zines get a lot of detective fantasy mysteries and their sick of it. So they pretty much reject without too many tears. I think there are one or two magazines which focuses on mysteries.
I think acceptance will also depend on how derivative your world is. I've a similar story I've been agonizing about, but the murder is only there to set up the rest of the story.
posted
Well, the problem is that it's a straight mystery story which I use to explore the world. I don't think it's derivative, personally (of course I could be wrong): it's not set in your standard fantasy world, the investigator is not a hardboiled PI, and it's more an excuse to unfold the world with its tensions. It's just that after two stings I'm reluctant to waste yet another stamp on a story that will not even be considered because of its opening paragraph (yes, it is a discovery of a body). And personally I'm still a sucker for that sort of story. Back in April, when I managed to get hold of a couple of big-hitting print magazines, there was at least one story in each magazine that was a mystery story. But I don't think the story is that good.
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posted
You could try ASIM (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine). Last time I looked, they were after speculative whodunnits for issue 28 (issue 20 just shipped).
posted
Ummmm....I'm pretty sure fantasy markets have not seen too much mystery subgenre. Parnoaml suspense is a popular type of story, but it sells to mainstream. Most people who write it don't even consider the spec fiction market.
Have you tried Alfred Hitchcok's Mystery Magazine? I've got a piece there now. They take mystery as their primary focus but are open to speculative fiction.
Frankly, I'm surprised by your reception. Or maybe it's just that I'd love to read more stories like that. I don't like an awful lot of what I read in spec. fiction mags. The piece I just sent to AHMM did get a quarter final at WOTF and a bump out of the slush from ROF, so I'm thinking that the mystery element wasn't a complete turnoff. You just missed the September 30 for WOTF, but perhaps consider it for the next quarter?
posted
Damn. My story database appears to be missing a line, and I can't find the name of the first magazine who rejected it. It wasn't a pro, I remember, and they had an awful response time. The latest was On Spec. That was the one with the amusing comment on it.
I've never ever tried ASIM, or AH's mystery magazine. I'll look into them. Thanks for the tip.
[This message has been edited by Silver3 (edited October 06, 2005).]
posted
And yeah, I did miss the quarter for WOTF, but I sent them something else instead I'm up to my fifth entry, I believe, and I have a pile of quarter-final letters in a special folder. Maybe one day I'll hit pay-dirt.
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posted
There is one thing to be careful about. If you use some previously unmentioned bit of trivia about your fantasy world to solve the mystery, then it still works as fantasy but the mystery reader is cheated. I don't really understand the problem with this, but I read mystery stories as stories, not mysteries.
That's probably the kind of thing that has made some editors wary of fantasy mysteries, though I have no idea why. Mysteries are always getting solved by some really archane bit of evidence that only the detective knew.
Anyway, if you're not doing that, then it was probably just because too many other people did that to those particular editors.
posted
I'm a fan of old-fashioned mysteries (I reread an old Ellery Queen novel, "Calamity Town," just yesterday). But I can see the objection to fantasy mysteries...in the sense that if a puzzle of a mystery is set up, if the solution is determined by some bit of the fantasy element, it's cheating the reader. Great care must be taken to avoid this trap if one writes that.
But if it's just a fantasy that sets a mysterious mood, and not a mystery per se...I don't understand the objection. Unless the market is flooded with such.
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