Submission Guidelines

Nimue's Grotto is a quarterly journal of Speculative Fiction. We publish fiction, nonfiction, articles, book reviews, and movie reviews.

What kind of fiction do we want?

We are interested in "Speculative Fiction" and that includes Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror. We will accept any sub-genre that fits under the broad umbrella of Speculative Fiction. For example: Sword and Sorcery, Urban Fantasy, Magical Realism, Science Fantasy, Hard Science Fiction, Time Travel, Alternate History, and stories about ghosts, vampires, and all the other nasty things that go bump in the night.

Story Length?

There are four different word count ranges we'll accept. Here are the lengths for fiction:

 

55er: 55 words exactly, no more, no less.

Micro-Fiction: 100 to 499 words.

Flash: 500 to 1,000 words.

Short-short: 1,001 to 2,000 words.

Short Story: 2,001 to 3,000 words.

 

 

NOTE: Word count does not include title or author’s bio. Hyphenated words count as one word. Words preceded by and following ellipses count as one word each. EXAMPLE: three…two…one…FIRE! Some word processor programs such as WORD count this example as one word. However, we count this as four words.

What about non-fiction?

We would like to see articles about Fantasy, Science Fiction, or Horror. Write about your favorite authors, books, and movies as long as the work you are discussing can be categorize as Spec Fiction.

How long should articles be?

Here are lengths for non-fiction:

 

Book Reviews: 500 to 1,000 words.

Movie Reviews: 500 to 1,000 words.

Other non-fiction articles: Up to 2,500 words.

 

Please query first for non-fiction. For book and movie reviews, just let us know the title and whether it is a current release or a "golden oldie." With movies, we also need to know if it is in the theatres or on DVD or video.

What we don't want...

Here are a few things we don't want to see:

  • Explicit step-by-step descriptions of sexual acts. There's nothing wrong with sex, but we would like to keep this site PG-rated.
  • Ranting, hate-filled stories that degrade or insult other people's religious or political beliefs.
  • Gratuitous violence and gore.
  • Articles about writing or about anything else outside the realm of Speculative Fiction.
  • Submissions with attachments will go directly to the recycle bin unopened.
  • Manuscripts with headers, footers, or numbered pages.
  • Poetry.
  • Essays or vignettes.
  • Fiction Manuscripts written in present tense.

What do we pay?

For now all that you will receive is a byline and a short author biography. We will also link to your e-mail and/or your web site if you wish.

In return for First Electronic Publishing Rights, we ask that your story or article not appear in anywhere else in print or online until 90 days after its appearance at Nimue's Grotto. Afterward, if you find a second publisher for your work, please  credit this magazine for being the first to publish the piece.

How do you submit?

Submissions that do not follow the procedure described here will be rejected automatically.

  • Include your name or pen name, and a valid e-mail address so we can contact you with our decision.
  • Then paste the story or article into the body of your e-mail message. (The manuscript should be single spaced with no indentation and an extra carriage return between paragraphs.)
  • For fiction submissions we'd appreciate it if you would tell us somewhere near the top of your submission what genre you consider the story to be. (This will allow us to  forward your submission to the editor who specializes in that category of spec fiction.)

Finally, the subject line must read:

 

Micro-Fiction Submission: Your Story Title (WC: nnn)

Flash Submission: Your Story Title (WC: nnn)

Short-short Submission: Your Story Title (WC: nnn)

Short Story Submission: Your Story Title (WC: nnn)

Article Submission: Article Title (WC: nnn)

Book Review: Book Title (WC: nnn)

Movie Review: Movie Title (WC: nnn)

 

Send fiction submissions to our Sr. Editor, Michael Kechula at: fiction@att.net

 

Send all non-fiction submissions to the following e-mail address: submissions@nimuesgrotto.com
 

How long before we reply?

  • Queries: 2 weeks
  • Manuscripts: 6 weeks

Submission Deadlines

Deadlines for the next issue which will appear on January 1, 2006, is November 15, 2005.